Rivalries & one-way hatred

[O-townClown]

The state tournament got me thinking about how there is seemingly universal dislike toward some things, but it is very strange that it doesn't flow in the other direction.

If the word "hate" is too strong for your tastes, please substitute dislike.

Some people from Northern Minnesota say they hate the Twin Cities, metro schools, and citiots. People from M/SP don't feel the same way about the Northerners. The might wonder why someone would want to live small-town life, but no animosity.

Some people hate the private schools, but the folks there don't hate everything about public schools.

Then there's Edina. Disdain toward the community is widely known, but people in Edina don't feel the same about anyone else. Competitive rivalries with neighbors like Eden Prairie and Minnetonka, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, Ohio State-Michigan, Duke-North Carolina are examples of two-way hatred. So why is HS hockey different from college football or basketball?

[karl(east)]

Some stray answers:

1. High school hockey is driven by high schoolers, who are not always known for nuanced thinking.

2. HS hockey is hyper-local and tribal in a way that even college rivalries may not be. There might be a few kids on the Alabama and Auburn rosters that grew up rooting intensely for their college, but many signed on board at eighteen. Edina and Minnetonka have been playing each other since they were mites, and if one of those two groups has had more success against the other, the other will know it.

3. Those hyper-local identities in hockey are very predictive of one's success or failure. Alabama is one of the poorest states in the union, but because of its boosters and history and national recruitment network, the University of Alabama has one of, if not the, wealthiest program in the nation. With hockey, sure, you get some open enrollment and transferring, and no community is truly uniform; there are exceptions to every trend. But the correlation between socioeconomics and hockey success is significant, and it is not hard for those who don't come from those communities on the top of the heap to sense that the odds are stacked against them in more ways than one. Those from those communities on top have no reason to feel any sort of countervailing animosity.

4. On a similar note, there is a perception that private schools play by a different set of rules than public schools. If you're a private school you probably have no reason to complain about this, while if you're a public school you may have. We can debate the extent to which these differences are perception or reality, but the perception is certainly there.

5. The North-Metro rivalry is steeped in history, and the loss of the days when the North was dominant. Call it an elegy for a lost era; something that northerners who remember those old days feel acutely (and pass on to their children) while metro residents have no similar sense of loss or need to reclaim anything. Most of us HS hockey buffs would agree that history is a huge part of what makes the HS hockey fun, especially for a Tournament that's practically built on nostalgia for glory days gone by.

6. You certainly see some regionalism or loyalty to conferences in college sports. People chant "SEC" at football national championships. My collegiate alma mater plays in the Big East for NCAA basketball and has a vicious rivalry with Villanova, but pretty much all of us alums have been behind the Wildcats on their recent title runs. Similar things happen among northerners at State, when all but the most committed will set aside their dislike of Duluth East and pull for the northern school. It's maybe a little less common, but I've certainly seen some Lake Conference chest-pounding as well.

7. Hate is a strong word, yeah. I throw on a 218 Hockey hat and cheer for Greenway not out of any animosity for Mahtomedi or Delano, but because I think it's a pretty cool story for many of the reasons mentioned above, and because, as a northerner, I know some Greenway people. To varying degrees, I think this is true of most HS hockey fans.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

I've long thought this is primarily a case of envy of others' success. If your program is new to the tournament, you're cast in positive light. This was the case for Burnsville in the early/mid 80's. But after winning a couple of championships, the boos rained down on them when they played Warroad in '87(?). To us Pioneers, they had "joined the club", having had enough success to be hated.

When Edina West finally made the tournament in their last season before the merge, they were actually a bit of a sentimental favorite, having finally emerged from the shadow of East and Ikola. I thought that one was really irrational, surly the only time that an Edina team was cast in a positive light since the Edina - Warroad game at the Met Center. Of course, the next year, when some of those same Edina West Cougars were playing for Ike on the newly merged Edina Hornets, everyone went back to hating them. Those Edina West kids just had it so rough growing up!

One thing I don't get is Metro folks who pull for the outstate teams. Do they pull for SCSU or Bemidji over the Golden Rats? (OK, not the best analogy, and not just because the Golden Rats are the 4th best program in the state.) About 1987, City Pages ran a piece post tournament that started "Watching plucky Warroad's attempt to carry the Iron Range's banner to glory..." One subsequent letter pointed out the Twin Cities are closer to the nearest ore pit than Warroad is. When Greenway re-appeared in the late 80's, we wondered how many at the Civic Center cheering them on could even find Coleraine on a map.

Some may not like cit-iodts invading cabin country, but they never turn down the green backs. Maybe they resent that their kids will migrate here for work? Were I foolish enough to own two homes (and have two lawns to mow, etc), I'd stamp my green backs "Brought to you by the six one two".

But I really wonder how Metro folks viewed Northern teams when the Northern teams ruled the roost. Was there resentment? Or was their respect for success? They even got an extra region in the tournament.

[elliott70]

You guys are too fn cerebral...
(for TT - brainy, wordy smart-assy)

It is simple we hate Moorhead....
football, basketball, hockey, baseball....

We love to hate Edina,

I hate STA

Everyone else its case by case depending on the sport, time of the year or whatever some dumbass from that town did or said (we can always find a reason, real or imaginary).

Cidiots, we don't hate them, we feel sorry for them. They mistake it for hate because, well, they are cidiots.

[TTpuckster]

You guys are too fn cerebral...
(for TT - brainy, wordy smart-assy)

It is simple we hate Moorhead....
football, basketball, hockey, baseball....

We love to hate Edina,

I hate STA

Everyone else its case by case depending on the sport, time of the year or whatever some dumbass from that town did or said (we can always find a reason, real or imaginary).

Cidiots, we don't hate them, we feel sorry for them. They mistake it for hate because, well, they are cidiots.

True, I can't get past more than 4 letr wrds.

[O-townClown]

Some good insight here. Thanks for the input!