Guest Blogger: Thankful for a Rival to Hate

Of all the great emotions that JMU sports can evoke for so many of us, hate is lacking. And yes hate to me is a positive emotion in sport. Hate makes you care more, hate makes people show up to games, hate can be passed down from generation to generation and unite families.And trust me I know the true meaning of hate. As stated in my first post, I have bled Tar Heel Blue from my birth. I don’t think I need to tell you the uppity, elitist, rat-coached, soccer mom looking girls infested school that I loathe. You know who they are. And as a Tar Heel Born, you learn things like in prehistoric times Chapel Hill was above water while Durham eight miles away was under a prehistoric sea. You learn that there is a literal wall around Dook’s(the spelling is a Carolina thing, if you know or are a Tar Heel fan, you get it) campus to show that they are better than the rest of downtrodden Durham. You know Laettner was a punk who should have been ejected from that faithful Kentucky game for stomping on a player’s leg and that Gerald Henderson was not just inadvertently fouling Hansbrough. I can spout off numbers like 131 to 101 head to head victories, 5 to 4 national titles, and Michael Jordan and James Worthy to umm Grant Hill? as greatest NBA alum. “To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever” is the title of an actual book I own about the Dook/Carolina rivalry. And you may say hate is too strong of a word to use for a sports game. But if you say that, you don’t know how to hate the way I do. But soon you may.For years JMU has not had such a hated rival. Sure, I dislike George Mason on the basketball court and the Rich(mond) Spiders are annoying. Being from Richmond myself, the sudden ownership Richmond has of VCU makes me roll my eyes. But only playing Richmond in football now and VCU and Mason in basketball has limited the extent of our rivalries with these schools. And the lack of a rival can be very negative. Too often I see JMU fans spewing unnecessary hate to every opponent as if they are our worse enemy. A lack of a hated rival can do that and lead to a lack of respect. Some opponents are just another game. I was shocked to see the hate sent towards UNC on the JMU boards leading up to our game in September. I don’t hate Maine, as much as it sucked to lose to them this year. A true rival leads people to see that some teams are to be hated and some are just meant to be beaten. And there is a difference.

Some of you wont believe me when I say this but Dook vs UNC is not just a basketball rivalry. It extends to all sports, even football(where Carolina has won 20 of the last 21 games.) It may not be nationally relevant at all, but when I am in Chapel Hill Saturday afternoon(3:30 game, no chance of missing JMU game) my blood will still boil at the sight of the Dark Shade of blue desecrating beautiful Kenan Stadium. And I’ve been to a Dook/Carolina soccer game; its fair to say it wasn’t what I’d consider a “friendly.”  We need a school that brings out such passion, such unity in defeat of them and agony in loss.

And that’s why ODU is good for us. Our school’s and fans are just as similar as they are different. Both passionate and dedicated, we will learn to hate one another. Now we will get to meet them each year on the gridiron and twice on the hardwood, not too mention every other sport. Who else here was ecstatic when our soccer Dukes took down ODU? I know I was. Who was infuriated by the F*** JMU tshirts ODU fans were sporting in Norfolk? I mean seriously? The greatest part of the Dook/Carolina rivalry is respect with hate, if they can’t show that, then we will win the class battle.
And that’s another point. Be prepared for the war of the words to bring up everything to who’s team is better, to prettier campus(aesthetically and female-wise) to the rap sheet of the criminal offenses of each school’s athletes. It’s going to be mentioned. I’ve experienced it with many Dook fans. The Royal Rumble as this blog dubbed it, will become a annual hatefest. JMU alums will rag and brag to ODU alums and vice versa all over the state. Your stomach will fill with knots and heart will explode with joy. Your blood pressure will rise. You’ll never have a worse year, and then you’ll never have a better one. Your season will be ok at 1-9 as long as that win is ODU. You will miss weddings and birthday parties. You will hate Monarch butterflies and Lions. Norfolk will be behind enemy lines.  You’ll hate Jay Harris and proclaim Curt Dudley could be 10 times the Sportscenter anchor. Silver and Blue will make your eyes burn. “Foreman Field is loud?!” you’ll proclaim, “HA! You’ve never been to Bridgeforth.” You’ll learn to love it, crave it, and hate it. And that is good.

Now that I think of it, Old Dirty University is kind of a hell hole.