Overrated?
This past Saturday morning, I was flipping through the channels and landed on one of America’s most watched Saturday morning programs: College GameDay on ESPN. I can usually stand watching this program for about two minutes before I start to wish Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit would just face off in a steelcage death match and Desmond Howard would have his jaw permanently wired shut. But these guys are not even the greatest source of annoyance in this show. The fans are far, far more annoying.
I mean, how long do cheerleaders feel they need to stand in the center of the television screen and wave pom-poms back and forth? And then there are all the signs that fans make that they wave from inside the crowd. This program runs all day and these people never leave. They stand there for hours and hours waving their signs and calling their friends. “Hey, bro, turn on ESPN. Can you see me? Can you see my sign? What? I can’t hear you. No, it’s too…Ok, can you see it now? How about now? Come on! You can’t see it? Oh, you do see it? Yeah, bro!”
Yes all of these things make for a very annoying television event. Which is why I can’t tolerate it much longer than a few minutes. But just as I was about to change the channel this Saturday, I heard that ever-popular chant by one team’s fans regarding another team: O-ver-rat-ed! O-ver-rat-ed!
This past Saturday’s GameDay took place in State College, Pennsylvania where the Penn State Nittany Lions hosted #1 ranked Ohio State. The PSU fans were informing the world that they felt OSU was overrated. Therefore, they felt PSU would win. But does anyone else besides me see a problem with this? If you’re trying to pump up your team by cheering and showing your support, why would you go out of your way to suggest that the team they are playing really isn’t as good as everyone says they are? Wouldn’t that just devalue a victory over that highly-ranked team?
Suppose Penn State had been able to defeat Ohio State. Now that Ohio State has been deemed “overrated,” what does that mean for Penn State? What it would mean is that instead of pulling out a thrilling upset victory over the #1 ranked team in the country, they’ve merely beaten a team that their fans feel does not deserve the collective praise of highly experienced and informed NCAA coaches around the nation. So basically, Penn State would have done what their fans think they should have done. Ohio State should be beaten by Penn State because Ohio State really isn’t that good. But then that wouldn’t say too much about Penn State would it?
If a team only beats the teams it should beat, then it hasn’t really accomplished that much. Which isn’t to say that team isn’t good. USC was ranked #1 preseason. If they had won every game and finished the season ranked #1 that would have been commendable. They would have been considered the best team in college football. But two teams (Stanford and Oregon) have since pulled off stunning defeats of USC and altered the BCS rankings. (Oregon, admittedly, was favored to beat USC, but that is only because 8 games worth of information had shifted the odds.) To say that USC was overrated would completely devalue Stanford’s victory in one of this season’s most exciting upsets.
As the saying goes, “On any given day…” Well, on any given day, USC would most likely defeat Stanford. But on the day that counted, Stanford rose above expectations and handed USC it’s first loss of the season. I have no idea if Stanford fans thought USC was overrated; or if Kentucky fans thought LSU was overrated; or if South Florida fans thought West Virginia was overrated and on and on. But in order to truly enjoy a great upset, you’ve got to first acknowledge that it was, in fact, an upset. Only then can you say, “We beat a great team that we weren’t expected to beat.” And, as a fan, doesn’t that feel so much better than just winning the games you’re expected to win?
This might not be true for fans of the teams that were ranked at the top preseason. They’d say it feels better to do what’s expected and win a national championship. But for the fans of the Stanfords, Kentuckys and South Floridas out there, your teams weren’t expected to win the games they won. It’s so much sweeter when they do so, isn’t it? But, again, it’s only sweeter if you allow it to be. So, please, stop chanting, “O-ver-rat-ed!” You’re only denigrating your own team.