How Notre Dame fans survived the last two years.As a follow-up to my last post (and as suggested by one particularly astute commenter), I am now offering up a question that is near and dear to many of us: which college football program has the most annoying fans? This subject has been treated a lot over the years, but mostly by angry bloggers and columnists who were just trying to exorcise the demons of a recent setback at the hands of a certain program. Giving that program the "most annoying" treatment thus acted as a sort of therapy for wounded souls and (probably) lost bets. Since Ohio State is coming off a very satisfying win, and because the sting from any loss would have long since faded at this point, I thought this was a great time to broach the subject with a calm and reasonable disposition.
Having said that, honesty forces me to acknowledge the fact that the school that we spend most of our time covering is probably at the top of the list for many college football fans. When I was a student at Ohio State (back in the days of mullets and leg-warmers), I certainly did my best to annoy fans of any other teams that happened to venture into the storied old Horseshoe. But I'm wondering if there might be several other schools whose fans exceed even ours in sheer obnoxiousness. In fact, the team that makes its way into Columbus on 9/11 might appear quite high on the list. But even Michael Irvin's alma mater must, I believe, make way for a few others at the top. So, without further adieu, I give you my best candidates for the Most Annoying Fans in college football.
NOTRE DAME
Seems rather obvious, does it not? From "Touchdown Jesus" to candles in the grotto to Rudy to "the four horsemen", etc. etc. ad nauseum. They have even inspired a Facebook hate group, which features anti-ND humor like this gem:
Q: What do you get when a groundhog sees a Notre Dame fan? A: Six more weeks of bad football.All jokes aside, there was a time not too long ago when ND actually fielded a pretty good team, mostly thanks to a coach who learned his trade at the feet of the great Wayne Woodrow Hayes. Remember the 1995 game at Ohio Stadium? Remember Regis Philbin hamming it up on the ND sideline? I'm so thankful that Cooper's boys put the hammer down on the Domers that day. And the win the following year was just as sweet. So now that they've been humbled three times by OSU (adding the Fiesta Bowl win against Weis), have their fans settled down any? Hardly. Perhaps reading about their heroes getting arrested will suffice? We shall see.
Getting his geaux tiger on.FLORIDA, LSU, TENNESSEE
You can pretty much pencil in the entire SEC, but I figure these three probably get on our nerves the most. UF has the infamous "gator chomp" going for them, while Tennessee has "Rocky Top" (insert vomit here). LSU fans might take the cake with their tacky "geaux tigers" and all of the "death valley" hoopla. And then there is that perception in the media that the SEC stadiums are the "best venues in college football", as if seeing those ugly checkerboard end zones in Neyland Stadium made every college football fan perk up like Phil Fulmer at a buffet table. Memo to media types: there's nothing like a game at the 'Shoe. There's no checkerboard, no tiger eye, no "swamp", just great fan enthusiasm and a solid home team.
MIAMI
This one hardly needs explanation. From all of their crying after losing the BCS championship to OSU in 2002 to the way many of their fans glorify the "Thug U" days of the 80's to the endless adulation from ex-players like Irvin and wanna-be entertainers like Luther Campbell, this "U" might deserve the all-time crown for annoying fans.
So, what do you think? Does the title go to one of the schools mentioned above, or to some team that I left off? Does Ohio State deserve to be on top of this list? I await your thoughts on the matter.
