Rooting Hierarchy

It's a slow newsday here at LandThieves. I could give you my breakdown of the Sweet 16, but you can read a couple thousand of those out there on the interwebs.

I could break down the women's tourney for you, but the limited readership is already at risk.

Yesterday, I was watching the Horns play Miami (FL), and was trying to figure out who to cheer for. Answer: Germans. No, seriously, the idea then came to me that as a public service to the Sooner faithful, I shall provide a breakdown of the pecking order of when to root for a conference rival. Please note that this analysis excludes the fact that a given order of standings in a sport that matters (Football, Mens BB) may override said pecking order. For example, as much as the Baylor Bears are a cute, lovable bunch, I'd throw them under the bus in a heartbeat if they were in the way of a Big 12 championship.

Now, on to the my rooting hierarchy:

1. Sooners – well, that’s obvious. What did you expect?
Other teams I care about:
2. Baylor – they’re fairly harmless, we’ve never lost to them in FB and haven't lost to them in Men’s BB since Dec 1977, my daughter wishes to go there, I've been abig Art Briles fan since he coached at Stephenville H.S. and I have several close friends have Baylor ties. To me, it’s like rooting for the Chicago Cubs. Except the Cubs did win something in 1918. If they got good at one of the two favored sports, I might have to take them down a notch or two.
3. Nebraska – in the days o’ the Big 8, the OU-Nebraska rivalry was always fairly classy. There’s a mutual respect there. Except for that Bill Callahan "----ing hillbillies" thing. I think we can now unite with Huskers about our dislike for Callahan, since he drove the FB program into the ditch and . When they were beating the snot out of us during the desert era, the Husker fans that had taken over the section my season tix were in were fairly gracious victors.
4. Texas Tech – I’m a Leach fan; my boss is a Tech alum; when Bob Knight retired they probably jumped from 5 to 4 here. In FB, the offense is fun to watch.
5. Texas A&M – I have some good friends that went there, and in my Big 8 school days, I never gave them a second thought. We were brethren in that Joe Paterno seemed to want to outlast Switzer and Sherrill. There’s a lot to like about TAMU, but the traditions are just a little bit too weird for my taste. Reveille is a perfect example…somebody ran over a dog 70 years ago and it survived. I had a dog that was run over and survived, too. His name was Gomer. I didn’t petition the U of O to make a shrine, bury him near the stadium or anything. I was just glad my dog lived. I moved on.

Indifference:
6. Kansas – I could rank 6-9 anywhere in those slots and not upset myself too much here. Kansas probably gets the nod as the 6th seed due to 2 factors; 1) they are good at basketball, and typically play it up-tempo, which I prefer; and 2) Shamangino is the head coach.
7. Kansas State – They should probably be lower, since they’ve beaten us a couple of times in big FB games, but overall I’m fairly indifferent towards them.
8. Missouri – if I would’ve done this 20 years ago, they woulda been lower. The Antlers were vicious. I hated Jon Sundvold and Steve Stipanovich. Norm Stewart-Billy Tubbs was a good (but clean) rivalry. The football team still hasn’t recovered from canning Warren Powers. The basketball team hasn't recovered from not canning Quinn Snyder soon enough.
9. Iowa State – totally indifferent to these fine folks. The Johnny Orr and Larry Eusatchy years were good basketball watching times. I was able to get over David Archer and Dwayne Crutchfield’s brief dominance of the Sooners in the 80s to not bump them to the

Take Al-Qaeda and give the points
10. Colorado Buffaloes – I just always thought their fans were jerks when I encountered them. I’m sure many a person could come up with an example of the Sooner fans being less than favorable ambassadors, and they would be valid. This is just from my perspective. Also, in the late 80s, I grew sick of the canonization of Sal Aunese. While I was sad for him and his friends and family, the media and football team at the time seemed to make him out to be a great hero. If memory serves me correctly, he got the coach’s daughter pregnant while he was playing at CU. While that does demonstrate an interesting combination of bravado and indiscretion, I’m not sure that makes him a hero.
11. Texas Longhorns – I would’ve had them at 12, but in the Rose Bowl a couple of years ago, I found myself rooting for the Longhorns instead of the USC “we’re about to win three NC’s in a row – oh, just one” Trojans. I found that night that Vince Young was much more fun to watch if you rooted for him. Also, I must admit I’ve got a fair amount of respect for Mack Brown. Nonetheless, most of the time when they play another hated rival, I just root for some sort of stadium implosion.
12. Oklahoma State Cowboys – see me wearing Cowpokes paraphernalia and I’m either drugged or there are icicles in h-e-double toothpicks. Prior to 2001, I would have ranked them middle of the pack…they were that cute instate rival that didn’t really pose a threat to anyone. Probably much like Ohio State views Ohio, Cincinnati, Akron or Toledo. Then, I was a good son-in-law and invited my stepmother-in-law to the OU-OSU game. Little did I know that Nate Hybl would play so horribly (22-48 for 220 yards, three picks and seven sacks), that Roy Williams stop playing defense, and Derrick Strait would mistime a jump. The S-M-I-L made us stay until the Aggie alma mater song – or whatever the !@#* they call it – was sung. I think if the Sooners were playing Al-Qaeda, she’d take Al-Qaeda and give the points.