This column originally appeared in the September 25, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.
Last week, Clay Travis of OutkickTheCoverage.com published an
article calling Arkansas fans the fourth-dumbest fan base in America.
Understandably, many fans were offended and angered by this.
They vented their displeasure on radio talk shows and social media. Most of
them only strengthened Travis’ argument.
My plea to Razorback fans is to ignore people like this. When
people trash your team, don’t fire back. Take the high road and just keep
cheering for Arkansas. Besides, if you think about it, he didn’t have that
great of evidence to back up his claim.
In Travis’ article, one of the reasons he said Arkansas fans are
so dumb is because they “really believe they should be contending for national
championships in football every year.”
This isn’t a sign of stupidity. It’s a sign of passion. All true
fans believe their team should compete for national championships.
There is a difference between “should” and “will.” Most
Razorback fans understand that unless your head coach is Nick Saban, it is
impossible to win a title every year. They do believe, however, that the
program should take steps toward a title every year.
He also said that Arkansas fans “legitimately thought Pete
Carroll was going to leave the Seattle Seahawks to come coach the Razorbacks.”
First of all, I don’t remember too many people that really
thought that would happen. Sure, there were rumors of Carroll and Jon Gruden
being interested in the job, but that’s all they were: rumors.
Second, believing Arkansas would hire a high profile coach that
no one thought would leave his current position isn’t “dumb.” They ended up
hiring a coach that went to three straight Rose Bowls. Who saw that coming?
Travis mentioned a 1994 Sports Illustrated with Bill Clinton and
the headline “Whoooo, Pig, Sooey” on the cover, as well. He said that Razorback
fans shouldn’t be upset with the spelling because they’ve “never distinguished
between your and you’re.”
Being upset with the spelling has nothing to do with intelligence
level. Many people all over the country don’t know the difference between
“your” and “you’re.”
Any fan base would have the right to be mad if a major
publication spelled a tradition wrong like that. It wouldn’t take much research
to find out that it’s spelled “Woo Pig Sooie.”
Finally, Razorback fans shouldn’t get too upset with the “Stereotypical
Arkansas fan” section. It is mostly the same stereotypes of Arkansans that have
been around for decades.
Plus, there are crazy and “dumb” fans for all teams. However,
these are usually outliers. They aren’t the norm.
He hasn’t released his number one dumbest fan base yet, but I
have a feeling it will be Alabama. Most likely, Harvey Updyke poisoning
Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner trees will be featured prominently in the article.
While I think Updyke is dumb, I don’t think this is an accurate
representation of all Crimson Tide fans. In fact, a fund called Tide for
Toomer’s was started by Alabama fans in an effort to save the trees.
If
Arkansas fans are guilty of anything, they are guilty of the same thing most
southern football fans are guilty of: being excessively passionate. Travis
mistakes this passion as stupidity, so who’s the dumb one?
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