With the Michigan Wolverines in the national title game, for the first time ever, we re-examine this piece from 2014. Because after all, being hated is a compliment in its own way. You know the old adage- being talked about badly is better than not being talked about.
There must be a lot of Ohio transplants living in Las Vegas. Maybe some Ohio State and Michigan State alumni snowbirds have relocated to Sin City.
How else do you explain the hatred the state of Nevada has for Michigan Wolverines football?
Take a look at the Reddit college football tweetpic of their poll, in map form. You’ll notice a lot of teams are, unfortunately for them, the most hated teams in their own state.
@AFFootball @IDAHOgov no worries, they actually hate BYU in the corrected version where ballot stuffing was removed: pic.twitter.com/GWq1WwJK51
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 11, 2014
That makes sense, and doesn’t make at the same time; for Florida, Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, BYU, USC…well a whole bunch.
And the interstate rivalries seem to hold for the most part. But the Michigan Wolverines backlash in the Silver State?
I don’t get it. Can someone explain that to me?
Don’t get me wrong, there is ample reason to hate the Michigan Wolverines (and as you can see on that first map, many states indeed do)…I just don’t understand why that specific state in particular does!
One major reason why so many people hate Michigan- just about everybody here in the Midwest knows a Michigan grad who will be shamelessly, and seriously often say things that sound a lot like what this Michigan grad just tweeted here:
Let’s be honest. The reason many people hate @UMichFootball is because @UMich is one of the top universities, public or private, in the world. By every metric — from academics to campus life — UM is superior. Most of the haters couldn’t get in to UM… so they are jealous.
— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) January 8, 2024
Well done, Mr. Shuster, you’re literally proving everyone’s point.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.