Tennessee’s win …

[MakinMusic]

Interesting how you think you can speak for the world when you write "no one believing any of it", when you obviously can't prove that, whereas I know several UT fans that have the same mindset at myself, disproving your statement. All fans don't share the same petty mentality that is common among many sports rivals, but rather take pride in their conference. I work with an Ohio State fan and alumnus that absolutely hates Michigan, but he was rooting for Michigan to beat Alabama in the national championship game in football because he is Big10 all the way, whereas I was begrudgingly rooting for Bama because they are SEC. Neither of our teams made it to the playoffs, but now I have to listen to how the Big10 is the premier conference in college football. Conference pride is a thing.

The difference is I can openly admit I am not a conference fan. I’m a Kentucky fan. The conference allegiance nonsense began when all the tv deals started coming about. It’s just about money for the conference.

This is a first for me. A Tennessee fan who is also a Kentucky fan AND an Alabama fan. Lets go!

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

Is there a bigger clown on this board than Ole Louis?

I swear when he posts, his avatar is him

 

[VOL_Fan_13]

The difference is I can openly admit I am not a conference fan. I’m a Kentucky fan. The conference allegiance nonsense began when all the tv deals started coming about. It’s just about money for the conference.

This is a first for me. A Tennessee fan who is also a Kentucky fan AND an Alabama fan. Lets go!

I'm guessing you are fairly young, because conference allegiance among many fans I know began long before the TV deals you mention. I was born in the 1950s, and when I began watching college football, all the national media seemed to focus on 3 entities (Big10, Pac10, and Notre Dame), and the Rose Bowl featuring the winner of these 2 conferences was THE bowl garnering the most attention. As one of the local southern sports writers said in an interview, it was as if the SEC was like a collection of schools from backward southern states that didn't deserve attention outside their local media, so when SEC schools such as Bear Bryant's Bama would not only beat these "revered schools", but would win national championships, a lot of SEC fans of other schools loved it. Even today, if you listen to SEC-centric programs like Paul Finebaum (or even in this message board we are in) you find fans of a particular SEC school pulling for other SEC schools - so I am not an anomaly. Even members of my unit in Vietnam who were fans of different teams would typically pull for their conference - one was a Texas fan that absolutely hated all things Pac10 and Big10.
Yes, what I am saying does not apply to all, and perhaps we are just a small percentage of fans, I don't know. Also, perhaps its largely generational, with younger folks being more prone to be only about their team, but I still enjoy listening to fans during games (particulary championship games) featuring an SEC school against a non-SEC school chanting S-E-C, S-E-C, S-E-C! Some of these fans may not give much thought to what they are chanting, but I would reject the notion that there is not a considerable number of fans that exhibit conference pride - the evidence is there for anyone willing to notice.
(I get carried away sometimes on the keyboard - congratulations if you had the patience to read all this.)

 

[sportspm]

How much money does the sec get for a team making the final 4? Is some of it distributed to all the schools? Just curious

 

[CladinBigOrange]

How much money does the sec get for a team making the final 4? Is some of it distributed to all the schools? Just curious

It's roughly $2M per game, paid to the conference to be equally distributed to the member schools, but a first round game is worth the same as an appearance in the title game.

 

[natchezrule]

And they also played Texas, who is horrid. That's a great team to miss shots against, and still win.

Like Oakland