Thank you for putting this into words better than I ever could - spot on.
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All good evidence. But it’s weird, the lack of any huge fan support for that program works entirely the opposite way for me. Hating so hard on a program whose fans don’t really care all that much just feels less fun, and more asking for a rivalry where maybe there isn’t a big one.
I’ll also admit a big part of my lack of an opinion probably just comes from me being on the younger side here. I definitely still remember Thad Matta, but I basically didn’t follow Michigan basketball until Beilein, and even then it took me a few seasons to really get used to following basketball closely.
Growing up watching almost exclusively Michigan football, I feel the OSU rivalry acutely on that end of things, but at this point it mostly just exhausts me trying to get worked up for that game every year and always being disappointed.
As for basketball then, it’s the recent stuff that gets to me most. Wisconsin is routinely annoying. Underwood was classless to players during a COVID season. MSU and Izzo are frustrating and their fans are annoying and also friends or family members.
OSU just doesn’t get under my skin in relation, even Duane Washington didn’t bother me all that much.
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I think that’s a big part of it yeah.
I would also say that my dad, for instance, hates OSU basketball with a burning passion. Which lines up with that theory too.
I am genuinely dead on the football rivalry. I have managed to transfer all that energy to hoops. I left for my wedding on an OSU football Saturday, the 62-39 loss in Columbus where I think we were pretty handy favorites going in, and it was a great decision.
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Are you calling me old? How dare you. I am a young and cool millennial
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Lol that was the game that broke me inside I think. You made the right choice.
And no, just slightly older than me lol. I genuinely think if I had started following the program maybe 5 years earlier I would probably feel differently.
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I think I’m pretty similar aged, but I’m from out of region and was a M basketball and football fan at a young age even though that was prime Amaker and post prime Carr. Also I just have strange biases and I hate Aaron craft more than anything
I’m with Boutros on hating teams with apathetic fan bases. I hate when any other football power does well in basketball cause they don’t give af. I don’t want Bama to have any success in basketball. That’s just not fair. Then again I’m from the south and I hate most college teams here
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Def helpful reminder just how satisfying it was to beat Aaron Craft and watch that program go from a juggernaut to good but flawed. But it’s been a while and that loss in the conference tourney just didn’t have the same juice for me. Maybe bc I’ve just dimmed the light on that rivalry for obvious reasons.
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Pretty good chance the ‘18 and ‘19 games will be viewed in retrospect as having permanently broken the program.
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I would’ve hated Craft a lot more if his career against Michigan didn’t end with that comical final shot attempt that completely slipped out of his hands in the big ten tourney. It was just so pathetic
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That definitely feels true. Not sure if it’ll be permanent. But boy does it feel true.
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I like Aaron Craft and Shannon Scott because they sent Trey Burke to Michigan.
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Your essay writing is right up there with Ernie.
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That’s very kind of you. Ernie is my hero
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I loved Iowa once. Then she broke my heart.
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I couldn’t agree more about the football rivalry. It’s barely a rivalry and certainly not “The Game”. Those things can’t be true when one side hasn’t won a single game in half my lifetime. Luke Fickle doesn’t count. I want their basketball team to hurt like their football team hurts me. So I do not like Ohio state basketball.
I think it’s funny that Purdue is unanimously accepted. I didn’t think I was in the minority but thought maybe someone would have a problem with them. I dig Painter and was a big fan of A.J. Hammons.
I don’t get too worked up about Illinois because they’ll be back in the gutter of the B1G before too long. They could have had some staying power if they made a post season run but, alas…
Wisconsin is and has always been hateable. Except for Sam Dekker and Kaminsky. The rest of their schtick doesn’t do it for me. Davison is the prime example and the most convenient.
The evil little man in East Lansing is of course the most disliked of the bunch. Not sure what people like about him.
Everyone else is either a hockey school, a football school or doesn’t tip the scale for me in either direction.
Edit: oh my heavens, I forgot Iowa. I can’t abide a red faced yelling coach who is a baby in losing interviews. It makes me hate him and all of his players. Also, Jordan Bohannons whole family played at Wisconsin. Go play at Wisconsin Jordan. I also hate Luka Garza and his super awesome ear rings. I don’t hate ear rings or people who wear them. I hate Luka Garza and his ear rings though.
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My two cents on OSU.
I hate them. I’m old. I find the whole giving players a gold jersey medallion for beating Mich very…smarmy.
I like them as #2 on the list.
Surprised so many people hate Northwestern too. They just seem so sad. Like your depressed friend who can’t get their life together. I guess I just feel sorry for them.
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I wonder if we start getting annoyed with Purdue if we continue to play tough schedules and lose any titles to them on easy ones (like, possibly, this year).
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I think Michigan fans are probably on a three-year probation from complaining about Big Ten title scheduling quirks after last year 
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I would. My enjoyment of them could go away in a hurry. I would probably like them less if they had won the Big ten title game in 2018.