Every week during the football season we'll be posting five reasons to hate the upcoming opponent to help you get fired up (as if that were really necessary). But, since this week is a bye we thought it would be fun for us to list our personal least favorite SEC teams...the ones who annoy, irritate and make us more irrational than any of the rest. So without further adieu, here we go:
Stephen's Bottom Three:
1. Tennessee - Everything about this program drives me crazy. The fans, the team colors and that damn "Rocky Top," played over and over and over. As a former resident of Memphis and a big fan of the city, I also don't appreciate the snotty attitude many UT fans and east Tennessee residents have towards the Bluff City. Get over yourselves.
2. Florida - I admit it: Part of me is just jealous at the insanely successful run that Florida's athletic program is on right now. I attended both the SEC Championship football game last year and the SEC Tournament final in March and, needless to say, I've had my fill of Gator fans for the rest of my life. Florida's hateability may decrease, though, with the departure of Joakim Noah.
3. Georgia - I have to say, outside of the above two teams, I don't find the rest of the SEC to be especially unlikeable. I do get tired of the Mark Richt worshipping performed by much of the sports media in Atlanta and Georgia, though, so I'll put the Dawgs at number three on my list. To listen to sports talk radio here, you'd think the Bulldog coach spends his spare hours feeding thousands with two fish and five loaves of bread.
John's Bottom Three:
1. Florida - Yeah, I'm jealous of their recent success. And yeah, I'm bitter that their b-ball team repeated as champs when I know the 1994-95 Hogs were better. It's mainly the all the arrogance, though, that does it for me. Even though they don't have too much SEC history with the Hogs, the image of Steve Spurrier smirking out from beneath his visor drives me crazy.
2. Tennessee - Ditto to everything Steve said. Maybe it's just something about orange teams that conjures up bad feelings. My next door neighbors, who are otherwise very nice people, are from Knoxville and hosted a huge crew of Vols fans who flew cross-country for last week's Cal game. I have to admit that I was cackling evilly to myself as the Bears rang up 45 points on them. (the Pac-10 still sucks, though)
3. Alabama - Partially because of a few folks we knew in college. And partially because they erroneously claim the 1964 national championship. But mostly because if I hear one more thing about how great Bear Bryant was, or how the Bama fans still can't get over him, my head might explode.
That's it for us. Which teams bug you the most? Add your comments below and vent away!