With next week's Ohio men's basketball game against Miami approaching, it's time for rivalry hype to begin anew. The Post will run columns, the basketball teams will run sprints and students from each school will run their mouths in preparation.
In order to get the mudslinging off to a good start, I'd like to examine some differences between the two schools. My observations, mind you, are completely objective, their purposes only to encourage more informed arguments.
Have you ever seen people go to class in their pajamas? If the answer is yes, then you go to Ohio. If the answer is Ewwww
then you go to Miami. It's a difference in standards.
I, for one, can't imagine living in a place where collared shirts are as casual as it gets and where there's not that dude in your dorm room who wears his scrubs to class on syllabus day. Or on any day, for that matter.
Miami versus Ohio is Wally Szczerbiak's spiked hair versus Brandon Hunter's sagging shorts and un-tucked jersey.
It's pressed khaki versus torn denim.
It's today's clean clothes versus yesterday's clothes that you're wearing again because nobody cares if you do.
It's North Face jackets versus, well, North Face jackets, I guess. OK, one similarity. The point is, there are very precise differences in style. At Miami, you are what you wear. At Ohio, it doesn't really matter. My philosophy professor used to come to class wearing a Guinness shirt.
'Nuff said.
Because rivalries are often based on sports, it's important to know how Miami and Ohio differ with respect to their athletic programs. During the 2003 football season, Ben Roethlisberger put up record numbers for the RedHawks. They were in the top 10 almost solely because of him. He's the guy who took Pittsburgh to the conference championship game his rookie season. Once he left Miami, people just stopped going to the games.
The school was nearly ousted from Division I-A competition because of failure to reach attendance quotas. That's pathetic. That severe lack of school pride is the problem with Miami.
Where its students falter, though, Ohio's students excel. Attendance for the Bobcats is never a problem.
I think what those two differences show is that Ohio is a place of acceptance. Students don't have to be stylishly dressed and sports programs don't have to be impressive, but everyone seems to be all right with that.
Miami is shallow.
-Patrick Bourland 17
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Patrick Bourland
