"You're a Miami fan... did you go to Miami?"

[Calicanerepresent]

class of '93

I'm glad the U is such a recognized brand

Many of my best friends (although none of them live nearby) are U alums also

 

[nbrewer22]

Born and raised in VA, I became a canes fan because my dad was a big ND fan and hated Miami with a passion. I began to root for them to get under his skin, and I have been a die hard ever since.

 

[FullyERicht]

I am an alum.

This program would be NOTHING without it's non-alum fanbase.

I am sickened by the high brow attitude that the school has adopted over the last decade. The school was perfect; no need to change it into Donna's Nerd Factory.

Stupid Donna Shalala, trying to make her University more prestigious. School was perfect sitting in the 70s of the best colleges in the country. Just ignorant of her to try and raise the academic prestige of UM at the complete and total expensive of the football program. God forbid the University tries to graduate it's student athletes. I mean what kind of reverse voodoo logic is that?

Not every school can or should be for academic elitists. We don't need to be Duke, bc that place already exists. Miami had it's place, and it's like they are embarrassed about what it was when I'm **** proud of it. Tell me, what was wrong with the school that needed to be changed? Saying "it wasn't good academically" is a slap in the face to alumni.

 

[Classic]

I am an alum.

This program would be NOTHING without it's non-alum fanbase.

I am sickened by the high brow attitude that the school has adopted over the last decade. The school was perfect; no need to change it into Donna's Nerd Factory.

Stupid Donna Shalala, trying to make her University more prestigious. School was perfect sitting in the 70s of the best colleges in the country. Just ignorant of her to try and raise the academic prestige of UM at the complete and total expensive of the football program. God forbid the University tries to graduate it's student athletes. I mean what kind of reverse voodoo logic is that?

Not every school can or should be for academic elitists. We don't need to be Duke, bc that place already exists. Miami had it's place, and it's like they are embarrassed about what it was when I'm **** proud of it. Tell me, what was wrong with the school that needed to be changed? Saying "it wasn't good academically" is a slap in the face to alumni.

No offense, but I'm glad my degree is worth more today than it would have been back when we were not so favorably referred to as Suntan U.

 

[killa1storm]

You don't need to explain yourself to anybody. When you think about it, it may be the dumbest argument regarding fandom out there. Most people are fans of a team from their youth, so by the time you have to choose a school to attend you've been a fan for **** near a decade if you started early. Not going to the school trumps that?

Not to mention, picking a school to attend is the ultimate business decision. Where do you have scholarships? How much tuition can you afford to pay? Where did you get in? If you choose to go to a school just because you're a fan of that team, then you might be a dumbass. Just saying...

 

[TheCaneShow]

I am an alum.

This program would be NOTHING without it's non-alum fanbase.

I am sickened by the high brow attitude that the school has adopted over the last decade. The school was perfect; no need to change it into Donna's Nerd Factory.

Stupid Donna Shalala, trying to make her University more prestigious. School was perfect sitting in the 70s of the best colleges in the country. Just ignorant of her to try and raise the academic prestige of UM at the complete and total expensive of the football program. God forbid the University tries to graduate it's student athletes. I mean what kind of reverse voodoo logic is that?

Not every school can or should be for academic elitists. We don't need to be Duke, bc that place already exists. Miami had it's place, and it's like they are embarrassed about what it was when I'm **** proud of it. Tell me, what was wrong with the school that needed to be changed? Saying "it wasn't good academically" is a slap in the face to alumni.

But it wasn't. There's documented proof of it. Plain and simple.

 

[JimiGerman]

I usually say, "No, but if the only Miami fans were ones who attended the school, can you imagine how much more empty (as if it isn't barren enough) Sun Life would look every week?"

It's stupid, really. Anyone who hasn't been supporting this team for the last decade of mediocrity and worse can go kick rocks though. And trust me, they are definitely out there, just waiting for the tide to turn. You know who they are. They usually are fans of a random assortment of teams like the Cowboys, Yankees, Heat, and whoever is dominating college football.

 

[TheCaneShow]

I usually say, "No, but if the only Miami fans were ones who attended the school, can you imagine how much more empty (as if it isn't barren enough) Sun Life would look every week?"

It's stupid, really. Anyone who hasn't been supporting this team for the last decade of mediocrity and worse can go kick rocks though. And trust me, they are definitely out there, just waiting for the tide to turn. You know who they are. They usually are fans of a random assortment of teams like the Cowboys, Yankees, Heat, and whoever is dominating college football.

Am I the only one who finds it bizarre that people still lump the Cowboys into front running fandoms? I mean that team has seen so many tragic downs and collapses the last 15 years that someone who actually took the time to stick with them through everything post 1995 is a pretty decent fan. One playoff win since 1995 is pretty horrific for any NFL franchise in today's league of parity.

 

[JimiGerman]

That was an example of what a bandwagon fans assortment of teams "might" look like. It's just an example showing how they usually pick up winning teams along the way throughout their life. Not a slight at Cowboys fans, which there are many actual loyal fans.

I usually say, "No, but if the only Miami fans were ones who attended the school, can you imagine how much more empty (as if it isn't barren enough) Sun Life would look every week?"

It's stupid, really. Anyone who hasn't been supporting this team for the last decade of mediocrity and worse can go kick rocks though. And trust me, they are definitely out there, just waiting for the tide to turn. You know who they are. They usually are fans of a random assortment of teams like the Cowboys, Yankees, Heat, and whoever is dominating college football.

Am I the only one who finds it bizarre that people still lump the Cowboys into front running fandoms? I mean that team has seen so many tragic downs and collapses the last 15 years that someone who actually took the time to stick with them through everything post 1995 is a pretty decent fan. One playoff win since 1995 is pretty horrific for any NFL franchise in today's league of parity.

 

[jss007]

I went to UM undergrad from 90-94, and I don't care where you went if you're a fan of the U.

 

[Kirijax]

Grew up in Jacksonville, surrounded by Gators fans. But being a bit of a rebel, I never really liked the Gators. Too easy. Went to a small private school in the Midwest, too poor to be able to afford anything else. Remember sitting down in from of the TV for the 1984 Orange Bowl. Wanted desperately for Miami to win but thought there was no way they would beat Nebraska. Watched the entire game and saw an epic, legendary, historic game that just blew me away. Since then, every time I saw The U or the beautiful orange and green, my heartbeat quickened. Went to grad school at Illinois but always looked toward Miami. I am now a teacher in a high school in Japan of all places, teaching the Japanese kids how to flash The U when we take pics. A few years ago I was able to get a University of Miami certificate and I may be prouder of that than I am of the BS and MA degrees from my other schools. If you're a native Floridian, how can you not be a Canes fan?

 

[bomba]

I'm an alum. I'm told by the administration that I'm one of a handful of alumni that has donated to the school every year since I graduated in 1998.

 

[arcane]

I didn't go to UM. When I lived in New York, I rooted for the Giants in football and the Knicks in basketball. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I rooted for the Giants in baseball, Golden State in basketball and the college teams from UCal at Berkeley. When I moved to South Florida, I switched to the local teams: Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, Panthers, and the teams at UM because the Miami teams are easier to follow in the local newspapers and on local TV.

 

[Cane1996]

I hate this, but this is what I tell idiots who question my "right" to be a Miami fan. I was born in Baltimore, but moved to Miami when I was one in 1980. I lived in Miami until I went to college. My grandfather moved to Miami in 1946 after getting out of the army in WWII, and subsequently, my family, in one, shape or form, has had Miami football tickets since the 1950s. My mother used to be a professor at UM (now she's at FIU, though she's retiring this year). I went to my first Miami football game in 1984, and went to almost every home game from 1985-1996 (I went to away for college in '97). I moved back to Miami for a year in 2001 and went to every home game, before going to FSU for grad school. When I was at FSU, I still came down for 2-3 games a year. Since then, I've lived in Chicago, and now Chattanooga. I now have the season tickets for football, and though I only make 1-2 home games a year, I make sure the tickets are used by family or friends when I can't go. I also go to 1-2 away games since I live in the middle of ACC country (and, unfortunately, SEC country). I also grew up at the Light in the 80s, as well as the Knight Center, and went to every home game the year we went 0-18 in the Big East in basketball.

So, if any dumbass Gator or FSU fan wants to tell me I can't be a Miami fan because I didn't attend Miami, they can kiss my ***.

ps

I did go to UM Law for 2 days before I realized I didn't want to be a lawyer. I still have my UM ID to prove it

LOL, I remember that 0-18 in the Big East hoops season. '93 season. Tory McCormack, Constantine Popa, Brad Timpf (RIP) and Steve Edwards.

 

[Cane1996]

Attended UM 92-96. When people ask me that at games, I usually say "Yes, but why does that matter?" They shut up.

I was given nearly a full academic ride to UM in November '91 at the conclusion of the "High School Honors Days". It was a week after UM had defeated FSU in Wide Right I. They had me staying with actual UM students in the Pearson/Mahoney dorms. My one night suite mates got me wasted that first night, so I had to do my scholarship interivew while hung over (not an easy feat at aged 17) but I prevailed and got my nearly full ride to UM.

Fast forward to August 1992 and I'm about to leave for my first day at UM and freshmen orientation...and Hurricane Andrew is coming direct for Miami. My parents insist that I evatuate to Sarasota with them instead of going to campus (they lived on Sanibel Island at the time). Andrew ended up hitting south of the campus, but still decimated the campus and surrounding areas. Classes were delayed by 3 weeks while they cleaned up the campus, which was now nearly barren of trees. I saw my first Canes game as a student on TV...Miami at Iowa. Miami ended up winning 24-7 or something. They showed some footage of the players helping to clean up the campus, as nobody else was strong enough to lift the fallen trees. I didn't really understand football very well at that point. I didn't understand down and distance or why you would run certain plays in certain situations.

I finally arrived on campus in mid September 1992. I got to go to my first home game in the Orange Bowl, which was against FAMU. I believe we won 40-0 or something like that. I was pretty hooked at this point. I remember thinking that the Orange Bowl field looked too small to be the same size as the football fields on TV. I missed the following home game (Arizona). This game was noteworthy because we barely won 8-7, but also the extremely gifted defensive lineman (would have been an NFL hall of famer) Rusty Medaris suffered a severe ACL injury in the game which ended up costing him his playing career.

The following week was FSU at Miami. The game started out with FSU's Tamarick Vanover returning a kickoff for a TD to go up 7-0. Not good. In general, Miami couldn't do much offensively. I was confused at the time because I was like "Huh? I thought that Miami didn't lose games?" It was late in the game and FSU was up 16-7. Miami then scored the next 12 unanswered points, including a fluke safety play awarded to the Canes that was intially ruled as a TD for Miami. Miami now led 19-16. FSU had one last chance to drive the field and try to win or go for the tie. Ward got them into field goal range. The kick was up...WIDE RIGHT II!!!!

And thus, the story of my fandom.

 

[callmetrip]

Class of 99, JD

 

[callmetrip]

I am an alum.

This program would be NOTHING without it's non-alum fanbase.

I am sickened by the high brow attitude that the school has adopted over the last decade. The school was perfect; no need to change it into Donna's Nerd Factory.

Stupid Donna Shalala, trying to make her University more prestigious. School was perfect sitting in the 70s of the best colleges in the country. Just ignorant of her to try and raise the academic prestige of UM at the complete and total expensive of the football program. God forbid the University tries to graduate it's student athletes. I mean what kind of reverse voodoo logic is that?

Not every school can or should be for academic elitists. We don't need to be Duke, bc that place already exists. Miami had it's place, and it's like they are embarrassed about what it was when I'm **** proud of it. Tell me, what was wrong with the school that needed to be changed? Saying "it wasn't good academically" is a slap in the face to alumni.

No offense, but I'm glad my degree is worth more today than it would have been back when we were not so favorably referred to as Suntan U.

Agree. And take a lot of pride in the cancer research, spinal research and marine research.

 

[Dingaan1828]

I didn't go to UM. When I lived in New York, I rooted for the Giants in football and the Knicks in basketball. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I rooted for the Giants in baseball, Golden State in basketball and the college teams from UCal at Berkeley. When I moved to South Florida, I switched to the local teams: Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, Panthers, and the teams at UM because the Miami teams are easier to follow in the local newspapers and on local TV.

It sounds like you aren't really a fan. It's more like you subscribe to the sports/entertainment opportunities available locally, regardless of where you are.

There is certainly nothing wrong with that.

 

[bathtubgin]

I think the thing that annoys me most about the "did you go there" question is that I have never heard anyone ask a Notre Dame fan that, despite them having an even larger number of fans who did not attend the school than UM does.

 

[daytonacane]

I attended classes at the U for 2 years