COLUMN: School rivalry can be fun, but it can also be dangerous.
Growing up, school rivalry was always something that happened in my family. My mom went to the University of Michigan and my dad went to Michigan State University. Those two schools are two of the most well-known rivals across the midwest. My dad is much more of a football fan than my mom is, but he's not afraid to poke fun at my mom when MSU beats U-M.
Rivalry has always bothered me. It never really hit me just how far people take it until my freshmen year at Central Michigan University.
It was my first experience with Western Weekend. I remember reading the disturbing comments made toward our school on a friend's Facebook status. I see nothing wrong with cheering for your own team and trying to say why one's team is better than the others, but once you start bashing our school and how WMU has more successful graduates than CMU, and that people that go to CMU are not smart, that's when I have a problem.
Taking the rivalry beyond the football games makes it personal, and there really should not be anything invigorating about making someone feel bad. It becomes bullying at that point, and people don't realize it.
Football games are j ust that – games. I see that Western Weekend tears people apart and creates ugly fights that should not happen because of a football game. With social media, people know just what to say to hurt the other person.
I wouldn't care so much about Western Weekend if my sister didn't attend Western. She is two years younger than me, so the rivalry between us and our schools didn't happen until two years ago. I see her tagged in pictures on Facebook with her friends who all take the rivalry too far.
Over the past couple of years, it has been made clear that my sister doesn't want to talk to me about our schools and the rivalry that comes with them. I call out her friends when they post something egregious about CMU. People should not take rivalry beyond the games, and this goes for both parties.
It's hard not taking Western Weekend personally. My sister is my best friend, but the fact that we can't talk about this particular weekend because we want to avoid hurting each other's feelings is really messed up.
What happened to rivalry being part of just the football games? Stop making the rivalry between our schools personal and start making it fun.
