How attached are you to your alma mater?

November 10, 2001 5:59 AM

How attached are you to your alma mater? I heard about this on Bill Geist's "It's Just a Game" this morning and said to myself, "talk about being a longterm fan." The owner of the company says he's considering getting the licensing from professional sports teams. After all, once you're a Cub fan, you're a Cub fan forever.
posted by MAYORBOB (17 comments total)

It's not much different than hearing 70-year-old lawyers referring to themselves as "Harvard Men" or "Yale men". When these guys die, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they wanted to take their collegial affiliation into the Great Beyond -- maybe God likes Yalies better.
posted by mrmanley at 6:15 AM on November 10, 2001

No, God likes Dukies best. It is a proven fact. I understand how people can associate with their alma mater their entire lives. I was raised as an Iron Duke, went to college there, have supported their basketball team since 1978 and don't want to consider a heaven without access to ESPN. Even in the hereafter, we have to ensure Duke beats the crap out of UNC at least once every single year!
posted by gloege at 6:53 AM on November 10, 2001

One of the benefits (in my mind) of going to an art school, was the lack of organized sports. We did have a pick-up hockey team comprised of staff, alumni and students that called themselves the Nads, hence the cheer from the crowds: Go Nads!, Go Nads!

I'd like to see the merchandising of that, thank you very much...
posted by machaus at 6:59 AM on November 10, 2001

Curse you, gloege, for beating my 'Cats in the final last year!

(I'd just like to take this opportunity to hoot and holler about their whipping Maryland (#2) and Florida (#5) to win the Coaches Against Cancer Tournament, thus showing all those of little faith who dared to not rank us in the pre-season poll simply because we lost 4 starters to the NBA!)

Now back to your regularly scheduled loonies-in-caskets programming....
posted by rushmc at 8:05 AM on November 10, 2001

*shakes her bootie*
posted by gloege at 8:26 AM on November 10, 2001

I went to THE school of unhealthy alumni attachments: Notre Dame. I decided my freshman year that I'd never be one of the plaid-pants-wearing overgrown fratboys who invaded campus on the Tuesday before a Saturday football game--just to get a good spot in the parking lot for his RV.

I just didn't (and still don't) GET it.
posted by jpoulos at 8:37 AM on November 10, 2001

My entry in the Oblivious Academics category: I was in my third year of graduate school at the University of Chicago before I realized that they actually had a football team.

Go Maroons!
posted by thomas j wise at 9:25 AM on November 10, 2001

I love that the coffin page shows Nebraska logos on all the demos. When I saw the site the first thing I thought of was the utterly rabid Nebraska fans I know that have homes covered in red N logos. Now they can die the same way they live, surrounded by college logos.
posted by mathowie at 9:37 AM on November 10, 2001

I did alumni fundraisers for Duke when I was a student there, and got a very real taste of what "obsession" really means. Until you've seen a Fortune 500 CEO or Manhattan corporate lawyer lose the Armani uniform to paint his face Duke blue, fork over a couple grand for courtsides at the Duke/UNC game, and scream with delight like a little kid when Coach K appears, you don't really understand it.
posted by lizs at 9:39 AM on November 10, 2001

Mathowie, according to Geist's interview with Walton, Nebraska is the top selling line.
posted by MAYORBOB at 10:03 AM on November 10, 2001

These guys have been doing them for a while. They also made that Kiss Kasket that I think was posted on here awhile back.
posted by iscavenger at 10:07 AM on November 10, 2001

I was a little surprised to see that many HBCUs represented, but I fail to understand how can they have a Spelman casket without a Morehouse model?

I always found it difficult to feel any alumni fervor about my alma mater, mainly because it was a commuter campus, and also, though I'm ashamed to admit it, because we didn't have a football team. However, if they came out with models for NPHC Fraternities or Sororities, I'd consider buying one.
posted by likorish at 1:03 PM on November 10, 2001

They have a Purdue casket, but no Indiana casket? That is just wrong. (Three guesses what my alma mater is.)
posted by SisterHavana at 1:57 PM on November 10, 2001

lizs: I hope to be one of those armani wearing alums someday... obsession isn't turning from CEO to freak fan, it's spending seven weeks in a tent to get better tickets than the CEO :)
posted by louie at 3:32 PM on November 10, 2001

Perhaps it had something to do with going to a school with 36,000 students and getting lost in the crowd, but I somehow never ever felt like a Husky. I mean, I skipped my own college graduation, because the idea of being "honored" in Husky Stadium along with 4000 of my college of arts & sciences classmates simply didn't appeal. Go dawgs?
posted by arielmeadow at 3:46 PM on November 10, 2001

In an interesting display of school-spirit related brainwashing, I have a hatred for Duke that almost exceeds my love for UNC. I wonder if I can get a "Go to Hell Dook" memorial coffin.
posted by Cecilia at 4:59 PM on November 10, 2001

cecilia: besides spending 7 weeks in a tent to see Duke beat Carolina 77-75 ;) I also spent a fair amount of time at my alma mater writing about exactly that brainwashing. It's remarkably similar to the psychology of religion and political groups. Just like religion, the most rabid school spirit can occur only when there is another school or (ideally) class of students to hate. Duke and UNC (with the class and public/private issues) have that in spades, so the rivalry is particularly acute.

Having now said my utterly reasonable two cents... so... when was that last ACC tournament title again? It's been a while, hasn't it? ;)
posted by louie at 7:57 PM on November 10, 2001