After one year in the Big 12, I like to think that I have a good handle on each school. I have met some amazing people on the Big 12 Twitterverse (I will never call it X, BITE ME ELON) and have met some interesting individuals to say the least. After a year of obsessing over the Big 12, I have compiled a list of one thing I hate about each school. I am a rather hateful individual and have strong opinions.
Arizona: CHOKING
As an Arizona fan, the perpetual choking is maddening. I hate this crap. Coming off a 10 win season in football, we lose our coach and go 4-8 in 2024. Basketball is not much better, the 2005 collapse against Illinois, being the only team to ever lose as a 2 to a 15 multiple times, and many more memorable choke jobs have occurred. Whenever Arizona gets the ball rolling, we choke.
Arizona State: Claim to Be Things You are NOT
“We are a football school!” – No you are not. You have finished ranked 7 times since 1990 in the final AP Poll. That is not what football schools look like. Incoming “Unclaimed National Title” comments, if they were legitimate, your school would claim them. They do not.
“We are an elite baseball school!” No you are also not that! You have not made a Super Regional since the first Obama Administration and the last title you won was in 1981 when 34 teams made the tournament. It has not been that format in decades…
The claims on social media are annoying because none of them are true.
Baylor: WACO, TEXAS
I really enjoy going to road games. I want to make it a point to go to every school at least once to watch my team play there. That being said, Waco is the exception. First off, there is actually nothing to do. Second off, there is a lot of crime in Waco. Neighborhood Scout has Waco as being an 8 out of 100 in the safety scale with 100 being the safest. It also details Waco as the most dangerous place in the state of Texas.
I am not a wimp, but why should I go to Waco to watch Arizona play if there is not anything else to do, so it essentially becomes a day trip, I may become a victim of violent crime, and my team might lose said game. Baylor is good at most sports, enduring Waco to watch your team lose seems like a horrible trip.
BYU: The BENJAMINS Baby
Since when was BYU rich? Did I miss something, or is BYU all of a sudden loaded in NIL? BYU is good at almost everything right now and is paying crazy numbers to do it. I don’t have an issue with kids getting paid, but every report I read regarding “BYU” and “NIL” gets more and more absurd. The basketball program alone is dropping bags almost unheard of.
Stealing point guards from fellow conference teams, being able to pay AJ Dybantsa $5 + million dollars to play basketball, all of a sudden being in the running for every expensive player in the portal and high school ranks? Who does BYU think they are? When we joined this conference, I was not truly aware BYU was rich enough to call everyone else broke. The more you know.
Cincinnati – What do you do?
Honest question: What does Cincinnati actually contribute? Is there a single sport Cincinnati further advances this conference in? Making a College Football Title before the Big 12 move does not count because we all know that is never happening again. That was fraudulent and we all know it. Now that you are in a real conference, we thankfully will not have to watch a fake-good Cincinnati team in the CFP ever again.
Since joining the Big 12 they are 8-16 in football, has not made an appearance in March Madness on the men’s or women’s side, and went 1-2 in the NCAA baseball tournament. Cincinnati becomes an afterthought oftentimes because they just do not do much.
Bonus: Skyline Chili originates from Cincinnati. It is garbage. Do not pretend it is good.
Colorado – The Deion Sanders Cult™
Colorado fans used to be cool. They were a mostly chill fanbase, I liked being in the same conference as Colorado while in the PAC 12. Hated the conference but they were one of the cooler fanbases in said conference. Then Deion was hired.
To start, the local media is terrified of him. I have never seen a local media refer to a coach as a nickname in the manner they do. You are local media, you do not have to fear him, call him Coach Sanders and if you are on better terms with him call him by his first name. The fact the media in Boulder refers to him exclusively as “Coach Prime” is just sad.
The Deion fans also contribute to this cult-like following. Sanders was hired and instantly Colorado was adored by those nationwide. They act like he can do no wrong and everyone is always out to get the Sanders family. We can all agree Deion Sanders is good for the sport of college football, but the cult around Deion Sanders makes it very easy to root against.
Houston – Kelvin Sampson
Kelvin Sampson is an awesome basketball coach. I love listening to him talk ball and his teams rep this conference very well. That does not mean I cannot also hate him. I hate playing against Houston in basketball.
They get away with physicality that no other team gets away with due to their reputation of being tough, it is nearly impossible to catch them on an off night, their style of play is boring, and they beat my team. Kelvin Sampson has turned Houston Basketball into a powerhouse that I do not like playing. Coach Sampson is an awesome basketball coach, but I actually hate that my team will have to play his program annually.
Iowa State – Your Branding Sucks
When can we go back to any of your previous logos? This may be an unpopular opinion, but the logo with the bird/cyclone hybrid with “Iowa State Cyclones” written across with the accented blue is a fantastic logo. All the logos that feature Cy by himself are also amazing. The current logo? Absolute trash. Please revert your logo to almost any previous logo you have had and dump the current one.
Another branding thing, why do you never wear your own team colors? I went to the Caleb Love game (you know exactly which one I am talking about). The only issue is the uniforms worn by the Cyclones did not even feature your team colors. Why is it in all sports, you would rather wear black and white than your own school colors?
Kansas – Hatred of Own Players
I am not sure if I have ever seen a fanbase talk as poorly about their own players as Kansas Jayhawk fans. They are the first to defend them, but they also slander their own guys at a ridiculous level. From talks of booing seniors on senior night, celebrating players leaving the program via transfer, and many other occasions, Kansas fans really just seem to hate Kansas players.
Take DaJuan Harris for example, one would think he would be very popular due to being a longtime starter for the Jayhawks. Wrong, you had fans counting down how many games they had to watch him play for much of the season. This type of behavior is not private either, it is public and spewed to the masses to the point I sit here and wonder if you actually like Kansas Athletics.
Kansas State – Willie the Monstrosity
Willie the Wildcat might be the worst mascot in college athletics. That weird anthropomorphic, cat/human hybrid, off-putting looking thing has to go. It is horrible and a disgrace to this conference. High schools have better mascots. This one is short, but that does not mean I do not hate it any less than the others. Willie the Wildcat needs to be retired.
Oklahoma State – Mike Gundy
Whenever Mike Gundy speaks I have to roll my eyes. He is about as snarky as they come and has this bravado about him that from an outsider perspective is rather annoying. For a fanbase that comes across as nice as they do online, their football team is led by a guy who just seems like a jerk. “I’M A MAN!” Not the way you act, no you are not.
There always seems to be something going on around Mike Gundy that makes him somewhat entertaining. Off the top of my head there was the weird drinking and driving comment, the OAN T-shirt incident, calling Oklahoma State fans poor, there just always is something going on. There is never just a chill moment with Mike Gundy and at this point it feels like he wants the attention. He can deny that all he wants, but the antics are getting old and I am no longer entertained.
TCU – Dumb Chant/Song
“Riff Ram Bah Zoo” has to be the worst chant I have ever heard at a sporting event. It is literal gibberish. It is not cool in any way, shape, or form. Then throw in they put together hype video type things to play during sporting events with random people yelling the chant? Just odd, who wants to see a bunch of middle-aged guys with lawnmowers yelling the chant on the jumbotron during a college football game? I do not, that is for sure. When I think of the best chants and sayings in college football, “Riff Ram Bah Zoo” is absolutely not amongst them.
Texas Tech – The Cactus Emoji
Texas Tech fans’ usernames, comments, and posts are flooded with the cactus emoji. Said emoji is of a saguaro, which do not grow in Texas. Miss with some sob story about TCU’s recruiting coordinator, using an emoji of a plant that does not grow in your local area as a staple of your school is stupid.
Last time I checked, Lubbock does not have saguaros. Texas does not have saguaros. Those do not belong to you. The fact they are spammed on everything Texas Tech related is comical as they do not represent your school or local population in any way, shape, or form. It just looks dumb.
Bonus: TTU Barstool.
UCF – You Were NOT National Champions
I am not sure how many times people have to say it: UCF did NOT win the national championship in 2017. Claiming a title you were not invited to compete for is dumb. You won the Peach Bowl, which is a great achievement, but you did not win the national championship. You were not even invited to the College Football Playoff to get a chance to play for it. It did not happen. It is embarrassing to claim that. Just stop.
Utah – Utah Fans
During realignment, Utah fans acted as if anyone reporting on realignment were liars and that they were too good for the Big 12. Then after joining it became the notion that the Utes were too good for the Big 12 and were going to run the Big 12! News flash, they sucked in just about every sport possible.
All throughout the first season of membership, Utah fans have talked about a desire to join other conferences. I have seen posts talking about wanting to join the new PAC 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, and essentially any conference other than the Big 12. They hate it here and make it very well known. Beyond the hatred for their own conference, Ute fans are just mean and are extremely hostile towards other fanbases.
West Virginia – Couch Burning… WHY???
Why is this a thing? Why do Mountaineer fans have a strange obsession with burning furniture? Call me a party pooper but I am not sure ARSON is acceptable to occur when tailgating or to celebrate football victories. Maybe I just do not get it because I have never seen it in person, but I just find it dumb. It just gives off a weird vibe, it feels like it comes straight out of a bad sports movie.
As someone that would not know, do you all spend money acquiring old couches for the sole purpose of lighting them on fire? If so, I can think of infinitely better things to spend your money on. I do not get it nor want to get it. I hate it.
As You Can See, I Hate a Lot of Stuff
This is a beautiful conference and I am happy to be here. That being said, I have found things that annoy me to no end regarding every school in this conference but that somehow makes me appreciate them more. Thank you Big 12 for being unique to say the least.
UCF’s championship doesn’t count, then none of the championships before the BCS don’t count either.