And they all rose in unison and chanted: "Take-your-hat-off!"

I apologize in advance if this is either hard to follow or just doesn't make any friggin' sense at all.

Ok. I'm a big believer in supporting your school (we're gonna run with College/University on this one kids). The school that you attend that is, or should I say, "especially the school you attend." And it really pisses me off to no end when I see people, especially students, wearing another school's apparel around town (campus, more specifically) or talking about how great their team is in my bar (alright I neither work there nor go 6 nights a week, but damnit it's my bar).
So I've tried to work through my never-ending frustration and organize my thoughts (imagine that- me organizing) into a few specific points:
1. apparel
2. fan support
3. my approval

Apparel
If you go to a school, you should wear that school's apparel (Sorry junior college kids, but this doesn't really apply to you as you are probably doing a good thing and working your way into a larger school. But extra credit points to you if you do wear it.).
This really should be an automatic and habitual thing. A no-brainer if you will. You go to a school. You buy apparel that shows you attend and support your school. You wear that apparel like it's going out of style, or never going out of style- your choice. You wear that stuff until it fades into obscurity and becomes just another white t-shirt or people ask you what's on your hat because it's now an all brown mess that doesn't remotely resemble your color or logo anymore.
You do NOT wear another school's apparel because it's "cool" or because you're a "fan" (casual or fairweather fan really), or especially because you wanted to, or still want to, go to that school but couldn't get in. That shows that you are really just a conformist douche bag, not a real fan or a friggin' moron respectively.
It's a slap in the face to every single student or alumni that chose to go the school you attend, and proudly supports them; when you go to your school wishing you were somewhere else.

Fan Support
Now that doesn't just mean pulling for your team when you're done pulling for your "other" team. That doesn't mean missing one of your team's games because you were able to get tickets to another school's game on the same day. That ESPECIALLY (and I actually get nauseous when I think of this) doesn't mean pulling for your "other" team against your current team if they do actually play each other.
That means pulling for your team no matter who they play and knowing that if someone talks trash about your team (even if it's Women's Swimming & Diving- hey, some of those chicks are hot), you'll be there to take up the fight and talk some trash yourself. Even if all you have at your disposal is "Oh yeah? You suck! Go back to (insert city here)!"

My Approval
I give it my "OK" for you to be a fan of another school if said school meets the following criteria:
1. Said school is not in the same state or conference as the school you attend. (Being a fan of a conference rival is grounds for an ass whipping)
2. Your athletic teams will never play said school's teams.
3. Noone will heckle you anywhere on or off campus for supporting said school.
4. I personally feel that it is OK for you to like said school.

Alright. That's all the organizing I could do for that. Rage is a hard thing to harness and bottle. So it's not the most persuasive argument or empowering soap-boxing, but that's what I was able to get out. It all boils down to this for me:
I'd rather my school (MY school goddamnit!) be half the size it is and be full of rabid fans, than the size it is and have to suffer the pains of seeing other schools' crap wherever I go.

If you want to banter back and forth and try to prove a differing opinion, feel free to visit some friends.

Oh yeah, one last thing: GATA.

D