Why I Have a Problem with Some PC MBB Fans
Above all else, I am a Rhode Islander, especially considering that I was born in the Ocean State and I have lived here my whole life. Due to this reason, I find it sad and sometimes pathetic when I see PC MBB fans start arguments with URI MBB fans. Arguing about sports is not an issue in any way but instigating personal attacks and things of that nature are not okay.
If I wanted to be like some PC MBB fans and argue topics that have nothing to do with college basketball whatsoever, I could take a shot at Ed Cooley's hair. As much as I love sports and quality sports banter, I have no reason to attack the man's skin condition. I only make mention of the clear irregularity because it is the type of thing that some PC MBB fans would have no problem attacking if Dan Hurley had a similar skin condition. There is a line that you are not supposed to cross when it comes to arguing about sports.
Much to many people's surprise, I root for Providence College men's basketball team for the majority of their schedule each season, besides when the Friars play URI and a handful of other teams. I just wanted to start off by stating this. Do I sound like a PC MBB "hater" to anyone?
Within the past two weeks, I published an article regarding URI's non-conference schedule on another website and as I gradually checked Twitter days later to see reactions to the article, I saw a lot of praise and people sharing the article. At the same time, I came across just one negative tweet that was directed at me. As I read through the grammatical errors, I realized that a PC fan was calling me biased, while cursing me out in the tweet. Appropriately, I posted a screenshot of the tweet to Runnin Rhody's Instagram account (@runninrhody) and it started an argument. For an entire hour, I engaged in an hour-long argument with the guy who cursed me out, as well as another die-hard PC MBB fan account. After clearly holding my own in a calm, understanding manner, the PC fan from Twitter realized that he misread the single sentence I wrote about how URI would matchup with PC this season. In addition, the same PC fan who originally cussed me out on Twitter said, "Ok thank you your actually a respectful uri fan that's a first." If I still do not appear to be a fair college basketball fan, then feel free to ask me for the links to these tweets and the Instagram post.
Recently, I watched the entire WVU-VT football game on September 13, 2017. After Virginia Tech won for the 13th straight time, there was no trophy presentation or major celebration after the rivalry game. For context, West Virginia playing Virginia Tech in football is much bigger than Providence and URI playing one another in basketball. PC can win for the next six matchups to make it 13 straight wins and there is a good chance that no one on a national stage would care.
I took zero offense when Ed Cooley said before the 2015 game in the Ryan Center that PC-URI is not a rivalry. In fact, I agreed with the Providence native. While both teams' fans may consider the matchup a rivalry, I really do not care. PC MBB fans seem to forget about the annual NCAA tournament and focus only on the annual matchup between PC and URI. No one can possibly be that narrow-minded. If PC keeps beating URI in their annual matchup and URI successfully makes it into the majority of future NCAA tournaments in March, why would a URI fan have reason to care? I understand hindsight is 20-20 but I often get the impression that PC fans value the Ocean State "rivalry game" much more than URI fans do.
At the end of the day, both teams suck when it matters in March Madness with their current coaches; considering Ed Cooley and Dan Hurley each have just one win under their belt in the NCAA tournament. Cooley is just 1-4 in the NCAA tournament and Hurley is 1-1. One of those records is mathematically better than the other one by a fair margin but you will not see me bragging about that. My message to PC MBB fans is to think about the "big picture", not about a single matchup in the non-conference portion of college basketball.
If none of what I have written applies to you and you are a fan of the Providence College men's basketball team, then that is great. I personally know individuals that are die-hard PC MBB fans that I have never once argued with in regards to PC and URI playing each other in college basketball. In recent years, I have met more PC fans that are relatively civil. As indicated by the title, the aforementioned issues only apply to some PC MBB fans.
In the middle of most arguments between PC MBB and URI MBB fans, I normally look like Rodney Bullock when he saw the Friars choke in their 2017 First Four matchup against USC.
Again, for my super sensitive PC fans, I just made that thing they call a "joke" and for your information, I was rooting for PC when they were playing against USC in that game.
