Fueling the Feud

Will somebody please tell me: why does Shawnee Mission South suck?

Why would I want to beat South more than any other team? What sets them apart from, say, Shawnee Mission Northwest?

Well, it just so happens that Shawnee Mission South is a rival of East, and Northwest is not. I think I can speak for much of the student body when I say that we would take joy in beating South in every sport, every year. And I’m sure I could speak for much of the South student body when I say they would enjoy beating us equally as much.

This is normal for a team to feel a great deal of pressure and hatred towards another team; there have been many legendary rivalries throughout sports history. Yankees vs. Red Socks. Duke vs. North Carolina. Oklahoma vs. Texas. Auburn vs. Alabama. Michigan vs. Ohio State. The list of teams that have harsh and classic rivalries could go on and on.

The students of Shawnee Mission East are no strangers to rivalries. Our list of classic enemies includes South, West, and Rockhurst. We feel ashamed if we lose to them, not only because it hurts our own pride, but also because it strengthens theirs.

When it comes down to why we hate these schools, East psychology teacher Kelli Kurle would believe that it is a combination of three things:

First is similarity. It’s human nature to want to beat the people you are most familiar with. Familiarity breeds contempt in the sense that the more similar somebody is to you, the more you will notice something wrong with them. One tends to notice the small differences with greater contempt rather than noticing the many similarities. This is true for our harsh rivalry with Rockhurst. One could argue that many guys at East are relatively the same type of person as those at Rockhurst; they live in the same place, go to the same parties, wear the same type of clothes, etc.  Yet, because they are only slightly different than us, we look at them with much contempt.

Second is frequency. Although Saint Teresa’s Academy is also in close proximity to East, the Lady Lancers don’t play STA nearly enough in order for the matchup to be able to become a rivalry. In order for a true rivalry to develop, both teams must know in advance that they will be playing each other; they must know the game is coming. Take the KU vs. MU game for example. Now that Missouri moved to the SEC, the game doesn’t mean as much; the two teams don’t play each other every year, decreasing their hatred. In five years, if the two teams played, the game would mean far less to the team and fans than it did five years ago.

The last combination is parity. In order for two teams to compete at a high level of intensity in every matchup, the two teams must be traditionally evenly matched. If Shawnee Mission North was halfway decent at any athletic activity, we may consider them to be just as much of a rivalry as South. But, unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) it’s not hard to beat the Indians in almost every sport, not leaving much room for “heated matchups.”

If two teams have built up these three qualities, they just may have caught themselves a case of the rivalries. And unfortunately, that sickness doesn’t go away lightly.

Traditions carry a rivalry through years and years of competition. The Oklahoma vs. Texas game is held yearly at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, Texas – halfway turf for the two teams. After fifty years of this tradition, the area holds memories and deep rooted traditions for each fan and player. When stepping into that fair and smelling those fresh fried twinkies, one thinks about the last time OU won against Texas, and how good of a time it was. Then they wish for that trend to continue as one walks into the Cotton Bowl Arena.

Two years ago, Rockhurst came onto our own turf, at our own gym, and beat us. This year, the juniors and seniors that experienced that loss couldn’t help but remember that feeling of defeat as we waited outside in line in that bitter air. That same feeling crept back because of that familiar tradition, and fueled us to yell as loud as we possibly could inside the gym.

If you think about it, rivalries are just a logical extension of sports. When you train as hard as you can in order to have the best chances of winning, and so do your opponents, the two of you are bound to run into opposition. When the two teams show up consistently with that spirit of great intensity, the game starts to harbor greater meanings. Any game can be a big deal, but a rivalry game is circled on the calendar with black ink.

I guess that’s why South still sucks…

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