Wide Rule

I love it when sports meet the internet.

I should preface this post by saying that I am an American football fan, specifically of the Tennessee Volunteers and the Tennessee Titans.  I play in at least two fantasy leagues every year and I regularly read Football Outsiders as well as the Sports Argument Stadium.  A bout of depression hits me after the second Sunday in February and it lasts until September.

Yesterday, two major news stories hit my social networking sites at about the same time.

The first, and much more important news story, was the recent 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti.  The second was Lane Kiffin’s decision to take the head coaching job at Southern California, leaving Tennessee after only one season, a bowl loss and a lot of smack talk.

I’m not interested in going in depth on either of these topics.  I’m planning on donating to Yele as soon as their site is back up – USA Today has a good article if you are looking for other aid options.  As for the Kiffin drama, there are sports bloggers who will always be more creative than I.

What’s more interesting to me is the social media reaction I’ve seen surrounding both these issues

My Facebook, twitter, tumblr feeds were all full of updates about Knoxville – Kiffin, the march of protesters through campus, the burning of mattresses and essentially everything that was going on locally.  Knoxville is a college football town and there really isn’t anything much more important than the team.  If any of my readers aren’t SEC fans, I recommend picking up the book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania – it is the best introduction into the crazy that is football fanatics.

I was invited to a total of seven Kiffin hatred Facebook groups.  Around 3 am I was invited to my first “Pray for Haiti” group.

This morning I discovered that I was oblivious to international issues when I updated about football last night instead of Haiti.  Everyone in Knoxville “didn’t know what was important” because they were reacting to football instead of creating internet prayer groups for the Haiti survivors.

I am slightly peeved by the backlash against Tennessee fans.

I believe that Haiti is important and that the world needs to respond to the earthquake.  There are thousands of victims and any help that they can get is necessary.  It is a tragedy on a monumental level and I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the devastation brought upon some of the poorest people.

I also believe that the Kiffin decision and the subsequent almost-riot that took place half a mile from my home is also news worthy. 

Yes, this is important to me

A few people on my twitter feed have asked if I feel foolish.

No, I don’t feel foolish.  The coaching change up at Tennessee is a big issue and its going to push our program back for years.  We are losing our recruits left and right.

I also didn’t set mattresses on fire, so maybe the foolish comments weren’t directed at me.