Iowa - Pittsburgh/Philadelphia

[Cali_Nittany]

I have a theory that I would like to test out. I think there is a correlation between the area of Pennsylvania that people are from and the level of dislike for Iowa. For example, I'm from Pittsburgh and I've always liked Iowa. Maybe because their school colors are the same as the Pittsburgh sports teams. I think Philly sports team fans have an automatic dislike for everything black and gold. (For those of you who didn't already know this, Hayden Fry copied the Steelers uniforms when he began coaching there to help instill a culture of success in their football program.) I limited the poll to just Philly vs Pittsburgh. If you're a Patriots or Bengals fan, I wouldn't want to know your opinion anyway....

 

[NoVa Lion]

I have a theory that I would like to test out. I think there is a correlation between the area of Pennsylvania that people are from and the level of dislike for Iowa. For example, I'm from Pittsburgh and I've always liked Iowa. Maybe because their school colors are the same as the Pittsburgh sports teams. I think Philly sports team fans have an automatic dislike for everything black and gold. (For those of you who didn't already know this, Hayden Fry copied the Steelers uniforms when he began coaching there to help instill a culture of success in their football program.) I limited the poll to just Philly vs Pittsburgh. If you're a Patriots or Bengals fan, I wouldn't want to know your opinion anyway....

The wrestling board is a bad place to get an objective result on fans view on Iowa. Post this poll on the wrestling board of pretty much any D1 school with wrestling and there will be a LARGE majority that hate Iowa, just because they were on top for so long.

 

[Cali_Nittany]

The wrestling board is a bad place to get an objective result on fans view on Iowa. Post this poll on the wrestling board of pretty much any D1 school with wrestling and there will be a LARGE majority that hate Iowa, just because they were on top for so long.

That's logical - kind of like the Yankees.

 

[Cali_Nittany]

The wrestling board is a bad place to get an objective result on fans view on Iowa. Post this poll on the wrestling board of pretty much any D1 school with wrestling and there will be a LARGE majority that hate Iowa, just because they were on top for so long.

I also blew it when I stated my theory up front. I wouldn't put it past Philly fans to throw Pittsburgh fans under the bus and skew the poll.

 

[gtown mike]

It's kind of apples and oranges for me. As an Eagle fan, I reserve my "hatred" for professional athletes and organizations. There are exceptions, like the Miami Hurricanes circa '85-'95. I think any great team needs a great rival to measure themselves against. I love the topic, though. I will be interested to see how it turns out!!

 

[zwick99]

I have a theory that I would like to test out. I think there is a correlation between the area of Pennsylvania that people are from and the level of dislike for Iowa. For example, I'm from Pittsburgh and I've always liked Iowa. Maybe because their school colors are the same as the Pittsburgh sports teams. I think Philly sports team fans have an automatic dislike for everything black and gold. (For those of you who didn't already know this, Hayden Fry copied the Steelers uniforms when he began coaching there to help instill a culture of success in their football program.) I limited the poll to just Philly vs Pittsburgh. If you're a Patriots or Bengals fan, I wouldn't want to know your opinion anyway....

Except your premise is wrong. Philly don't care about Iowa one way or the other.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Hmm, not sure where to begin. Like gtown mike, I separate pro teams from college teams. In addition, team colors or unis mean nothing to me in terms of my thoughts about a team. As a die-hard Eagles fan, there's no pro football team that I dislike more than Dallas. That said, Iowa, or any other college wrestling team you could think of, could wear the same uni as the Cowboys do (to the extent that a football team uni could be translated to a wrestling singlet), and it would have no influence on me. I only dislike a uni when it's worn by the team that I dislike.

Lastly, I think you're making a gross generalization about fans of Philadelphia sports teams concerning their feelings for Pittsburgh. Each fan has their own likes and dislikes. In terms of the actual sports/teams, the majority of Philadelphia fans, or at least those that were alive in the '70s, have always thought highly of the Steelers. As they're AFC and the Eagles are NFC, there isn't a lot of direct competition between the teams. A lot of Eagles fans have the Steelers as their favorite AFC team. In baseball, the Pirates have never been the Phillies top competitors, and while they are both NL teams they are in different divisions these days. The rivalry got a bit heated when both teams were good, but I don't think that's been the case since the late 70s. The Phils, with the exception of the '93 team, kind of stunk in the late 80s and most of the 90s, and didn't turn things around to the mid 00s. The Pirates were pretty bad during most of the Phils recent run, but last year the Phils stunk and the Pirates made the playoffs. There is more of a dislike between the Flyers' fans and the Penquins' fans, but that wasn't always the case. While both teams were part of the 1967 NHL expansion, the Flyers won 10 Division Championships, 6 Conference Championships and 2 Stanley Cups, before the Pens won their 1st Division Championship or Conference Championship (both in 1990-91). Things have been a tad more heated since then, and the Pens seems to have replaced some of the former least-favorite teams amongst Flyers' fans.

 

[slaterun]

Grew up just outside of Philly. I always liked iowa b/c I thought they had cool helmets as a kid.

Philly is more of a pro sports town - major rivals would be more along the lines of teams from NY/Boston (NY Giants vs Eagles and Celtics vs 76ers, when the sixers were good), much less of a rivalry with Pittsburgh at least from my perspective.

 

[Lattner]

How far are they from S. Jersey?

 

[dicemen99]

From outside of Philly and the Steelers have always been my 2nd favorite football team. I like the Bucs also and never really hated them even growing up in the 70s when they were competing directly with the Phils. I like Pittsburgh -why wouldn't I, I'm a PA guy.

 

[Cali_Nittany]

Great comments guys. I might have overestimated a Pitt-Philly rivalry based on the Pens-Flyers.

 

[KFM74]

Pittsburgh fan. Cannot stand Flyers but do not mind Phillies or Eagles. Even felt badly for the Eagles a few years back when Terrell Owens seemed to cause the implosion like he did most everywhere he played.

With that I like to beat Iowa but to suggest I hate them is probably a bit strong. Interesting discussion.

 

[a_mshaffer]

i'm central Pa but lean to all of the Pitt teams. However, have some good friends from S. Jersey - across the river from Philly. Philly takes a bad rap (I affectionately call them FFs - Filly &@&**@#). Where they may be obnoxious at time, I sense that the area has the most knowledgeable sports fans - All Sports - than anywhere else. Meaning one city, in my opinion, may be better and have more knowledgeable fans in one sport, but the folks I know from Philly and the exposure I've had seemed to indicate they know a lot about them all... With that said, Let's go Buc's!

 

[KidNittany]

From Philly, I think the "They hate Pittsburgh" thing is a myth made up by people from Pittsburgh. Don't know why, it's weird. We don't really talk about Pittsburgh, ever, unless they're relevant in the playoffs, what have you. Maybe it's an attention thing, noticed similar attitudes in school. Pens yeah there's a hatred there because there is direct play, and Crosby is not exactly liked here. Cowboys rule the hatred roost but the Giants have creeped up closely. Redskins aren't liked either but they haven't been relevant recently.

Iowa is my third favorite wrestling team. Penn is second.

 

[psu00]

Grew up just outside of Philly. I always liked iowa b/c I thought they had cool helmets as a kid.

Philly is more of a pro sports town - major rivals would be more along the lines of teams from NY/Boston (NY Giants vs Eagles and Celtics vs 76ers, when the sixers were good), much less of a rivalry with Pittsburgh at least from my perspective.

This ^^^. I think people from Pittsburgh tend to have more rivalry feeling toward Philadelphia than people from Philly do toward Pittsburgh. Yeah the Flyers and Pens have gone at it some but in terms of the Philly (eastern PA really) mindset- the main rivals are Dallas, NY Giants (Eagles), Celtics (Sixers), NY Mets (Phillies), NY Rangers (Flyers).

I know I'll take heat from the western PA guys here but I see the Philly/ Pittsburgh dynamic a lot like the Penn State/ Pitt dynamic. The eastern team doesn't really think of the western team that much as a rival but he western team sees the eastern team as a big rival.

I think it has more to do with Philly being a northeast corridor mindset so New York, Washington, and Boston tend to be the main focus while Pittsburgh is more of a Midwestern type location so they see regional Cleveland (and Baltimore from the Browns move) and Philly as the major rivals.

As for Iowa- I don't think many in PA give them much thought 1 way or the other unless they are playing/ wrestling Penn State that week.

 

[tjb249]

I can tell you that not a single youth wrestler from Southeastern PA that I coach will ever go to Iowa. If a wrestler enters the practice room with anything Iowa, Ohio State or another Big Ten team, they have to remove it. A few years back, I told Joey Galasso one practice that if he didn't remove his Iowa socks before practice, he'd have to practice in bare feet. He wore the socks on purpose to mess with me, but did switch them before practice.

Also, every single Eagles fan that goes to PSU learns to hate the Steelers. This is a fact. I was fortunate enough to be an undergrad when the Eagles and Steelers both made the conference championship games back in the early 00's. Those were fun times. I'm sure the older generation has a different outlook as it was stated above.

 

[dicemen99]

I can tell you that not a single youth wrestler from Southeastern PA that I coach will ever go to Iowa. If a wrestler enters the practice room with anything Iowa, Ohio State or another Big Ten team, they have to remove it. A few years back, I told Joey Galasso one practice that if he didn't remove his Iowa socks before practice, he'd have to practice in bare feet. He wore the socks on purpose to mess with me, but did switch them before practice.

Also, every single Eagles fan that goes to PSU learns to hate the Steelers. This is a fact. I was fortunate enough to be an undergrad when the Eagles and Steelers both made the conference championship games back in the early 00's. Those were fun times. I'm sure the older generation has a different outlook as it was stated above.

With the kids that are coming through that room now-a-days that's a nice blow to the Hawkeyes. Although PSU is going to have more competition from the Ivies for some of these kids.

I really like Janney a lot more after seeing him a few weeks ago at ETR. Good frame on the kid for college. And Beard is the real deal and has been for some time. I think he ends up a top 10 recruit when all said and done, maybe even top 5. A lot more kids coming through that room that will make an impact also.

 

[tjb249]

Thanks for the kind words.

Wish I was in the room more for the high schoolers. I did give Seth some pointers before wrestling Jordan at ETR, but he needed to lower his level against Jordan on his feet. That's how Jordan got underneath him. Seth is going to be a monster at HWT next year, when he gets up to 240lbs. He's got Nick Ruggear, former PSU 197/HWT, as his training partner in the room, so we should see a huge improvement from him over the off season.

Yeah Michael is legit. I need to get myself healthy and back in the room, so I can personally wrestle in the off season with both of them.