Speaking as a person who would buy almost any "I hate Michigan" shirt as a result of my family legacy at THE Ohio State University (except for that one), this shirt comes close to articulating a thing I've been thinking about a lot lately. While I recognize the completely irrational nature of the hatred Buckeyes feel for the school up North and its evil Wolverines, having an archrival makes things more exciting. It inspires school spirit, fervor, fanatic behavior, well, drinking, and the spending of money. Just seeing the other school's colors, mascot, and above all, its insignia, inspires a hatred that I barely understand. But this is at the basis of my love and loyalty for Ohio State.

Not surprisingly, the college sports culture trains us for other rivalries, and teaches us to hate what we imagine things represent--namely, some sort of other who believes things that are most importantly NOT what we believe. I saw this episode of That 70s Show the other day in which the father tells his children, in a fantasy of how he had imagined the world would be in his youth, explain that America is number one due to its loyalty, experience, and hard work, and the reason that other countries--in this episode, Germany and Japan--are NOT number one is their lack of experience, loyalty, and hard work. This kind of negative definition seems to be an important part of the American identity, from college sports to global politics.