With our first ACC conference matchups coming up I wrote this little piece to what was and my hope for what may be again in the ACC. I had fun with it, hope you enjoy! This is for our ex-PACs and reflects my fervent hope for what we can find in the ACC:
Requiem for the Abbhored
The real tragedy of realignment is that it robbed me one of the most special things in CFB and the world: hate. I mean Georgia Tech, Pitt, NC State, Miami, BC, Syracuse, Wake Forest? These are teams I could learn to dislike in time, but I don't know that I could ever grow to truly hate them. As it stands I don't even currently dislike any of them, let alone hate them. Sure, after a couple hard-fought battles or game changing calls against us I could find a way to resent them, disrespect them, or even find a measure of distaste but it's not the same. It's not True Hate.
Everyone remembers their first hate. The kind of hate that when you look at a person or a logo you see stars and feel a fluttering in your stomach and just know, in every fiber of your being, that you earnestly detest them and want to spend the rest of your life seeing them suffer. Every moment of every day you just can't help but dream of all the terrible moments you hope to inflict on them. The kind of hate where you can't imagine life without making them the unhappiest person/team/fanbase on the planet and you want to dedicate all of yourself to making them feel like they're the only ones you hate, the only ones you have ever hated, and the only ones you will ever truly hate.
They say that hate will set you free, but, sadly, I am currently conspicuously and ignominiously free of hate. I fear I'm fated to never find hate again and will be forced to live a long and happy life free of contempt then die surrounded by cherished and beloved friends, family, colleagues, and conference mates who I never truly hated at all. And what kind of life is that? Maybe I can learn to hate again but unfortunately right now I just feel too broken and hurt by realignment to disdain those around me the way I once did. They say time heals all wounds and maybe it can restore the part of me that truly loathed others. For now though I'm just adrift, meandering through a bland slog of an existence that feels so meaningless without true hatred. Hatred makes the world go round, and mine has ceased to spin.
FSU may be my only hope, but I don't know if my hatred of them is strong enough. I need to nurture it and care for it until it blossoms into something where I can not only see their misfortune without any remorse or empathy but to vehemently revel in it. I need some of our other ACC compatriots to step up, I hate Mack Brown but I haven't learned to hate UNC as a whole. I hated Notre Dame but then they had to do something as insensitive as extending us an olive branch and saving us from PAC purgatory and now I'm conflicted.
Hate is the spice of life, without it we are just souls trapped in this waking life without any meaning or aspirations. Please God, find me someone to hate with all my heart and I promise you I shall cherish and care for that precious gift of animosity for all my days
Requiem for the Abbhored
The real tragedy of realignment is that it robbed me one of the most special things in CFB and the world: hate. I mean Georgia Tech, Pitt, NC State, Miami, BC, Syracuse, Wake Forest? These are teams I could learn to dislike in time, but I don't know that I could ever grow to truly hate them. As it stands I don't even currently dislike any of them, let alone hate them. Sure, after a couple hard-fought battles or game changing calls against us I could find a way to resent them, disrespect them, or even find a measure of distaste but it's not the same. It's not True Hate.
Everyone remembers their first hate. The kind of hate that when you look at a person or a logo you see stars and feel a fluttering in your stomach and just know, in every fiber of your being, that you earnestly detest them and want to spend the rest of your life seeing them suffer. Every moment of every day you just can't help but dream of all the terrible moments you hope to inflict on them. The kind of hate where you can't imagine life without making them the unhappiest person/team/fanbase on the planet and you want to dedicate all of yourself to making them feel like they're the only ones you hate, the only ones you have ever hated, and the only ones you will ever truly hate.
They say that hate will set you free, but, sadly, I am currently conspicuously and ignominiously free of hate. I fear I'm fated to never find hate again and will be forced to live a long and happy life free of contempt then die surrounded by cherished and beloved friends, family, colleagues, and conference mates who I never truly hated at all. And what kind of life is that? Maybe I can learn to hate again but unfortunately right now I just feel too broken and hurt by realignment to disdain those around me the way I once did. They say time heals all wounds and maybe it can restore the part of me that truly loathed others. For now though I'm just adrift, meandering through a bland slog of an existence that feels so meaningless without true hatred. Hatred makes the world go round, and mine has ceased to spin.
FSU may be my only hope, but I don't know if my hatred of them is strong enough. I need to nurture it and care for it until it blossoms into something where I can not only see their misfortune without any remorse or empathy but to vehemently revel in it. I need some of our other ACC compatriots to step up, I hate Mack Brown but I haven't learned to hate UNC as a whole. I hated Notre Dame but then they had to do something as insensitive as extending us an olive branch and saving us from PAC purgatory and now I'm conflicted.
Hate is the spice of life, without it we are just souls trapped in this waking life without any meaning or aspirations. Please God, find me someone to hate with all my heart and I promise you I shall cherish and care for that precious gift of animosity for all my days
