No, it’s not my Acura theory (which also happens to be true BTW), it’s the other one.Â
It’s no secret that I have a high disdain for a cetain college in Waco, Texas whose colors happen to be green and gold. One reason for this is that the graduates (or alumni, if you will) of this institution of higher learning has to name drop where they went to college every single time, as if its a place of exceptionally high distinction.    It’s something I mentioned before, and yes, it drives me batty. Normal people that didn’t attend this university will simply say something like “when I was in college.” However, these folks will always replace the word “college” with the name of their sacred institution.Â
It’s a fun little theory that these alumni (especially church friends and family)  like to tease me about because they think I’m wrong and that I’m over-reacting, the most prominent being WifeGeeding. However, I found more proof to support this theory.
It turns out that ESPN has a new football blog written by Matt Mosley. On the home page of this blog is his picture with a short bio:
So far this is the most blatant form of this name dropping yet. I also decided to check out other ESPN columnists and found that none list where they attended college.
Maybe they did not attend/graduate college! Or….maybe they are ashamed of their alma mater!!! I did graduate, and I am not ashamed of my Baylor heritage!
I support your disdain, Keith. I know many Baylor grads and yes, some of them do seem to have delusions about the school’s reputation. Or, they are insecure about it’s reputation and feel that if they keep repeating it’s name, folks will start to believe it really is that good.
Okay, I’m being harsh. 🙂
Similarly, among the Ivy League alumni, I so often hear Cornell and UPenn grads dropping those names. Harvard grads say “in college”, but Cornell grads say “at Cornell…” etc.
Another issue, though, is if the school name is the same as the town in which it is located. For example, a Princeton alumnus could say “in Princeton” and simply refer to the place name. But a Yale grad saying “at Yale…” really wants you to know that the event didn’t just happen in New Haven–it happened at YALE.
Also Andy Bernard’s quote from The Office is so funny partly because it’s typical of a Cornell grad to say something like “I went Cornell… everheardofit?” 🙂
I have no strong feelings one way or another, but in my family’s case, it’s not necessarily Baylor per se. It’s that we are proud of our dad who has a seat named for him in the Hankammer Business School and a law course in his name at BU Law. It’s about the stories of young love between my mom and dad. It’s about a rite of passage when my brother and me were taken on our first hunting trip, along with Abner McCall. It’s about the fact that my grandfather attended Baylor pharmacy school, and many of my nieces and nephews were 4th generation. There’s “Baylor” there’s “family” and there’s “Baylor family.” Understandably, in my family, those boundaries blur.
To UTNG….Thanks, Brother………you said it so well.
GO Bears GO!. c u 2 soon windie