Where ya from?

If I watch pro football or basketball, I learn where players went to school (mostly college, a few high school names in there). Players are spoken of by the announcers thusly: "Catch made by Jones, in his third year out of Alabama Southern". It may be somewhat relevant if a player is a rookie. You are reminded where he was last year, which may or may not mean something to you. If he has been a pro for a year or more, he is now fully immersed in the pro game, on a pro team. Terrell Owens went to Tennessee-Chattanooga, but he's in his 12th pro year, on his 3rd pro team. Does anyone really think that anything he was ingrained with at T-C is still present in his ways today?

If you want to tell me where a guy is "from", why not where he was born? Oh, that means nothing 20-some years later.

Baseball does not do this. Maybe because a higher percentage of baseball players go to the minors from high school or Junior Colleges, not to mention from other countries. Maybe because college IS the minor leagues for football or basketball?

In any even, I realized today that I officially hate this practice of naming the college a guy attended. I really liked a player and was rooting for him to succeed. He was doing so well, and the announcers were taking note of his performance and I felt a swelling of pride for "choosing" him as a favorite now that he was being noticed on a grand scale. The "experts" on highlight shows were even giving my new found hero major props. I've added him to my fantasy roster, and I was just about to start bidding on anything that had his likeness on it on ebay. And I have money to burn... and then they said it, and ruined it for me, and now I hate the guy, and I may just start hating his whole team... because I just learned the guy went to USC.