Memphis? Not so Fast.

Last night I got back from working out circa 7PM. At that point I thought to myself, "Why am I not going to the bar to watch Duke/UNC?" At this point I started to attempt to convince some of my friends that this was in fact a good call. By 7:30, me and one of my buddies had control of a booth at the Corner Pub - Midtown (CPM), a typical watering hole for our "crew."

First let me say that the Duke/UNC hoops rivalry is the biggest rivalry in college sports, if not America. Traditionally, the winner of this game is going to carry the torch in the ACC and potentially show the country who the premier team is this year. No other rivalry has two teams that year in and year out receive the national attention as Duke and Carolina. They are, arguably, the two biggest names in college hoops. And to top it all off, they just happen to be a what, eight miles apart?

That being said, you have to know that Duke/UNC is the thing to watch right? I mean there is no bigger deal on Wednesday night in February than the greatest rivalry in college sports, right?

So we sit down and we're talking about whatever, some Super Tuesday stuff. And as much as I could throw my political views on you, I will for the most part refrain, but for the purpose of setting the tone, it is necessary. We started talking about our mutual distaste for Barack Obama for a number of reasons. At this point, the fellows to our left, a table in the middle of the room, started to pay attention, give dirty looks and whisper to each other. I knew this wasn't going to be good.

At this point, I become concerned about the TV situation as sizing these guys up, I figure initially that they're Memphis fans. They were also attempting to lay claim to one of the most important TV's in the place.

FYI. The CPM is basically a ex-Greek hangout in Nashville. Walking in, you notice guys who were in other fraternities at UT who you recognize from the bars in Knoxville that may be a few years older than you. Then you have the fans of the respective teams on all of the TVs that day. Throw in some mid-40's couples and you have a pretty cool, laid back, legit and SEC/good sports minded crowd. Good specials pretty much everyday. Everyone wins.

The trashy looking Memphis fan is not something that runs wild at the CPM. Actually, I was far from correct on this one.

So I alert our waitress to the situation of the majority of TV's being tuned into ESPN2 fro the Texas/someone game. She says she will change the one above us and the one in the corner to ESPN but the one behind us is under request by the Kentucky fans a few tables over. Fine, whatever.

The "Memphis" fans start to get stirred up. The guy wearing the USA jacket gets up to talk to a staff member and the station is turned back to the deuce. Now, we're really confused. A couple more sweet looking people show up and sit at their table as the time comes closer tipoff. 8PM rolls around and what's on the deuce? Soccer.

These guys came in and occupied a key TV in a solid sports bar during one of the biggest college events of the year to watch soccer. They then were upset that the sound was not devoted to this match.

Seriously. Keep your HD soccer games in your house. I was embarrassed to be in a bar, especially one that I frequent, where during a Duke/UNC game, there were soccer fans yelling and screaming. Without question, I love America, but unless your watching a European club match, you're not watching anything legit. USA/Mexico? Seriously. No one cares. Excuse me, 8 people care. I was sitting next to them screaming about "tackling" and "offsides" yesterday. I hate it when soccer fans call slide tackling, tackling. This is America. You tackle in football. Don't try to make your sport sound more intense than it really is.

You know, I try to appreciate sports as much as possible. You all know my feelings towards soccer. I loathe soccer. But I'll watch some World Cup out of principal. But anyone, last night, who tried to tell anyone else that there was something going on more important that Duke/UNC needs to get their act together. I mean, they're lucky there are a number of TV's at the CPM. Otherwise there would have been an issue, going at about 100-8. But as part of that 100, we may have been in some trouble, you know those guys could tackle.