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Hate Towards UTEP - Why?

chuwy9

chuwy9

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May 11, 2012
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So going through various message boards, I have to say a lot of people have considerable hate towards UTEP (particularly former WAC conference mates)

Why?

Honestly, while I expect some hate here and there, it surprises me because we've never had the winning to inspire such dislike.

I think its interesting that some fans of the former WAC 16 place some blame on UTEP for the creation of MWC. (something about how we demanded certain concessions/schedules) I don't remember this so am I remembering things incorrectly?

Any ideas on this?
 
chuwy9 said:
So going through various message boards, I have to say a lot of people have considerable hate towards UTEP (particularly former WAC conference mates)

Why?

Honestly, while I expect some hate here and there, it surprises me because we've never had the winning to inspire such dislike.

I think its interesting that some fans of the former WAC 16 place some blame on UTEP for the creation of MWC. (something about how we demanded certain concessions/schedules) I don't remember this so am I remembering things incorrectly?

Any ideas on this?
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a line from the movie Rocky (1976) by loan shark Tony Gazzo, played by the late Joe Spinell.

"Some guys, they just hate for no reason"
 
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chuwy9 said:
I think its interesting that some fans of the former WAC 16 place some blame on UTEP for the creation of MWC. (something about how we demanded certain concessions/schedules) I don't remember this so am I remembering things incorrectly?
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to where they're saying this?
 
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There is definitely a racial/ethnic animosity towards el paso. There may be people on the board that don't want to accept it, but it's definitely true. You often see things written about El Paso being a shit-hole and dangerous that is far removed from the reality, especially when compared to Albuquerque and a bunch of other towns that are currently in conference USA. This has only worsened with the political situation and anti-immigrant/Mexican sentiment of the last 10 years. I mean, there was a massacre that specifically targeted us for who we are.
 
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I'll take a quick look at my history to see if I can find specific examples.

The quote that stuck with me, is the following:

"'I'm a UTEP guy but they're not much more than NMSU with a nicer stadium."

#ouch
 
desantos said:
From everything I have read, ESPN is pulling all the strings. I say El Paso needs to boycott all Disney/ABC/ESPN content until UTEP is in a conference of our liking.
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Good luck with that.

I do think there's an antitrust case to be made if ESPN is really taking an active role in destroying CUSA.
 
FeralFelidae said:
Good luck with that.

I do think there's an antitrust case to be made if ESPN is really taking an active role in destroying CUSA.
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That’s really far fetched that ESPN is putting effort to destroy a league that has been on the decline for 10 years. ESPN just acquired NHL rights, it’s not like they don’t have enough programming.
 
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I travel to Utah often, and people usually comment on my UTEP gear. Usually Utah St. alumni bitter about us taking an NCAA bid from them, or a BYU alumni still bitter about us being a blemish on good year for them. Everything I have heard is Wyoming and Utah (when they were WAC and ditch us for the MWC) thinking they are equivalent to Ivy league schools and UTEP was not worthy, but nothing athletics wise.
 
NoNCAAWinsSince1992 said:
That’s really far fetched that ESPN is putting effort to destroy a league that has been on the decline for 10 years. ESPN just acquired NHL rights, it’s not like they don’t have enough programming.
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Yeah, I think the AAC is making a gamble that by stealing teams from big TV markets, even if few people in those markets actually care about those teams at all, they're going to be able to claim a big TV footprint when they renegotiate their TV contracts. I don't think it's going to pay off.
 
FeralFelidae said:
Yeah, I think the AAC is making a gamble that by stealing teams from big TV markets, even if few people in those markets actually care about those teams at all, they're going to be able to claim a big TV footprint when they renegotiate their TV contracts. I don't think it's going to pay off.
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It’s laughable to think Rice carries the Houston market or that UNT brings D/FW.
 
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FeralFelidae said:
Yeah, I think the AAC is making a gamble that by stealing teams from big TV markets, even if few people in those markets actually care about those teams at all, they're going to be able to claim a big TV footprint when they renegotiate their TV contracts. I don't think it's going to pay off.
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Just think about how bad the next CUSA deal will be without those teams. Assuming it’s around.
 
NY/NJminer said:
There is definitely a racial/ethnic animosity towards el paso. There may be people on the board that don't want to accept it, but it's definitely true. You often see things written about El Paso being a shit-hole and dangerous that is far removed from the reality, especially when compared to Albuquerque and a bunch of other towns that are currently in conference USA. This has only worsened with the political situation and anti-immigrant/Mexican sentiment of the last 10 years. I mean, there was a massacre that specifically targeted us for who we are.
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I have moved to San Antonio and most people I meet are shocked when I tell them that I am from El Paso and loved living there. It is so true that people fail to recognize that El Paso is a great place to raise a family with low crime.
 
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jdubb66 said:
It's laughable that UNT and SMU share the same market. SMU must be beside itself right now. A clear FU to SMU by Aresco.
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They're beyond pissed. UNT is the biggest head scratcher. They are the third most prominent university in DFW. They don't move the needle at all. Their stadium would the third nicest 6a high school stadium in DFW. They must think SMU is off the the big12.
 
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Having lived in the Portland area for 7 years now. The grass isn’t always greener. Aside from it being beautiful to live here and I get paid well. El Paso holds its own on so many other factors. I don’t see myself moving back, mainly because of pay. Here knowing a little Spanish, goes a long way. I wasn’t raised on Spanish, and only learned from school. The other problem is the lack of big money, there is simply not enough headquarters or good paying jobs in EP. Many people leave and shit on EP. I hate that, El Paso will always be special to me. People just don’t know what El Paso can offer. And choose to not even find out. I am looking to move and I’m down to Tampa, Charlotte, San Antonio, or Sacramento. Sadly, I thought I was going to be able to attend more games. Until they all bolted to the AAC! Sucks! UTEP needs to do a major rebranding of itself. I’ve said it before, the national perception is negative. And nobody knows why, for sure. It’s not just about losing. Go Miners!
 
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shyminer81 said:
Having lived in the Portland area for 7 years now. The grass isn’t always greener. Aside from it being beautiful to live here and I get paid well. El Paso holds its own on so many other factors. I don’t see myself moving back, mainly because of pay. Here knowing a little Spanish, goes a long way. I wasn’t raised on Spanish, and only learned from school. The other problem is the lack of big money, there is simply not enough headquarters or good paying jobs in EP. Many people leave and shit on EP. I hate that, El Paso will always be special to me. People just don’t know what El Paso can offer. And choose to not even find out. I am looking to move and I’m down to Tampa, Charlotte, San Antonio, or Sacramento. Sadly, I thought I was going to be able to attend more games. Until they all bolted to the AAC! Sucks! UTEP needs to do a major rebranding of itself. I’ve said it before, the national perception is negative. And nobody knows why, for sure. It’s not just about losing. Go Miners!
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Typical El Paso rules and is awesome, but I don’t live there anymore and won’t consider it!
 
When my cousin was alive, we had a discussion about how others outside of El Paso viewed UTEP. His belief was that, when Don Haskins went against the norm and broke the color barrier that led to winning the 1966 national championship, it generated a lot of hate and resentment towards Texas Western College, now UTEP. I don't know how much of that still exists today, seeing that it was over 55 years ago. I think it just has to do with our geographic location, that we're practically in no-man's land. That and our two biggest athletic programs, football and men's basketball, have been disastrous over the past two decades.
 
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desantos said:
From everything I have read, ESPN is pulling all the strings. I say El Paso needs to boycott all Disney/ABC/ESPN content until UTEP is in a conference of our liking.
Click to expand...


Funny how ESPN still has any pull. All of cable network is going down. Nobody is watching TV anymore. Ratings are down in almost every sport.
 
UTEP has an El Paso problem. El Paso is a really big little city. It has the population of a big city but it has the draw of a little city. What would make people take a vacation to El Paso? Juarez? Maybe. White Sands, Ski Apache, or Carlsbad Caverns? Not really El Paso. The Sun Bowl? Perhaps once a year. The scenery? Doubtful. Amazing Resorts? Where? Relatives? Sure. Southwest University Park and the renovation to downtown is a definite move in the right direction.
 
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whipnm said:
UTEP has an El Paso problem. El Paso is a really big little city. It has the population of a big city but it has the draw of a little city. What would make people take a vacation to El Paso? Juarez? Maybe. White Sands, Ski Apache, or Carlsbad Caverns? Not really El Paso. The Sun Bowl? Perhaps once a year. The scenery? Doubtful. Amazing Resorts? Where? Relatives? Sure. Southwest University Park and the renovation to downtown is a definite move in the right direction.
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El Paso is like a pineapple — rough on the outside; sweet on the inside (I didn’t write that).
 
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I also live in DFW and no one here talks about UNT outside of Denton. They might as well be in a different state. As mentioned by others, the programs people follow in this area are UT, ATM, TCU and a distant fourth SMU. There’s a lot of OU fans here as well. SMU is pushing hard to rebrand themselves as Dallas’ team and doing a media blitz with billboards, tv and radio spots. SMU’s goal is to get into the Big 12 and appear to have a good game plan. I think UTEP needs to wake up and start investing in their football program so they can put themselves in a better spot for the next round of conference realignments. One way to do that is to increase student activity fees, but that may get some pushback. I’m not sure if the AAC‘s goal to tap into large metro areas will work since the same applies to Rice in Houston and FAU in South Florida.
 
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I moved to San Antonio in 2015 and thru my job have met a lot of El Pasoans. Even had a gig working at UTSA, rocked my UTEP gear while working and had a bunch of El Pasoans come up and have a little conversation bout home. A lot of us would move back if the city ever got it together but wages have to come up. My job has me traveling alot up north now…I’m in Indianapolis currently and no place compares to EP. I miss everything about El Paso and hope the people there don’t ever change into these self entitled, lazy, woke, rude ass Yankees. Don’t ever come to this armpit of a state Indiana if ya don’t have to. F all the trash talkers and naysayers…it’s all ignorant, racial BS.
 
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Never had a problem in Dallas and now Covington KY. Lots of praise for the 66 team from the UK fans. Doesn’t feel like KY since I’m a walk across/drive over a bridge from Cinci.
 
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I think UTEP has a negative perception largely due to it's location on the border and our proximity to Juarez, a city that doesn't have a great reputation, even in Mexico. I'm sure there's a component of racism mixed in there. Just look at politicians that make it seem like we are in a war zone with migrants or drug violence nearby, and completely gloss over that for a very long time we have been one of the safest cities in the whole country.

When I first graduated in the mid 2000's, I moved to Lubbock for a job in healthcare, and anytime I told folks I was from El Paso, they would make the most negative face at me. Ironic since Lubbock is such a shithole aesthetically compared to El Paso. When I moved back home a couple of years later, they couldn't fathom why I would even want to.

El Paso is one of those cities that if you know, you know. It's honestly a bit of a gem. How many of us have met that person that moved here with a negative opinion initially, and ended up staying because they loved it?

Message board hate is always there for just about every team in some fashion or another. The NMSU board is a good example of folks that know and those that don't. A large chunk of NMSU alum live and grew up in El Paso, so love the city, as do many in Las Cruces. Then you have a lot of folks from Northern New Mexico that call it Juarez Tech, and have a negative opinion of UTEP as a whole. Overall I think over the last decade, the perception of UTEP has shifted to that of friendly rivalry compared to a lot of the animosity that existed in the early 2000's.
 
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Riburn3 said:
I think UTEP has a negative perception largely due to it's location on the border and our proximity to Juarez, a city that doesn't have a great reputation, even in Mexico. I'm sure there's a component of racism mixed in there. Just look at politicians that make it seem like we are in a war zone with migrants or drug violence nearby, and completely gloss over that for a very long time we have been one of the safest cities in the whole country.

When I first graduated in the mid 2000's, I moved to Lubbock for a job in healthcare, and anytime I told folks I was from El Paso, they would make the most negative face at me. Ironic since Lubbock is such a shithole aesthetically compared to El Paso. When I moved back home a couple of years later, they couldn't fathom why I would even want to.

El Paso is one of those cities that if you know, you know. It's honestly a bit of a gem. How many of us have met that person that moved here with a negative opinion initially, and ended up staying because they loved it?

Message board hate is always there for just about every team in some fashion or another. The NMSU board is a good example of folks that know and those that don't. A large chunk of NMSU alum live and grew up in El Paso, so love the city, as do many in Las Cruces. Then you have a lot of folks from Northern New Mexico that call it Juarez Tech, and have a negative opinion of UTEP as a whole. Overall I think over the last decade, the perception of UTEP has shifted to that of friendly rivalry compared to a lot of the animosity that excited in the early 2000's.
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True. The violence in Juarez in 2006 didn’t help, and most of the border stuff is in the Valley. Every time I said I’m from El Paso it equates to either Ft. Bliss, 66 team, or “how far is that from Dallas” and shock when I tell them. One thought we were next to San Antonio up where I’m at. Depends on where you go I guess.
 
minerfan_14 said:
True. The violence in Juarez in 2006 didn’t help, and most of the border stuff is in the Valley. Every time I said I’m from El Paso it equates to either Ft. Bliss, 66 team, or “how far is that from Dallas” and shock when I tell them. One thought we were next to San Antonio up where I’m at. Depends on where you go I guess.
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For sure. People even in our region are clueless. I bought a car in Phoenix a few years ago and the dealer asked me why I went all the way to Phoenix from El Paso, and didn't go somewhere closer like Dallas or Houston.
 
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