to seek validation that your fears about rejection/inadequacy of your fictional rivalry with USC by an actual fan of USC —

That’s sorta like some insecure parent’s basement-dwelling manchild snooping around his gf’s phone and reading her texts with her friends only to find one saying he is less well-endowed, less attractive, makes less money and grows a thinner goatee than all of her earlier bfs — who then posts that to reddit relationship and size insecurity forums — along with various data about himself and pictures (🌹) — desperately hoping someone will sympathetically chime in to agree it cannot possibly be true.

For the record, I know lots of USC fans after years living in SoCal and from attending their rival school UCLA. Some of those USC fans are even family members. Exactly 0% of them have ever called Utah a rival although many have laughed and refuted that characterization.

Many USC fans have complimented BYU fans as excellent visitors that travel well and gracious hosts. Meanwhile, I’ve heard lots of negative comments about UU fans from them but never any positives.

Granted, they probably know I don’t want to hear any positives about UU fans either. But the same folks are inclined to say positive things on social media about BYU fans while making fun of UU. Sorta like BigXII fans on Twitter.