Rivalries are part of our lives and we pretty much grew up on them. You went with who your parents cheered for or their alma mater until you either followed in their footsteps or ventured off to the college of your choice. Your friends will cheer for other teams, and of course it’ll be friendly and all will be fine once the game is over. Now is that all the same friendly competition when it comes to dating someone who cheers for your rival team? Eh, no.

Usually when you’re growing up cheering for a certain team you’ll sometimes think, “No way would I ever date someone who’s an (insert team name here) fan” and cross your fingers you’ll meet someone who likes the same team as you do. But life can be funny and lead you to someone who you’ll fall in love with, but that person, of course, loves the team you hate. Like me, I am a Longhorn fan and my boyfriend is an Aggie fan. And once this relationship continues on, you hit many bumps in the road and questions that you have to deal with.

1. Attire/Color

You have your team’s color that you love and wear with so much pride it hurts. Anything and everything you own is in that color so you can always rep your team whether it’s a simple scarf in that color or a pair of Kendras to wear on game day. But you know you won’t wear your opponent’s color. Leigh Anne Tuohy said it best in regards to Tennessee, “I will not wear that gaudy orange, it is not in my color wheel.” Or you twist some color names, like the color maroon for me. I won’t wear maroon anything, but I will wear burgundy or oxblood.

2. In Season

Once football, baseball, or hockey season rolls around, it's on. The taunting comes out and the fingers are pointed at anything and everything the other team has done wrong and then some. You cheer loudly for your team and just as loud cheering against your love’s team. You brag how your team is going to go all the way and beat their team along the way and vice versa. Hits will be taken against players and coaches and even the city/town where the team belongs. Jokes will pretty much be a common vernacular throughout the season until one of y’all’s team wins it all or loses.

3. Post-Season

So the season is done, which is such a sad time because you can’t cheer for your team anymore. But do the jokes or comments stop like the season did? Of course not. There is banter about how the losing team did and how the winning team did the best and will continue to do so into the upcoming season. To sum it up, it always goes on and won’t ever stop.

4. The Future

Now this topic is pretty much the ultimate factor of how life will continue on: who will the future children cheer for? How will your house be decorated? Which school or team flag will be flown on game day? It’s obvious your house will be divided but you would also have to decide just how much memorabilia from each team could be in the house. How many cups of each school do y’all keep in the cupboards? What team-themed onesie does your baby wear first? Your future will be filled with these questions and more.