It&squo;s come to my attention that the Polk County High School men&squo;s soccer team, Warriors of Honorable Sport that they are, recently lost a game on the road to Hendersonville High School. Gentlemen, allow me to be the first to say that this is completely unacceptable. There are three unimpeachable truths in this world, and they are these: water is wet, the sky is blue, and PCHS SOCCER DOES NOT LOSE TO HENDERSONVILLE.Okay, that was a little harsh. Sorry. As a former member of the PC soccer team, I can only offer the team my deepest condolences, and the assurance that I understand the pain of losing the big game, especially to a most hated rival. I have absolutely no doubt that you&squo;ll get them next time.The game&squo;s result got me thinking of Polk County High&squo;s two great rivals ‐ Landrum High and the aforementioned Bearcats of Hendersonville. We enjoy a symbiotic relationship with our rivals; we need them so that we may use our school spirit to feed the fires of hating them, just as they need us so that they may hate us, etc. It is interesting to note, though, exactly how each school perceives the other. The students of Polk County High understand Landrum High to be filled with nothing more than a bunch of unrefined riff-raff for whom such lofty concepts as multiplication and literacy are rarities. Landrum High, of course, sees us as a bunch of stuck-up, no-good rich pansies who lord it over them from the Athenian ivory tower of knowledge and scholarship that is PCHS.I don&squo;t think anyone needs me to point out that each school&squo;s collective impression of the other is categorically false. Landrum is no more unrefined than Polk is, just as Polk is no more intellectually or financially inclined than Landrum; it&squo;s a false dichotomy spread in order to drive each school apart and get the students emotionally invested in their own school.Okay, but here&squo;s the thing ‐ remember what I said about how PCHS often views Landrum High? Well, that&squo;s the exact same way that Hendersonville High looks at PC. And I don&squo;t think you need me to point out that Polk students often see Hendersonville High through the same lens through which Landrum views our school. And ‐ you guessed it ‐ each school&squo;s perception of the other is totally BS.And I&squo;m pretty sure that these relationships are universal. I would not be surprised in the least if some other heated rival of Landrum thought that Landrum is a total stuck-up Nerdsville, and I&squo;m sure that some other school thinks Hendersonville is a bunch of yokels. It&squo;s all about creating this snobs-vs.-slobs scenario where your school has a reason to hate another school because they fall under one umbrella or the other.I&squo;m not saying that this is a bad thing or anything like that. But at least we should think about it. In closing, I&squo;d like to congratulate the PC boys on their 6-0 lashing of Madison High. Way to get those snobs.