You know I've always heard that, but never really fully grasped it until recently.
A few years ago my girlfriend and I, who was a Wynford grad went up to Oak Harbor to watch my kid cousin (who played for Port Clinton) during his senior season. My family and I were dumfounded, baffled, and bamboozled by how chippy the game was. Watching some of the PC parents egg on their players and sometimes cheer when they got away with cheap shots was just so utterly bizarre. It went both ways, and happened a lot. My girlfriend seemed somewhat unfazed, and said "thats just football, right?" She said that Wynford games were always chippy, especially in-conference.
Few months later we went to visit her parents and caught the home Royals vs Carey basketball game. I was absolutely stunned. Two Carey parents got ejected from the game (first one not even 30 seconds into the game), and technicals were abundant. I will admit, one of the most thrilling high school games I've been to.
Her parents and I were discussing it after the game and explaining how, MAC teams play hard, but have so much respect for each other. The conversation boiled down to how close the MAC schools/communities are and how interwoven with family ties, spread amongst very (logistically) close communities.
The N10 schools do not have that connection, theres not as much cross pollination (and can prolly be said for Port Clinton and Oak Harbor, as well). According to my girlfriend, there wasn't as many high school parties that had a lot of crossover with other non-Bucyrus kids when she was in school. And found it odd when I would explain how typical Fort Recovery barn parties would consist of kids from all over. St. Henry, Jay County, Coldwater, maybe some Marion, Minster... or God forbid, Celina or Union City kids if it was big enough. I bring that part up because I truly think those kind of interactions outside sports and school were what makes the MAC area so unique in a sociological standpoint.
