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Re: MU vs. KU saturday...
I wish there was a way to explain to non-Mizzou people how crazy this game is going to be. There are two things at work here:
First: During my lifetime, Mizzou has been vacillated between mediocre and bloody awful at football. KU has been about the same. When I was an undergrad, we were routinely beaten to a pulp by teams like Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. 60 and 70-something to nothing scores. Just demoralizing. That has been the standard. Despite that, we've had a couple of opportunities to win big games, only to see our hopes dashed in spectacular and unbelievable fashion.
For example, in 1990, we were playing number eventual National Champion Colorado at home. I was there. Miraculously, we were up as the game was coming to a close, and Colorado was threatening, needing a touchdown to win. The officials gave them 5 downs, and Colorado scored on a QB sneak on 5th down. Actually, whether he actually broke the plane is debatable, but that's kinda beside the point. Colorado was awarded the game, and we all stood in the stands, stunned.
Turn to 1997, when we played Nebraska at home, who were ranked number 1 at the time, as I recall. Again, I was there. This time, as we're on our way to victory, a fluke play where the ball was unbelievably kept alive by kicking it and caught on a shoestring for a touchdown allowed the Tigers to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We had already begun ripping down the goalposts.
This is the life of a Mizzou fan. Close, but no banana, and always in a heart-wrenching way. I guarantee you that Tiger fans everywhere are experiencing a weird mix of joy, confusion, and apprehension -- we know we're supposed to be happy and we are, but we're not quite sure what it feels like to have a good football team and are afraid that something is going to happen to rip our hearts out yet again, in even more perverse fashion.
Second: This is Kansas, a team for whom we have a frankly unnatural and unhealthy degree of vitriol and venom. The MU-KU rivalry actually stems from the days of the Civil War when the Border War was literally a border war. When we play each other in sports, it makes no difference what the records are or who is "better" coming into the game. Totally unpredictable. For years, a coach could lose every game, but as long as he beat Kansas, everything was OK.
I guarantee you that if you were to ask any Mizzou fan if there is anything about this football season that they don't like, they will tell you that it is that Kansas has decided to have its breakout season at the same time and that KU is one-upping the Tigers by going undefeated and out-ranking us.
Whomever wins spoils the other's dream season, and you couldn't write it any better. It's going to be gangbusters at Arrowhead. So wish I could be there...
I wish there was a way to explain to non-Mizzou people how crazy this game is going to be. There are two things at work here:
First: During my lifetime, Mizzou has been vacillated between mediocre and bloody awful at football. KU has been about the same. When I was an undergrad, we were routinely beaten to a pulp by teams like Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. 60 and 70-something to nothing scores. Just demoralizing. That has been the standard. Despite that, we've had a couple of opportunities to win big games, only to see our hopes dashed in spectacular and unbelievable fashion.
For example, in 1990, we were playing number eventual National Champion Colorado at home. I was there. Miraculously, we were up as the game was coming to a close, and Colorado was threatening, needing a touchdown to win. The officials gave them 5 downs, and Colorado scored on a QB sneak on 5th down. Actually, whether he actually broke the plane is debatable, but that's kinda beside the point. Colorado was awarded the game, and we all stood in the stands, stunned.
Turn to 1997, when we played Nebraska at home, who were ranked number 1 at the time, as I recall. Again, I was there. This time, as we're on our way to victory, a fluke play where the ball was unbelievably kept alive by kicking it and caught on a shoestring for a touchdown allowed the Tigers to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We had already begun ripping down the goalposts.
This is the life of a Mizzou fan. Close, but no banana, and always in a heart-wrenching way. I guarantee you that Tiger fans everywhere are experiencing a weird mix of joy, confusion, and apprehension -- we know we're supposed to be happy and we are, but we're not quite sure what it feels like to have a good football team and are afraid that something is going to happen to rip our hearts out yet again, in even more perverse fashion.
Second: This is Kansas, a team for whom we have a frankly unnatural and unhealthy degree of vitriol and venom. The MU-KU rivalry actually stems from the days of the Civil War when the Border War was literally a border war. When we play each other in sports, it makes no difference what the records are or who is "better" coming into the game. Totally unpredictable. For years, a coach could lose every game, but as long as he beat Kansas, everything was OK.
I guarantee you that if you were to ask any Mizzou fan if there is anything about this football season that they don't like, they will tell you that it is that Kansas has decided to have its breakout season at the same time and that KU is one-upping the Tigers by going undefeated and out-ranking us.
Whomever wins spoils the other's dream season, and you couldn't write it any better. It's going to be gangbusters at Arrowhead. So wish I could be there...
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