Game On

By Seth Herrold
The Missouri Tigers made their move to the Southeastern Conference official last weekend and despite the fact that the move was basically a formality, there was still plenty of backlash. While some Mizzou fans celebrated and others mourned, the biggest reaction that caught my eye was that of the Kansas Jayhawks and some of their fans. If you thought the Jayhawks hated Mizzou before, just look now.

Kansas seemed to take the Missouri move personal, which really isn’t out of line. For one, they are as fierce of rivals as any you will find and two, with four teams having now left the conference, it is beginning to get old for the remaining schools who are still trapped alongside Texas.
When the move was made, the official KU Twitterfeed shot off a tweet saying Mizzou was forfeiting a century-old rivalry and even stated “we win.” The post was one even KU fans and alumni deemed “petty and childish” and those are the words of said KU fans and alumni, not me.
The biggest disappointment to me was the KU stance on the Border War (or Showdown). They don’t want to play anymore. Kansas says the rivalry belongs to the Big 12 and they don’t care if they ever play the Tigers in any sport ever again. This coming after Mike Alden reached out at the press conference, saying Missouri wished to continue playing Kansas in all sports.
My problem is why Kansas won’t play Missouri anymore. They say it’s because they no longer share a conference. But last time I checked, teams didn’t have to share a conference to be rivals. Look at Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State, Kentucky-Louisville and Iowa-Iowa State. Those teams don’t share conferences and they have great, fierce rivalries. Missouri-Kansas shouldn’t be any different than those. Texas A&M and Texas are in the same boat as Missouri and Kansas. Texas A&M left the Big 12 basically to sever ties with Texas. There was no outreach by Texas A&M to continue playing the Longhorns, but if there had been, does anyone think Texas would have backed down and said no? Absolutely not. The Longhorns would have jumped at the opportunity because they have pride and even arrogance. Texas would love the opportunity to continue to handle the Aggies. Kansas has a legendary basketball program; they shouldn’t be backing down from any challenge. But they are. Missouri basically challenged them, saying they wanted to continue playing the rivalry and the Jayhawks are backing down. Phog Allen and Roy Williams were reviled figures among Missouri fans, but they were respected. I have a hard time believing they would have taken the same approach as Bill Self did, saying he didn’t care if the rivalry was played.
Another KU alum disappointed with his school’s stance on the issue went on to say, after describing the different atmosphere of Allen Field House when the Tigers were in town, that the university was cheating future students out of that experience.
After the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri, the SEC announced it would continue to play an eight-game schedule. I don’t agree with that though, because now Alabama and LSU will be coming to Columbia once every 12 years, but that isn’t the point here. The point is, Missouri, who is playing a nine-game conference schedule this season in the Big 12 will have an extra non-conference game to schedule. In the Big 12, West Virginia, Missouri’s replacement, is having a little trouble getting away from the Big East Conference to join the Big 12 by next season. A lawsuit by the Big East is throwing a wrench into a smooth transition, meaning the Big 12 may be a nine-team conference next season. That would cut the conference schedule to eight games and all of a sudden Kansas has an extra non-conference game to schedule. There is already reservations at Arrowhead for the two in 2012 and both schools are under contract with the Kansas City Chiefs to show up.
Missouri and Kansas, The Border War – game on.