Hammock Parties
11-19-2007, 11:30 PM
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/368904.html
Border War is as big as it will ever be
The outsiders may never understand. When Armageddon at Arrowhead is over, the onlookers from afar might still want to snicker, belittle the rivalry and predict that it will never happen again.
That’s fine. The 116th football meeting between Missouri and Kansas may never be fully appreciated by outsiders. The Border War has never been a main event, a showdown with national implications, a contest to decide conference supremacy.
It’s not Ohio State-Michigan or Auburn-Alabama or Duke-North Carolina in basketball.
But that is exactly what makes Armageddon at Arrowhead special. Ohio State-Michigan settles the Big Ten football race just about every year, and many years the game plays a role in the national title picture.
What we have this Saturday night inside Arrowhead Stadium is a one-time event, a brawl to settle it all. It’s Muhammad Ali-George Foreman. There will be no rematch. We’re about to witness history. The winner will forever be remembered as the greatest of all time, and the loser will have to reinvent himself 30 years later when there’s a new generation of fight fans.
You follow?
There is no next year for the loser of this game. It’s highly unlikely that Kansas and Missouri will ever meet again in a football game this big, this significant. In basketball, Duke could beat North Carolina in the national title game, and Carolina fans could console themselves by envisioning returning the favor the next season in the ACC title game, the NCAA Tournament or perhaps even in the title game.
The winner of Armageddon at Arrowhead gets lifetime bragging rights. Short of Mizzou and Kansas meeting in the NCAA Final Four, there is no sports victory that will top Saturday’s outcome.
The winner of Saturday’s football game could lose 20 straight Border War basketball games and still shut up a rival fan by pointing to victory in Armageddon at Arrowhead.
This is it. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry will be settled Saturday night. Seriously, it will never be the same. If Missouri wins, its basketball inferiority will be rendered irrelevant and the Ricky Clemons jokes won’t be nearly as funny. If KU wins, the Mangino size jokes will be rendered irrelevant and the Mangino size jokes won’t be nearly as funny.
Do you get my point?
The fact that this football rivalry has been fueled solely on hatred, passion and the history of the two states — and devoid of significance — is why this meeting is the greatest thing to happen to the college football season this year.
Armageddon at Arrowhead is more rare than gold, more treasured than diamonds.
I say let the outsiders run their mouths about Kansas’ soft schedule and about Harvard-Yale, Indiana-Purdue and Notre Dame-USC.
We know the truth. Those rivalries can’t touch Missouri-Kansas. I used to live in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines and the Buckeyes respect each other. It’s a good solid rivalry. So is Indiana-Purdue, the rivalry that defined my home state.
Missouri-Kansas is just different. It’s a way of life. It dates back to the Civil War and the abolitionist movement. I have Missouri friends who don’t like to cross the state line, and Kansas friends who feel the same way. Yeah, Norm Stewart has softened in retirement. He made peace with the Jayhawks. But I guarantee you he won’t sleep in Kansas or spend a dime in the state this week.
And I guarantee you on Saturday, no one inside Arrowhead Stadium will care who the Tigers or the Jayhawks beat to get here. All that will matter is what they do to each other. That’s all that’s mattered for more than 100 years.
Border War is as big as it will ever be
The outsiders may never understand. When Armageddon at Arrowhead is over, the onlookers from afar might still want to snicker, belittle the rivalry and predict that it will never happen again.
That’s fine. The 116th football meeting between Missouri and Kansas may never be fully appreciated by outsiders. The Border War has never been a main event, a showdown with national implications, a contest to decide conference supremacy.
It’s not Ohio State-Michigan or Auburn-Alabama or Duke-North Carolina in basketball.
But that is exactly what makes Armageddon at Arrowhead special. Ohio State-Michigan settles the Big Ten football race just about every year, and many years the game plays a role in the national title picture.
What we have this Saturday night inside Arrowhead Stadium is a one-time event, a brawl to settle it all. It’s Muhammad Ali-George Foreman. There will be no rematch. We’re about to witness history. The winner will forever be remembered as the greatest of all time, and the loser will have to reinvent himself 30 years later when there’s a new generation of fight fans.
You follow?
There is no next year for the loser of this game. It’s highly unlikely that Kansas and Missouri will ever meet again in a football game this big, this significant. In basketball, Duke could beat North Carolina in the national title game, and Carolina fans could console themselves by envisioning returning the favor the next season in the ACC title game, the NCAA Tournament or perhaps even in the title game.
The winner of Armageddon at Arrowhead gets lifetime bragging rights. Short of Mizzou and Kansas meeting in the NCAA Final Four, there is no sports victory that will top Saturday’s outcome.
The winner of Saturday’s football game could lose 20 straight Border War basketball games and still shut up a rival fan by pointing to victory in Armageddon at Arrowhead.
This is it. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry will be settled Saturday night. Seriously, it will never be the same. If Missouri wins, its basketball inferiority will be rendered irrelevant and the Ricky Clemons jokes won’t be nearly as funny. If KU wins, the Mangino size jokes will be rendered irrelevant and the Mangino size jokes won’t be nearly as funny.
Do you get my point?
The fact that this football rivalry has been fueled solely on hatred, passion and the history of the two states — and devoid of significance — is why this meeting is the greatest thing to happen to the college football season this year.
Armageddon at Arrowhead is more rare than gold, more treasured than diamonds.
I say let the outsiders run their mouths about Kansas’ soft schedule and about Harvard-Yale, Indiana-Purdue and Notre Dame-USC.
We know the truth. Those rivalries can’t touch Missouri-Kansas. I used to live in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines and the Buckeyes respect each other. It’s a good solid rivalry. So is Indiana-Purdue, the rivalry that defined my home state.
Missouri-Kansas is just different. It’s a way of life. It dates back to the Civil War and the abolitionist movement. I have Missouri friends who don’t like to cross the state line, and Kansas friends who feel the same way. Yeah, Norm Stewart has softened in retirement. He made peace with the Jayhawks. But I guarantee you he won’t sleep in Kansas or spend a dime in the state this week.
And I guarantee you on Saturday, no one inside Arrowhead Stadium will care who the Tigers or the Jayhawks beat to get here. All that will matter is what they do to each other. That’s all that’s mattered for more than 100 years.