The End of a Rivalry

If a rivalry has to end, I guess it should end like this one.  This Saturday, Missouri will visit Phog Allen Fieldhouse for the last time, at least for the immediate future.  The atmosphere in the Phog should be spectacular from start to finish and it should be a fitting end to the 104-year old hoops rivalry.

What is so great about this final regular season match-up is that there is a lot riding on the outcome.  A Kansas win will guarantee the Jayhawks at least a share of the Big XII basketball championship for the eighth straight season.  A Missouri win will put the Tigers in a position to share the conference championship or to win it outright, in their last season.  If they beat the Jayhawks for the second time this season, they will be the number one seed in the Big XII tournament if they tie for the title.  On top of everything else, the winner has a great shot at being named a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Missouri would love to win the Big XII as a final raspberry as they exit the league and to knock off KU at the Phog, where KU has won something like 89 of their last 90 home games.  Nothing pleases the Tiger fans more than beating the Jayhawks, and vice versa.  Even though Kansas holds a gigantic advantage in the series, the rivalry certainly seems closer than the 171-95 head-to-head record would indicate.  As a Jayhawk fan, it seems like every time KU has been highly rated and played Missouri, especially in Columbia, the Tigers have ripped out our hearts.  Without looking up the results of every match-up, it seems to me that players like Steve Stipanovich, Jon Sundvold, Derrick Chevious, Doug Smith, Anthony Peeler, Linus Kleiza, and Marcus Denmon (plus many others) all played their very best against Kansas.  Anything can happen in this rivalry, including a massive melee in 1961 where punches were thrown and fans dove into the scrum.  Even the women’s teams have been known to mix it up at times. 

As fans of sports, rivalries such as these are what keep us going.  It gives us things to discuss and to look forward to.  We love these games.  We love to beat our rivals and we are loathe to lose to them.  There are few rivalries more passionate than this in all of sports.  The rivalry is bound in historic dimensions, going back to the 1850’s, when Jayhawkers from Kansas and bushwhackers from Missouri raided across the Missouri River to burn and pillage.  It is hard to compare to that.  Even their football programs, each historically mediocre at best, are nearly neck in neck, with the Tigers holding a slim lead in the series, 57-54-9, and even one of those wins is disputed by both schools. 

Now the rivalry is coming to an end.  Missouri has decided, with all of its higher educated wisdom, to abandon the Big XII for the proverbial greener grass of the SEC.  Only time will tell but it is my opinion that Missouri will quickly become a bottom half football program in the SEC, which is sad because the Tigers have worked hard to gain respectability on a yearly basis in the Big XII.  In basketball, Missouri could work up to a top half program but is all that worth throwing away so much history?  I certainly don’t think so. 

Regardless of my opinion on Missouri leaving the conference, I will miss the yearly match-ups.  Even if they powers that be eventually agree to a yearly renewal of this great rivalry, it will be watered down.  It won’t mean as much as the conference battles and if it is in neutral Kansas City, and not on the campuses, it will be diluted even more.  If those games are ever scheduled in the future, I am just having a hard time believing the games will be filled with the same passion. 

Of course, this may not be the last game between the teams this season.  They are the cream of the crop in the Big XII and could easily meet in the tournament championship game.  They will both be seeded one or two in the NCAA tournament; wouldn’t it be awesome if they met in the Final Four!

Regardless if they meet each other at some point in the post season or if they ever play each other again, this Saturday is going to be special.  I will cheer the Jayhawks on with all my heart.  I will yell and complain and verbally cajole my team on from opening tip to final buzzer.  I will groan and sulk at every call that goes against the Jayhawks.  I am going to revel in every moment.  I am going celebrate a victory or bemoan a loss but either way, it’s going to be a great day.  No matter how the game unfolds, it’s a great way to end a great rivalry.  My only regret is that it is over.

(Note - The final regular season game between these great rivals didn't disappoint.  KU came back from a 19 point, second half deficit to win in overtime, 87-86.  It was a fitting end to the 8th most played basketball series in college basketball history.  Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

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