Bye Bye Mizzou

I really hate to say all of this, because Kansas and Missouri have one of the longest standing rivalries in the country—goes back to a time where some of the fans in the stands were old enough to remember people who were killed in the border wars.  If KU and Missouri do go their separate conference ways, it will truly be a sad, sad day.  Some of my best friends are Mizzou faithful, and getting the chance to banter back and forth about the rivalry is something I truly look forward to every year.

But I’ve come to the conclusion that it probably has to happen.  I don’t blame Missouri for annually looking towards greener conference pastures.  They are blessed to have landed in a state where two large metros bloomed to their east and west, and one in which no second major athletics player ever materialized.  They continue to be in a better situation to be successful in athletics than nearly any school in the union, and they SHOULD feel like they have a valuable commodity.

But as some have questioned how the Big 12 conference can go on if Missouri leaves, I think the question that has to be asked is how can conference stability be gained if Missouri STAYS.

Now, if the “super conference” model ever really does come to pass, with the four 16-team leagues going off on their own to have their own college football empire and all, I think we’re going to all look foolish for ever trying to keep the Big 12 together in the first place.  In that sense, and in the sense that Missouri has real, natural options, I seriously would hold no animosity towards Missouri if they were to leave at this time.  Perhaps they’d be the only wise one in the bunch—at least amongst those with options (and I really don’t know if anyone else DOES at this point, although I suspect that OU could call the SEC today and be admitted ahead of Missouri, if they were willing to leave Oklahoma State behind).

But if the league goes forward WITH Missouri, you know that this cycle will never end.  Every year, it’s going to come up again.  Where does Missouri want to go now?  If they finally catch on somewhere else, will everybody be scrambling to find a new home (again)?

I hope the reports of Missouri’s offer from the SEC are real, and frankly, I kind of hope they take it ASAP.  Time for the remaining eight to sign on four committed replacements to get the league back to 12.  If the era of the super conference comes, and Kansas gets left out in the cold later, so be it.  In a sense, we’ll be no worse off than we are today.  Football is already sub-par, and it will take a lot more than an inferior conference alignment to kill what KU has in basketball.

In a sense, Kansas has already thrived in an inferior basketball league.  Not that Big 12 basketball is awful, by any means.  But any league that allows one school to win seven conference basketball titles in a row (and nine of the last 10) can’t REALLY be taking the sport all that seriously, anyway.

Time to roll the dice with those who want to be here, and move on.

Mizzou Owned KU Back in '08

So Kansas currently holds a commanding 169-94 lead in the Border War, and as we explored yesterday, the recent history has basically been all Jayhawks.  But it’s not fair to say that Kansas has ALWAYS dominated the match-up.  In fact, there was a time in history where the rivalry was pretty darn competitive—as recently as ’08, to be exact. 

 

That would be 1908.  As of February 4 of that year, Missouri actually held the lead in the Border War series, 2-1.  Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Jayhawks ripped off a streak of 31 wins out of the next 33 contests, and Missouri has never regained the lead since (or even came close to doing so).

 

I’m struggling to find a period in time when this “rivalry” got reasonably competitive, and I’m just flat failing to find it.  Kansas has won every decade, except the 1920s (I count a 14-13 Missouri edge from ’20-’29).  Kansas has won the battle in every conference formation the schools have shared, with the closest margin being the 45-31 nod KU held in Big 8 regular season games (or 48-32, if you want to count the Big 8 Tournament).  Kansas also holds the edge in every city in which they’ve ever played, with the exception of Dallas, where the two are just 1-1.  That’s right—KU even leads 64-53 in Columbia.

 

Probably the most painful point for the Mizzou faithful is that they’ve never been able to even produce a COACH that can hold a winning record over Kansas.  Mike Anderson is not off to any kind of a start that leads us to believe that he can right that wrong—he’s just 1-8.  Even the great Norm Stewart only managed to go 33-41 versus the team he most wanted to beat.

 

The bottom line is that this series has been, is, and likely forever shall be a bloodbath.  There really aren’t any two ways about it.

Border War Preparations

Here we are, less than a week from the next installment of the Border War on Big Monday!  By the way, I refuse to refer to the Kansas-Missouri match-up as the “Border Showdown.”  That’s the last time you’ll see me put those two words together in this medium.  We use “showdown” with the K-State rivalry.  Bill Self is fond of calling Kansas State our “rival,” and Mizzou “the enemy.”  An enemy deserves a WAR.  Like the immortal Don Fambrough once said (http://www.lawrence.com/audioclips/1961/), “It’s The Border WAR…not any g**-d***** showdown or hoe-down or any of that sh**!”

Of course, Don is talking about the football rivalry, which is actually competitive.  Depending upon which media guide you go with, the football version of the Border War has stayed within a couple of games in either school’s favor as long as I’ve been a fan.  As for the basketball game—well, perhaps “Border Snore” would be more appropriate.

 Let’s just talk recent history, for now—how about the history of the Big 12 conference?  KU basketball holds a 22-9 advantage over Mizzou since Big 12 play started.  TWENTY-TWO to NINE.  In those 14 seasons, KU has at least split the regular season with Mizzou every year, and SWEPT the Tigers SIX times.  This is NOT a competitive rivalry, friends.  This is a beat down.

 True story, I’m not making this up.  I actually once read on a message board where a Mizzou fan was boasting that they beat KU more often than the rest of the league does.  Fair point—they’ve won about 29% of their games versus KU in the past 14 seasons, while the rest of the league has beaten the Jayhawks a hair under 15% of the time.  Congratulations—you’re hitting .290!  Good enough to keep you on a Major League roster—but unfortunately, this is not baseball.  I wouldn’t be writing home about beating your hated enemy less than 3 times out of 10.

 I’ll give credit where credit is due.  The Tigers have actually managed to beat the ‘Hawks in Columbia a few times since opening “The Paige” in 2004.  It took Kansas State 20 seasons to finally triumph over Kansas in “The Octagon of Boobs.”  So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice (I guess).

 Maybe this will be the year things start to tighten up a bit.  Anderson probably has his best team ever.  If recent history is any indication, though, I wouldn’t bet more than I could afford to lose on it.  But you never know.