Column:

In sports, we should continue to hate KU

By Mark Levitt

Published Jan. 29, 2009

My column this week was originally going to be about the basketball team's four-game winning streak. I would have written about excitement, redemption and hope. But a more pressing issue came up pertaining to the University of Kansas. And as expected with anything Jayhawk-related, excitement, redemption and hope will be replaced with disappointment, shock and disturbance.

Before I share my painful experience, you have to understand a little about my background. Growing up in St. Louis, my grandpa taught me three things: Love the Cardinals. Love the Tigers. Hate KU. And since arriving on campus as a student two falls ago, it has been easy for both my love of Missouri and hatred of the Jayhawks to grow to new heights.

It's easy to forget that not everybody comes to Columbia with those feelings already engrained in their systems. Students, especially some of the freshmen, have yet to truly experience the bitter rivalry. This past weekend taught me the need for rest of us to do a much better job introducing it to them.

I take blame for the following story. I clearly have failed at one of my duties as a Missouri Tiger. I am ashamed and I am sorry.

Sunday afternoon I was busy trying to force myself to read after only a week of classes. I received a knock on my door and was told to go downstairs into the study.

"This better be good," I thought.

I entered the study, and sitting there was my little brother from my fraternity (whose name will remain anonymous for his protection). We'll call him Benedict Arnold. He was innocently doing some homework, wearing a T-shirt commemorating the University of Kansas' 2007 Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. A regular KU shirt would have been bad enough. But to wear one that celebrated their win in a bowl game Missouri should have been in? Brutal.

I promptly ripped the shirt off Benedict's back, returned to my room and cut the ugly cloth to pieces.
How could this happen? I've taken Arnold to games, talked MU sports with him and tried to teach him the ways of the school. An MU student supporting KU is simply unforgivable. My own little brother. Imagine my disappointment.

This incident presents a challenge. I must take Benedict by the hand and show him how things work around here. But the challenge is not limited to just me or to just this incident. There is an underlying issue that should be addressed.

The rivalries we have and the traditions we practice are what make the University of Missouri called Mizzou. You cannot love MU without hating KU. You cannot bleed black and gold without cringing at the sight of red and blue.

A friend once asked me if I thought it was silly to hate a team simply because they represented a different school. My answer is that it is not just about a basketball or a football game. It is about pride in the university we share.

Traditions stretch beyond hating KU. They include taking off any hats when passing through Memorial Union's archway. They include rubbing the nose of David R. Francis for good luck before a test. They include singing the alma mater after any athletic contest, win or lose. These traditions will last only as long as the keepers of them continue to pass them along.

In doing that, I will make my little brother more resemble Truman the Tiger than Benedict Arnold. As for everybody else, I ask simply to learn the traditions you don't know, and pass on the ones you do.