KAN DO

(WARNING: If you are from Missouri, don't read my blog entry today!!)

One hundred forty-seven years ago the murderous William Quantrill led a group of pro-slavery thugs called the Missouri Partisans into Lawrence, Kansas, and they proceeded to kill just about every man and boy in town--183 total--most asleep in their beds. Quantrill's Raiders ransacked businesses and homes, then burned Lawrence to the ground. Thus was born the KU-MU basketball rivalry, aka: The Border Wars. Of course, basketball had yet to be invented. That came 28 years later.

Old grudges die hard, though, and this felonious blip in history is alive and well--mainly through the sale of T-shirts at Joe College, a dandy shop in downtown Lawrence, up from the ashes. Here are a few anti-Missouri slogan samples for sale from Joe, take your pick:

Ask any sports guru about college basketball rivalries and the names Kansas and Missouri are always near the top. Oh, of course, there's UNC and Duke; Kentucky and Louisville; but their hateful histories are not based upon slavery issues, murder, and mayhem like Kansas and Missouri. And when it comes to basketball, the Jayhawk fans HATE the Tigers and the Tiger fans HATE the Jayhawks. It's just the natural order of life, I guess.

So much for my fractured lesson in history and basketball and my plug for Joe College's T-shirts. Oh, by the way, Kansas beat Missouri last night in Lawrence, 84-65. A slam dunk. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, William Quantrill.