If it offends you to call a game between Missouri and Kansas the “Border War” you can go ahead and stop reading this as you clearly don’t know how much it means to the fans.
Of course it isn’t a literal name just as we know Army and Navy don’t really “battle” on the football field. So after a decade this baby is back and let’s just drop our snowflake crap and get right down to it. The hard core fans of these teams really don’t care for each other and absolutely have biases about the other. Don’t deny it, accept it. Embrace it. You can share a church pew, an office floor, a little league coaching staff in a dugout . But there is no sharing fandom of these two schools, especially when the basketball teams are set to play.
“It’s a street fight from this point on,” Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin said after his team beat Eastern Illinois.
KU Guard Christian Braun’s brother went to Mizzou and they would be playing against each other if Parker Braun hadn’t transferred. You think Christian doesn’t live the importance of the rivalry?
“Who we got next?” Christian shouted repeatedly as he ran out the tunnel of Allen Field House after KU beat UTEP Tuesday. Ya, it’s in his family’s DNA and this game is back. It’s not a classic matchup in a sense that we expect a game for the ages, but like a fine wine, a decade apart seems to have rekindled the twisted love these two fan bases in Kansas City have for one other. Forbidden fruit, if you will.
The greatest compliment you can give the Border War is that sports fans with no affiliation with either school whatsoever love this game and watch on the edge of their seat.
“It was probably the most emotional home game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Bill Self after the epic overtime thriller ten years ago as KU came back from 19 down in the second half. “when the lid came off (AFH)… it was college basketball at its best.” It was, unless you ask a Mizzou fan. They claimed bad whistles, a Big 12 conspiracy and all kinds of other foul things. Because that’s what this game brings out.
But EVERYONE watched. Even if it isn’t your school, like they are not mine, you know you’re seeing something special.
The Border War’s Extensive History
I covered about 20 Border Wars for channel 4 in the late 80’s and 90’s and it was just wild. Norm and Roy were just bigger personalities at the time than coaches today who all seem to be part of some union. Norm always a little surly and Roy always trying to play victim. Heck, Norm used to stay in KC because he didn’t want to spend any money in the local Lawrence economy. Even the Overland Park Marriott was ok , just not a dime in Lawrence. He didn’t even let the bus driver fuel up there, figure out another way. He’d be thrilled there’s a Hampton Inn and a Casey’s in Eudora now.
And Roy, well, Roy always thought he was being picked on. Mizzou fans were classless, vulgar and unbecoming of the sport. What are those Antlers over there and can we kick them out? Roy was good at getting home fans in trouble at every stop in the conference as being the victim fit him like an Armani suit. Dadgumit.
Of course it was wilder then, more vulgar, more unruly. It just was. It wasn’t where the rivalry started but it never burned so hot as both those coaches had great, great players and teams. And they knew it.
Still, this is so fresh and so different after ten years. Why did Bill Self allow it? Why do the Tigers even want to do it? So many questions but none about the fans. We know where they stand.
This On-Court Mismatch is Real
As for the game, KU is loaded and ranked #8 at 8-1. When Braun and Ochai Agbaji are on the floor together, great things usually happen. These two are on pace to have one of the truly great seasons any pair of players have had at KU. Braun is the current Big 12 Player of the Week and Agbaji is now front runner for conference Player of the Year.
Mizzou, as everyone knows, has struggled. Boogie Coleman missed the last game because of conduct that did “not meet team expectations” and his status is not certain. The Tigers have no business playing KU within 15 points and trail 172-95 in this series that dates back to 1907. Their remaining games in December after Kansas are Utah, Illinois and Kentucky. Except for some other source of mojo, there is little reason for hope. But you can bet Mizzou fans are quietly dreaming of one of those days…. One of those days that magic happens.
Maybe, just maybe, Saturday afternoon they will find something we haven’t seen. Or, maybe KU will be a little off from the hype and we’ll be entertained. It would be a great way to restart the Border War. If not, enjoy the buildup. It is the real reason we love sports and it’s truly why its great this game is back.
