KU fan puts Tigers’ ferocity to test

By Joel Mathis     Feb 3, 2003

Melissa Lacey/Journal-World Photo
During a day trip to Columbia, Mo., Journal-World reporter Joel Mathis warns the University of Missouri's Tiger mascot about tonight's basketball game against the Kansas University men's team. Dressed in KU regalia, Mathis traveled Sunday to MU to see what kind of treatment a KU fan receives in "hostile" territory.

? I was cursed at three times Sunday. Told once I’d get my bleep kicked. Received a hundred dirty looks. Lost a lopsided basketball game to a bunch of frat boys.

And I’m thanking my lucky stars.

You see, I experienced all these things in Columbia, the heart of Missouri Tiger country. On the day before the “Big Monday” match between the bitter rivals of Kansas University and the University of Missouri. While wearing a Jayhawks hat. And a Jayhawks jacket. And carrying, everywhere, a poster of Jayhawks coach Roy Williams.

I feel lucky to have left town without a bruise, or worse.

After all, I’ve heard some nasty things about Mizzou fans. About whiskey bottles and batteries thrown at KU athletes. About their assaults on the KU marching band. About those dreaded, dreaded students known as the Antlers.

Melissa Lacey/Journal-World Photos
A University of Missouri basketball fan tells Journal-World reporter Joel Mathis, right, who he thinks will win in the MU game against Kansas University tonight in Allen Fieldhouse. Carrying a photograph of KU men's coach Roy Williams and wearing KU apparel, Mathis traveled Sunday to Columbia, Mo., to talk with MU fans .

I was scared to go to Columbia, especially with a Jayhawk on my back that seemed to serve as a good target. I was confused.

I didn’t even go to KU. I went to a Mennonite college. We were pacifists. We prayed for our opponents. Mizzou fans appeared cut from a different cloth.

Which is why the boss chose me for the assignment.

“We thought with your upbringing, you might be able to, um, defuse any dangerous situations,” the boss said.

Others weren’t so confident. I discussed my mission with a barista at a downtown coffee shop — she stepped out from behind the counter, gave me a little hug good-bye and offered me the use of a vicious-looking knife she carries to fend off gropey dates.

Mathis, with back to camera, guards University of Missouri sophomore Matt Seeler, of St. Charles, Mo., during a four-on-one basketball challenge in Columbia, Mo. Mathis was defeated Sunday by the four Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers.

I declined. But it didn’t help my confidence that a colleague decided to post news of my impending arrival on TigerBoard.com, a Web site for Mizzou fans. The responses: “Time to get out the tar and feathers,” “I hope no bottles,” and “We’ll make sure he never gets out of Columbia.”

That last comment was made with a little smiley face. Heh heh. Good one, guys.

But when I hit town Sunday afternoon, it was hard to find any overzealous fans.

I tried Columbia Mall first. Thought I’d hit the sports apparel stores with my coach Roy poster and find out if they sold any KU gear. But I didn’t get far. Mall security escorted me out. Stores didn’t want me there.

That’s OK. I hopped in the car and drove to the Tigers’ basketball stadium, the Hearnes Center. Conveniently, the Mizzou women were playing Colorado. Surely I’d find some unsportsmanlike behavior here.

I did. One young man in a bright gold Mizzou shirt saw me and launched into a version of the Mickey Mouse Club theme that didn’t involve the mouse, but did involve obscenities directed at KU.

“I hate Kansas!” he continued singing. “I hate Kansas.”

But then an odd line: “We’re gonna get our (bleep) kicked Monday, but I hate Kansas!”

Ah, jealousy.

I waited for more abuse. It didn’t come. I went and talked to the MU fans standing in line. Some of the most polite folks I’ve ever met, considering my job was to egg them on. Yes, they thought MU would win the “Big Monday” matchup, but they professed their admiration for coach Roy — even though they thought their own coach, Quin Snyder, had better hair.

One girl even agreed to hug the coach Roy poster. I found myself thinking: What happened to the rivalry? We give Norm Stewart a rocking chair and it becomes a mutual admiration society?

I tried singing “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” to incite the crowd. Nothing. OK, I sang it quietly. I’m not stupid.

I gave up and headed for the car.

On my way out, though, one fan appraised me and whispered a growl: “You’re going to get your (bleep) kicked.”

Better. But not perfect. I didn’t feel really scared. Time to start acting like Robert DeNiro.

I drove to the Sigma Epsilon house on campus, walked up to the guys standing out front and challenged them — all of them — to a pickup basketball game. With my Roy Williams poster as my coach.

One of them gave me a defiant look. “You think that because you’re wearing a Jayhawk jacket, you can beat us all?”

Sure, why not. I told them coach Roy needed a little extra coaching practice before Monday’s game.

“Is he coaching you by phone?” the defiant one asked.

“Nope,” I said. Pointed at the poster. “He’s coaching me.”

We found a ball and a net. And truth is, I like to think coach Roy was coaching me, in spirit. I can’t shoot — two attempts at a hook shot went over the backboard — but I played tenacious defense against four men a decade younger than myself and even grabbed a couple of rebounds. After three minutes, the score was 0-0.

The Jayhawks take on Missouri at 8:05 p.m today in Allen Fieldhouse. See Joel Mathis’ report from Columbia, Mo., on 6News at 6 p.m.

Then they beat me. I made one shot. They made more.

And when it was over, they shook my hand. The myth of the rowdy Missouri sports fan instantly demolished forever in my mind.

So I guess I have to be the trash talker. Here goes:

Shortly after crossing the state line back into Kansas on Sunday, I had to stop at the side of the road to be sick.

Maybe it was food poisoning. Maybe it was the flu. Or maybe I had to get Mizzou out of my system.

¢video 6News video: Jayhawk fan taunts rabid Mizzou fansFor expanded coverage of KU’s preparations for the Missouri game, see our award-winning Jayhawks site, KUsports.com.

Rock, chalk, Jayhawk.

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