Funny thing happens when Todd Reesing keeps throwing touchdown passes, Mark Mangino continues sawing wood and the Kansas Jayhawks unassumingly work their way deeper into college football’s national championship discussion.
People keep jumping on the bandwagon, and this season there’s plenty of room.
“I’ve never really been into KU football that much, until this year, and it’s awesome!” said soon-to-be KU student Ashley Heiman, who made the six-hour drive from Garden City to Lawrence to meet with a pre-med adviser, check out campus and – perhaps most important – pick up a ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK T-shirt and make plans for watching tonight’s game against Oklahoma State on TV.
If Heiman enrolls in one of Chris Crandall’s psychology classes next year, she’ll learn there’s a name for her sudden interest in the crimson and blue’s unbeaten string: collective self-esteem.
“Everybody’s happy, and happier with themselves, when this happens,” said Crandall, a social psychologist who has conducted research in group identification. “You’re looking at a social phenomenon. : We get to watch our team win, and it’s exciting and fun. And we get to feel good about ourselves – our individual self as well as our group – because we’re kicking some butt. And that’s a very nice thing.”
Among those feeling good is Rick Renfro, an owner of Johnny’s Tavern in North Lawrence. He said the winning “vibe” pervading the community is making it more fun to come to work each day – and not just because it’s helping boost sales.
The team’s success is bringing people together to share the emotional highs that only winning can provide – as the basketball team has done for years.
“(Now) it’s the same way with the football team,” Renfro said. “The next couple of weeks are going to be big time.”