Bye, Bye Mizzou! Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Ass on Your Way Out

As the address of my blog may indicate, I am a KU Jayhawk.  While my family lived in St. Louis and was full of Mizzou fans, I decided to go to the rival, The University of Kansas!

During the fall of my senior year of high school, I went to visit 2 colleges: Mizzou and KU.  The moment we arrived in Lawrence, Kansas, I began to fall in love.  Once on the campus, I was able to take a tour and speak to the head of the journalism school.  In my heart, at that moment, I knew I must go to KU.  The next day, I tried to clear those feelings as I toured Mizzou.  Mizzou didn't do it for me.  Granted, it was rainy the day I visited Mizzou and the sun shined when I was at KU, but Mizzou didn't feel like the right fit for me.  First off, I didn't want to go to the same school everyone from high school was planning to attend.  I wanted to go some place where I would have a fresh start. My experiences in high school were not the best.  But, additionally, I didn't like how the campus felt. I was especially concerned at the size of the MU journalism school compared to that of KU.  KU's journalism program was a bit smaller, and I didn't feel I would be "lost" there.

There was no guarantee about attending KU because it was out-of-state and therefore, more expensive.  I was prepared to attend Mizzou if I couldn't pull the money together to go to KU. My parents watched as I worked hard to make my dream come true.  One day in the spring, they told me they found a way to cover the additional expense--that I could attend KU.  I was shocked but exceedingly happy!

I loved my four years at KU! I wished I could have stayed longer, but it wasn't possible.  While I was there, I made many wonderful friends, had some fabulous (and not so fabulous but more fab than not) experiences, and learned a lot.  One of my favorite things to do was attend all the football and basketball games.  I also went to other sports events, on occasion.

There are two huge rivalries for KU: the Kansas State Wildcats (KSU) and Mizzou.  The Mizzou rivalry, also known as the Border War, has been going on since before KU became a school.  The rivalry began just before the start of the Civil War.  Today, that rivalry, that has been going for OVER 100 years, was thrown away like a piece of paper because Mizzou got greedy (IMO).  They left the Big 12 Conference (a conference they helped begin in 1907 with the start of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association along with KU and Nebraska) to join the SEC.

To be quite frank, this upsets me a great deal.  While I am not a Mizzou fan, I valued the rivalry that existed. The history between the schools in our conference.  Most of the schools in the Big 12 have been in the same conference for 83 years.  But, I guess money won out over history and tradition.  I was reading articles about this and someone blames the instability of the Big 12 for this decision.  I disagree with that assessment because it became clear last fall, when Nebraska became the first traitor to the conference, that Mizzou was trying to leave the Big 12 already.  They had been looking for a way out and found it this year.  Bully for them.

I hope this move bites Mizzou on the butt.  Bitter, I know, but it is how I feel.  I do think it will.  While the Big 12 conference has some decent football teams, it does not compare to the power of the SEC.  Mizzou will now have to regularly face teams like Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee in the East.  They'll also be facing the West Division with teams like Florida, 'Bama, LSU, and Arkansas.  It won't be pretty for them.  My guess is that they won't make it to any bowl games because they will be hard-pressed to win enough in this division to get there.

It is a sad day today.  Mizzou will now be subject to facing the other Big 12 teams in competition that they are thumbing their nose at.  I imagine it won't be pretty and that they will get booed.  Yesterday, they played Baylor and faced chants of S-E-C.  It won't get any easier.

There is one good thing in all of this.  West Virginia (WVU) has now joined the Big 12 as well as TCU. Hopefully, a few more teams will join as well.  I've heard rumors that BYU or Louisville might come over as well.  Only time will tell.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawks! Boo Mizzou!