SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1C
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
Mapping out the competition
Writer ranks venues throughout Big 12 Conference
KELLIS ROBINETT
<ROBINETT@KANSAN.COM
The Big 12 Conference is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and like every large organization, it demands an award show.
After traveling to Boulder, Colo., last Saturday, I have finally watched a football or men's basketball game at every campus in the Big 12.
Ever since the old Big 8 merged with four teams from the Southwest Conference to create the Big 12, fans have seen everything from a national championship in football to a major NCAA scandal in men's basketball.
I've seen games from the stands as a fan, covered games from the press box as a member of the media and joined in on local night scenes as a college student. After seeing everything these Big 12 cities and colleges have to offer, here's where they rank.
1. Texas A&M
In an attempt to both honor the Big 12 and give readers something tangible, I have taken it upon myself to rank the best places to watch a game in the conference, excluding Kansas.
We could look back at these highlights and rank them, but anyone can look in a record book and find out which teams won what games. We college students need something we can use.
The school's fight song begins with the words, "Hullabalo, Caneck! Caneck!"
you have to be elected by the student body to become one. Every truck in town seems to be painted maroon.
Sporting events don't have cheerleaders, but competition is so fierce to be a vell leader that
There's no doubt about it — this place is weird. But that's what makes going to games here so much fun.
SEE COMPETITION ON PAGE 2C
FOOTBALL
Kansas linebackers, including then-junior Kevin Kane, rush Missouri tailback Marcus Woods in the first quarter of the game last season in Columbia, Mo. This year Kansas battles Missouri in the Border Showdown at noon Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Kansas holds the series lead at 53-51-9 after beating Missouri 31-14 last season.
Kansan file photo
Rivalry continues to intensify
Match-up is personal for some players
BY DANIEL BERK
dkberk@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRIITE
Two sets of goal posts have gone down, a backup quarterback became a hero and a team's season was ruined. And that's just in the last three years of the Missouri-Kansas football rivalry.
It doesn't matter what the records are, the Missouri-Kansas game always seems to have significance.
This year, Kansas enters the Missouri game with fading bowl chances. It needs three victories in its final four games to qualify for a bowl game.
Some players have been involved in the rivalry for a long time, and some knew nothing about it before arriving at KU. But everyone on the team agrees that the atmosphere is a little different leading up to the Missouri game.
"The whole week, you're just more focused automatically," Rodney Fowler, senior safety, said. "It's crazy to see the energy a team can bring when it plays one of its bigger rivals."
The last two games between the rivals have gone to Kansas, with one victory coming at home and the other coming last season at Missouri. The overall series record stands at 53-51-9
Kansas football coach Mark Mangino said the team's preparation would not change this week because Missouri was a rival, but he said that the team was aware of how important the game was.
in Kansas' favor and is the second-longest rivalry in college football, edged out only by the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry.
Several players will be competing against friends and former teammates when the two teams meet this weekend. Kevin Kane, senior linebacker, is from
"It's a rivalry that goes all the way back to the Civil War, and we educate our players on that," Manguio said.
Kansas City, Mo., and he said he has been into the rivalry for as long as he could remember.
"I have buddies and old teammates that go to Mizzou," Kane said. "It's fun to play against them. It's a fun week for everybody involved."
One of Kane's former teammates is Missouri running back Tony Temple. Temple said he has family members who graduated from Kansas and normally root for the Jayhawks, but he said they would be rooting for the Tigers this weekend. He said the rivalry was something that he, too, has been into for a long time.
Kansan file photo
SEE RIVALRY ON PAGE 4C
ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
KU fans carry the goal post off the field to Potter Lake last season after the victory against Kansas State. Students are asked to stay off the field this weekend after a 20-year-old University of Minnesota-Morris student was killed by a falling goal post students had ripped down to celebrate a UM-Morris victory.
Death prompts caution
Fans urged to stay in stands after goal post kills student
BY RVAN SCHNEIDER
rschneider@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Tearing down the goal posts following an important football victory has become a Kansas tradition. That tradition, however, has been called into question after the death of a University of Minnesota-Morris student died
after being struck by a falling goal post last weekend.
Kansas Athletics Department officials are asking students to leave the goal posts intact after this weekend's homecoming game versus Missouri.
Although extra security will be at Saturday's game, department officials admit it will be difficult to stop 7,000 students from storming the field after a victory.
"Unless you turn the stadium into a police state, there is no way to prevent students who don't have any sense from coming onto the field," said Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director.
Marchiony said the department was urging students to remain in the stands after games, no matter how the football team plays.
SEE CAUTION ON PAGE 4C
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