OPINION
Coming Monday, November 12...
Editorial: Having students take a one-size-fits-all test before graduating doesn't measure true education.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Simmermon: How to respond to acquaintances on campus when you can't remember who they are.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9,2007
PAGE 5A
Annual border showdown to be played abroad
ANARCHY IN THE U.K.
Neutral territory true test of team A road win would prove team's record equivalent to its talent
Capacity of Memorial Stadium: 50,071.
Capacity of Arrowhead Stadium: 79,400.
Where would you rather see the Border Showdown played?
The Nov. 24 game between Kansas and Missouri is going to be epic. Provided both teams win out before then, it will decide the Big 12 North champion. Said champion will meet likely meet Oklahoma to determine the conference champ, and the Big 12 winner could very well go on to the national championship.
There's much more at stake here than the usual rivalry. The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 of all three major polls, and this could be the year that the conference has a national title contender whose name is not Oklahoma or Texas.
KU and Mizzou have both garnered significantly more national attention as the season has progressed. Their games now have prime real estate on the major networks' Saturday lineup, and both are legitimate threats against teams from the vaunted Big 10 and Southeastern Conference.
A game of this magnitude deserves all the attention that it can get. ESPN has suggested that if both teams win out, the GameDay crew will come to Arrowhead. It's a perfect showcase for the plucky Big 12 talent.
Will a win have the same impact, though, if it occurs in Kansas City, and not Lawrence?
At best, Arrowhead is neutral territory. There shouldn't be any advantage for either team, and hopefully the crowd will be fairly evenly split.
However, the neutral ground should determine which team is better, since a home advantage or a road disadvantage can't be claimed. Arrowhead makes the two teams display raw talent in
29,400 extra seats or not, though, you'd still see more blue if the game was in Lawrence. Technically it's our turn to host, with last year's game being played in Columbia. Now, with a neutral field, whichever team wins, it will beg the questions, "Could they have won at home? Could they have won on the road?"
a way that playing in Lawrence or Columbia couldn't.
Local companies have expressed concern that playing the game at Arrowhead will hurt their business that weekend. However, business has only really spiked since the football team began winning consistently. Businesses survived before, and they can survive now. Besides, with the game sold out, not everyone will be able to get to Kansas City to see it. Even with Thanksgiving Break, there should be plenty of people left in Lawrence to
GARDENING TIPS
To be honest, business complaints smack of fair-weather fandom. No one complained about the KU game being at Arrowhead until the team started making a national title run. Now, when excitement and optimism are high, businesses want to cash in on the team's
success.
set up shop in local bars.
Memorial Stadium is a beautiful complex, but it doesn't exactly inspire the same awe as, say, Michigan's Big House. It doesn't (yet) have the history or prestige of the Phog. With eyes across the country focused on this match-up, the venue needs to be spectacular. Two great teams deserve to slug it out in a
This game would be one for the ages if it were
great stadium,
and if playing at Arrowhead allows 29,400 more people to be able to see the game,
that's great,
too.
played in wheat field. If KU has the charmed team that I hope it does, it shouldn't matter where the team plays, but this year, in these circumstances, Arrowhead has never looked better.
Hayes is a Lenexa junior in journalism, political science and international studies. She is Kansan opinion editor.
Arrowhead provides more seats, less soul Change in venue hurts local businesses and loyal fans
The year's biggest game should give local businesses a large boost in
nesses a large boost in sales, but thanks to KU Athletics' decisions, that won't be the case. The "home" football game against Missouri will be at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, devastating local restaurants, shops, and bars while padding the athletic corporation's take. Lawrence's most important game in years, between the undefeated Jay hawks and the oneloss Tigers, will not even be played in this state.
What is good for the University
is having the game of the season here in Lawrence. Economist David Darling analyzed the impact to local businesses when the decision was made to replace the Missouri game with an early-season non-conference home game. He estimated the loss to Kansas's economy to be $713,000. This estimate was completed well before the
season began. In light of the Jayhawks' success, it must be revised upward.
I've written in this space of the football team being overrated at a time when their victories were against the football equivalents of culinary and dog obedience schools. Since that time, KU has decisive wins against quality opponents, showing their undefeated record is no fluke. KU Athletics has taken something away from loyal fans and businesses and sold it in a cynical ploy for additional money.
I wouldn't
write so frequently of athletic corporation greed if it didn't make so many greedy decisions. Of course, supporters of the decision to move the game will say there was no way of knowing this game would be so pivotal. But a rivalry game is always pivotal. Last year's mediocre team faced MU with bowl aspirations. Even if KU were winless, the rivalry game would be a chance to save face at the expense of the most-hated opponent.
DRAWING BOARD
This decision is a virtually direct transfer from local businesses to the athletic department. Some support the decision, saying those businesses have profited from KU Athletics in the past and now they can pay some back. But I don't think Lew Perkins go into Set'em Up Jack's and say, "Nice place you got; it'd be a shame if something were to happen to it."
Some say the decision to move the game is acceptable because it also moves next season's contest from Columbia to Kansas City. But if trading a home-and-away match-up for two neutral site games is preferable, why doesn't KU move all its games? Away games are the price to pay for home games, and home games are the reason to have sports teams. Unlike Texas vs. Oklahoma or Florida vs. Georgia, this game is not a traditional neutral site game, so lost revenue is not hypothetical.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony has said, "A good football program helps all other sports and the university at large," but a Wall Street Journal article casts doubt on that assessment. While Ohio's public education spending has been shrinking, Ohio State's athletics budget has been booming, to the point where Ohio State now spends on each athlete three times what it spends on other undergraduates, even though their athletes graduate at a lower rate than other students.
The town profits from the school, but the school benefits from the town. How much athletic revenue would exist without a town full of KU fans? Athletics makes money from loyal fans, and then repays that loyalty by raising prices, instituting a seating points system, and moving the most important home football game of the year to another city.
MAX RINKEL
The decision to move the Missouri game away from Lawrence seems, in all aspects, to have been made solely from the perspective of athletic revenue, not in consideration of what would be best for the university and the community.
Minster is a Lawrence senior in economics.
FREE FOR ALL: 864-0500 OR KANSAN.COM/FACEBOOK
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone
I hope my floormates fail this semester and drop out. Four down, forty to go.
Hey girl hey!
To the person who earlier said that their friend likes to give himself the Shocker, how does one give a man a Shocker? I think there's a problem there.
It's true, though, Ass is all I look for. And I've got to say, KU has a lot more fine women to Topeka.
How should I take it when a waiter told me that if I stole his pen he would tackle my softly?
Oh Organic Chemistry. Why, oh why, do you have to rape me in numerous places?
You can't spell Kansas without the A-S-I And that, my friends, is the only thing the frat boys are looking for!
Hey, One of my friends has never had a girlfriend. Anyone want to help him out?
Free For All, if you know of anyone that has lost a calculator recently will you let me know please? I found one.
Congratulations! You've played Guitar Hero long enough to win 1,000,000 points!
OH Mrs. Pac-Man, I would sex that bow right off your head!
Does anyone else realize that no matter how good Todd Reesing is this year, there is no way that he can get the Heisman because he
didn't play much last year?
Whoever keeps drawing Monkeyzilla's in the Anschutz study rooms, love them
Vote Todd Reesing for National Quarterback Award
Join the Todd Reesing For Helms man group on facebook
I love being naked!
Why can't I ever choke out a "hi" to a guy.
A friend of mine just did the DK Jungle Parkway shortcut. What we once new as Mario Kart has now become a completely new
monster.
TALK TO US
NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THE OPINION PAGE, HAVE AN OPINION?
Eriek R. Schmidt, editor
864-4810 or eschmidt@kansan.com
Eric Jorgensen, managing editor
864-4810 or ejorjensen.kansan.com
Bryan Dykman, associate opinion editor
864-4924 or dykman@kansan.com
Darla Slipke, managing editor
864-4810 or dslipe@kansap.com
Kelsey Hayes, opinion editor 864-4924 or khayes@kansan.com
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The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Kelsey Hayes or Bryan Dykman at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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The Editorial Board
Erick R. Schmidt, Eric Jorgensen,
Darla Slipe, Kelsey Hayes, Bryan
Dykman, Brandon T. Minister, Angelique
McNaughton and Benjamin R. Smith
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