Caution...This isn't a word post...

I was in Kansas City this week for a conference and learned a little of their culture because of a front page piece in the Kansas City Star. I have seen team rivalry before, but nothing like this! One bar, for example, which is located near the state line (Kansas City is on the border of Missouri and Kansas) puts Kansas signs on one side of the bar and Missouri signs on the other. Sure enough, the Kansas fans sit on Kansas side and the Missouri fans sit on the other. The kicker is that he put the Kansas sign on the east side of the bar and the Missouri sign on the west side (Kansas is west of Missouri), and his patrons gave him such a hard time that he was forced to switch it!

This rivalry seems to affect friendships, businesses, and where people live. I had no idea that any sports rivalry was that serious!

Oh...and next Saturday is probably the most important game in the history of Missouri and Kansas football. Glad I won't be there!

Around UIUC, before a big football game with Michigan, you will lots of posters and t-shirts which read "Muck Fichigan". There are other slogans and chants, which are more obscene and even less clever, if that is possible.

Ah, therein lies the linguistic aspect of this post. I believe I posted here once about the Northwestern/Indiana basketball game where the primarily white Northwestern fans chanted "Who's yer Daddy?" to the Indiana Hoosiers players, who were primarily black. Not so classy.

Not that the cheers of my junior high days were any classier :

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
All good children go to heaven,
When they get there, they will yell:
Johnstown, Johnstown, go to......

Rickety Rickety Russ,
We're not allowed to cuss,
But nevertheless,
You've got to confess,
There isn't a team like us!