Border War? Careful what you wish for, especially if seeing your enemy win makes you want to wreck your car on the way home from the game

If you want the Border War back, be careful what you wish for.

The residents of Kansas and Missouri are better off without it, just as they are better off without the real border war.

You know the one. The one where people died. That border war.

If you don’t think the world is better off without this border war, the border war of the basketball court, read this article in the Kansas City Star today. It is truly sad.

It’s about the joy Missouri fans felt watching KU players and fans cry. No, that’s not an exaggeration. That’s literally what the story delivered.

It was a story from a bar. That should tell you plenty. It was a bar frequented, apparently by Missouri fans.

Quotes from the story:

• “We live, die and breathe Missouri athletics, but as soon as we lose, we focus on rooting against Kansas.”
• “After 2008, (When Kansas came from behind to defeat Memphis in the final) I wanted to get in a car wreck on the way home.”
• “Something about Kansas fans crying is really beautiful to me.”

You could find just as many ridiculous comments in an article from a KU bar during the final game of the Big 12 Tournament, which the Missouri Tigers won.

I love sports. Let me rephrase… I love playing sports. I’m ok watching sports but I’d never turn down a chance to play, even during the final game of the NCAA tournament. For me, it would be no contest. Go out and take batting practice with my buddies or watch the two top college teams in the nation. BP, definitely.

But when you think about this Border War thing, you realize it has spawned more stupidity than"Jersey Shore." But, not particularly among players, who just look on it as a big game, a lot on the line, bragging rights… then embrace as the leave the court.

No, the players know it’s just a show. They’re the real participants. They’re the real grapplers. They know the reality of the event belongs to them. They have way more respect for each other than they do for their own loony fans.

How many Kansas players are actually from Kansas?

How many Missouri players are actually from Missouri?

They’re gunslingers. They’re playing on the side that offered the most loot. Not money. No conspiracy theories here. The best opportunity to play, the best coaching, the best fast track to the NBA. They don’t bleed black and gold, crimson and blue or even sacred Carolina blue.

They bleed regular old blood. Their own.

But their fans! They bleed school colors.

Yet, how many of their fans actually went to the university they are willing to support with their lives? Not as many as claim allegiance. And darn few even played intramurals, let alone stepped on the basketball court.

They’re voyeurs. They need this to have allegiance to something that makes them winners sometimes. You read through all the asinine comments under the sports stories – or virtually any other story – in the Kansas City Star and what you see are their impoverished lives.

My problem isn’t with college or professional sports. It’s with fanaticism. It’s with being a fan. It’s with being a watcher, a talker, a boaster… not a player. And the Border War for too long has given meaning to their lives. We’ll all be better off if they have to find meaning someplace else.

--Lofflin