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Kansas and Missouri first met on the football field in 1891 and have played
115 times since. The rivalry has always been fierce. This time around, it’s
also important. Really important.There’ll be a sellout crowd of nearly 80,000 frenzied fans Saturday night
for the No. 2 Jayhawks and No. 3 Tigers, the biggest game ever played in the
second-oldest rivalry in college football.Jayhawks,
Tigers ready for rivalry’s most significant encounter
This is an ode to my big brother, the man responsible for just about everything
in my life, especially politics. He’s one of the top items in my Oh, boy
am I thankful! list. No one is more responsible for my life than my big
brother, though it’s a tussle considering what I owe to my sister and her husband (the big shot, honest oil man),
who are also on that same list.
Larry ran for Congress as a pro choice, pro ERA Republican during the 1980
Reagan sweep. It wasn’t pretty, but it was exciting. He also worked
for Ashcroft in the Missouri A.G.’s office, which got him involved a bit
in Ashcroft’s confirmation, compliments of Sen.
Orin Hatch tracking him down, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Interestingly enough, Larry would have been in John McCain’s Annapolis class
if he’d been able to stay to fly jets. But he didn’t, later ending up as a Marine waiting to see if the Cuban blockade worked. If it hadn’t Larry
would have been one of the first Marines to land on Cuba. How he escaped Vietnam
is still a miracle, but I sure thank his guiding stars for it. I can’t call them “lucky”
because as a Scots-Irish brood we’ve had way more than our fair share of trials and then some.
Today my brother is watching the
Tigers (10-1) take on the Jayhawks (11-0) in the stands. This is a huge game. Here’s the matchup.
The two quarterbacks will be something to watch, which you can do on ABC later
today. There is nothing my brother loves more than college football. But this
year he’s enjoyed it even more.
So in honor of Larry, here’s hoping Chase Daniel gives Todd Reesing and the Jayhawks a fit.
Go Mizzou! Win one for my bro, my sister and my brother in-law. No three people
deserve the sport’s joy that would come with this victory more than they do.
Growing up a sports fan (especially Cardinal baseball), also because of Larry and my avid sports family, I know what today means to you all.
Oh, and to add, this rivalry started as a lot more than just football. It goes back to the Civil War. Ever heard of Quantrill’s Raiders? Well, William C. Gauntrill was a Missouri hero, but many, especially in Lawrence, Kansas, think of him as a villain. The James brothers road with him. Anyway, it will give you the start of where this intense rivalry began. It had nothing to do with football.
… .. Quantrill and his men staged numerous raids into Kansas during the early part of the Civil War. He was quickly labeled an outlaw by the Union for his attacks on pro Union forces. He was involved in several skirmishes with Jayhawkers (pro Union guerilla bands) and eventually was made a Captain in the Confederate Army. His attitude towards his role in the Civil War drastically changed in 1862 when the Commander of the Department of Missouri, Major General Henry W. Halleck ordered that guerrillas such as Quantrill and his men would be treated as robbers and murderers, not normal prisoners of war. Before this proclamation, Quantrill acted as if he were a normal soldier adhering to principals of accepting enemy surrender. After this, he gave an order to give ‘no quarter’.
In 1863, Quantrill set his sights on Lawrence, Kansas which he said was full of Union sympathizers. Before the attack occurred, many female relatives of Quantrill’s Raiders were killed when a prison collapsed in Kansas City. The Union Commander was given the blame and this fanned the already fearsome flames of the Raiders. On August 21, 1863, Quantrill led his band of about 450 men into Lawrence, Kansas. They attacked this pro Union stronghold killing over 150 men, few of them offering resistance. In addition, Quantrill’s Raiders burned and looted the town. In the North, this event became known as the Lawrence Massacre and was vilified as one of the worst events of the Civil War.
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