Sports and war analogies seem to go together, well like, the kickoff of a football game and a missile launch. It's too easy, especially with football. We have a little football game being played this holiday weekend here in Kansas City that has been dubbed "Armageddon at Arrowhead" It is the Border Showdown which replaced the Border War after 9/11 happened and the squeamish among us felt "War" was a bit overstated. That feeling seems to have passed with Armageddon having now entered our vernacular around these parts.
So what is this epochal game you ask? It is pretty special actually. The University of Kansas, my alma mater and that of my two boys, will take on our neighbor to the east - The University of Missouri. There is a bit of history between the two schools; its alumni; and quite frankly, all the citizens of both states. It goes all the way back to the Civil War. Missouri entered the shaky Union as a slave state and Kansas entered as a free state. Everyone has heard of the battles of Gettysburg or Antietam when studying American history, but not as many have heard about the horrible atrocities committed along the Kansas - Missouri border that in essence represented the opening salvos of the Civil War. And there were atrocities committed on both sides.
The one that garners the most attention was the sacking and burning of Lawrence, Kansas by Missourian William Quantrill. And since Lawrence is the home of the University of Kansas, you can see where the bad blood begins between the schools. In a normal year, the meetings between KU and MU on the football field and in their respective basketball arenas are always bitter battles with bragging rights being proclaimed by the winning teams, schools and alums for the year. 2007 is slightly different.
This has been the year when the two football teams decided it was time to step up to the plate (wrong sport analogy) and make some noise. After one of the most improbable and exciting college football seasons in recent memory, Kansas and Missouri stand at the pinnacle of the football universe ranked as two of the top three teams in the land and a date with each other in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium Saturday night. Throw in a national television audience on ABC and a visit from ESPN's College Game Day and you have the makings of something special. Armageddon? Perhaps not. But it will be one hell of a football game.
Which brings me back to sports and war analogies. Even with all this talk of Armageddon at Arrowhead - what was Coach Nick Saban of Alabama thinking?
Oh by the way - ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK - GO KU!
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