The Fake Rivalry
So this weekend the future national champs kick off the season against Illinois at the Edward Jones Dome in the Lou. Everytime I think about this rivalry I just get anrgy. It is a rivalry because someone else says so. Maybe in basketball there is one, but that all that is there.
I have no beef with Illinois. I hate the big 10, so I can get on board for hating them for that, but that is about all I got. I like the color orange. I like Michael Jordan and since his son goes there I got to like that. Deron Williams is really good. I wish Bill Self would have coached here instead of Kansas. Alumni of Illinois invented the plasma screen TV. What is there to hate?
Is it because they border us? Are we rivals with every state that borders Missouri? I loathe Tennessee? Screw you Kentucky? Stupid.
The Kansas rivalry is legit. It is legit because we freakin went to war with them. This is no manufactured rivalry. There are years of history there.
You can’t just pick your rivals. This just makes me angry.
I didn’t want to go here, but I think that St. Louis people were a little jealous of the KU/MU rivalry and so they made their own. GASP! Yeah I said it. Maybe I am biased (ok, not maybe, I am biased) but I think there is some truth to that.
This has bothered me for some time as well. College sports are being ruined by the money surrounding the games. On one hand, I am tired of teams playing North-by-northeast Nowhere State College and support non-conference BCS matchups, but this “Arch Rivalry” is ridiculous. USC/UCLA, THE (?) Ohio State University/Michigan, Nebraska/Oklahoma, Army/Navy, Lafeyette/Lehigh, these are rivalries. Mizzou/Illinois has only been played 21 times! Many great rivalries have some sort of trophy or award given to the victors, but what does the winner of this game get? St. Louis? What kind of lame prize is that? Other than 2007 this game is barely a regional game as Mizzou hasn’t won an outright conference title since 1960 and Illinois has only won 1 in over twenty years. What’s worse is that this game won’t have any impact on their conference title hopes. I get the whole “St. Louis has an arch, isn’t this title soooo creative” thing, but aren’t arch rivals supposed to be the pinnacle of the everlasting battle between good and evil? God/Satan, Galactic Empire/Rebel Alliance, Tom/Jerry, Yankees and Red Sox/the game of baseball, are all examples of arch rivals. MU/UI doesn’t quite compare.
PS It is “Border Showdown” and has been such since 2004. What kind of cut-rate production is this? You’ll never win The Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism with effort like this.
I know what the name of the rivalry has been changed too. In my opinion, if battles have been fought over the rivalry, it can be called a war..
I didn’t want to go here, but I think that St. Louis people were a little jealous of the KU/MU rivalry and so they made their own. GASP! Yeah I said it. Maybe I am biased (ok, not maybe, I am biased) but I think there is some truth to that.
This is a ridiculous statement with zero truth to it. zero.
Also, now that we know who made the rivalry up, does the fact that we hang out with said rivalry maker upper on a consistent basis change your opinion at all?
I like the “GASP!” :)