You Missed One
Finally, it’s hump day. We’re half way through another week, and that much closer to another Saturday. Earlier this week, I was browsing the web and came across this list of College Football’s Top 10 most obnoxious fan bases. It was intriguing and sort of gave me a new found understanding of why some of these school’s fanatics are so annoying to others. But, as I’m flipping the pictures and reading the captions, it occurs to me that there is one school that was noticeably overlooked. Yes, many of you may have already guessed it…The University of Missouri!
Look, I know I’m biased. I’m a lifelong Jayhawk with a general dislike for MU, and like so many of you, I know that KU represents all that is pure and good, while Mizzou has been described as Lucifer's alma mater; but here’s the deal. A good case can be made that MU fans should probably be on this list because in this rivalry based on the Border War, Missouri happened to be on the wrong side of slavery issue (and tried to bully Kansas into their little confederate club). Today's Mizzou fans score bonus obnoxiousness points when they brag about WIlliam Quantrill wasting roughly 150-200 civilians in Lawrence (followed by the obligatory town burning).
Personally, I say they are Top 10 because of that rude, drunk, fan that showed his “sportsmanship” by spitting in my buddy’s face last year after Missouri won the Border War at Arrowhead, or because they chucked trash and screamed obscenities at me at my one, and most certainly last basketball game in Columbia.
All of that is I guess the standard off-the-shelf Mizzou nastiness, but really I think there is one large singular rationale that justifies why MU fans really need to be on this list. That reason is the incredibly annoying and insatiable obsession they have with KU. It’s the infamous “Antler” group that raids a visiting Jayhawk team’s hotel at 2:00 am in an effort to make enough noise to wake them the night before a game. Or how about that military hummer, complete with MU flags and stickers, that continuously rolls up and down Mission road honking its horn during a KU football rally. It’s this fascination with KU that is so hard to figure out, and brings obnoxiousness to a whole new level. I mean really MU fans, must you be so addicted to your dislike for KU that you would rather spend time hating KU than focusing on your own university? I wonder what on earth MU would do if there wasn’t a KU to hate. It’s quite sad, but it’s as if KU is necessary to define Missouri.
Photo: KOMUnews (Flickr)
Those isolated (?) horror stories you hear time and time again of aggressive MU fans attacking others in a drunken stupor (although not entirely understood) are one thing, but it's the collective and extremely unhealthy fixation on KU that puts this obnoxious group in the top 10 for me.
ROWYHO
Reader Comments (1)
As for the KU/MU intensity, I think it says something about the duality of man -- you know, there can be no good without evil.
As for the Fox list, I think it's mis-titled. I think I'd call it "Nine Major College Football Programs with Large Fan Bases + Stanford"