Hampton Stevens tells us why the nation should be rooting for Kansas basketball. I'm not sure if I agree with his opening premise: "If you follow college basketball, you may well hate the University of Kansas." He bases this on a critical article at Slate in which the Jayhawks were one of the "teams we hate."
On the other hand, you could point to a nationwide fan base that always draws a crowd and often makes the Jayhawks the "home team" no matter where they play. In any case, the Slate piece griped mostly about Kansas getting bounced by mid-majors, which some of us lifelong fans have been grousing about as well.
Stevens then makes a more important and much larger point: The Jayhawk is a symbol of the struggle against slavery. The mythical bird, part blue jay and part hawk, was adopted as the mascot of the abolitionists during the 1850's when the territory was known as "bleeding Kansas." The "free-state" forces called themselves "Jayhawkers."
Pro-slavery forces, aided by "border ruffians" from Missouri, initially gained the upper-hand. The Lecompton Constitution, which would have made Kansas a slave state, passed the territorial legislature and was supported by Pres. Buchanan.
More "free-staters," many from Massachusetts, swung the tide toward Kansas entering the union as a free state. Lawrence, now home of Kansas University, was a "free-state" stronghold, and the center of "free-state" organizing efforts. Today, the main thoroughfare in Lawrence is Massachusetts Street, which, among its many businesses, includes Free-State Brewery. Such observations move Stevens to this point:
If you root against KU basketball, then, you are actually rooting for slavery. You're supporting the Confederacy over United States, cheering for racism, oppression, and war...
Kansas makes no apologies. Heavens' sake, the inventor of the game was a professor at the university, and even he is secondary to the influence of Phog Allen. Naismith thought the game was perhaps too spontaneous to coach. Allen replied mystically, ""Well, you can coach them to pass at angles and run in curves."
Phog Allen re-invented the game, made basketball an Olympic event, founded the post-season tournament, won three national championships, a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics, and compiled the then-record for most number of wins.
Allen was in the first class elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Two of the four coaches to exceed Allen's win total were coached by Allen--Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp, legendary coaches of North Carolina and Kentucky, two above-average college basketball programs.
All of which is to say: "Rock Chalk!"--which, incidentally was President Theodore Roosevelt's favorite college chant.
Photo: James Naismith and Phog Allen
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