KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pettiness has been at the heart of the Border War — er, StorageMart Border Showdown between the Kansas and Mizzou football programs — for much of the last 135 years.
Just ask Lucas Vincent, an Olathe North graduate who played defensive tackle for the Tigers from 2010 to 2014.
“I committed my junior year, spring of my junior year,” Vincent recalled Wednesday, three days before the teams meet on the gridiron after a 14-year layoff. “Then, my senior year, (I was) required to take government. My government teacher took a whole week out of the curriculum to give me the history of the civil war of Kansas versus Missouri and why I should go to KU instead of Mizzou.”
Vincent was unswayed and responded: “That’s not entirely relevant. Football is relevant, and I like to win. KU is not winning; Mizzou is, so it's where I'm going.”
As the rivalry resumes at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri, it will introduce the Border War to a new generation of fans. Still, the old-timers hope the intensity will pick up where it left off.
“The last time that this game was played, the youngest player on the (Mizzou) team was 4 (years old) and the oldest was in elementary school,” Vincent said. “I don't know that they grasp what it means, KU versus Mizzou.”
Martin Rucker, a St. Joseph native who played tight end for the Tigers from 2003 to 2007, hopes today’s players learn about, appreciate and lean into the Border War’s history, which is rooted in the Civil War and dates back to 1891 on the gridiron.
“I want them to understand that this is the oldest rivalry in college football and that Mizzou absolutely hates KU and KU absolutely hates Mizzou,” he said. “When I woke up on Sunday, in my brain, it was KU week, right?”
Vincent also remembers what that meant.
“It was KU hate week on campus,” he said. “You go to The Columns, it says ‘Beat KU’ at the bottom.”
While the Jayhawks and Tigers have not played football since 2011, the rivalry remains fierce and lifelong Kansas fan Eddie Proctor has relished its return.
“This generation has no problem tapping into all the craziness that goes on with these rivalries,” he said Wednesday afternoon at Maloney’s Sports Bar and Grill in Overland Park. “You still see KU and K-State kids go crazy over the whole rivalry between those two.”
Proctor expects the same with Mizzou. The rivalry went fallow after the Tigers left for the SEC, but the seeds have been replanted in basketball and now football.
“I work in Lawrence as a car salesman, so I'm always there in Lawrence, and you can feel the energy,” Proctor said. “Everybody's building up to it, so I think it's going to be a good time.”
College football has missed Mizzou versus KU.
“You always miss the energy that comes from both sides,” Proctor said.
“Just that honest sense of, ‘I don't like you,’” Vincent said. “I don't feel like Mizzou has had that game, outside of South Carolina. Arkansas tried to fill that role, but I don't think that it's there. You just didn't get as hyped up for Arkansas as you did for Kansas.”
Rucker, who had five catches for 40 yards and the game's first touchdown in the iconic 2007 Armageddon at Arrowhead game, agreed.
“It's great to see it back. For all of us old people, it never died. We just weren't playing the game,” Rucker said.
That changes on Saturday, and, fortunately, the Border War rivalry remains delightfully petty.
Asked if he hoped to hear “Mr. Brightside,” a song by The Killers that Mizzou fans interject a profane interlude about their rival into, Rucker roared with laughter, “Yes.”
Undoubtedly, he will get his wish at a sold-out, Tiger-striped Memorial Stadium.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
