The mood that fell over campus after the K-State men’s basketball team walked away with an overtime win against the Jayhawks, was joyous. But, a cloud hung over what should be a perfect memory in the eye of a K-State fan. That cloud was the F-word.
College kids have never been ones to play by the rules. In this instance, good fortune, team rivalry and syllable counting led the “K-S-U” to become “F***-K-U” (with the “F” standing for a four-letter expletive rhyming with duck and stuck) whenever K-State plays Kansas.
It got to the point that so many people, student or otherwise, were yelling the revised chant that those watching the game on television could hear it too.
That did not sit well with some people, who have said they find the chant to be classless, obscene, horrifying and downright wrong. People wonder what has become of the students in Manhattan. What could possibly possess them to yell that horrible word?
There are a lot of possible answers to that question. While I’m sure everyone has their own special reason for doing it, it tends to boil down to one specific word: frustration.
Suffice it to say that history has not been kind for K-State fans when it comes to the Sunflower Showdown. Kansas has a 187-92 lead in the overall record. In the past few decades, the count is even more lopsided.
Hearing something like that tends to dishearten a K-State fan. It makes them feel down about themselves, almost hopeless. There is only one other Big 12 team that leads the overall record against K-State, and that’s Oklahoma by only 10 games. So, fans must understand that when celebration breaks out over something good that happens against Kansas, it is a celebration that recognizes zero limits.
Yes, it’s a large mob of people yelling a “bad word.” And yes, it’s not the classiest thing done by the student body. But in the end, are there not worse things? In 1984 and 1986, something now known as the “Aggieville Riots” occurred. On both occasions, K-State had just beaten Kansas in football. After Bill Snyder Family Stadium (Wagner Field at the time) had emptied, thousands of people packed into Aggieville and mass riots ensued. Police officers were pelted with rocks. Windows were smashed. Cars were overturned. The Kansas Highway Patrol wanted to governor to declare a State of Emergency.
Both instances were so bad that the next time K-State played Kansas in Manhattan, Aggieville was sequestered and police from across the state were called in to patrol the bar district. That is an example of real classless, obscene and horrifying behavior, compared to this innocent chant.
During the latest win against Kansas, K-State basketball pulled off an even more important victory than those two football games in the ’80s. After Bramlage Coliseum cleared, K-State students either went home or went to a jovial Aggieville. Cars were not flipped and burned, and windows remained intact. Gov. Sam Brownback slept soundly, not awoken by a frenzied highway patrolman asking for the National Guard.
College students will be college students; they’re not going to be perfect. If the worst thing K-State students as a whole are responsible for is someone’s grandma having to hear an audible ‘F****-K-U’ chant while watching the Sunflower Showdown, then Wildcats should be proud. They’re doing alright.
Timothy Everson is a sophomore in pre-journalism. Please send comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.
