Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sherron Collins has been the face of the Kansas basketball program for the last couple of years.  I have been the face of the Kansas Seventh Day Adventists basketball fans for the last dozen years.  Whenever Kansas loses a  big game I am the person who has to hear it the most.  In 2003 after Kansas lost in the National Championship game I got to my room and I had almost 20 messages from haters.  Tonight when I finally turned on my phone there were 10 text messages ready for me.  With an exception here and there most of the people that say something aren't fans of any particular team.  They just love it when my team loses.  I think for the most part I have been able to handle the heckling through out the years.  The thing that most people don't understand is the loyalty that it takes to follow your team throught it all.  When a buddy of mine has his favorite team lose I didn't say anything to him because I understood what it takes.  For the most part people that would talk trash to me about Kansas losing this game just now realized that Kansas has been #1 in the country for the better part of this year.  It takes a sense of pride and loyalty to be able to keep your head up when losses like this come around.  I have that.  This was as tough a loss as they come.  But I was here when we lost to Arizona, Rhode Island, Bucknell, and Bradley and I will be here the next time we cut down nets.  This loss hurts really bad and I will be feeling this for a while but if spending money on 15 Chiefs games and only winning 2 doesnt break me then this certainly can't.  When's Late Night in The Phog?

4 comments:

Paradise said...

1. I am the only visible KU fan in Berrien Springs, MI.
2. Berrien Springs is the center of the Adventist world.
3. I am the face of KU in Adventism.

Logic.

Greg Creek said...

Richard,

As a lifelong Chicago Bears fan that attended a boarding school in Wisconsin, I feel for you in regards to all of the haters that have started pouring out of the woodwork. I know all too well how cruel people can be (a single tear from my right is slowly working it's way down my face as I continue to type). That said, I think you are experiencing this at a much deeper level because, unlike Kansas, Chicago really didn't do anything when I was in high school. Freshman year 7-9 with two losses to the Packers, Sophomore year 4-12 with two losses to the Packers, Junior year 4-12 with two losses to the Packers, Senior year 6-10 with 1 loss to the Packers. While the win against the Packers was the day after my birthday which did add to the special-ness of it, because it was my birthday I was at home for the weekend, which meant I had no satisfaction of watching the field goal get blocked by the Bears in the closing moments and be able to rub that in faces of all those jerks. Also, because I was a senior, I wouldn't have had to worry about getting beat up by any upper class-men for dogging their team. But, it was our first win against the Packers since 1993 which wasn't very much to be proud of (Another tear is working it's way down my face from my left eye). The point of all those statistics is to say that I was relentlessly dogged by haters, but I was at the bottom so it wasn't very far to fall. Kansas on the other hand was living the life at #1. It's a long fall from the top Big Rich, and I'm here to catch you.

Big Rich said...

Wow...thats a lot of pain right there in that comment. I don't think we have related to anything more then right now. I now officially vouch for you to get in the fantasy league.

Paradise said...

NH