Asleep on the Border (War)

Although chock fulla great one-liners, "Border War" kinda put me to sleep during it's last half hour. The first two-thirds of the documentary, however, were quite entertaining. I'm hoping that they edit it a bit more for television when it is broadcast on Thanksgiving.

The "Border War" is the calamity that went on before the beginning of the Civil War. Well, you really could say that the Civil War started here. Kansas dudes (Jayhawkers) burned Osceola, MO. Kansas dudes kidnapped the Missouri dudes' (Bushwackers) wives and daughters who then died in a building collapse. Missouri dudes burned Lawrence, KS. Kansas dudes declared 4 Missouri counties as "No Man's Land" and killed livestock and burned homes. It's pretty ugly history.

The "Border War" still manifests itself in the rivalry between the universities of Kansas and Missouri. If ever one felt right to use the word "hate," which is a word I utterly despise, this is the region where it almost feels justified. MU & KU have been playing football against each other for more than a century, second only to length of the Wisconsin/Minnesota match up. In fact, MU & KU can't even agree on the record between them, but that is another story.

"It's not a rivalry, they are enemies."

Great one-liners from the documentary:

• In Poland they tell Missouri jokes.
• Korea had the 38th parallel, we've got the State Line.
• I hear the MO government is voting to make the Jayhawk the state game bird.
• We had to move the MU/KU games out of Kansas City because everyone ended up in jail.
• It's nice to see the football teams playing well again. For years they've been like 6 year olds flogging each other.
• BURN THE WHEAT!
• The Jayhawks wears boots, perfect for kicking a Tiger.
• Jayhawks are a bunch of thieves, you can look it up in the dictionary.

I loved the time that the documentary spent on Coach Don Fambrough. He is a character that I wasn't previously familiar with and he's hilarious. He says that he's amazed that he's still alive because his doctor is a Missouri alum. Fortunately, he did his med work at KU Med. :)

Finally, the Truman Forum at the Plaza Library is an awesome venue and I should make it back on Thursday night for the premiere of "City Ball."