Back to the Past Here in the Future

For the past few weeks, just looking at college football scores and seeing Kansas State blown out by Oklahoma and then losing to Texas, I’m pretty sure I’ve time-slipped back to the 80’s.

During the time I was at Kansas State, both as an undergraduate and a graduate student, Kansas State had (if I did the math correctly) 16 wins, 60 losses, and 1 tie (more on that in a minute). The only winning season was my final year when Bill Snyder finally pulled off a 7-4 record in his third season.

Along the way, during a 2-9 season, there was a “riot” in Aggieville after Kansas State defeated the Hated Kansas University Jayhawks. (The week before the Cats had been blown out by Oklahoma 56-10.)

Somehow, during the 1987 season (the year after the “riot”), my fraternity got the responsibility of providing ushers at the football stadium during games. This meant a great many of us were “volunteered” for service. That’s how I ended up wearing a sun visor around my neck whilst I stood around a cold stadium checking tickets. (Note: I wore the sun visor around my neck because that seemed less stupid than the hat-head I’d get to wear all day if actually wore the sun visor during the game.)

I did get to see the games for free, but that wasn’t that great of a perk that season as Kansas State lost to such powerhouses as Austin Peay State and Army. I ended up in the stadium for the game versus the Hated Kansas University Jayhawks and I remember the anticipation being high. The Cats had defeated them the year before and had just suffered a three week run that included losses to Oklahoma, Nebraska and Oklahoma State for a combined score of 171-20.)

The Hated Kansas University Jayhawks were 1-7 and the Cats were 0-8. Aggieville had been converted into a series of barricades and bunkers and extra police had been called in from around the state. Aggieville became known as, if I remember correctly “Aggietraz”. The game itself had been dubbed “The Toilet Bowl” because both teams were shitty.

The joke, of course, was on us as the game ended in a 17-17 draw after Kansas State blocked a field goal in the closing seconds. There was no riot after the match. In fact, I don’t think anyone went to Aggietraz at all.

The only people who ended up being happy were the police because they got lots of overtime and no riot.

 

1 thought on “Back to the Past Here in the Future

  1. Pingback: Remembrance of Futures Past | Mere Blather

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.