Have you ever watched football in ESPN? How about any sports in TV? Do you ever wonder sometimes the tension builds up in players and they sometimes end up brawling in the game? Well that is just one of the many signs of intensity of the competition. You can never avoid that in sports, especially when both teams know they are the best. Intense rivalries can also be good for business. Team owners use this to increase the popularity of the match, leading to attraction of viewers and increase in audience. It can lead to sellouts of tickets and a packed stadium during the match of rival teams. As a spectator, you get to feel the intensity as well. No wonder, you can see them rocking down the house with their cheers and loud roars.
However, the roots of rivalries among school can be more than just playing within the fields of football or the courts of basketball. The game itself just becomes a metaphor and if you look back at the history of the state, you will uncover the root cause of such intensity in competition. It can be a good thing when both teams are friendly with each other but when both teams have history of hating each other; it could sometimes lead to riots and bitter exchange of words. One of the famous rivalries in college teams stars the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers.
Because of the intensity, the famous Border War was established. However, what do you think caused the showdown to happen? History speaks for itself. If you look at the traces, it will only tell that there is so much more than skills and abilities in football that lead to such war. The rivalry is not only within the limits of the schools and the field but it goes between states.
In 1855-1865, there were series of events to influence Kansas to become a free state or pro-slavery. However, not everyone agreed to this since there were three groups existing at that time. They were the pro-slaves, abolitionist and the free. During this time, since people from different groups tried to hard to convince the people to decide on the compromise made, political squabbles and election fraud occurred to enforce the slavery issue. These events were brutal and violent and it invaded Eastern Kansas and West Missouri. Aside from that, the different groups had different interests (i.e. Free State settlers are against slavery because they want the place to be a home for the white while pro slavery wants the use of the black as slaves). Several attacks were made by the pro-slavery to the free-state settlers and it resulted to murder and kidnapping. As tension builds up, more events that are violent occurred. Pro slavery invaded the state and some of them were from Missouri.
No wonder there is so much tension in the meeting of Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers. It seems both teams are still living in the past and created a modern war. This time no more murder and kidnapping. It is now all about who gets to be the champion in the Border Showdown.
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