This post, slightly edited, originally appeared on July 5, 2007.  It was a part of my lighthearted tour of the Big 12 fanbases, which I will be reusing throughout the conference season.

(Once again, if you don't know the premise for this, check out this post first.)

Today we move west across the hallowed Kansas-Missouri border and stop at that school to the east, Harvard-on-the-Kaw. Here, we have the "flagship university of Kansas" populated by students from JoCo, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver.

At KU, there are a lot of likeable Kansas natives, and if I can say anything good about them, it's that they don't make the Nebraskian claim to having the greatest fans in college sports. That's probably a good thing, because Nebraska fans themselves found out what great hosts the 'beaks can be in 2003.

Small-town hospitality at its finest.

Maybe it's only natural that KU fans should have a hatred for opponents' vehicles,

because their own athletes have had so many problems involving vehicles. Who could forget Dion Rayford, who got stuck in a Taco Bell window after the workers forgot his chalupa? I've never tried them, but those must be some damn tasty chalupas in order to get a very large man to crawl through a very small window. Or Jeff Hawkins, who was so excited to get some McDonald's fries at 2 a.m. he tried to cut in the drive-thru line.

Of course, that's all off-the-field stuff. Now it's hardly a secret that KU hasn't enjoyed a lot of success in football recently,

so it'd only be natural for them to get a little excited the last few years when they've had more to cheer about on the gridiron. Of course, what starts out as a little well-deserved exuberation eventually becomes an image of not knowing what it's like to win. Just for documentation, KU fans have now charged the field AND TORN DOWN THEIR GOALPOSTS six times since 2003. And let's take a gander at which teams were the victims of such momentous victories that mass destruction had to occur:

2003. Missouri, 8-5 record

2004. K-State, 4-7

2005. Iowa State, 7-5

2005. Nebraska, 8-4

2005. Missouri, 7-5

2006. K-State, 7-5

I will give them passes on the 2004 K-State game (first win over K-State in 11 years), and 2005 Nebraska game (first win over Nebraska in 1,058,284 years). But the games against Mizzou? Ok, so they're your big Border War rival, but they're not very good and you beat them about every other year as it is. And a half pass on the 2005 Iowa State game, as that got the 'beaks bowl eligible.

(This is probably a Mizzou fan, but it pretty well sums up the KU football fan mindset.)

So thanks, KU fans, because we know that no matter how bad our own football seasons will be, you'll beat a 2-7 Colorado team and tear down your goalposts.

I would go off on KU basketball fans, but a humble K-Stater doesn't have much room to talk about basketball these days. So I'll simply offer you this, and turn my lonely eyes toward another basketball season with high hopes ready to be dashed. Always a bridesmaid...