Why The Big Game Matters So Much: A Personal Story

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 12:57 AM CDT in Football

No one has ever done, what this man was preparing to do, at the moment this photo was taken.

The week of the Big Game -- be it in football or basketball -- always brings with it thoughts of my dad. Some of my best memories of him are wrapped up in K-State games. I remember Jack Hartman (whom my dad idolized), and Lon Kruger (whose Silver Lake team was beaten my dad's Lewis Spartans in the quarterfinals of the 1970 Kansas state basketball tournament). I remember the 1982 football season, and how it was a flicker of light down a long, dark hallway leading to 1990. Without Coach Jim Dickey, and his boy Darrell, my early Wildcat football memories would have contained naught but losing, from my first memories of listening to Cats' games, in my dad's farm truck, as a kindergartener back in 1979, all the way until Coach Snyder arrived on the scene in late 1988.

In fact, as a know-it-all 14-year-old, I was singularly unimpressed with the "old man" (that's honestly what I called him, even back in 1988, when he was all of 49) who stepped to the podium that day. It was my dad who told me, "Give him some time, Kev. I think he might be different." As in most things, my dad was right.

Keep walking memory lane with me after the jump...

One of the things I most remember, is listening to the radio call of KSU football games with my dad, back before everyone was in love with K-State football. In our small southwestern Kansas town, lots of people liked KSU basketball back in the 80s, but few would admit to being fans of the football team. Yet, every Saturday, my dad and I would haul the transistor with us out to the farm where he worked. We'd get that extension cord out, and turn the volume up high. As I handed him wrenches and such, we'd cheer as our quarterbacks, like Stan Weber (yes, before he was the Wildcats' color analyst, he was our quarterback, back in 1983-84, I believe) Carl Straw and Paul Watson, led the team to actually break through for a score against Nebraska or Oklahoma. But, it was on the day of the Big Game when we were truly the most wrapped-up in KSU football. You must understand, back in the mid-to-late-80s, the Cats and Hawks were so such inept football teams that the Sunflower Showdown (I do SO hate that name) became colloquially known as the "Toilet Bowl" (at least in our area). But that didn't matter to us. We were so used to having a bad won-loss record, that we hung all our Purple football pride on how the Cats did against the Hawks.

Those games were everything to us. Often, as an important drive played itself out, we would find ourselves sitting on the floor of his work shed, the transistor between us, engrossed in the action. For me, the most gut-wrenching game was not one of our 5 losses to the Hawks during the 80s, but the tie in 1987. At that point, we had lost 13 straight games (our last win coming in Lawrence, the year before), and I was very much pinning my hopes for the entire season on that one game. As I remember it, there were only maybe 30 seconds left in the game when Stan Parrish sent the kicker on to tie it. We were trailing 17-14, and had driven down to (again, according to my faulty memory -- I was 13) around the 1- or 2-yard line. I think if I had been the AD at the time, I'd have chased Parrish out of Manhattan that day myself. But, the actual AD (whose name I don't recall) gave him one more miserable year, in which our Cats finished an ignominious 0-11, finally being tabbed (and, rightfully so), "Futility U" by Sports Illustrated.

I remember watching the Regional Final in 1988 against Danny and the Miracles. Some people forget that Kruger's Cats had beaten them twice earlier in the year, and that we were favored to win that game. I cried that night as I tried to sleep, thinking how close we'd come. I remember that we never did like it when the Cats left Ahearn, though. The Old Barn had ATMOSPHERE -- a real advantage. Bramlage had... well, nothing. We always hoped that someday they'd move back to the Old Barn, but we knew they wouldn't. Someone named "Bramlage" had given a lot of money to the school, so that's where the Cats play now. I'm still trying my hardest to love it, but -- aside from all the football games with my little brother and our buddy Michael Ketterl -- my best sports memories from college are still in Ahearn: cheering for the volleyball team I filmed and kept stats for. Man, the Old Barn could still rock!

Most of my memories are good ones, though. After my high school football team finished second in state, it was some consolation to see my Wildcats rip off 3 straight wins to finish 7-4 and barely miss out on a bowl game. Two years later, when I was in my first year at KSU, the Copper Bowl win came. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. And then it just kept going in the seasons after that! People who didn't cheer for the Cats before 1990 don't understand how strange it was to see our Cats winning so often. My younger brother Michael joined me on-campus for the 1994 season, and we did have some good times! We were at every Cat home game that year, but the Big Game was in Lawrence, so we had a party at our buddy Michael Ketterl's apartment, which was right down the street from the Stadium. After we beat the Hawks on national television, a call was placed -- as always, win or lose -- to my dad.

One of the games I will always remember is the first one after his untimely death, of cancer, at only age 44. By the time this game came around, my little brother had moved to Tulsa to become a minister, and our friend Michael Ketterl had also died of cancer,at 22, only a few days after Dad passed away in April. I don't know why I felt such a need to go (it was the only home game I traveled back from KC, where I was student-teaching, for that fall), but on November 8, 1997, I was in the stands as Michael Bishop and the boys in Purple rolled the Hawks again, 48-12. For a wonderful three hours, nothing mattered except the team, the noise, and the joy found in that win. But, it was the first time I wasn't able to call my dad right after the game, and the road back to Kansas City that night held many tears.

I close this story with this: I love my Cats. I desperately want us to win, and it pains me when we don't. But, even when we don't, my sporting blood still runs purple. I'm still a Wildcat. I'll always will be a Wildcat. It's wrapped in all the joys and disappointments that I've found in sports throughout my 36 years of living. It's wrapped in some of my best memories of my dad. And it's in the very nature of what I feel makes me me. Some (maybe most) will think it odd how much I care. But, if caring this much about my college makes me strange, I guess I'll just have to be strange, because it's who I am. It's the week of the Big Game, and I've only one thing left to write:

Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! K-S-U!

Kansas St. Wildcats

Wildcats vs Jayhawks coverage

Rock Chalk Talk

Tweet Comment 12 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

It is funny

Growing up in New Jersey, my first year at K-state was also that Copper Bowl year of 1993. I realized after 2004, that I had been spoiled. I heard rumblings about how bad the Cats were, but never had to live for it. In fact the KU game I realized was important, but in many ways I felt it was just more of a payback for basketball. I think it was only close my first year (10-9) I think. But it was always NU and CU that were more important from a conference standpoint. It is just funny the different perspectives. Good Post

by ATL Jim on Oct 11, 2010 6:55 AM CDT reply actions

Thanks!

Yes, it IS funny how different the perspectives of various Cat fans can be! 2004 wasn’t nearly so shocking to me (though I hated when it happened) because of how HORRENDOUS the Cats were as I was growing up. In any case, though, it takes all kinds of us to make up the Wildcat fan base, right? :)

"Everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people never take the chance, either 'cause they're too scared, or because they don't recognize it when it spits on their shoes. This is your big chance, and you shouldn't let it go by..."

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 10:43 AM CDT up reply actions

That magical '93 season

I was beginning my senior year at KSU in 1993 when the team broke through and went to the Copper Bowl. It was a magical time and the launch of an incredible success story that almost seemed surreal. I’ll never forget that season: 7 home games, the 10-9 victory over KU, the dramatic tie with Colorado, the homecoming victory over Oklahoma on a freezing cold day (who could forget that one who was there that day?), the come-from-behind win at Oklahoma State, and, finally, the Copper Bowl win.
I remember my friends dad and uncle telling me before one home game that when they attended KSU they never saw the football team win – not once. Looking back we were spoiled by Coach Snyder and his program. Whatever happens, I’ll always remember that season and how it felt to witness the birth of something wonderful.

Thank you Coach Snyder, thank you to all those KSU players from that incredible run of winning seasons…and thanks K.Scott for the great post.

by CT-K-Stater on Oct 11, 2010 11:28 AM CDT reply actions

Thanks for sharing your OWN story!

It sounds like you and I were leaving/arriving at KSU the same year. I’m glad you got to be there for that season, before you left!

Your reply got me thinking about that OU game. As we were listening to the post-game show later, down in Aggieville I think, I kind of remember a line that Mitch Holthus used to describe it. It was something like, “As Moses parted the Red Sea, so K-State’s Moses Snyder has parted the Red Sooner Sea! It’s a big, big, big, big, big, big win for your Kansas State Wildcats!” I know Mitch’s over-the-top, homeristic tendencies got on some people’s last nerve, but I absolutely loved the guy! He encapsulated for me how passionate I was for the Cats.

Thanks again for sharing your story with us.

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 11:37 AM CDT up reply actions

You're right on Holthus...

That was exactly what he said. i had totally forgotten about that until you mentioned it. Nice recall.
There were so many crazy games that year (left out the come-from-behind win at Minnesota early in the season, too) that were exciting and nail-biting. What an incredible, magical season.
Prior to that year you’d walk around campus and guys would be wearing Colorado Buffaloes hats, Notre Dame hats, Florida State hats, etc. And then by mid-season you hardly ever saw that anymore. Out went the other schools attire, in went the purple. Games started getting more and more packed as the season progressed. (An aside: I haven’t been back out to K-State since I graduated and am always proud to see on TV the crowds they get for games and how loud the stadium is). More importantly, K-State became part of the national conversation – and this time in a good way.
We as fans and alums have something to be proud of and that is this: An appreciation for success and how hard it is to attain. This is not meant as an insult, but that is something lacking at traditional power schools like Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, etc, etc, where winning is something to be expected.
In the struggle, the glory…

by CT-K-Stater on Oct 11, 2010 12:17 PM CDT up reply actions

Your last paragraph

is just fantastic. It’s so hard to convey to non-K-Staters just how much (and why) I appreciate what Coach Snyder in football, and now Coach Martin (to a lesser, but still powerful, extent) in basketball, have done.

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions

I Don't Remember Much

About HCBS’s initial comments or press conference when he was introduced as the new head coach way back when. I do remember, however, his first press conference after the first football game he coached at K-State. It was a loss and I don’t really remember who it was to nor do I care anymore, but I do remember the Q&A went something like this.

Q: Coach, are you concerned about how this loss will affect your team this year?
A: It is one loss and one game. It has exposed our weaknesses, many of which we knew about already. We know we have a lot of work to do. I will be disappointed if this group of young men don’t embrace this as an opportunity to learn about themselves and seek to build on it.

Q: What are you going to work on this week.
A: Well, you saw the game and it looks like we need to work on most of the aspects of our game. But we will also key in on some of the most critical areas first and try to fix them one at a time. We didn’t arrive at this place in one season and we won’t fix the problems in one season, but we will work hard and we will improve.

And the press learned quickly what they had in Bill Snyder. He kept preaching that mantra about daily improvement. He didn’t expect to see immediate success, but he expected to see daily improvement in each player. He expected to see them improve in all aspects of their lives. I became a believer quickly with each press conference I heard and I got to go to one game that year. It was the last one and I almost cried for joy.

If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

by ArkieCat on Oct 11, 2010 1:21 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs

Rec'd

Great post! I remember reading some comments from guys who were seniors on Coach’s 1-10 team from 1989. They talked about how they KNEW that things were different now, even as the record was similar, just because of how Coach Snyder went about his business.

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 1:45 PM CDT up reply actions

The first football game I ever watched was KSU vs NU in 98

I was 15 and a professional nerd in high school. I never cared about sports because my Dad never did, but boy he was excited for that game. I loved it and I know he did too. The second full one was the Big XII title game a few weeks later.

I’m so sorry he passed away in 2002. He never got to see KSU smoke OU for Snyder’s conference title. He would have loved it. He also would have loved Coach Martin and the run to the Elite 8 last year.

I love the big games because I know he would. I hope he’s as excited for this bball season as I am!

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. - Gen. George S. Patton

by Sean T on Oct 11, 2010 11:04 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks for sharing that, Sean.

by K. Scott Bailey on Oct 11, 2010 11:26 PM CDT up reply actions

My first game was in 2002

I never watched much football in high school, except my miserable high school team (I was in the band). I chose K-State without even knowing who Snyder was or the history behind KSU football ( I also didn’t know about Aggieville).

I joined band at K-State and that was my first experience with a winning football team. I didn’t really wake up and appreciate what I was watching until the Texas loss. That was a great game, even though we got the short end of the stick. Throughout my freshman year I grew to love the Wildcats and all their sports, even the men’s basketball team (Jeremiah Massey anyone?).

I bleed purple now and am glad for it.

by ChrisP Wildcat on Oct 12, 2010 11:14 AM CDT reply actions

So much to say...where to begin

First off, I have to admit that I am wiping tears away as I am writing this. Tears of joy for all the good memories and tears of sadness (for KSB and Sean T) that important people who helped formed the connections some of us have to KSU are no longer around to witness this magic anymore. I don’t know if I am alone in this regard, but I get choked up talking about certain games, reading certain quotes, or certain articles, all pertaining to KSU and recent (or past) success. And let me tell you, this one got to me good.

Enough about that.

I have always bled purple. I can’t point to any one specific thing that caused me to be this way, but if I had to guess I would say it has something to do with just about everyone in my family who had gone to college prior to me (with the exception of my sister – Wichita State) had gone to Kansas State.

My dad was never a big sport’s fan, but one thing was certain, if a KSU basketball game was on TV, that’s what my family was going to be watching. The first individual game that I can remember is the Regional Final in ‘88. I wasn’t heartbroken that we had lost, and I don’t remember crying. I was only 8, and I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but I knew that those dang BlueDucks (that’s what I call them) had been the reason we had to stop playing. And then 2 games later, to see THEM getting all the attention they were getting and realizing that could have been US…yeah, I guess that’s when it started.

I think it wasn’t much after then that I rode along with my parents to Manhattan for a meeting my dad had to attend (he works for Farm Bureau Insurance). We made the obligatory stop at Varney’s and the Union, and I found a button (I know my mom still has it somewhere in my room back home) that I just HAD to have. It said “My two favorite teams are K State and whoever KU plays”. Well, that mantra still holds true for me to this day. Has KU ever done anything to wrong me personally? Absolutely not. Why do I feel this way? I’m not really sure (aside from what I said above). As someone else mentioned on another post, I think it is about the daily back and forth that occurs with Jayhawk fans. It’s about seeing the license plates sporting a Powercat or a Jayhawk. It is about the bragging rights. It is about the “culture clash” between KSU and KU. In 1997, my sister did the unthinkable, and married a Jayhawk (albeit as atypical of a KU fan as I have ever met), so for me, now there is some added interest in the Sunflower Showdown (KSB, I actually like this name, I know it is kinda dorky, but hey, it is what it is. The part EYE don’t like is the corporate sponsorship that the series now has, but whatever.).

I guess I kind of rambled in this post and it was more akin to random thoughts by Jeremy Sharp. I enjoyed reading this post and everyone’s comments, and I wanted to share my own story. It made me think of that purple and white $2 button and I felt it (the button) kind of sums up what we all might be feeling on a day like today (or will again on Jan 30, 2011, or Feb 14, 2011).

I want to share this quote with everyone as I wrap this up. This is one of the quotes I was referring to at the outset of my comment. And it goes along quite nicely with KSB’s caption from THE press conference.

“It’s a tremendous challenge here, and I think this has the opportunity for the greatest turnaround in college football history exists here today and it’s not… and it’s not one to be taken lightly.” – Bill Snyder

by Jeremy Sharp on Oct 14, 2010 3:56 PM CDT reply actions