Topeka Capital Journal
Oct. 9, 1992

Kansas State and Kansas play football in Lawrence tomorrow, and everybody is up for the game. Most importantly, the crack Sports Department of this newspaper is primed and ready. To make sure of this, I checked with the brilliant, frequently honored sports writers.

I caught them on a day all of them were in the office, which meant it was either payday or the date the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated arrives.

“Listen up,” I shouted. “What do we call the K State KU football game?”

“Sunflower Civil War,” they shouted back in unison. By golly, it’s no wonder they win so many awards.

“For this game,” I yelled, “what should we do with the records?”

“Throw them out the window,” the writers roared back. Where else would you find a collection of minds so finally tuned, so in keenly honed?

“And,” I screamed, “what are they playing for tomorrow?”

“Bragging rights,” the writers bawled as they pounded their desks.

“And what else?” (a key question.)

“ALL THE MARBLES!” Now they were all on their feet, waving their arms, with index fingers pointed skyward as they broke into the chant, “we’re Number 1, we’re Number 1”

I singled out Jim Ramberg for the last question. I asked him what the situation is when the ball is placed on the tee for the opening kickoff.

“The ducks are on the pond,” he said without hesitating or referring to his notes. Imagine, if you can, what an agile brain and what lightning-fast reflexes it takes to deliver a response like that so quickly. It helps explain why he recently was named indoor writer of the year by the Baby Dolls chapter of Quacks Unlimited.

Actually, my last and final question, as they say on TV, went to Pete Goering, who handles the credentials. I asked him if he wanted to send me to the press box in Lawrence tomorrow for my analysis of the game. It was an offer most assignment editors would drool over, but Goering didn’t even get his mustache damp. He shook his head.

“We’re saving you,” he said, “for the Day KU or K-State plays in the Rose Bowl.”

“But,” I said. “They’re not eligible for the Rose Bowl.”

“Imagine,” he said, “what an agile and lightning-fast brain it took to figure that out so quickly.”

So that’s why I won’t be at the game. However, I can still offer an inside look at this Sunflower Civil War. I threw that in there to prove I could return to sports writing tomorrow, even if all the marbles were on the line.

A crucial element is how the head coaches prepared their teams mentally for the contest. K State coach Bill Snyder, being a student of history, undoubtedly chose the Hank Iba approach. Iba always made the same speech before he took his Oklahoma State basketball team south from Stillwater, through Oklahoma City to Norman to play the hated OU Sooners.

“Most people in Oklahoma are a nice folks,” he would say. “That’s true when you go down through Oklahoma City, and even to the little town of Moore. But when you get to Norman, you find out it’s not true everywhere. In Norman, they put just a little too much sugar in their tea.”

So, he would get his Cowboys all riled up against those tea sippers at OU, and it usually worked. Why wouldn’t Snyder use the same strategy with his poor farmers against those tea sippers at KU?

Most fans, wonder what the two coaches say when they meet during pregame practice. In these days of artificial playing surfaces, they say hello and talk about the weather, golf, the stock market, politics, and other teams. Back in the days of natural grass, they often talked about the condition of the field, and they could get testy.

That’s because some coaches, in order to limit the speed and finesse of the visiting team, would allow the grass to grow about a foot high, and then water it all night before the game. In those days, Snyder might have said to KU’s Glenn Mason that it was strange the field received a 4-inch rain and downtown Lawrence didn’t get a drop.

The Saturday affairs aren’t over until the students finish celebrating. If K-State wins, students will burn Aggieville and parts of downtown Manhattan. If KU wins, the victory will be toasted during a break in Sunday’s croquet matches.

Incidentally, earlier this week, two K-Staters took a stuffed dove, supposedly a peace offering, to KU, but when it started ticking the KU lads through the dove and its bearers into the Kaw to float back to Manhattan.

The K-Staters are laughing about that. They know the river is too shallow in spots for them to make it all the way.

(Editor’s Note: Kansas plays Kansas State Oct. 17 in Manhattan)