Kansas Football Posts Wild Hype Video with References to Slavery Ahead of Rivalry Game Against Missouri
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The University of Kansas football team went there on Thursday when it posted a hype video calling out rival Missouri for the state’s previous support of slavery.
The Jayhawks will take on the University of Missouri Tigers on Friday night. A day before the latest installment of their rivalry, Kansas’s social media team posted a hype video explaining how the rivalry between the two states goes all the way back to the 19th century.
“Love doesn’t exist here,” the video’s narrator said. “Neither does mercy. This rivalry is different because it’s built on something much deeper than just school pride. It’s fueled by hatred passed down through generations. Our roots reach back to the Civil War, when blood was spilled over what you believed in and which side you stood on.”
Accompanying those words were several images from the Civil War. In addition to showing old newspaper headlines, the video included photos of abolitionist John Brown and Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill. The latter was notorious for the Lawrence Massacre, which saw Quantrill’s men kill at least 150 people in the town of Lawrence, Kansas. The town was targeting for its pro-abolition views.
“There are heroes and villains,” the narrator continued. “Only allegiance decides their legacy. There’s right and wrong. There’s Kansas and Missouri. In this rivalry, passion has its colors — crimson and blue, gold and black. Colors that continue to clash. When we collide, it goes beyond the game.”
Reception of the video was overwhelmingly positive online, with fans marveling at the sheer audacity to invoke civil war figures to talk about a college football game.
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