As I stepped over a smoldering Tiger to my last designated stop of the night, thoughts of what could have been rushed through my mind. It was supposed to be the night that topped all nights. Cars were to be set ablaze, streakers were to dash down Mass Street, stores were to be looted, and Kansas was to beat Mizzou to get one step closer to the National Championship in New Orleans, La.

But the night didn’t go as planned and so here I was, staring at an ablaze headless tiger. The Hawk’s doorman casually grunted to the occasional passerby, “Just step over it.” One intoxicated Samaritan offered to put it out with his beer, but another individual belligerently yelled, “That’d be a waste of beer, you need all you can get after tonight.”

A town usually so full of high spirits had the breath knocked out of it. The only emotion was the occasional Brock (frat boy) dripping tears into his empty mug. Tonight was a eulogy of what could have been, and tomorrow all would be forgotten as the town turned its attention to its security blanket, Jayhawk basketball.

They say in times of tragedy to remember the good times. Jayhawk nation, this football season is the good times. Last year at this time you would be predicting what seed the Jayhawks would get in March Madness, not what teams needed to lose for the Jayhawks to slip into the national championship. Field goal percentage would be a statistic you obsessed about for five players, not one.

But alas, it does hurt, especially since the dismay comes at the paws of your rival, the Missouri Tigers. I guess one item can be added to Missouri’s list of pastimes. Porn, firework stands and football…

Muck Fizzou…

Even though I’m not a Jayhawk fan I’m definitely not a Tiger fan, and the Tigers ruined my night, a night that had the potential of “Risky Business” but deflated to “Mission Impossible III.”

The setting for euphoria was ripe as the night began. There I sat in a hot, busy, smoke-filled bar, waiting in anticipation for the kickoff with the other hundred people within touching distance. When the Jayhwaks took the field the bar’s roof did a “Wizard of Oz”-like number as the room’s vibe hit me sternly but kindly in the chest. It was a feeling I have not felt since watching the 2002 Ohio State-Miami national championship in a crowded Las Vegas bar.

But emotions went sour instantaneously with the first Tiger touchdown, and when another came unanswered you had that feeling this was all she wrote. The lone Tiger fan cheered and was answered quickly with an inebriated “Yuck Fou!” If I wasn’t stuffing my face with the free buffalo wings I had scored from my high school math teacher I probably would have laid a cheer on this guy’s face.

As the night wore on, things only got worse. It’s almost like Jayhawk fans knew where this was going; they had plenty of experience losing football games prior to this year. The attempted comeback in the fourth quarter was a tease, and people knew it well before Heisman hopeful Todd Reesing was sacked in the end zone instead of taking an intentional grounding penalty. This was just another chapter in a program that still doesn’t know how to win big games.

The question for KU football fans is not when or where, but what scorched mascot will I be stepping over next?