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READING KU’S "BIG 12" TEA LEAVES
Not every communication re the impending death of the Big 12 is meeted out to sports journalists. Take the email KU Alumni Association prez Kevin J. Corbett dispatched re KU’s plans for a Big 12 afterlife.
"Dear Jayhawk," it begins. "Amid the latest round of conference realignment discussions, I want all KU alumni to know that Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Dr. Sheahon Zenger, KU athletics director, are aggressively pursuing the best possible outcome for KU."
It doesn’t say much, but the message is clear. KU’s actively pursuing and presumeably considering its options outside the Big 12. And that it won’t be caught with its pants down when and if the nightmare unfolds.
Which is good, but…
It also feeds in to the demise of the Big 12, when pretty much all its teams – with the possible exception of Baylor – are out fishing for new conference affiliations. Can assuring alums that such a process/search is underway help but fuel the fires now consuming the Big 12?
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Wanna Save $7, Go to Greenwood
Who doesn’t like a healthy discount?
Especially for something you actually know and want. That’s why businesses like Blanc Burger have kicked major butt at Groupon with its half-off deals.
The flip side of that coin?
Check out the myriad failed deals on the KC Star’s new DealSaver and the litany of let’s-make-a-dealmakers out pimping for restaurants and businesses that in many cases nobody’s heard of. And/or they’re miles and miles out of the way.
To wit, is saving $7.50 on $15, like Tuesday’s Star deal for a Mexican restaurant in Greenwood, Mo. really an incentive?
Buyers must go through the hassel of scouring the fine print in the deal, fill out the signup info, ante up their credit card numbers, then drag down to wherever – like Greenwood – and present what passes for a cetificate to some stranger before they either lose the coupon or it expires.
"At some point – it’s almost embarrassing to show up with one of those things," says one local marketing maven.
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GOING WITH FAM TO BRIMINGHAM
Anybody remember that line?
That’s the 1981 slogan for when revered KU football coach Don Fambrough took the Jayhawks to the Hall of Fame Bowl. They lost to Mississippi State, but for decades Fambrough was the tried and true face of KU football in Lawrence.
Until his death earlier this week at age 88, following a fall.
Three things...
Check out the Fall 2011 issue of Lawrence Magazine for a touching tribute by Fambrough to his beloved wife Del, who died 10 years earlier.
"She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen," Fambrough says. "She was absolutely gorgeous. She could have any boy, probably, in the state of Texas. Beauty, brains, she had it all."
The couple were happily married 60 years, and 610 Sports host Nick Wright never so much as tweeted them a salutation, thank heavens!
One anecdote from Fam’s going away magazine tribute worth reliving; his enlistment in the Air Force.
The Lawrence Journal World is reporting that it was vertigo that kep Fam from flying. That’s incorrect.
"I washed out as a pilot because I had no perception," Fambrough told Lawrence Magazine. "One time I teried to land, and I was about 3,000 feet up in the air. The instructor said, ‘Fambrough, I can’t pass you because if you fly an airplane, it’s pretty important you know how to land.’ "
Student newspaper the University Daily Kansan posted a YouTube video of Fam being interviewed by a sideline hottie a couple years back about his "hatred" of the University of Missouri.
"Would you rather have tio eat spam for one week straight or have to go to one class at the University of Missouri – online, it could be an online class even?" the reporter asked.
"I’d eat spam forever," Fambrough shot back. "I disliked Missouri when I played against them. I disliked Missouri as an assistant coach. I disliked Missouri when I was head coach and I dislike ’em now. And I always will."
Even the college scholarship Fambrough set up for great granddaughter Cora has an anti MU clause in it, Fam said.
"Right at the top of the policy it says, if you should by any means, go to the University of Missouri, this scholarship is null and void."
To a large extent Fam’s hatred of MU was tongue in cheek…
Like the time he told the Lawrence Journal World, “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of nice people go to the University of Missouri. But when they spend time there, something happens to them because by the time they graduate, none of them are any good.”
Finally, memorial services for Fambrough will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at First Christian Church in Lawrence.
Best Pep Talk Ever
Friend of mine played for Don in the 80’s. KU was playing at Nebraska. They were in the visitors locker room after warmups. It was cold and damp a typical shitty visitors locker room.
You could feel the stadium shaking. Fan’s stomping their feet and chanting GO BIG RED! GO BIG RED!
It was loud even inside the locker room. My friend said it gave him an idea of what it was like to be a Christian in the Roman Coliseum waiting to go out and get devoured by a lion.
The guys were waiting for the pep talk. Coach Fambrough just paced around the locker room. The players focused on him intently, waiting for him to speak.
He just kept pacing, looking them each in the eye. After a couple more minutes of that he said “BIG RED” followed by a lengthy pause and then “BIG SHIT!” LET’S GO GET ‘EM!
There were no illusions going into that game that KU had a snowballs chance in hell. They were a 21 point dog.
But in the moment after he spoke those 8 words there wasn’t a guy in the locker room that didn’t think they could whup some Cornhusker ass.
KU lost but he said it was one of his most memorable moments.
Rest in Peace Coach Fambrough. God Bless You.
Meted out, maybe?
You haven’t been following the conference realignment story much, have you Hearne? Nobody batted an eye at that release from KU.
I won’t speak ill of the dead … so no comment on Fambrough.
the story in the first coment is true
I was in the locker room when he said that and it was indeed memorable. Fam was one of a kind.
I remember the “going with Fam to Birmingham” stuff in ’81. At the end of season banquet, he said “next year, they’ll say “Going with Fammy to Miami”. Miami was the Orange Bowl, where the Big 8 Champps went in those days. The ’82 season turned out to be a disaster, and Fam was fired.
Meted out, indeed.
I have been following it closely. Only alums got that email, so I think in a placid, behind the scenes way, it confirmed that KU (again/still?) was also exploring post Big 12 options. The point being that the snowball was rolling and may be difficult to stop. Even though teams like K-State, Baylor and KU on the surface (and probably in real life) profess loyalty to the Big 12.
Unless you’re a KU grad and connected, you probably didn’t see that email. Just passing it along with a comment. Not too hard to follow this on, Cliffy. But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll try to keep up!
Nice add, thanks!