Mizzou-Jayhawks Saturday for the Last Time in History?

Thanksgiving weekend. A time of tradition. Putting up holiday decorations, gobbling up turkey leftovers. And for the last few years at least, a time to relish the annual Border War football battle between the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas, which has played out at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Now, with Mizzou's pending move to the Southeastern Conference, it appears that the bitter rivalry with that school from that state in that city which dates back to the Civil War, is at an end. KU tweeted as much the day MU announced it would be teaming up with the likes of Auburn and Alabama: "Missouri forfeits a century-old rivalry. We win."

If today is the end, I have to admit I won't be crushed about it on the football side. While there have been some epic battles, including the 2007 nationally televised clash which thrust the Tigers to the top of the polls, I can remember many more as a student and a fan that didn't have nearly as much on the line. I know in rivalry games, the records aren't supposed to matter and all that, but that's my perspective on it.

Basketball is a different story.

Pattonville graduate Corey Tate's free throw line jumper in double overtime on February 2, 1997 to give Missouri a 96-94 win at home will go down as one of the most memorable games I've ever attended. The fact that the upset spoiled an undefeated KU season and took the Jayhawks out of the number 1 spot in the rankings was a nice bonus.

The good news for basketball junkies is that we're likely to see the teams paired up in the near future. There are more games in the season, and too many made-for-tv opportunities for it not to work. Plus, the NCAA loves drama when it comes to scheduling March Madness. I would be stunned if the scheduling wizards weren't already conjuring up a way for Mike Anderson's Arkansas squad to meet up with Mizzou somewhere in the tournament. Who wouldn't love to see the Tigers and Jayhawks square off in a fight for the Sweet 16 or the Final Four?

Arkansas brings me to my last point. New rivals can be refreshing. On the basketball side, MU and Arkansas had something going back in the 1990s. The Tigers were the first team to travel to Fayetteville to play in the new Bud Walton Arena and lost handily. The next season, the Hogs came to Columbia for a nationally televised game on CBS at the Hearnes Center. The Razorbacks won that game too, but fans can still call "scoreboard" on our neighbors to the south, thanks to the football team's Cotton Bowl victory in 2008.

It will be interesting to see how the school builds new rivalries, even if the hostilities which gave birth to them won't span a hundred years.

What are your favorite MU-KU Rivalry memories?

Related Topics: Big 12, Corey Tate, Kansas Jayhawks, Mizzou, NCAA, Pattonville High School, Southeastern Conference, and University of Missouri