Since the turn of the century, the infamous rivalry between KU and K-State has taken place. This rivalry has been summed up as brutal, intense, serious, and… childish?

Sophomore Brynna Woo said she doesn’t take sides in the KU/K-State battle, adding that it is ‘rather childish and immature’.

“I think they both suck,” Woo said.

Woo said this rivalry just causes unnecessary fighting and arguments and she said she finds it ridiculous that a petty rivalry causes so much hostility between supporters of opposing teams.

“Why hate one group of people because of a game?” Woo said.

Woo said she thinks people take it way too seriously, telling the following parable:

“One time my mom was driving to work and a KU fan came up and hit her car with a baseball bat, yelling ‘GO KU!’.”

This is not a true story, but Woo told it in an effort to explain the outlandish things she said some fans will do in support of their team.

Steve Gorsuch, social sciences teacher, is a proud K-State fan. He said when he was a freshman in high school, there was a game where K-State got trounced by KU. Gorsuch said he was so fired up that he went behind the reporter, flashed an obscene hand gesture and got caught on camera in the act.

Gorsuch is supportive of this rivalry and takes part in the trash-talking and pre-game heckling that comes along with it.

“If you’re going to have a rivalry, you might as well have something to stir it up with,” Gorsuch said. “K-State is the law on the Kaw, KU is the flaw on the Kaw.”

Gorsuch is a born and raised K-State fan, and even in elementary school he was cheering for the Wildcats.

“On Kansas Day in elementary school when everyone else had to draw Jayhawks, I drew a Wildcat,” Gorsuch said.

Sophomore Stephanie Rush is also a diehard K-State fan.

Her love for K-State has been passed down generations of her family members, which is the main reason she said she became a K-State fan.

Rush said she does take part in the trash talking and arguing that is common before the big KU vs. K-State games, because she said she needs to stand up for and defend her team.

Art teacher and fourth generation Jayhawk Susan Blankenship said she feels K-State fans are a little overly aggressive in their trash talk, and she chooses not to take part in the banter that happens before a big game.

“I just wear my Jayhawk proudly,” Blankenship said. “It speaks for itself.”

Once, at a KU vs. K-State football game, Blankenship said that she sat on the K-State side, proudly wearing her red and blue.

Blankenship said her KU allegiance comes from a long time family tradition, and her daughter is one of eleven fifth generation Jayhawks in KU history.

Senior Seth Emery was also raised a dedicated KU fan.

“My dad always took me to all of the games and to the campus, and my mom is a part of the KU alumni,” Emery said.

Emery said his confidence in the Jayhawks often leads him to take part in the trash talking.

“I know KU will always win,” Emery said. “Rock chalk Jayhawk.”

Emery said this rivalry is a big deal and he said he doesn’t feel like it gets taken any more seriously than is necessary.

“It really is serious,” Emery said. “It’s the equivalent to life and death.”