Traditions changing

Here is a note - this is a post about football.

My alma mater won its bowl game this year. It is a big deal to me because Kansas has not been a football "power" since the early 1990's and a consistent threat and conference winner since Gale Sayers and John Riggins went there in the late 60's.

With success comes change. The folks in Lawrence are looking to make the facilities better for the football program, which is necessary for success. They are, however looking to change the way the stadium looks to do it.

Memorial Stadium in Lawrence is one of the oldest facilities west of the Mississippi. It was built with some famous hands, including John Wooden, the famous basketball coach at UCLA. It is the place all KU kids graduate in the spring. It sits at the base of Mount Oread, the big hill on which KU's campus sits. At the top is a bell tower that serves as a war memorial and plays its bells hourly. The stadium, as it sits now, allows students and fans to sit on the hill and folks in the stadium to see the beauty of the hill and the bell tower. The changes planned, could change it.



I am a traditionalist, but I have also watched UT's stadium grow in Knoxville over the past 10 years. Growth is necessary. I feel, however, whatever changes are made they need to focus on the effort they used to improve Allen Fieldhouse and to work on it from the same persepctive to protect the tradition.