First, the caveat...

We don't suck. We have better top-to-bottom talent than KU, and that's even accounting for the fact that I do likes ahem... hates me some Darrell Stuckey. Bastard.

KU sucks. It's not like they have been playing possum the past 7 games, getting their asses handed to them just to lull MU into a false sense of security about their suckitude.

At least some of these kids have quit on Mangino and he's not getting them back for one game. For all the hand-wringing about how Mangino-gate never happens if he wins, the fact is Kansas is not only losing but looking bad doing it.

And yet, this game has me far more nervous than K-State did--even coming off the Baylor debacle. Why, you ask?

I really like this team this year. I refuse to label them a disappointment, because they are not. But heavens to Murgatroyd, they distract easily. If college teams could have official sponsors, this team's sponsor would be Ritalin. It's the same m.o. every game. They have a team poised for the kill shot. Then out of nowhere it's, "Ooooo... shiny!" They lose focus and struggle to get it back. Then, they pop a Danario Alexander pill to help restore focus.

It's not a matter of fire, desire, heart, want to, or insert your preferred cliche. It's really a matter of maturity. It improves with experience but it's a bumpy ride--not a smooth one. When we were 19 and 20 we couldn't concentrate for three hours straight without faltering either. We only think we could.

So, what worries me about Border War '09 has nothing to do with our talent or KU's talent. Rather, it is the question of when the distractable moment will occur and how long it lasts. Eleven games into the season and I still have no feel for it. I know it's coming but I don't know when or how long it will last. This week as much as any other there is so much to distract: new uniforms, a "better" bowl invitation,  the final regular season game, playing at Arrowhead. And that's without even getting into the possibility that the Tigers may take for granted that KU has gone fishin'. (If you're Pinkel aren't you tempted to just use tape of last year's KU team?) I have a feel for what Pinkel will do this week. He will say all the right things to the press and to his kids. The leaders will say the right things to the press. But I have no feel whatsoever when our "Oooo... shiny!" moment will happen--and neither do you.

After all that, there is the fat man. Say what you will but he's no dummy. You know he will call on all the evil spirits that animate his lifeless corpse to take away Missouri's Ritalin pill--Danario Alexander. Coach or no coach though, nobody on that team is trying to go out losing seven straight games. The Beakers will be ready to play--or kill a lot of innocent people on the way into and out of Kansas City. Either way...