http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/mar/03/truth-about-state-traditions"Editor's note: In honor of the Kansas State men's basketball game Wednesday, The Kansan took a light-hearted look at some of K-State's "traditions."
tra-di-tion
* a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting.
* a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.
The University of Kansas knows what it means to have tradition. The name Jayhawk was used to describe people who fought to make Kansas a free state, or free from slavery, as far back as the 1850s. That name has been used in the Rock Chalk Chant since its creation in 1886. The chant has been sung at sporting events ever since and according to legend, it was sung by American troops in World War II. The University has held these types of traditions for more than 100 years.
But it’s difficult to apply that same term — tradition — to K-State when half of its traditions have been created in the past 20 years. Each one is an attempt to fill the void left by the last lackluster ritual in the university’s 147-year history.
Octagon of Doom
Because we all know octagons are the most intimidating of the polygons. Let’s be honest, no one is going to take “Triangle of Death” seriously. It’s just science.
Willie the Wildcat
The KSU mascot used to be a dog, now it’s a cat. Sticking with the traditional household pet theme, perhaps KSU will instate a guinea pig as its next mascot. (Editor’s note:There’s already a series of terrible guinea pig promotional videos the school could capitalize on.)
EMAW
Oh dear God, what have they come up with now? No it’s not an ewok’s long-lost cousin, it’s the latest slogan plastered across K-State billboards and websites – Every Man a Wildcat. The slogan even has its own fan website, so it must be good, right?
YouTube Video
K-State's Power Towels
Power towels
This is Ron Princes’s failed attempt to start a new K-State tradition complete with a bad promotional video. We’d say more but the video speaks for itself.
The other wildcat
Emulating other Universities that have live mascots as a part of school tradition, K-State attempted to incorporate its own: a bobcat named, Touchdown I (since there’s no such thing as a “wildcat.”) Unfortunately, the bobcat hadn’t even made it to Manhattan when it was attacked and fatally injured by a porcupine.
In conclusion….
There seems to be an ongoing theme with these K-State “traditions": They quickly die off. K-State fans have long lost or burned their power towels and Willie’s head once went missing for more than two years. For the sake of our state’s reputation we can only hope the “Octagon of Doom” and “EMAW” meet a similar fate.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk."
