Reasons to Hate: Kansas State

Welcome to Memphis!  I can say that, I'm from Memphis. They've got catfish on the table, gospel in the air, and a Razorback team ready to put an exclamation point on a great 2nd half of the season.  At the end of 2015, it's important to remember the great Hate we've had so far this season, but even more important is the Hate to come in 2016, and it's coming quickly!

1. EMAW. I know what this means, and I'm dumber for it.  EMAW is steeped in controversy.  It's been a tradition at Kansas State University, for some amount of time, but "Every Man A Wildcat" is no longer officially sanctioned by the University.  Like many offensive traditions, traditionalists refused to accept a compromise of "Every Person A Wildcat" thus meaning no one in the college landscape has to deal with EMAW... unless you're looking for a Bulletin Board.

2. GoEMAW. Kansas State fans are largely nice people judging by my experiences with them at the 2012 Cotton Bowl, but GoEMAW is it's own special brand of crazy.  While Hogville fans can jump off the deep end on occasion, GoEMAW is a world where up is down, black is white, and every post is full of the most ridiculous thoughts you've ever seen from a sports fan. It's all intentional though.  It's a community of sarcasm where the goal seems to be to get other fans hackles up.  Your time is better spent doing more interesting things like practicing your spelling, watching paint dry, or looking at carpet samples.

3. Star Trek. I'm a former band member.  I don't want to dump on the band, but Kansas State's band made a bad choice in one of their shows this season.  They depicted a Jayhawk getting rammed by the Starship Enterprise, and many have suggested it looked a little more interesting than that.  While I'm always a fan of telling your rival to "eat a dick", I think most fans were just seeing what they wanted to see and "blowing" things out of proportion.  I'm really not a big fan of marching bands even acknowledging their opponents exist.  I don't know if A&M still makes a longhorn on the field, but these schools being so obsessed with their in-state rival will never cease to bore me.

4. Bill Snyder. By the end of this game, TV viewers will be sick of references to Bielema being from the Snyder coaching tree, pictures of Bielema when he was co-DC at KSU, and comparisons to how many yards KSU is giving up this year compared to Bielema's defenses.

5. Temperature. If you complained about the warm Christmas weather, then a cold Liberty Bowl is on you.  Let's not forget the nightmare in 2010 when temperature at kickoff was below 30 and just got lower as the game went on.

6. Small Stage. It's hard to talk about this game and this opponent without thinking back to that 2012 Cotton Bowl.  The Cotton Bowl is one of the most desirable bowls for Arkansas fans, and the last time we played was a fun victory over the Kansas State Wildcats when both were top 10 teams. Now, the Cotton Bowl is an even harder bowl to get into, and Arkansas isn't at the heights we were at the last time we played Kansas State.  While Memphis and the other 5 pick 6 bowls are on an equal level, it will be a few years before the stigma drops away.  So let's ignore the small stage, the nice attitudes of the Midwestern Manhattanites, and the delicious Memphis style BBQ, and get to the Hate.