My "testimony"

[RoyalShock]

I know what you're thinking, but don't worry, you're not going to read about my converstion to Christianity. While that did happen the spring of my senior year in high school, the story isn't very interesting. The purpose of this narrative, rather, is to encourage others to look deep (or not-so-deep) into their souls and describe the evolutionary process that resulted in their current fandom. Not just of WSU - though that is a required element - but of sports, teams, players or coaches in general. What is it that prompted your love of a game, a program, an invidivual. What is your testimony?

It wouldn't be right for me to solicit your stories if I wasn't willing to get the ball rolling. So everyone grab a chair and I'll take the podium. Or in this case is it the couch? We'll soon see.

I can't remember a time I didn't love to play sports or engage in just about any competitive endeavor. As a kid if it involved a leather, felt or rubber sphere, or an oblong pigskin, forget the board games, forget the Hot Wheels, forget the TV: it was time to play ball!

My first memorable "fan" experiece was when I was 9 or 10. My grandparents took my cousins and me to a KC Royals game. I was already a fan because even though it was a four hour drive, KC was the local team, and I was all about locality. It was just like how every young boy either says or thinks, "my dad can beat up your dad". But in this case it was, "my hometown team is better than your hometown team". So it's no surprise that I became a fan of the Chiefs, and even the Kings for the short time I remember them in KC. Sure, there were players I admired for some silly, childish reason I can't remember. But no matter how much I enjoyed looking at my Steve Bedrosian baseball card I couldn't have cared less whether the Braves won or lost. All I cared about was thinking how bad-ass it would be to have the name Bedrosian!

As it turned out, even if I didn't understand it yet, some form of personal connection would be my basis of being a fan. There was one exception to that rule, well almost - Julius Erving. I opened my very first pack of basketball cards and there was he was, the immortal "Dr. J", adorned with his bigger-than-the-shrubbery-in-my-front-yard afro and sporting his red-white-and-blue 76ers jersey. He had the coolest nickname ever and I'd try to watch any time Philly played on TV. Dr. J would be, and still is, my favorite NBA player of all time. But I did say it was "almost" an exception to the personal connection rule. Not only was Dr. J also my gym teacher's favorite player (I had the greatest gym teacher ever, even if his daughter hooped at Missori St.), but at that time my dad raced cars as a hobby. The car's colors? Red, white and blue. His car number? 76.

To this day I remain a diehard Royals fan because they've always been the hometown team. The only football team I follow is the Chiefs (when they're good - I'm a self-admitted fairweather fan). After the Kings moved west and Dr. J retired the NBA was virtually dead to me. That's my professional sports fan history in a nutshell. But what about big-time, division I college sports?

It would be another one of those silly, childhood reasons that college sports would make an appearance on my radar screen. I think it was 2nd grade when the high school marching band, of which my sister was a member, would go to a marching festival up north. She brought back with her a souvenir for her kid brother - a purple plastic KSU drink cup. Man, I thought that was the coolest thing. As insignificant as it was, I was now a Wildcat fan and would be for the foreseeable future. And of course, in those days of the late 70s through the 80s it was all about basketball, Jack Hartman, Rolondo Blackman, Lon Kruger, Mitch Richmond. The only college merchandise I would own, wear or display for a decade was K-State purple.

But growing up around Hutchinson it was impossible not to hear about KU and WSU, too. Though I wasn't a big fan of either I have vague memories of watching KU, as well as WSU games on KAKE TV with Mark Allen. Antione Carr, Darnell Valentine, Cliff Levingston, Aubrey Sherrod, Randy Smithson, "X", Greg Dreiling, Danny Manning and Mark Turgeon were household names. In our house we always rooted for the Kansas teams, whether KSU, KU or WSU, even if I did have my favorite.

I dreampt of attending KSU. Not because they had this or that academic program, but because I thought I bled purple. And the whole foundation was a cheap plastic cup that for years was perched on a pedastal - ok, my bedroom dresser. Incidentally, I think that cup currently sits under my bathroom sink, serving as a container for a cleaning sponge. From the pedastal to under the sink. (I think that's what literary types call "foreshadowing"!) When my Air Force ROTC scholarship to KSU fell through at the last minute I was forced into a different route; one that took me to Wichita State, via detour through Hutch CC.

With that instant personal connection, Wichita State was now my school. And in spite of it being the Mike Cohen and Scott Thompson eras in basketball, the Shockers would also be my team, win or lose. I say also, because I was still a KSU fan. It may have started with a cheap souvenir, but I'd been a KSU fan over half my life at that point. The valve couldn't be turned off so easily, especially with the sudden success of the football program.

It was a few years after my last class at WSU. A co-worker (KSU fan) and I agreed to drive up to Manhattan to see the WSU-KSU basketball game. But I had a dilemma - who was I going to root for? It wasn't long after we settled in to our seats that I felt my heart being tugged in one direction, and with very little resistance. There would be no more question where my allegiance lay. I don't remember who won or the player's names on the floor. That didn't matter What did matter, is that I was, am and always will be, a Shocker. The young ShockerCat had matured into RoyalShock. Long wave the Yellow and Black!

Who's next on the couch?

[Capitol Shock II]

I have a very close connection to WSU since birth but wasn't a die hard fan until a friend of mine invited me to see a basketball game with his dad. The game was against Fordham and it was to me unlike anything I had ever experienced. There were people standing up yelling at the refs and the other team, I couldn't believe how rabid the fans were! It's been a long time but the game had a controversial ending, I think somebody dumped water on the court in celebration before the game clock had actually expired and it again it was the most exciting event I had ever been to.

Since then, I have been in the VIP tent for many Chiefs games, sat in the 8th row behind home plate when McQuire broke the home run record in St. Louis, seen the Orioles play the Yankees, the Redskins numerous times, the Ravens numerous times and the Royals. I've seen KU beat Norris Coleman in Allen Fieldhouse and watched K-State play a few games against opponents I don't remember. But nothing compares to that first WSU game that I went to and I've been hooked ever since.

I used to drive from St. Louis to Wichita for every home game when the teams was bad if that helps illustrate the kind of Shocker Basketball fan I am.

[SubGod22]

First, I grew up around sports. My brother is 6 1/2 years older than me so as far back as I can remember, and more, I was watching him play basketball and baseball. My dad was pretty into slow pitch softball and played some baseball so we were constantly traveling around the state and region following sports. My dad actually had a chance to try out for either the Cubs or White Sox, but chose not to for some reason. As soon as I was old enough to play organized sports, I was. Started with T-Ball when I was 4 and basketball when I was 7 and didn't stop until sometime in HS due to health. I remember spending most of my summers up at the local grade school where the basketball courts were. I'd wake up and eat breakfast and then walk a mile or so up there and normally spend the first hour or two alone just playing by myself. People would come and go all day and I didn't go home until it was starting to get dark. Then I'd walk back or find a ride. One day, Paul Wight was up there messing around and played with my brother and some of the older guys. They weren't impressed but the dude was huge. I was allowed to start playing with my brother and the guys his age and older when I was about 10 or 11. I loved the competition of playing against the older kids. They took it easy on me to some degree at first, but when my brother wasn't around they sure as hell didn't. Anyway, I'd been around sports since birth. I think ball was the second word I ever spoke, right after my brothers name.

As with RS, I grew up a Royals and Chiefs fan as they're the local team. I forget how old I was, but my dad and brother used to always go to a weekend series of the Royals and when I was 4 or 5, I asked how many tickets he got and broke his heart. He didn't realize I was ready. Starting the next season and until the strike, we went to a weekend series every year. I've been back a few times with friends since. I remember growing up and being able to name every starter on the team. That would have been '88 or so. George Brett, Frank White, Willie Wilson, Danny Tartabull and Bo Jackson were my heroes in baseball. Loved watching the Royals on TV.

Also grew up watching the Chiefs. Didn't get to go to my first game until 8 or 9 years ago though. Arrowhead is an awesome experience that everyone should get to have. Christian Okoye, Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith, Steve DeBerg, Deron Cherry, Albert Lewis, Stephon Paige and others. Every Sunday during football season we'd gather and watch the Chiefs. I also remember we used to also watch the Lions every time they were on to watch the greatest running back of all time.

I also became a Bulls fan as Michael Jordan was just an amazing athlete and a joy to watch. I watched just about every game he played as far back as I can remember. The man did it all and was fearless. My second favorite player was probably BJ Armstrong and most likely because he looked like he was 12. I could almost relate to that back then. The Championship runs a few years later didn't hurt things, but that's never why I chose a team. My best friend growing up just picked the teams with some of the greatest history. He was a fan of the Yankees, Packers and Jayhawks.

Hockey is the funny one. My brother and I loved video games. but we only played them when the weather didn't allow for us to be outside playing a sport or at night. Neither of us followed hockey or had ever really watched it on TV, but we loved the video games. He was always Pittsburgh or LA and I was absolutely always the Red Wings. As I started to watch hockey, I tried to follow Detroit because of that and they were a lot of fun to watch. I honestly can't remember why I picked Detroit but it stuck. I used to watch them every chance I got. But after the stoppage a few years back and their loss of TV, it's been much more difficult. I try to follow through an app on my phone and ESPN though. Still love hockey. Had a friend that moved into town when we were in the 5th grade from Colorado and he got me playing some roller hockey with friends and got us to go to a number of Thunder games. Hockey really is a great sport to watch. Tons of fun.

As far as college sports go, I've said before that I grew up in a very pro KU family. My dad and his parents are diehards. But we also watched a lot of WSU and some KSU games as well. I remember Blackman to some degree, but Mitch Richmond was a guy I loved to watch for them. But I always gravitated more towards WSU than the others. I don't know if it was because I was the little brother and had to be different (even though I idolized my big brother) or if it was just because I loved the name Sasha Radunovich. But I followed WSU as best I could. Which it wasn't easy in the 90's. I remember in middle school we had a current events class where we all got a newspaper to read and that's how I kept up on the Shox since they weren't on TV all that much any more. Sadly, I didn't get to experience my first WSU game until HS when my brother got tickets for a game against Ole Miss I believe. He'd played at Cowley with one of the guys that ended up at Ole Miss and so we went to that one. We lost, but I had a blast. He took me to another game against KSU that I believe we lost in OT.

I went to my first KU game to watch my friend and former teammate Ryan Murphy of Washburn. He put up 22 against the Jayhawks and my friend, his sister and myself were one of about 7 people no cheering for KU. It was a good time but not the best atmosphere. I later went to another game up there with a friend when they were playing aTm. At this point, WSU had turned things around and I'd experience some GREAT crowds. The aTm game was a nail biter that I believe KU was losing for a decent portion of the game. KU made a run and ended up winning it, but the atmosphere left me disappointed. I'd always heard about how great it was and how loud it got, but it never matched what I'd experienced at The Roundhouse. A couple years later he and a number of other friends attended the NIT game against FSU. We all know what kind of atmosphere that was and they've all come back to a number of games. One of them ended up with season tickets for a time.

I remember being one of the few, if not only, kids in my school that would dress in Shocker black and gold. I wore it with pride and received some crap from time to time from all the KU fans. KSU fans didn't bother me about it as they had enough to deal with with KU beating them all the time. I've never been ashamed of my Shocker fandom though. I was fortunate enough to have season tickets for five or six years before having to give them up for financial and other reasons. Prior to that I'd attended games in the student section for a couple of years and have been to STL 8 or 9 times. A few times by myself, a couple times with just another guy and a few times with a large group. I've traveled to KC for a game against the Roos and to Springfield two years ago for the showdown for first place. 4th row seats and had a great time, despite the outcome.

[60Shock]

I guess I need to take you young guys back to the dark ages.

We moved to Wichita from KC in 1941 when I was three. And growing up I too was always deeply involved in baseball, BB, and football. As a young kid, during the summer, my family nightly watched the amateur men’s fast pitch softball teams play at the KG&E field (off of Central) and of course the annual semi-pro annual tournament at Lawrence Field. One year, there was a team from Hawaii that caught everyone’s attention as they were so much fun to watch. They hit mostly for singles and were fan favorites due to their outstanding and frequent base stealing.

Friday nite boxing at the old Forum was big and we had a home grown middleweight boxer, Dolph Quiano (Sp), who was very good. He even fought an exhibition with the #1 middleweight contender (Bert Lytell) at the Forum and held his own. I guess this is primarily what initially generated my interest in boxing and later the martial arts, which at my ancient age, I still keep my hand (and feet) into, but now, just on the occasional teaching side when inviited to do so.

Being a hometown boy, my loyalty was always with WU. In the 40's, Linwood Sexton and Jimmy Nutter were our two stars in both football and BB. But there wasn’t much to cheer about in either sport, and especially BB. My brother was in HS when Cleo played and I saw all his games. And as you all well know, it was not until Ralph Miller became the Shocker coach, shortly thereafter convinced Cleo, from East High, to join him, and the Roundhouse was built, that our program really took off.

Don't recall the exact time the shot clock in BB was eliminated, but it must have been shortly after the Roundhouse was built. I distinctly remember games against Oklahoma A&M (OSU), especially in the Forum, in which Hank Iba had his team stall basically the whole monotonous game unless they managed eventally to get an easy layup. His players were all excellent passers and dribblers and when fouled, seemed to hit at least 97% of their FT. At least, that is what it seemed to be. Used to drive Coach Miller crazy too.

[dregn]

Grew up in Minnesota so always rooted for the North Stars, Twins and Vikings. I still remember going to a Twins game when I was really young with my grandparents and my great aunt who was a Sister. She retold the story for years how we were there during batting practice and Dan Gladden saw me up in the stands with my glove out. He stepped back and threw a perfect strike right to my glove...that is it would have been a perfect strike if I didn't pull my glove out of the way. Some guy a few rows above us dove for the ball before I could climb to that. I guess really that experience is why I still root for the twins. However, my favorite sport was hockey. Until I was 7 or 8 my grandpa had season tickets to the North Stars so I'd get to go to those games, even though it was over a hour drive. Eventually, the tickets got to expensive, so he dropped the North Stars and picked up tickets to the local college hockey team, St. Cloud State. They had just "hired" Herb Brooks to be their coach to guide them into division 1. I say "hired" because he really volunteered for the job as he wanted all schools in Minnesota to be D1. I continued going to SCSU games through high school. It's the reason I had to hate the U. of Minnesota Gophers. Since SCSU was D2 in all other sports I needed to pick a college football and basketball team. I went with Michigan.

In the fall of 1997 it was time for me to go to college. I decided I wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer, but had no idea where to go. I came across Wichita State in a scholarship application and checked their box. Long story short, I ended up at WSU in the fall of '98 having never heard of it before fall of '97. First year in school I never went to a single sporting event. However, I read enough of the sunflower to know that Mo Evans left and there were problems with the basketball program. Finally, MTs first year came about and tickets were finally free. I figured since I voted yes to the funding of the Koch renovation and my fees paid for tickets I better go to a game or two. I remember showing up 5 minutes before the game and sitting in the front few rows of the student section. Been hooked ever since.

The next year, as renovations were going on at Koch, I went up to the Heskett to play some pickup basketball. When I got up to the gym, there was another event going on. The girls volleyball team was playing. I sat down and watched and didn't miss a home match over the next 7 or 8 years. Over the following years I also added Women's basketball and baseball to the events I regularly attended.

Now days WSU is about all I follow. Really don't have the time or heart for pro sports. The twins still have a soft spot, I still root for the Vikings, but in the end I really don't care. I'm even at a point now with WSU that I really don't care if they win or lose (I prefer win), but I just enjoy it for the entertainment and break from the rest of life.

[Shoxfan11]

I'm currently a junior at Wichita State.

Let's see... when I was in the fourth grade, which would have been the 2001-2002 season, my dad and I got season tickets along with my uncle and cousin. I had gone to a few games before that but was never really interested, probably cause I was on my Gameboy the entire time haha. I actually had some Playstation game, I think it was NCAA Basketball 2000, and didn't even know WSU was in the game so I always picked K-State. Eventually I figured out WSU was in that game after I started going to games and realized they were a Division I team and started using them.. and man #33 (Jason Perez) was a stud in that game. He's one of the players I wish that I had really got to see play in real life.

So honestly I've been a fan since that season. Some of my first memories are the Tulsa game that season where we lost at home, and the Tulsa fans were yelling "Tulsa" while the WSU fans were following it up with "sucks". That's when I first really realized what a rivalry was. We went 8-1 in the MVC at home that season with our only loss being to Creighton I think. IIRC we beat a really good Southern Illinois team 88-79, but I had no idea how good they actually were. I remember watching us almost beat Oklahoma State on TV that season, same with Oral Roberts. I think we actually beat K-State on the road that year.

The next year was when we played in the Kansas Colosseum and I remember missing one game that year.. the Creighton game. But you can bet I listened intently on the radio and I was really mad at myself for missing it. The one thing I'll remember about that is seeing the highlights on ESPN and Craig "Burger Boy" Steven throwing up the ball after the game. There were some games that weren't so fun, such as losing to K-State at the Colosseum and getting beat by Bradley on Senior Night. And one of my saddest moments as a WSU fan was losing to Creighton in Saint Louis where we led the entire game only to lose in the end... I was a really sad kid that night and my parents had to cheer me up. I think that was my first defining moment as a WSU fan.

I remember I was in the 8th grade when we made the Sweet Sixteen. The game against Seton Hall took place during one of my classes, and they actually played it on the radio for us.. and the entire class all I could do was sit there picturing what was happening on the court, which was actually possible thanks to our amazing radio commentators. The game against Tennessee was on a Saturday and man was I happy when we beat them, especially with one of their players (Major Wingate) causing problems all game. I hate to pick favorites, but so far that has been my favorite team. After multiple years of underachieving, it was great to break through with a team that wasn't expected to be good. "Not bad for a team picked fifth!"

I started going to St. Louis with my family and friends in the 04-05 season and we've kept going since. It's always a fun time, we lost to Creighton that year and I was of course really sad about that, but we got to see a really promising performance from Sean Ogirri and the other freshmen. The 05-06 loss to Bradley didn't bother me too much as I knew we were tourney bound. The 06-07 loss to Missouri State, actually I think they were still SMS, was one of my favorite WSU games to be at despite the loss. Our guys played their hearts out the game, I think Turgeon even threw a zone in that game for a little bit, but in the end we came up a little bit short. I don't know what Marshall did to get thrown out of the Indiana State loss in 07-08 and if it was warranted. And of course I'll always be mad about the 08-09 "loss" to Creighton. 09-10 it felt amazing to make the finals and that has been my favorite year in the Lou thus far. 10-11 we just choked and in 11-12 we just didn't play very well against Illinois State.

To me, it's weird now that I'm the same age as the players and I've had numerous players in my classes. As a kid, my favorite player for whatever reason was Matt Clark, although I'm pretty sure it was because he was #3 lol. Honestly, I'm probably one of the types of students that people don't like.. I'm not one to do the dancing when the dance camera comes on or anything special. But you can bet that I'll be standing the entire game cheering on my team. I try not to yell at other team's players because I think supporting our own players is more important, unless it's someone really special (P'Allen Stinnett comes to mind). Refs are fair game. :)

Sorry, my story is pretty boring.. but over the years I've loved supporting my team. I've never been too interested in baseball, although I do go to games from time to time. But basketball is definitely my #1 favorite sport and Wichita State Basketball will always be my favorite team. One thing I've always felt I'm really blessed with is a good memory, at least right now haha. I'm always able to remember specific games, and sometimes even scores, from over the years that I've been going. I always like seeing players in the NBA and thinking about how we beat them. For example, Kevin Martin, SG for the Houston Rockets, played for Western Carolina when we beat them (I THINK) 102-73 in 2001-2002. Of course, I would like to see some of our own players in the NBA soon.. and with the way things are going, it's coming.

Some of my favorite moments as a fan over the (relatively few) years, besides the obvious moments such as the Sweet Sixteen run and this year's team:

- The home game against SIU in 2003-2004. The previous year, we lost to them in the Colosseum 94-59 I believe. The game in 2004 looked to be going the same way as we got out to a really bad start, but then came a massive comeback with someone hitting a big three pointer right before halftime. I THINK it was Matt Clark. Eventually we tied the game up and I think even took the lead for a brief moment, but ran out of gas and SIU won. But that team showed a lot of heart and man, those SIU teams were scary good.

- The Creighton home game in 2008-2009. We had started out the league 0-6, and it was nice to get our first win against a rival in a pretty dominating fashion. The crowd was really into it and what a fun game it was.

- Beating Northern Iowa at home in 2009-2010. They came in around the middle of January and we just simply took them down. I think they even seemed invincible at the time but our team and fans simply didn't care.

- Our MVC Tournament run in 2009-2010. Missouri State was guaranteed to give us a tough game, but our team didn't give up and ended up winning. Favorite moment from that game was Stutz setting a pick on Nasif Ricks who was annoying our guards and pushing Clevin Hannah all the way down the court. It was nice to see Stutz stand up and back up our PG. The game against Illinois State was a really high-levil game, and I thought we were going to be in some trouble when Osiris started hitting some impossible shots.. but Toure stepped up and took over. The final game ended up being pretty heartbreaking, especially since I thought we were going to win when Demetric Williams hit a three pointer right before halftime. Regardless, it was still a fun tournament and knowing we lost to a really, really good team helped ease the pain... a little bit. Oh, and sitting next to Cliff Levingston the entire tournament helped a little bit too. :)

[Shoxfan11]

Bumping this topic, I thought it was really interesting and would love to see more people's stories.

[Dan]

Grew up in a small town outside Wichita playing whatever sport was in season. First memories of following sports teams were the Dallas Cowboys of the 70's. My dad was a WSU alum although not a big athletic supporter, per se. As I grew a little older I would watch all the kansas teams when they were on TV. I was a big fan of Ron Kellogg, Calvin Thompson, etc. at KU and of course the early 80's WSU teams were easy to cheer for. I had an uncle that attended WSU in the early 80's and was lucky enough to go to games with him to see guys like Sherrod, X Man, Radunavich, Gus Santos and so on. As I got into high school, I tought I was headed to KU, mainly because most of my friends were going there. My dad convinces me to give WSU a shot, he was convinced the eduction was just as good. I told him I'd try it for a year but if I didn't like it, I was going to transfer.

I joined a fraternity at WSU to make the most of my college experience. At that time, baseball was king and basketball was in a downward spiral (89-90 season). There weren't many student going to games but my small group was determined to have a good time and we would go to every game come hell or high water. We were just trying to have fun at the games and got in trouble a few times for being too rowdy. One of my good friends was a coaches son so got to know a lot of the players during those days. For all the smack people talk about Mike Cohen, I can tell you all this: He still wears his WSU ring and couldn't be prouder of having been a coach here. His son Jeremy is part of my pack in St. Louis every year and is as die hard of a fan as they come (not sure he would've wanted me to post that but oh well). I live in Houston and he lives in Knoxville but we text each other constantly as we watch the Shox on Shockervision during the season.

Sorry to get sidetracked, but I moved to Houston in 1996 and it was very difficult to keep up with the team. Once Shockernet was invented, it changed things for people like me. I make it back for a few games during the year and go to St. Louis every year. My Shocker flag hangs in front of my house during the season. One of my long term goals is to attend a conference road game at every MVC venue - so far I'm at zero. Best roadtrips I've been to with the Shox are Syracuse, Virgin Islands tournament, and of course the final 4 in ATL. We're at an all-time high for Shocker basketball and I couldn't be more excited to see where this goes. One last sidenote - I really enjoy the houston-WSU pipeline. It makes it fun to follow my new hometown boys.

[shockmonster]

Grew up in a small town outside Wichita playing whatever sport was in season. First memories of following sports teams were the Dallas Cowboys of the 70's. My dad was a WSU alum although not a big athletic supporter, per se. As I grew a little older I would watch all the kansas teams when they were on TV. I was a big fan of Ron Kellogg, Calvin Thompson, etc. at KU and of course the early 80's WSU teams were easy to cheer for. I had an uncle that attended WSU in the early 80's and was lucky enough to go to games with him to see guys like Sherrod, X Man, Radunavich, Gus Santos and so on. As I got into high school, I tought I was headed to KU, mainly because most of my friends were going there. My dad convinces me to give WSU a shot, he was convinced the eduction was just as good. I told him I'd try it for a year but if I didn't like it, I was going to transfer.

I joined a fraternity at WSU to make the most of my college experience. At that time, baseball was king and basketball was in a downward spiral (89-90 season). There weren't many student going to games but my small group was determined to have a good time and we would go to every game come hell or high water. We were just trying to have fun at the games and got in trouble a few times for being too rowdy. One of my good friends was a coaches son so got to know a lot of the players during those days. For all the smack people talk about Mike Cohen, I can tell you all this: He still wears his WSU ring and couldn't be prouder of having been a coach here. His son Jeremy is part of my pack in St. Louis every year and is as die hard of a fan as they come (not sure he would've wanted me to post that but oh well). I live in Houston and he lives in Knoxville but we text each other constantly as we watch the Shox on Shockervision during the season.

Sorry to get sidetracked, but I moved to Houston in 1996 and it was very difficult to keep up with the team. Once Shockernet was invented, it changed things for people like me. I make it back for a few games during the year and go to St. Louis every year. My Shocker flag hangs in front of my house during the season. One of my long term goals is to attend a conference road game at every MVC venue - so far I'm at zero. Best roadtrips I've been to with the Shox are Syracuse, Virgin Islands tournament, and of course the final 4 in ATL. We're at an all-time high for Shocker basketball and I couldn't be more excited to see where this goes. One last sidenote - I really enjoy the houston-WSU pipeline. It makes it fun to follow my new hometown boys.

Glad to hear about Mike Cohen. The past is the past and sometimes we don't think about how it reaches others. While I didn't know Mike Cohen or his family, I'm sure that he tried his best. It just wasn't meant to be. I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

dont have alot of time to write out a thing..

I've always loved baseball. Grew up a Royals fan (obvious local ties - plus I have family in Kearney, MO) The thing that really got me into it was the 89 championship. I was never good at basketball and never applied myself to football. I just cant live without baseball. lol j/k but still.

Regarding WSU. My dad is the one that got me into them. I remember being in the car on trips after I found out about rankings and asking him about if WSU was ever ranked and he told me stories of X and Antoine etc. We watched EVERY game that came on (Cable box push A or B anyone?) REmember Tom Kosich with the ring and that stupid grin every game. I remember getting so pissed off watching the ISU/WSU fight and then watching us almost LOSE. One of the first games I can remember going to was the NIT game against one of the Cal teams. I remember crying when Fogler left (hey I was like 9? and didnt understand any of it haha)

My brother and I used to have my parents announce us into the living room like we were one of the players. I've always felt a deep sense of loyalty to my hometown teams regardless of wins/losses. I just figured when they do win it will be that much sweeter which I have had that taste with WSU. I'm not holding my breath on the Chiefs and have all but given up on the Royals...

I have tried to push my love of WSU off to my children. So far so good. Andy really wants to play baseball for WSU and Vivian wants to cheer for them. She throws in a "and play softball" but she's 5 so there is still time. My son however REALLY likes animals and really wants to work with animals has a job. So as painstaking as it is he's probably going to have to attend KSU which at that time I will be forced to root for them that is if he is playing a sport.

But as far as sports I have been given a new outlook on them as I have gotten older. I had quite a bad attitude when I played which caused me to lose out on quite a few opportunities. Namely I was placed on Varsity as a sophmore in HS and my coach at the time made it a point to tell me that I had made it but could not be offered the role because nobody knew if I was going to be in school within a few weeks. To cut to the chase instead of accepting his challenge I went ahead and got myself kicked out of school a couple of weeks later. Sports are highly character building. I didnt know it then. But I've taken it up to teach that to both of my children.

[pogo]

We moved to Wichita when I was 6 years old so my father could finish his degree at WU. I had a friend who had moved to Wichita from St Louis. His team was of course the Cardinals. I loved the Milwaukee Braves and at the time the Braves had a farm team in Wichita called the Wichita Braves. Warren Spahn and Del Crandell and Hank Aaron were my favorite players and of course had a shoebox full of baseball cards. Nothing was ever better than to lift off the lid on the box and you could smell the aroma of baseball cards and bubble gum. Maybe a close second would be the smell of neatsfoot oil as you rubbed it into your glove. Loved to play baseball with my friend and the rest of the neighbor kids. There were at least 30 kids all within 3-4 years of each other on our block and one block over. I was the pitcher and my friend was a catcher. We played organized baseball until we were 12 and then they moved to Dallas. He later became a neuro surgeon and still resides in Dallas. My father was not a big sports fan with going to school and working but we would spend hours playing catch in the back yard. When I was showing my baseball card collection to my mother she told me with no fan fare that she had dated Del Crandel while he was a minor league player in Wichita and she was a student nurse. My mother rose to greatness in my eyes with her admission. Looking back I think I really just liked players rather than certain teams like Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Sandy Kofax, Don Drysdale, Moose Skowron, Bill Mazerowski, Nellie Fox and of course the Milwaukee Braves. Always loved the National League in the World Series no matter who played. My father took me to a basketball game while he was a "student" and got to see Dave Stallworth play against Cincinnati. From then on I was a fan of WSU. I would listen to Gus Grebe on my transister radio that I got for Christmas one year. I didn't know what a Shocker was but I knew the San Diego Chargers had some pretty cool helmets and I would draw lightening bolts on the Shocker football helmets I would draw in Mr. Schactele's algebra class at John Marshall. After high school my parents told me if I went to WSU for a year and figured what I wanted to study they would send me where ever. This was smart for a couple of reasons...one it cost very little at the time and two I was very immature. Some people still think that 40 some odd years later. I too joined a fraternity to get more of a traditional feel at WSU and intramurals became a big part of my college experience. The Shockers had Harry Miller as a coach and had some lack luster years there for a while. Football even though we were pummeled regularly was a great time because of the before, during and after party that went with each game. Then the crash of the WSU football team took 5 of my fraternity brothers lives and many of the rest I knew as well. After college I went to the Marine Corps and learned to fly A-4's. While at the Basic School (Quantico Va where ALL Marine Officers are taught how to be platoon commanders) my parents gave me a subscription the Wichita Eagle so I could stay connected to Wichita but I found that I was only interested in how my Shockers were doing. After finishing my obligation to my country I returned to Wichita. While taking graduate course work at WSU I met an undergrad and got married. We attended football and basketball games while we dated. Two kids came along and the wife quit going to sporting events but I started taking the kids. As I have previously stated some of the most enjoyable time my kids and I had were going to WSU football games. We still didn't win often but they used to have such a great time walking across campus and playing in the leaves and just being kids. I would take them to basketball games and we won allot in the Gene Smithson era and not so much later. Baseball was a great time because I could take some blankets and if the kids got tired they could curl up under the old aluminum bench seats. Sitting up in front of the old press box we could hear MK do the broadcast of the game and a friend of mine could go down and stand at the top of the old bleachers and smoke his nasty cigar. The very first volleball game I ever attended was over at the Heskett Center during the renovation period of HLA/CKA. I did that because that year they had the student athletes call SASO members and thank them for their membership and express what it meant for them to be able to have a scholarship. The person that called me was Jackie Brown who was a volleyball player. I made a promise to myself that I would attend one volleyball match just to give token support to the team. When I attended, Jackie was injured and later switched to track to continue her athletic career at WSU, but there was a player named Sara Younes that was so athletic and so competitive and the rest of the team was as well. That was the first of several matches I attended that year and the following year I added volleball season tickets to my basketball and baseball tickets. It was shortly thereafter that my first wife passed away. I continued to attend Shocker athletic events to not only cheer my Shockers on but also to be with my friends. Later I met a women that I had dated while at WSU. She had been divorced for over 10 years and when we met I invited her to a Shocker volleyball game for one of our first dates. She was amazed at how athletic they were, by this time Sara Younes had been replaced by Sara Lundgren. She also noted that besides being athletic and pretty the fact that their uniforms seemed to be spandex did nothing to take away from their appeal. After the match she said "You know what this means don't you? You need to buy two season tickets next year." It occurred to me at that time that she was thinking this dating stuff was going to last for awhile. Next came basketball and I asked her if she wanted to go to a game and she asked if I had season tickets to basketball as well. I said I did and she later told me that I moved to the top of her list at that time. The first basketball game during the intro they introduced Cousinard and everyone would yell coooooooo she became huffy and couldn't believe people would boo one of our own players. I explained what they were really saying and she was relieved and embarrassed. Baseball is a sport that she just does not appreciate. She would go but she would take a book for all of the non action time. We were married less than 8 months after we started dating again. Whereas my first wife quit attending Shocker games this wife has been going for the last 7 years. We now take the grand kids to many Shocker athletic events and even though there are other relatives that try to influence their loyalties they seem to be well on the road to Shocker fans themselves. Shocker athletic events continue to be an important part of our lives especially since she has been battling cancer for the last 18 months. She loves Shocker basketball and has not missed a basketball game during that time and have gone to St Louis as well. It gives here something to look forward too and to keep battling. Things continue to look good for her but there is always a little part of you that fears to hear about the latest MRI or CT scan but with her love of her Shockers I know she will win. WSU and its athletes have given me a lifetime of memories and all of them are treasured so I look forward to every year with renewed hope of success for my Shockers. Go Shocks

[_kai_]

Holy wall of text, Batman!

[jdshock]

This is a great thread, especially for the offseason.

I grew up in a family of KU fans in western Kansas (we’re talking Ron Baker territory). I went to a few KU games as a kid both in Lawrence and in Boulder. No one in my family attended KU, though. The first WSU game I went to was somewhere around the 2000 season. I think it was before the renovation anyway. I had a cousin that was a manager for Drake and he was able to get something like 10 seats on the floor. After that I followed WSU a little bit more. I eventually got to a point that I didn’t root for any college teams since I didn’t feel a connection to any of them.

My senior year, I chose to attend WSU. I liked the feel of WSU the most of any of the state schools and the business school was very good. That first year on campus, I became a huge Wichita State fan. I finally found a connection to a college sports team. I have stood in the Chick-fil-A line with nearly every player who was on campus while I was.

My wife and I went to the final four and just about every home game this last year. Having attended an excellent Michigan State v KU game in Lawrence which was #3 vs #6, I can still say the black out game against Creighton this year was the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena.

This summer we relocated to St Louis. I’ve been quite a bit more active on this forum this summer than before since no one here likes college basketball. I lurked here for a while before ever creating an account, but I could always find someone to talk basketball with in Wichita, that’s just not the case now. Basketball>Baseball and Shox>Any other team

[Shockerbasketball21]

I've grown up in Wichita and now I'll be a sophomore at Andover High school when it school starts up again, I've always been a chiefs fan that's for certain and my first sports memory is walking around the back of Lawrence dumont watching a Wranglers game. My first professional team I ever liked was the Red Sox and I went to Fenway and saw them beat the Orioles the year they won the the World Series. I'm not much of a fan of them anymore I pay attention to the Royals a lot now. My first shocker basketball memory is I don't know what season it was but we played LSU at home and I'm guessing that was the 07-08 season because we went to Baton Rouge the year after the sweet 16. I remember we won and I would say that "LSU" meant Louisiana Sucks University but I didn't really understand the game or any of that at all yet. My first real meaningful memory that stands out to me was when we played Creighton in St. Louis and lost at the buzzer to booker woodfox. Man am I still pissed about that. We were down like 25, came back, Toure hit a huge shot in the corner to put us up then we lose at the buzzer like that on a terrible clock. We got screwed and I am still absolutely pissed. I remember I almost cried after that game. I was disheartened. I pay a lot of attention to sports and everything but I really started to pay attention in 7th grade that's when RPI and SOS and all that started to make sense to me. That's also the year we won the NIT and lost to Missouri State for the Valley title in Springfield, those Missouri state fans were dumb with their "Wichita is not a state" shirts. I remember David Kyles almost brought us back that game. I was pissed after that too. I remember in English we would have journals and my teacher would have a topic to write about and during basketball season all I would write about was Shocker basketball. I was very passionate the next season. I went to the UNLV game and sat top row and I was so happy just to be there. I was so mad after the Creighton game that season. I hate Creighton. I remember I bawled after we lost to VCU after storming back to take the lead. I just cried like a baby. Then when we beat them this season I took 4 victory laps around my block i was so happy. Same with this year after we lost to Louisville, I cried like a baby. I also remember crying cause I was so happy when we beat Gonzaga haha. During the tournament I would have the same routine every day we played including the same clothes. Where I sat, when I went to the restroom. Which restroom I used at halftime hahaha. What I could drink (a whole jug of Arnold Palmer). I'm probably a little too obsessive about shocker hoops but man I love being in the roundhouse. I love it to death. I hate KU fans they're so cocky and think they're automatically better than us. I love Wichita State with all my heart and I know I'm going to Wichita State already. I want to be a manager on the team. Then I want to become a coach and someday be head coach of my shox at the round house. Can't wait for basketball season to roll around.

[DUShock]

I know comp I & II at WU/WSU requires the use of a five sentence paragraph. Please use paragraphs it makes reading your shared experience more enjoyable! I truly enjoy readng these fan testimonals.

Go Shocks!!!!