Report: Kansas fights were years in the makingby FOXSports.com
Updated: September 24, 2009, 11:37 AM EDT
Fights this week on the University of Kansas campus were the culmination of a long-simmering feud between basketball and football players according to a published report.
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Citing sources on both teams, The Kansas City Star reported Thursday that the hostilities on Tuesday and Wednesday go back five years or longer. The situation attracted national attention when basketball starting point guard Tyshawn Taylor dislocated a finger during one of at least three incidents this week.
"It's about who's more popular on campus with the girls and stuff like that," a former basketball player told the newspaper. "It's escalated really bad now, but it's always been there."
The player indicated that some of the tensions stem from two programs battling for the limelight locally and nationally.
"I just know personally when I first got there, I just felt like the football players didn't like me," he said. "I felt like they were jealous of the attention we got, the notoriety we got."
Said a former football player: "It's a big ego thing," the former football player said. "It's like who pretty much runs the school, who's better."
Athletic Director Lew Perkins reportedly assembled the teams for a meeting to sort out what happened and to end the hostilities, which a former football player said escalated last spring when a fight at a campus bar continued at a campus dorm. The campus newspaper has reported that racial slurs have been exchanged between players on the teams.
"I am disappointed that some of our student-athletes put themselves in this position, and it's something that I am taking very seriously," Perkins said in a statement.
Coaches from both teams attended Perkins' summit, although basketball coach Bill Self hadn't yet returned from a recruiting trip.
Tuesday's fracas began because Taylor and football cornerback Anthony Davis had a disagreement about a woman, a source told the paper. A police report said the confrontation swelled into "taunting and shouting and then fighting" as about 100 people gathered.
Police were unable to identify the individuals who fought, though Taylor announced his involvement in a Facebook entry that was later removed.
"I got a dislocated finger ..from throwing a punch ...," Taylor wrote.
Taylor was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Tuesday night and released.
Police were called to Jayhawker Towers again Tuesday night, and another incident was reported Wednesday near "Wescoe Beach," a popular spot where many students congregate. In the latter incident, a basketball player reportedly shoved a football player down a set of stairs, triggering more fights.
After the meeting with Perkins, basketball players Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins and football captains Todd Reesing, Jake Sharp, Kerry Meier and Darrell Stuckey issued a combined statement reminding everyone that all the athletes represent the same school.
"Now we want everyone know that we have met and talked it out," the statement said. "We realize we're all Jayhawks. We're proud of what both teams have accomplished."[/b]
