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Kansas Jayhawks: What Life Was Like Before the Big 12 Streak

By Mike Norris

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The Kansas Jayhawks (23-6, 12-4) grabbed at worst a share of their 11th straight Big 12 Conference championship Monday night with Iowa State’s incredible comeback against Oklahoma.

Perry Ellis, the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, was 10 years old in March of 2004 when Kansas finished all the way back in second place in the Big 12.

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If you had a cell phone then, it most likely flipped open, and you certainly didn’t check your Gmail account on the device because the program wouldn’t even launch for another month.

Martha Stewart had yet to go to jail, and John Elway was not yet a Hall of Famer.

Barry Bonds was sixth months shy of hitting his 700th home run, and still liked by a few people.

New York Yankee fans were able to win any argument with a Boston Red Sox fan, but were just a few months away from hating Dave Roberts.

Missouri had yet to qualify for its first Final Four. Oh wait…

The Duggars only had 47 kids* and zero grand children.

If you were an Oklahoma St. fan and wanted to tweet about winning your second Big 12 title, it was impossible considering Twitter didn’t exist.

Post it on Facebook? Well, kind of.

It was actually called “TheFacebook” at that point (by creator Mark Zuckerburg himself and not just out-of-touch old people), and didn’t allow those middle-aged 25-year-olds to even access the site.

The only Miracles Jayhawk fans knew played with Danny Manning, but Kansas was recruiting another guy who would soon perform one.

Just one month before, Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunctioned, and while she didn’t realize it then, was most likely glad Twitter didn’t exist.

Televisions weren’t very smart, and had yet to display HD, as we know it today, in most homes — something Jackson was again unknowingly thankful for.

The New England Patriots had just won Super Bowl XXXVIII, but weren’t yet considered a dynasty — or cheaters.

It had only been 96 years since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and their fans had not lost all hope for the season considering it was Spring Training.

Just two weeks before the Jayhawks completed their awful regular season, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took home 11 Oscars, including Best Picture honors. It was considered a more successful year than the past 96 combined for the Cubs.

The only similarity between now and then seems to be the price of gas.

For the most part however, it was a much different world.

And for all the change that has occurred in the 11 years since, there has been one constant — the Kansas Jayhawks at the top of the Big 12.

Who knows, if they keep it up for another 11, the Cubs may actually win a World Series.

*The Duggars actually had “only” 14 kids 

Next: Kansas Jayhawks: It's Time for Landen Lucas to Step Up

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