Allen Fieldhouse is a special place in college basketball – one full of history and tradition. But there’s one “tradition” that has a former Kansas basketball star disappointed.
For years now, many fans have brought a time-honored Kansas City Chiefs tradition to KU basketball games.
During the national anthem at home Chiefs games, the crowd replaces “home of the brave” with “home of the Chiefs” – emphasis on the word “Chiefs.” Several fans, particularly the student section, have decided to do the same at KU basketball games.
That has caused some recent angst from former Kansas basketball center Scot Pollard.
Pollard took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express his frustrations following the win against hated rival Missouri. He responded to a video showing the national anthem during the pregame by saying the chant is “such an insult to the cathedral of college basketball.”
It’s because we’ve had 8 head coaches (ever) and the one with a losing record was the inventor of the game. Over 125 years of excellence. When the chefs suck again, will this chant continue? Such an insult to the cathedral of college basketball https://t.co/8NTuYk41Rk
— Scot Pollard (@ScotPollard31) December 11, 2023
If you look at the thread of replies to his post, you’ll see Pollard goes on to say that it “takes away from the allure of college sports/fan bases” and it’s “stupid” to chant at Allen Fieldhouse.
It’s not hard to understand why the chant happens. Lawrence is 30 minutes from Kansas City and there is a high number of alumni and students from that area. The Chiefs are also currently one of the most popular teams in the NFL and the reigning Super Bowl champions.
However, Pollard is not the only one to express displeasure with the Chiefs mention during the anthem. Even head coach Bill Self has called for it to stop in the past.
But that hasn’t stopped the current crop of students and many other fans from chanting it during games. And as long as the Chiefs are still relevant, my guess is the chant will continue – whether Pollard or any other KU fan likes it or not.
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