Those that know me well know how much I love sports.  I am a huge K-State sports fan and have been since I was 17.  I’m 44 now.  I live and die with every win and loss.  Most of my wardrobe consists of K-State shirts, sweatshirts, pants, pajamas, and anything else you can think of.  I was the guy in college that got in line early for every football and basketball game. Not just hours, but sometimes days in advance in order to get a front row seat.  I’ll never forget when I was in college the day of one football game me and a buddy got to the stadium way too early and walked up to the football complex and the team was getting on buses to go to breakfast.  The game was a night game and this was very early in the morning.  Out walks Bill Snyder and I’ll never forget the look he gave us.  It was a “what the hell are you guys doing here this early?” look.  I don’t even remember who we played that day, but I’ll never forget running into Bill Snyder that morning and the look on his face.

I’m the guy that wears a “K-State basketball” shirt walking down the strip in Vegas when we really didn’t have a good basketball team that year.  The pic of me and my kids is one of my profile pics. To me, it doesn’t really matter how good the teams are from year to year, I’m always proud to be a K-Stater.  I loved going to school there and I believe it’s a hidden gem in the country.  Everyone in that town is nice.  Everyone.  It was a great place to go to school and it’s a great town.  The adopted slogan of K-State is “Family” for a reason.  We all consider ourselves family because we all have had similar experiences at K-State and in Manhattan.  I don’t think that will ever end.

I run a Facebook group called “EMAW Fanatics.”  I consider everyone in the group a K-State super fan.  They all live and die with K-State wins and losses and everyone expresses that love in different ways, but we all have one thing in common.  We want K-State to succeed in sports because every win helps get the word out about how special of a place the University is.

I take sports way to seriously.  Call it a flaw if  you want.  I have wanted so badly for 30 years to see the basketball team make a Final 4 or the football team to make the national championship game.  That might just happen today.  If it doesn’t, I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually but it will hurt nonetheless.  And I’ll never stop wearing my purple.  It’s in my blood.

Let’s do this.  EMAW!