Nervous fan

To the editor

When I used to watch Kansas University basketball games at Hoch Auditorium as a child, I would feel OK as long as KU had twice as many points as its opponents. If KU’s lead was less than that, I would feel tense and uncomfortable. As you can imagine, the only times I would feel OK would be at the beginning of the games, since scores of 10 to 5, 20 to 10, and maybe even 30 to 15 were not unusual in those Phog Allen days. But it never did stay that way until the end of the games, and it still never does at Allen Fieldhouse, either, much to my discomfort and tension, because I still haven’t gotten rid of the Twice-Their-Score Syndrome.

I only learned last week, thanks to Coach Roy Williams and the players and to my everlasting joy, that twice their score in the second half is nearly as reassuring as I assume it would be for a whole game. Now I can say I’ve made it through a KU basketball game with my nerves intact, and I won’t let first halves bother me any more. In fact, I won’t even watch them.

Ben H. Barteldes,

Perry