It’s less than a three-hour bus ride from Lawrence to Columbia, Mo., but 160 of Kansas University’s loudest fans won’t be attending today’s football game between KU and Missouri.

KU’s marching band will skip the Border War for the second time in three years. That’s because the band was pelted with objects by MU fans during a 1998 trip to Faurot Field.

Robert Foster, KU’s director of bands for three decades, had kept the Marching Jayhawks at home during games at Missouri after a nightmare game at Columbia in the 1970s before returning in 1998.

“This has been going on for a long time,” said Foster, who stepped down as director of bands last year. “When I first started in 1971, I said I wanted to go to Missouri and people said, ‘Oh boy.'”

Although the band had been treated badly in Columbia in previous trips under other directors, Foster’s first trip was without incident.

It was an aberration.

“The next time we went it was like entering an enemy camp,” he said. “People were throwing things at us, like bottles. Some of them were full bottles. They ruin equipment. More importantly, they ruin your head if they hit your head.”

The last straw came during a halftime show when three Missouri fans ran onto the field, disrupting KU’s performance and running into numerous musicians.

“The Missouri crowd thought it was wonderful,” Foster said.

KU’s band members were not equally amused. The fans were arrested, and Foster said 71 assault charges were filed.

Foster didn’t take the Marching Jayhawks back to MU until 1998 when a new Missouri band director invited them.

“I’d been led to believe by people over there that we were welcome,” Foster said.

They were not. Fans once again opened fire on the band with bottles, cans and other items.

When KU played at Missouri in 2000, the band stayed home. It will do so again today and will instead play host to the Heart of America Marching Band Festival starting at 10 a.m. at Memorial Stadium.

Sidelines not safe either

The band isn’t the only group that makes for an easy target. When former KU coach Don Fambrough addressed the football team on Friday, he had one important piece of advice.

“Don’t ever take your helmet off,” he said. “You never know when a whiskey bottle might fly through the air.”

Fambrough had plenty of experience with the Tigers as a Jayhawk player, assistant and head coach.

“Every year is the same when you go there,” he said. “Those people are so obnoxious you have to be prepared for that. They’re as obnoxious as any group of people I’ve known, and I’ve played and coached all over the country.

“They start drinking on Wednesday, and by game time they’re pretty well loaded. It’s a horrible place to play.”

KU leads the all-time series 51-50-9, but Mizzou owns a 28-14-3 edge in Columbia. Kansas won its last trip there, claiming a 38-17 victory on Oct. 14, 2000, in front of 61,794 fans.

“It’s a tough atmosphere to play in. They pack the stands,” KU safety Zach Dyer said. “Actually, two years ago we did win. That was an especially great feeling winning down there.”

Another big crowd is expected today for Missouri’s homecoming game. MU fans will be hoping to see their team earn its first Big 12 Conference victory of the season against a KU team that also is winless in league play.

“They have pretty nasty fans,” KU center Greg Nicks said. “They don’t like us. That’s for sure. Their people throw batteries and beer bottles. Our people wouldn’t do that.”

Looking ahead

Foster said that when a new director of bands takes over at KU, it’s not uncommon for that director to take his musicians to Columbia despite past incidents. But John Lynch is in no hurry to rush his troops back into the fray.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to trying again,” KU’s first-year director of bands said. “It would be good to be there against our rival, but safety of the students comes first. I think what happened last time is a little too fresh.”