To the editor:

When Nebraska deserted the Big 12, one line in the Kansas University fight song, “I’m a Jayhawk,” became obsolete: “Husk some corn and listen to the Cornhuskers wail.” An alternative has been suggested and tried out at some events: “Hook some horns and listen to the Red Raiders wail.”

I think that substitute line is not very satisfactory for two reasons. First “Red Raiders wail” is a tongue twister, as can be easily demonstrated by trying it out. It comes out variously as “wed waders rail,” “red waders wail” etc. More substantively, Texas Tech is a relatively recent KU rival. Not to demean their importance, but I think it would be more appropriate to cite one of our historical Big 8 rivals.

The first line of the bridge of our fight song is directed at Missouri: “Got a bill that’s big enough to twist the Tiger’s tail.” So how about citing K-State in the next line: “Catch some ‘Cats and listen to the K-Staters wail”? Thereby our fight song would highlight our two prime conference opponents — Missouri and K-State — and eliminate the tongue twister.