photo by: Nick Krug

The Jayhawk student section displays an enlarged and modified version of artist John Steuart Curry’s Tragic Prelude painting which features abolitionist John Brown holding a rifle and in this case the 2008 national championship trophy at the men’s basketball game against Missouri on March 1 at Allen Fieldhouse.

— BORDER WAR QUIZ: Test your knowledge of Border Wars past and enter to win a $25 Visa gift card.

One of the most popular comments from the Kansas basketball crowd that was not in favor of renewing the Border War with Sunday’s Showdown for Relief scrimmage at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., was the declaration that they would write a check to hurricane relief for 10 times the amount of a ticket to keep the game from happening.

Well, the game is happening and, as you surely know by now, is already sold out. So finding fans to gobble up those tickets clearly was not that tough of a task.

But I don’t think those folks who said they’d rather donate their money another way were all that crazy. In fact, they might have been on to something.

Instead of breaking down and bringing the Border War back for a day, KU and Mizzou easily could have waged a fund-raising war against one other, with coaches and even players (if the NCAA would allow it) urging their fan base to donate to a specific charity in support of hurricane relief.

It could’ve been a weeklong endeavor or a month or even a year and both athletic departments could have updated fans on a regular basis about where they stood in an effort to (a) drive the competition and (b) keep people informed about how much money had been raised to date.

It might not have brought the same excitement as Devonte’ Graham and Udoka Azubuike against Michael Porter Jr. and new MU coach Cuonzo Martin, but it definitely would have worked toward achieving the end goal of raising money for hurricane relief.

As it stands, they’ll play a game instead and donate a bunch of money to hurricane relief while, at the same time, giving fans from both sides — and, yes, there are KU fans out there who are more than fired up about Sunday’s showdown — a nice memory in the storied Border War rivalry and yet another reason to get excited about the upcoming season.

But don’t give up on that idea of a head-to-head, fan base vs. fan base fund-raising campaign on the side.

One of our commenters here at KUsports.com — David Robinett — was part of a group that put together exactly the type of challenge we’re talking about. And it could not be easier to execute.

All you have to do is dial #250 from your cell phone and then follow the prompts that ask you for a “key word” — in this case, “Kansas” or “Missouri.”

From there, you will receive a text message with a link to a Red Cross account that is designed to collect money for hurricane relief from either Kansas or Missouri fans.

Robinett, a member of the KU Class of 1983, said they will track the results, i.e. who donates more, KU or MU fans, and we’ll definitely get an update from him sometime next week.

No need to worry about this being any kind of a scam. I tried it myself and the text came with a link that takes you to a redcross.org page where you can donate.

Following the link that is sent to you via text is important, though, because that’s how they’ll track things.

Good luck.