Tuesday, April 8, 2008
In 1988, Claudia Olea joined the masses of students celebrating KU basketball’s national championship victory on Massachusetts Street. Twenty years later, the 1991 graduate made the short walk from her home on Tennessee Street to celebrate with thousands of jubilant students.
With her children outfitted in Jayhawk gear in the background, Olea said she was confident that revelers wouldn’t damage property or go overboard, just like fans didn’t in 1988.
Fans line up outside Jefferson's Monday afternoon on Massachusetts Street waiting for doors to open to watch the NCAA championship game. Some fans had been waiting for establishments to open since 7 a.m. to reserve their spot to watch Kansas take on Memphis later that night.
“You just have a different perspective,” Olea said. “It just was a joyful mood both times, people celebrating. It felt like the same kind of spirit of celebration, having fun and enjoying it.”
Christy Edwards was also a Lawrence resident 20 years ago and now lives on Massachusetts Street. She said the main difference was the number of people making the trek downtown after the games. She said Lawrence had grown since the last championship so has the number of people who celebrated.
Edwards said although there would always be people behaving badly, most people she saw were following the rules, which extra police officers enforced.
“I guess I kind of trust the system,” Edwards said. “If people are going to be weird, they’re going to be weird.”
Some residents, such as James Lemieux, said they weren’t concerned about excessive damage to their property. Lemieux, who lives on Vermont Street, says he is used to living on a route students use to get home from downtown.
“There’s a general level of people peeing on our lawn anyway,” Lemieux said. “We just get used to that, and the beer cans on our lawn.”
Lemieux said he and his wife are still feeling the effects of joining students downtown after Saturday’s game. He said one factor that might keep celebrations from getting out of hand was the probability of rain.
Olea said she thought everyone would keep a good spirit and that fans had a lot to be proud of no matter what the outcome.
“When we win, people just celebrate and have fun with it,” Olea said. “Mostly when we don’t win, people go home and mope a little bit.”
—Edited By Nick Mangiaracina
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