Lawrence cops are your friends when the Jayhawks win the title

April 8th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

In my four years of college — yes, I made it out in four years! — I never got to celebrate a huge athletic accomplishment down on Kirkwood Ave. in Bloomington. (The soccer team won the National Title my freshman and sophomore year (thanks, o’day), but hey, this is America. And Indiana. Let’s not get carried away, people.) Two years before I arrived on campus, Mike Davis somehow got IU to the National Championship game and I’ve heard a whole array of stories: kids hanging from telephone wires, streaking, tear gas — sure seemed like a wild, fun scene. And there was similar debauchery when Indiana canned Bob Knight. (He’s turned out OK since then, it seems.)

But enough about lead-in personal anecdotes that serve no purpose, let’s check in on the scene at Massachusetts Street in Lawrence last night, shortly after Kansas took the title home:

Meanwhile, more than 250 police officers stood by as the game wound down.

“Kansas fans usually are pretty good at times like these,” said a Johnson County sheriff’s officer who declined to give his name. “I doubt we’ll have very much mischief, but you never know. A lot of people have been drinking a lot of beer.”

[ … ]

An hour after the game, the only visible police action occurred when a young man carrying three bottles of beer walked to up [sic] to three policemen and began to vomit.

“You’d better give me those,” one policeman said.

The young man handed him the bottles, apologized and began walking away. His girlfriend high-fived the policemen and told them, “Thanks for being nice.”

Excellent: No tear gas, no bloody riots, no looting — just some raucous celebrating and vomiting. I guess that’s what happens when you’re so drunk the only thing you can tangibly accomplish is screaming: “MARRRRRIOOOOO!”

{Via the Dagger. Also check out E’s work over at the Dagger today on the game. It’s quack-tastic.}