GoPowercat.com - Robert's Words: To All You Fellow Wildcats

August 26, 2009

Robert Lipson

Editor's Note: Known as Kansas States greatest fan, Robert J. Lipson has traveled to 138 consecutive conference football road games and counting.

As yet another football season approaches I want to share with you some of the things that were on my mind all summer.

First of all it is sure great to have William the Conqueror back in the saddle again. So how well will he do this time around? The reality is, just like last time he will go only as far as his recruiting takes him. But provided that injuries, illness and luck are not factors, I fully expect our 2011 football team to be at least as good as our 1999 or 2000 teams were or perhaps better. How long will Bill coach? Do you remember Stan Weber told Soren Petro on your radio that Bill will coach eight seasons. But do remember that compared to Bob Bowden and Joe Paterno, Bill Snyder is still a spring chicken?

For those of you new to the Kansas State nation, you need to know that I have not missed a home game in the stadium since 1972. I have not missed a road game in conference play since 1973. I got all 138 tickets in exact order in my safe deposit box.

Here are my thoughts on a few people/topics:

John Currie
John Currie is a combination of Jon Wefald and Tim Weiser. He looks just like Tim Weiser but has all of the enthusiasm of Jon Wefald.

I can already tell you that until June 8, 2009, Tim Weiser was the best athletic director we ever had. Now Tim might have been a cold fish around people at times but all I ask of any athletic director is that he can best seek out the most successful possible available coach whenever a coaching change is required. I had complete trust and confidence in Tim Weiser because he demonstrated to me that he understood the Laws of Physics, exactly as I explained them in the editorial page of the November 21, 2005 Manhattan Mercury.

This editorial had to do with the basic characteristics that all of the most successful coaches always share in common. Tim did attempt to seek out these characteristics during his football coaching search. Ron Prince did have some superior intelligence but he also had a bull-headed attitude as a result of a relatively fragile psyche. A fragile psyche can not possibly win at this level. Other necessary characteristics required to be a successful coach such as superior mental toughness & superior self-confidence are not always as detectable.

Now why I believe John Currie is the best athletic director we ever had is suppose Bill Snyder retires again or Francisco Martin jumps to the NBA. Based on what I have seen of John so far is he will best attempt to seek out the most necessary characteristics of a potential successful winning coach, to separate the sheep from the goats, during a coaching search. This does not mean we will suddenly be winning championships. If the new hire does not do as well as Bill or Francisco did, we can have the most confidence that the 2nd best available candidate for new coach would not have done any better than the best possible available applicant did (John's new hire). Remember a very successful coach hire is also a matter of timing. Would Bill Snyder have still been available to us in November of 1989 if Stan Parrish could have hung on for another year?

Jim Epps & Bob Cavello
As far as our concerns about Jim Epps and Bob Cavello are concerned, I cannot properly comment on something I do not have adequate information about until any further information is released to the media. But this much I do know for sure. As much as he wants to do so, John Currie has previous little time to devote to addressing the relative mess left behind by the secret deal between Bob Krause & Ron Prince. That is because of the constant steadily increasing demands on an AD's time in today's BCS conferences. Just like Bob Krause, Tim Weiser, Max Urich & Steave Miller before him, John Currie will always have more work & obligations he must attend to than he usually has sufficient time for.

John cannot properly take any action on Jim Epps or Bob Cavello until he most successfully turns over every possible fact finding stone. So John cannot comment any further on the issue until all of the truth is completely known to him, however long that my take.

Now Jim Epps and Bob Cavello were dear friends of mine. They both have treated me so wonderfully over the decades. They both were such a big part of our close knit K-State family. I just hated to see them go. Now we need to put our complete trust, faith & confidences in John Currie to. 1. Most successfully find out all of the facts possible proving whether or not Jim Epps and or Bob Cavello had any voluntary involvement in the secret deal dilemma. 2. Do whatever is in the best interest of the student athlete and K-State athletics as far as terminating or retaining Jim Epps and or Bob Cavello is concerned.

Are you Really a Wildcat or a Jayhawk?
Because of the $3 million in the secret agreement, plus the $3 million additional Ron Prince is also asking for, the athletic department really needs your help right now more than ever before. So right now you have to sell out the home opener even more than you want to sell out 9/5/09.

If you can be there and attend the stadium then you are a Wildcat. If you can be there but won't attend then you are a Jayhawk. You might be wearing all of your wildcat gear but you are really a Jayhawk. If you cannot attend because of family matters, some other urgency or job or business loss then you are a Wildcat.

But selling out the opener won't be nearly enough. You have to do more. You must attend & sell out every home game then sell out our allotment to all of the road games in conference play including I-State in Arrowhead Stadium. Please do not wait until the team goes 13-1 in 2011 before selling out the stadium. If you do then you are really a Jayhawk. Now is the time to decide are you either a Wildcat or a Jayhawk. You cannot be both. I promised John Currie that I would have all the home games, plus our allotment for all the road games in conference play completely sold out by publishing this letter to you. Please do not make me look foolish.

Tailgating
As is the tradition started long ago, I always visit as many of you as possible before and after every home game. However it will never be humanly possible to visit every tailgate that is familiar with me before and after each home game. That is why I must split all the home games up by visiting all the tailgates on just one side only before and after each home game. The 3 sides are the east side paved stadium lot, the west side paved stadium lot and all the grass and satellite lots.

I always start visiting tailgates two and three-quarters hours before kickoff then retreat to my Nissan 45 minutes before kickoff to put my bag away before entering the stadium. But two hours does not allow me to visit most of the tailgates. There are so many tailgates that I may only advance just halfway across a side before the game and that is only on a good day for me. That is why if you are parking on the side I designate for that game you must either have your car already parked three whole hours before the game or be willing to stay up to two hours after the game or until I reach your tailgate coming from the opposite direction of the designated side.

Please do not motion me from a distance away to visit your tailgate immediately. I cannot skip rows or tailgates within a row otherwise I miss more tailgates just like yours than I visit. I must always maintain the exact order of each row at a time in the direction I am advancing. Please wait until I finally reach your tailgate or stay after the game until I arrive if I cannot reach your tailgate in time before the game, then you must be willing to wait for me after the game until I reach your tailgate. Also do not ask me to stay awhile at your tailgate otherwise I will miss far more familiar tailgates than the short time I have allows me to visit. I will always make every effort to visit every familiar tailgate on each side designated for each game. Wait patiently for me.

Contrary to popular belief I never ask for food at any tailgate. If I say it costs you a hot dog whenever you take my picture that is only in jest. But for those precious few of you that always feed me all I ask is that everything must be sugar free and all drink must be caffeine free and diet. Never add sugar whenever you prepare food for your tailgate. Always read the label ingredients on everything before you buy it for your tailgate. The only reason I carry the bag around is because all food offered to me is always to go. If your pregame food is not ready yet, I cannot come back for it before kickoff. Just stay and wait for me after the game coming from the opposite direction from pregame in exact order of rows. I never ask for or take food at a tailgate unless someone offers to hand me some or asks me to help myself at your table. Always remember that.

I know this is hard for you to believe but even after all these years, yes, there still are some tailgates that are not at all familiar with me and do not want to be disturbed by my visit. Because there are so many tailgates that are familiar with me on each side, there is just no way I can remember them all. When I am designated to visiting tailgates on your side, if you want me to visit your tailgate, do not turn your back to the emergency access lane or grass unless you have 1 person in your group always watching for me. This is because I do not want to risk the embarrassment of approaching a tailgate that is not familiar with me and does not want to be disturbed. I will not continue to approach any nearby tailgate unless at least one person in your group recognizes me or I am very familiar with that tailgate. I always try to keep track of the lot numbers on both paved stadium lots of those tailgates very familiar with me.

Here is the exact order I will be visiting tailgates for 2009. Remember I will visit the tailgates on just one side only before and after each home game. I always start on one end of the side before the game then start at the opposite end of the side after the game going opposite direction of pregame until I reach the end where I began before the game. I will only and always go up or down one row at a time in exact order of the direction I advance. Where I begin each side for the last 3 home games will be the exact opposite order of where I began from for the first 3 home games. Here we go.

1. 9/5/09 vs. the Minutemen: I will be on the east side paved stadium lot only. Before the game, I will start on the south end. It's where the dumpsters are lined up, along the trees, near the tunnel side of Bramlage Coliseum. I will advance north toward Kimball Avenue. After the game, I will start on the RV row closest to Kimball (north end) on bicycle and advance south until I finish at the dumpsters.

2. 9/26/09 vs. the Eagles: West side paved stadium lot only. Before the game, begin on RV row closest to Kimball heading south. Start in Cat Town on bicycle after the game and head north until I reach Kimball.

3. 10/17/09 vs. the Aggies: Grass & satellite lots only: Before the game, I will start on the east side grass only beginning with the row closest to the paved stadium lot along the trees, going east from there then continue on the west side of the agronomy lots, heading east down Kimball toward Denison. After the game, I will begin on the lots along Denison on both sides of the intersection with Kimball on bicycle then continue west down Kimball until I reach the west agronomy lots and finish on the east side grass, opposite of pregame direction, finishing at the row closest to the paved stadium lot.

4. 10/24/09 vs. the Buffaloes: East side paved stadium lot only. Before the game, I will begin on the RV row closest to Kimball heading south. After the game, I will start on the row closest to the dumpsters on bicycle heading north and finish at Kimball.

5. 11/7/09 vs. the Thunderhawks: West side paved stadium lot only. Before the game, begin in cat town heading north from there. Start on RV row by Kimball after the game heading south from there on bicycle to finish in cat town.

6. 11/14/09 vs. the Tigers: Grass and satellite lots only. Before the game, begin along Denison on both sides of Kimball then head west down Kimball until I reach the west Agronomy lots. If time allows, continue on east side grass from east to west. After the game, I will start on east side grass going from west to east, continue on bicycle at west agronomy lots, head east along Kimball and finish along Denison. On every senior day game only I will usually visit what is left of the other 2 sides, postgame only, after completely finishing the designated side for that game.

Robert's Own Radio Segment
Did you know I even have my own radio segment? (No kidding!) It is called Robert's World. It is broadcast during a program called Cat Calls. Cat Calls is a combination of rock music and K-State football discussion. Cat Calls is on 101.5 on the FM dial on your radio. Cat Calls broadcasts from 7 pm to 9 p.m. on the Fridays only before home games, and is hosted by K-Rock's Cory "Cadillac" Dean and GoPowercat.com's own D. Scott Fritchen.

The Robert's World segment occurs usually near the bottom of the 7 o'clock hour, the first hour of Cat Calls, or sometimes well after the bottom of the hour. Robert's World lasts about nine minutes. Please listen to the entire first hour of Cat Calls until you hear Roberts World. I always open Robert's World with complete details of which side I will be visiting tailgates on for "tomorrow's" game then field questions from the host and inject my comments or 2 during the segment. Patronize the sponsors that purchase inventory for Cat Calls.

That's all I got for you for now. See you at the 2nd Rose Bowl game this January 8 watching the Wildcats play.

Love you all, Robert!

FEATURED PRODUCT