Photographed virtually from the local NBC Broadcast
LAWRENCE, KS: Thousands joined Kansas Jayhawks basketball head coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence on Sunday as the team had its final celebration following a national title victory. Not the same as being part of the parade festivities... However, I'm not yet ready to put myself in the middle of a large, closely packed, cheering crowd like before COVID became today's reality.
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Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self, his wife, Cindy, and their granddaughter, Ella, sat in the back of a powder blue 1959 Corvette convertible, waving to thousands of fans who were lined along Massachusetts Street on Sunday afternoon during a festive victory parade honoring the 2022 national champions. It was the same car — one owned by Lawrence businessman Doug Compton — that Bill and Cindy drove in during a victory parade held in 2008 after Self’s first of two national titles as KU coach. And it was the same car that forner KU hoops coach Larry Brown rode in during a 1988 downtown parade after Self’s mentor, Brown, directed KU to the crown.
Seniors David McCormack and Ochai Agbaji rode in a Ford Bronco Black Diamond; senior Chris Teahan and others in BMWs. Agbaji was voted Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after the Jayhawks’ 72-69 title game victory over North Carolina on Monday in New Orleans. Agbaji had 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting (3 of 8 from line) against UNC after scoring 21 points (on 6-of-7 three-point shooting) against Villanova in an 81-65 semifinal win. McCormack, who hit two critical shots in the final minutes of the title game, scored 15 points with 10 boards against UNC after scoring 25 points and grabbing nine boards versus Nova.
Self said the parade meant a lot to the team and others, too. “It’s great. The Chiefs did it (Super Bowl championship parade in 2020). The Royals had their parade too (for World Series title in 2015). This is not only big for Kansas, but Kansas City, too.”
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I was part of both the Royals and the Chiefs victory celebrations that each drew the largest crowds in Kansas City history. Back then, I was in the thick of everything in real life... Sadly, the Chiefs 2020 victory marked the last time I was in a large crowd. However, seeing what is currently happening with COVID in Washington, DC, I think now is not the time for me to throw all caution to the wind. Not yet anyhow. But I HATE living just virtually for events like this. I want to be in person where the action is. I always was before. I so miss it.
