Youth contingent helps boost MU student fans

In the second half Wednesday night, when the Tigers’ lead against Colorado started to dwindle, a small contingent of the MU student section at Mizzou Arena started chanting to try to rally the Tigers. Only this time, those starting the chants weren’t MU students.

They were 12- and 13-year-old boys.

The group of 12, 10 of whom had painted a letter on their bare chests to spell “MU TIGERS!,” traveled to the game from Kansas City to celebrate the 13th birthdays of group members Dalton Hall and Peter O’Neill, said Jrelle Jones, who wore the painted exclamation point on his chest. Two others refused to paint their chests because they were University of Kansas fans.

Jones said his brother Jevelle came up with the idea to paint their chests and convinced the rest to join him.

He added that getting into the student section was a challenge.

“We tried to go in the regular way, but the staff guys wouldn’t let us,” he said.

Determined to get as close as possible, the boys gathered at the base of section 203, where they had originally been seated, and began chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” willing themselves to be heard. MU sophomore Eric Durban then went up and brought the group into the student section through the side entrance, where no ushers were stationed.

Once inside, the boys made their presence known. Within minutes of entering, they got the student section chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” and “M-I-Z-Z-O-U” along with them. After a late block, they led their immediate area in a chant of “swat team.”

After prompts from Durban, they joined in other cheers, such as making a V shape with their hands as Vaidotas Volkus went to the free-throw line with 6:16 remaining. At one point, Jrelle Jones screamed “Don’t forget about the exclamation point,” drawing chuckles from some of the MU students.

During the Missouri Waltz, the boys’ attention shifted to the cheerleaders, saving some of their loudest cheers for them and the Golden Girls.

“Go cheerleaders!” O’Neill and group member Collin Thompson yelled.

After the final horn, the boys swayed with their arms on each other’s shoulders to “Old Missouri” as if they were long-time students. Long-time students who didn’t know the words, anyway.

Afterwards, an exchange between Jrelle Jones and Kansas fan George Lester showed that the MU-KU rivalry affects even younger fans.

“We’ve been Tigers fans for a long time,” Jones said.

“You’re not a Tigers fan. You like Notre Dame,” Lester replied.

“Either way, I’d rather cheer for MU than KU any day,” Jones said.