On Losing

For competitors, losing is the worst feeling in the world.

Kansas fans expect the Jayhawks to win each and every game. Going into the game yesterday against Texas, KU fans expected a win. Some signs read “Allen Steakhouse. Today’s special: Longhorn, $14.99.” But yesterday was different than any of the past 69 gamedays.

The game was secondary to everything else because Jayhawk Nation was hurting for the loss of one of their own, Thomas Robinson.

On Friday evening, Robinson received a phone call that no one ever really expects when you’re 19 years old. It was his nine-year-old sister, Jayla. Their mother, Lisa, just passed away from an apparent heart attack at the age of 37.

Kansas didn’t extend their home win streak to 70 games. And it didn’t matter.

Thirty minutes before tip-off, Thomas Robinson was on the baseline with his arm around Angel Morris, mother of the Morris twins. Robinson was listening intently and you could tell it was something that only a mother could say to try to make him feel better. She gave him a big hug before he returned to the floor for warmups.

Robinson was the first player off the bench. He checked in about the 16 minute mark to a loud standing ovation, while KU was up by ten points. Kansas led 18-3 with 14:41 left in the first half. After that, Texas outscored Kansas 71-45.

“In times like that, I think you see teams get off to an emotional good start,” Self said. “We played well, too, but certainly it was emotional, and I felt like we didn’t have much gas in the tank in the second half.”

Marcus and Markieff Morris were seen trying to get Robinson to smile during warmups.

“It says a lot that Thomas came out and played,” Marcus Morris said. “It took a lot of courage to play since Thomas only has his mother and his sister. It’s just a sad situation, because you don’t know what to say to him.”

One person in Allen Fieldhouse knew exactly what it was like to be Thomas Robinson on Saturday. Rodrick Stewart, a member of the 2008 National Championship team, was attending the game.

His brother was shot and killed during the 2007-08 season.

“When I lost my brother, I wanted to give up basketball, school and everything because he didn’t deserve to have his life taken at a young age,” said Stewart. “My teammates had my back and it meant everything in the world to me. They are brothers to me and they were there for me every step of the way and helped me get through it.”

Before the game, Coach Barry Hinson announced to the student section what had happened to Thomas Robinson. Hinson asked the fans for “all you’ve got” to support Robinson during the game. Fans chanted “TRob! TRob!” every time he entered the game.

Self appreciated the fans support but he also hoped the fans would keep the basketball loss in perspective.

“People go home sad today,” Self said. “All 16,000 people that were here and supported us great like they do every game, they go home sad and disappointed, and he’s one of those guys. But he goes home and he doesn’t have his mother anymore. And it certainly puts everything in perspective, because he’s going to wake up three or four days from now and people will be doing their own things, and the world keeps going on, and that’s a reality that he’s going to live with for the rest of his life.”

“It’s tough and the pain doesn’t ever go away,” said Stewart.”Having teammates like I had at KU really helped me out a lot . KU is a family from your teammates all the way down to the fans.”

Kansas fans outpoured support for Robinson on Facebook, Twitter and message boards.

Kansas has a game Tuesday in Colorado. Self isn’t sure whether or not Robinson will make the trip.

“Whatever he needs to do, he needs to do,” Self said. “But we’re his family.”

His family will be focused on making Robinson feel better but they also understand the importance of keeping focused on basketball, too.

“It’s just one game and we can’t let it become two,” Tyrel Reed said. “We know that Thomas is going through a lot of stuff right now. We all hurt and we all feel for him. He’s one of our brothers and we’re definitely going to be there for him, but we’ve got a game on Tuesday against a good Colorado team. We have to be ready to play.”

Kansas fans never take a loss easily. On Saturday, Kansas fans realized that losing a basketball game wasn’t the end of the world. For Thomas Robinson, he lost an important part of his world.

Family Over Everything.