Rock Chalk Jayhawk KU

March Madness currently afflicts plenty of people in this vicinity. Rock Chalk Jayhawk! I'm hearing that phrase uttered repeatedly of late, always by fans of the University of Kansas, who are exulting over KU's surprising advancement to the College Basketball (NCAA) tournament finals. Tonight's game will determine whether they prevail yet again in this year's games, or whether they take second place, behind the University of Kentucky--the other KU--or is it UK? (Is there any logic to this acronym affair? Why is the University of Kansas known as KU?)

I quote: "The lyrics have a Gregorian chant feel to them as “Rock Chalk — Jay-Hawk — KU,” is repeated twice slowly, and then, three times quickly." I've had my own guesses about what this college yell means, but went to the pains to check it out recently. I was mostly right. Kansas is the state of the Jayhawk, a mythical bird hybrid between the powerful hawk and the noisy and gregarious jay. Kansans are Jayhawkers just as people from Indiana are Hoosiers and Ohioans are Buckeyes.

Rock chalk refers to a soft kind of limestone found in outcroppings on the KU campus in Lawrence in Northest Kansas. The common way of referring to the rock is actually chalk rock, but reversing the order makes a better rhyme and rhythm, so Rock Chalk Jayhawk it is.

KU's standard cheer has a cadence variation that helps make it distinctive, although I couldn't have told you what that was until I found a clip online just now, having never watched a KU game live or televised. Listen here for a sample.

Here's another interesting quote: "Teddy Roosevelt pronounced the Rock Chalk Chant the greatest college chant he'd ever heard. It was used by Kansas troops fighting in the Philippines in 1899, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and World War II. At the Olympic games in 1920, the King of Belgium asked for a typical American college yell. The assembled athletes agreed on KU's Rock Chalk and rendered it for His Majesty." More information here.