smellinger@kcstar.com
This time, the questions are natural. They are needed. They are coming in the wake of Missouri hiring a new athletic director.
His name is Mack Rhoades, and he is friendly with Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, which is a big change from the last Missouri athletic director. That was Mike Alden, and even he knows his name is something like a curse word around Lawrence.
When Alden retired recently, he mentioned more than a few times that he hoped the Border War rivalry could be renewed, a nod to the understanding from all sides that the way he led Mizzou’s departure from the Big 12 left many at KU feeling misled, or worse.