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Greg Hansen: ASU's 'kidnapping' of Wildcats players turned in-state rivalry into uncivil war

Related Topics: Pop McKale

On a February afternoon in 1938, Arizona athletic director Pop McKale announced the school’s upcoming football schedule but strangely left the final week blank.

It didn’t include Arizona State, and McKale awkwardly declined to comment on ASU’s conspicuous absence.

Two months later, the Wildcats announced their final game would be against Montana.

Thus began four years of fear and loathing unmatched in the football rivalry between Arizona and ASU, a contempt that went beyond anything generated across the last 80 years, and, yes, that includes the long domination of Frank Kush and the Larry Smith-inspired "Streak" of 1982-90.