K-State blared ‘Sandstorm’ during OU upset. Is the once-banned song back at Bramlage?
The limited number of fans inside Bramlage Coliseum for Kansas State’s 62-57 upset men’s basketball victory against No. 7 Oklahoma were treated to a “very special” surprise when the Wildcats went on a late run to win the game.
K-State athletic officials decided to celebrate the moment by blaring the most popular and controversial song on campus — “Sandstorm.”
The 1999 instrumental dance track from Finnish DJ and record producer Darude was a hit throughout the arena and sent everyone in the student section dancing on top of the metal bleachers like it was 2011 instead of 2021.
It was a completely unexpected song choice, as “Sandstorm” has rarely been played at K-State sporting events since the school ran into problems with students chanting defamatory words about rival KU every time it was played, particularly when the Jayhawks were in town.
University president Richard Myers called the chant “personally embarrassing and not what one expects from a world-class university” in a letter to the public four years ago. Since then, “Sandstorm” has been more or less blacklisted during home basketball games.
But it returned for K-State’s thrilling victory on Tuesday night, and was even accompanied by a video graphic that read “Sandstorm” in massive letters above center court.
Turns out there was some planning involved.
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor told The Eagle via text message that he gets questions about “Sandstorm” during virtually every close basketball game the Wildcats play at home. So they keep the controversial song “on the ready just in case” they find an appropriate time to play it following a big play or a momentum-shifting run.
It felt right to play “Sandstorm” against the Sooners, so that’s what they decided to do.
What does that mean for the future of “Sandstorm?” Can fans expect to hear the song more regularly at home games?
Not unless K-State can find a way to eliminate the KU chant, Taylor said. The chant could be heard while the song was played Tuesday.
“It won’t come out very often,” Taylor said, “and when we get back to normal capacity with students it may not happen at all.”
For now, Taylor said the song will be saved for “very special occasions” like Mike McGuirl leading the Wildcats to a come-from-behind victory against a top 10 opponent.
“Fans love it as well as the students,” Taylor said, “but we need to come up with a new chant to hear it very often.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 1:04 PM with the headline "K-State blared ‘Sandstorm’ during OU upset. Is the once-banned song back at Bramlage?."