NCAA Tournament

Tearful young KU fan gets Twitter buzzing during Jayhawks’ loss to Stanford

If the upset of Kansas basketball fans could be personified during the waning moments of KU’s round of 32 loss to Stanford on Sunday, it sat in the stands of the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, sullenly, tearfully watching the Cardinal grind down the Jayhawks.

And once the CBS cameras spotted this young KU fan — who happens to be the son of KU assistant athletic director for communications Chris Theisen — it was on.

They panned their lenses on him, zooming in on his red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. The images CBS broadcast immediately and predictably lit up Twitter, with quips and criticisms coming fast and furious.

A few:

#jayhawktears School is going to be a lot of fun for that crying Kansas boy tomorrow.I give it 15 minutes until someone makes a Crying Kansas Kid parody account.
What is more sad? The abused animals commercial or the crying kansas little boy fan?

Fellow KU loyalists quickly came to the tyke’s defense, and CBS showed him smiling when the Jayhawks drew within two points late in the game. But by game’s end, he was welling up again.

For his part, Theisen says he was not bothered by the fact that CBS focused on his son during the loss, calling him “my champ” and a big KU fan

Nevertheless, it was a tear-jerker to watch.

But we’d say this to the little guy:

You’re young, and there are a lot of KU basketball game to come.

You’ll be OK.

This story was originally published March 23, 2014 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Tearful young KU fan gets Twitter buzzing during Jayhawks’ loss to Stanford."

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