Joining the dark side

It's official. The people behind Big MO Sports have agreed to join forces with Mizzou Rah to form a blog more powerful than you can possibly imagine. The ramifications of this are certainly going to be enormous. This could potentially be the most explosive alliance since Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage formed the Mega Powers (the handshake at the 1:25 mark is actually identical to the handshake that was used to signify the unification of Big MO with Mizzou Rah). 

What does this mean for you, the good hardworking people that have kept Big MO alive and running for the past five months? It means instead of typing http://bigmosports.blogspot.com/ into your browser every morning you need to type http://mizzourah.net/. 

I know you're all probably feeling nostalgic and already missing the days when Big MO Sports was set as your homepage but this is actually great news for you. We've got some big things in the works for Mizzou Rah. You'll still get all of my postings plus the regular postings made by the writers at Mizzou Rah, which are almost as good as mine (I know, hard to believe but trust me). 

In addition to the postings, we're discussing trying to put together a regular Mizzou podcast, which to our knowledge would be the first of its kind. No promises but it looks pretty likely that it's gonna happen. Very exciting stuff.

So this will be the final post made on Big MO. Thank you all for everything and I hope you'll be coming with me to Mizzou Rah. 

Happy trails, Ocho Cinco

I forgot to include this in Friday's news & notes and that's just as well because something like this deserves a post of its own.

Last week I received a call from William Palaszczuk (one of the charter members of the Greg Bracey Fan Club) informing me that the real Ocho Cinco was released by the San Diego Chargers in May and we somehow missed it until now. 

The people at Big MO obviously hate to hear that and want to wish Greg well in all his future endeavors. If he ever catches on with another team and ends up making the roster you can bet we'll be the first to be rockin' the Bracey 85 NFL Authentics. 

Good luck Greg and if you're ever in the neighborhood feel free to stop by Big MO and enjoy a cold one on the house. 

News & notes

Seems like each post brings a new set of reasons for not updating this blog more often. This week's excuses? Allergies that have me feeling under the weather and trying to finish up the last couple weeks of my internship at the Bolivar Herald-Free Press. 

But I'll let you in on a little secret. There could be some Mark Mangino sized changes coming to Big MO Sports in the very near future in the form of an alliance of sorts (that's my way of dropping a not so subtle hint). So stay tuned.

But for now we have lots of links to get to!

• First and foremost, Sarah Becking, RIP. I had never heard of Sarah until literally a couple weeks ago when I ran across her website and realized what a truly gifted photographer she was and immediately added it to the links to your right. I had no idea she had been battling cancer. I don't know much more about her than what I've read in the past few days but she left behind a husband, daughter and son. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. 

• The door is now shut and locked on the Keon Lawrence era at Mizzou. I'm glad he's going to be going to school but I worry about how close Seton Hall is to his old stomping grounds. I also don't understand the attitude he gives Mike DeArmond in that story. I thought the local media always portrayed Keon in a positive light even when he was in the midst of a major sophomore slump. But after the past few weeks I'm starting to think there were some attitude problems behind the scenes we didn't hear about. But that's my own speculation so take it for what it's worth and I still hope Keon is successful at Seton Hall.

• Big MO Sports has some more competition from...Chase Daniel?

• Get to know Keith Ramsey! I have to say, I've always hated players who call cheap fouls in pickup games. Nothing ruins a pickup game quicker than one of those guys.

• Our old pal TG3 is sporting a fresh new fro north of the border with the Toronto Raptors summer league team.

• A surge of stories have popped up on espn.com concerning the Mario Chalmers miracle three in the National Championship game including this fascinating story on former Beaker and would be hero Michael Lee (check out Smorgasboard Graves in that picture). A little odd that those are being written over three months after the National Championship game. Maybe it has something to do with them moving the three point line back? Speaking of Chalmers, I hate Kansas more than anyone but I will never understand how so many chumps including J.R. Giddens got drafted before he did. I'm admittedly biased toward players that perform well in pressure situations (I thought Acie Law was a lock to be a great NBAer and so far that prediction hasn't exactly panned out) but give me a break. Giddens?

• This afternoon I was doing some research for a story I'm writing for my internship  and ran across some old columns by former Springfield News-Leader sports reporter Scott Puryear that are wonderfully amusing looking back on them: 1. Remember when everyone loved Pinkel before they hated him and before they loved him again? Now you do. 2. Back in 2003 Pinkel signed a talented high school quarterback named Chase who was going to keep the momentum going once The Great Brad Smith graduated. But his last name wasn't Daniel. 3. Remember that backup punter we had in '06 who wore No. 10 and the cameras used to always cut to him thinking it was Chase Daniel? Bet you didn't realize someone once wrote a column about him.

• The latest from Zou Dave. Would enough Mizzou fans be willing to pool their money to pay Zou Dave to produce these things full-time? We should look into this.

• Just ran across this seconds ago, Sherron Collins, livin' like a National Champ I guess... 

• Just found another Keon update. Turns out he needed to leave New Jersey for two years so he could go and grow up. But now he's mature enough to live at home again. Okay, that makes sense. Glad we cleared that up.

• If you've been in downtown Columbia in the last few months you've probably noticed the new sandwich joint Which Which? (where Shake's used to be). Fantastic place, I'd highly recommend the house chips. When you're eating there you'll also be supporting former Tiger Will Franklin who owns 40 percent of Columbia's franchise. I'm hoping they'll let Franklin put together his own favorite sandwich and market it as "The Helicopter" or something similarly silly. 

• It's official, people outside of Columbia consider Mizzou preseason National Championship contenders. Gotta love high expectations. 

• By the way, I love how the KC Star is having all of their sportswriters put together blogs. Other news organizations take note, this is how blogs can be used effectively by the modern media. Two thumbs up to Posnanski, Flanagan, Mellinger and company.

That's it for now. Next week marks the arrival of NCAA '09. I'm actually planning on finally ditching the PS2 and picking up either an Xbox 360 or PS3 (really leaning toward the 360) and NCAA will probably be the first game I purchase so expect a review sometime in the near future. Although I'll probably have a new set of excuses for not writing another post until next weekend. See ya then!

Eric Chenowith days of summer

I've been wanting to write a post all week but just haven't had anything to discuss. The day the first football practice report comes out can't get here soon enough because the last week has moved like former Jayhawk Eric Chenowith. I'm going to try to come up with some original stuff to post other than just links but in the meantime things are just going to be a little slow.

Fortunately, for you Big MO diehards I was able to scrounge up a couple of interesting links to pass along and give my always thoughtful analysis:

• Our old buddy Aqib Talib has already gotten off to a great start down in Tampa Bay. I wouldn't think anything of this if it happened on the football field but a personal finance training session? I'm just glad my Chiefs didn't draft this clown.

• Fox Sports college basketball writer Jeff Goodman gave his take on Keon's transfer in his blog. It's a little ways down the page so I'll just post what he wrote here: 
  "While Missouri guard Keon Lawrence is saying he is transferring to be closer to home, we’re hearing that he just wants more shots. No surprise. I saw Lawrence score 50 points in an AAU game and walked away in complete disgust. It was one of the most selfish performances I’ve seen in a long, long time."

I'm personally not taking a lot of stock in that. "We're hearing that he just wants more shots." Who are you hearing that from? Keon? Mike Anderson? Other coaches? And his description of that AAU game is painfully vague. This is a pretty good example of what blogs written by "credible journalists" should not be. In the games I personally saw Keon play in I did not notice any selfish behavior to speak of. I did however, see him with tears in his eyes after several tough losses over the past two years. But maybe he was crying about his low shot total. 

• Speaking of Keon, Steve Walentik has a list of schools that he could possibly end up at. I'm just glad that it at least appears that Lawrence will be going back to school because initially he expressed some doubt. I also think it's a good thing that he doesn't have interest in Rutgers, the school closest to the neighborhood he grew up in. 

• Be sure to scroll a little further down on that page and also check out this article on the chemistry that Mike Anderson's incoming freshman class are already forming. Am I the only one that breaks into a huge smile when I read that Kim English, Marcus Denmon and Miguel Paul are literally having sleepovers at Mizzou Arena? As encouraging as I find this stuff, lets not get carried away with it. These guys can be as close-knit as the Brady Bunch, if they don't have talent, toughness and good coaching it's not going to mean a whole lot. But I will say I don't recall reading anything like this about the last several incoming freshman classes. Just pointing that out. 

Farewell, Keon

I was extremely disappointed to hear that Keon Lawrence will be leaving the University of Missouri.

All season we heard that Keon had been considering moving closer to his home in New Jersey but at the end of the year it appeared that he had fully committed to MU and Mike Anderson. In fact, on Wednesday he sounded very upbeat when talking about this year's group with the Kansas City Star, "This squad, everybody’s about the team,” Lawrence said. “They’re going to give what it takes to win. Whether somebody doesn’t like it or not. They’re here to please the coach."

Keon told the Star that the reason he is transferring is to be closer to home but that was after he had taken a subtle shot at the MU coaching staff earlier in the day when talking to the Columbia Tribune, "It's not my teammates, and it's not the fans. That should tell you something."

He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch over the phone that he's not even sure he'll return to school.

Keon's past has been well documented. Gangs were prevalent in his life throughout his childhood and adolescent years. Earlier this year his brother was murdered and his sister is also reportedly deep into the gang life. According to the P-D, Lawrence will move back to Newark with his mother, who abandoned him as a child, to the streets that nearly swallowed him before escaping to Mizzou. 

"The people I used to run with know I'm coming back home and I don't know what's going to happen," Lawrence said. "But this might be best for me right now."

I'm not going to pretend to understand Keon's situation or try to say that I know what's best for him. But I can't imagine this being a good decision. Keon appeared to have overcome his past and survived, but his battle could be long from over.

I'm not going to bash him for leaving MU even though it's extremely disappointing. I do think his jab at the coaching staff was a little below the belt. And I'm not taking Anderson's side in this. Anderson could be driving the program deeper into the ground than it already is, we don't know and only time will tell. But if you're going to say something like that about your coach after you leave decide to leave the program you better be prepared to explain exactly what the problem is that you have with him. Don't hint that there was something there the public didn't know about and then refuse to answer any followup questions, which is exactly what Keon did. Either tell-all or don't tell a thing.

But that's really the secondary issue here. Keon's obviously a very troubled young man who's going through a lot of serious problems that most have us couldn't possibly comprehend. I hope he has the wisdom to stay as far away as he possibly can from the people that got him into so much trouble in his high school years. 

If you've ever seen Keon in a public setting he always seems to be having a great time. He's a guy who's always the life of the party. It's hard to believe he's been as unhappy as he says he's been. 

I've gushed about Keon as a player before and I sincerely believed he was going to be the catalyst that turned the program back around. But it wasn't meant to be. This is a significant blow to the team's Tournament chances next season but that's also besides the point. 

Right now this looks like a heartbreaking story. My prayers are with Keon and I hope he's able to find his place, wherever that may be.

61-year-old KU superfan marries 22-year-old

I don't usually write multiple postings on one day but I've got a little free time and I found a link that's too good to not pass along.

Jimmy Neal is an avid Jayhawks fan nicknamed the "White Owl" who is 61 years old. He apparently spends a lot of time at Wescoe Beach on KU's campus shouting at students to "Wake up!" Basically, he's the complete opposite of MU's Brother Jed but just as crazy. 

The Daily Kansan says he is "known for his enthusiastic dancing and cheering at KU games." It also reports that he's set to marry 22-year-old KU student Julia Lee.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

It gets better. The two have only known each other for a little over a month. The soon-to-be Mrs. Owl also told the Kansan reporter about her engagement before her father.

Neal has spawned two baby owls from previous marriages but he expects this marriage to last because "In previous marriages I (Neal) would see the reflection of my love, not their love."

He knew that he and Julia were meant to be together the first time he laid eyes on her, "I saw an injured spirit and I'm all about helping people and being a light."

It sounds like this guy has been spending a little too much time hanging out with Aqib Talib.

But don't worry, the couple doesn't plan to become sexually active until after they're married. And even though the White Owl is settling down he still plans to be a regular at KU basketball and football games. 

For the sake of humanity lets hope these two don't produce a child. 

Graham Watson headed to The Network

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Mizzou beat writer Graham Watson will be leaving the PD next month for the greener pastures of ESPN. 

Graham is an MU journalism grad (and former soccer player) who has covered Tiger athletics for the past several years. I always respected her professionalism in maintaining a level of objectivity despite the seeming conflict of interest (being a former Mizzou athlete). 

Her blog paled in comparison to the Tribune's Dave Matter but her weekly chat sessions were must reads for Mizzou fans. Any questions as to wether or not she was ESPN material were erased in the spring of '07 when she wrote two superb pieces on the rough upbringings of Keon Lawrence and Jeremy Maclin (I looked everywhere and was unable to find links to these without paying $2.95). 

It's weird how you kind of grow attached to the writers that cover your team. Mizzou's had pretty solid coverage with the trifecta of Matter, Watson and DeArmond. I think a lot of Tiger fans will miss Graham and I look forward to seeing her on the Worldwide Leader.

Speaking of Graham, she wrote an encouraging article for Tiger fans about what the only goal is for this year's team. 

Kim English=my new favorite Mizzou hoopster

I wrote a little bit yesterday about how much I like Keon Lawrence being in a leadership position on the MU basketball team next season. I've always been a big fan of Keon even during his season-long slump last year. In fact, I'd consider him my favorite player on the team. But that might change real soon and it's no fault of Keon's.

Freshman guard Kim English's mutigers player bio says he "has been called a gym-rat by coaches and teammates because of his tremendous work ethic." But after reading this Mike DeArmond story in Thursday's KC Star, I'm starting to think that gym-rat doesn't do him justice. It's a short blurb (but very telling) so I'll go ahead and post the entire thing:

Kim English lives only half a mile from Mizzou Arena. However, for the last four nights, he has made the basketball locker room his bedroom.

“On my recruiting visit, they told us this was a 24-hour practice facility,” English, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard from Baltimore, said Wednesday. “We’ve got a key and it works at 12 p.m., it works at 1 a.m. It works 24 hours a day.”

English sleeps in a leather chair that he drags from the players’ lounge to the locker room, allowing him to work around the clock.

“To help this team win this year, I’ll do anything,” said English, who played at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., last season, averaging 17.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

“I’ll sleep outside if that’s what it takes.”

How many 18-year-olds do you think spend the summer prior to their freshman year of college literally living in a gym? How many nights do think Jason Horton spent sleeping in the gym during the last four years? 

In addition to the locale that he's decided to take up residence in, his mutigers bio also calls him a "basketball junky that follows the prep, collegiate and NBA games with a passion." So he's also a student of the game. Oops! Sorry, I just drooled on my keyboard. 

Belated links

We've got a lot to get to today so lets get right to it:

• Not only did Ben Askren qualify for the Olympics, but he was so confident he would do it that he reserved a 40-person suite in Las Vegas to celebrate his qualifying...a week before trials even started. He's also made t-shirts with his silhouette against China's flag that says "putting the 'chin' in China." I'd love to get ahold of one of those. Askren's going to make olympic wrestling a lot more interesting for me this year.

• A great column by Joe Walljasper, listing the 25 biggest wins in Mizzou football history. You gotta love that two of the top 10 are from last season but am I the only one that thinks Nebraska '97 belongs on the list? I know we didn't technically win but maybe we could include an asterisk with it? Just a thought.

• Our friends at Mizzou Rah wrote a hilarious post comparing each Big 12 team to a brand of potato chips. If you liked his comparison of Big 12 teams to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out characters then you'll love this one too. 

• If the college basketball season ended today, Joe Lunardi thinks we'd be dancin' as an 11 seed! Bring on Bob Thuggins!

• Don Faurot is the face of our program.

• Chase Coffman was embarrassed by his performance over the last eight games of the season. Yeah, now that I think about it I guess those plays he made against Colorado weren't that amazing.

• I actually found a fantastic post concerning Keon Lawrence on Tigerboard about how despite his sophomore slump, he's still played above the ranking he had in the class of '06. I've said all along that Keon has to be the leader of the team next year. When putting his sophomore season into perspective you have to consider all the things Keon had going against him, all of which were really outside his control. The issues with his family (including his brother being murdered), the chemistry issues with Stef (not Keon's fault), etc. I think the team's going to be in much better shape now that Keon feels he's in a position to take on a leadership role.

• Steve Walentik broke down each freshman's performance in a recent pickup game. 

• Not everyone in Champaign was happy with Ron Zook last season.

• So there is actually a reason why Armageddon Part II won't be Prime Time. I'll let Dave Matter explain:

"Here's what I've been told as to why this game will be on FSN, not ABC/ESPN: The networks essentially have four “draft picks” for the Thanksgiving weekend. This year, the draft falls in this order: No. 1 ABC/ESPN, No. 2 ABC/SPN, No. 3 FSN, No. 4 ABC/ESPN. The Big 12 needed the networks to make their selections by June to allow for any games to be moved to different days for TV purposes. ABC took the Texas A&M/Texas game on Thursday with the No. 1 pick. ABC took Oklahoma/Oklahoma State for Saturday with the No. 2 pick. MU officials assume ABC would have liked to take Missouri-Kansas at No. 4, but FSN slipped in and took the Border War with the No. 3 pick. That left ABC with Colorado/Nebraska in at No. 4."

So ABC would rather have A&M/Texas and OU/OSU over the Border War. I guess I can understand the first one because of the enormous fanbases of both teams, but do you really expect OU/OSU to get higher ratings than the Border War? Maybe it will but I would find that surprising.

• I also found T-Ruck's mini-camp diary, via Matter's blog.

• The Jacksonville Jaguars decided to cut ties with Brian Smith. You have to feel so bad for Mizzou's other B. Smith who never recovered from that fluky hip injury he suffered during his senior season. I'll never understand why Smith was even on the field at that point in the game (late in the fourth quarter, up by at least three scores). Doesn't that have to rank right up there with Pinkel electing to play Tony Temple during his freshman season as one of the biggest blunders of his career? I find it odd that he basically got a free pass for this during a time when many Mizzou fans were still looking for reasons to bash him.

• And last but not least, a couple of Mizzou football promos from the makers of Rock M Nation. These are Zou Dave-esque so if you don't click on any other links in this post, be sure to click on these. I love the first one because it uses the music from "The Contender" and I'm a huge Rocky fan (little known fact, MU has never lost a home football game when I've listened to that song on gameday) but the second one has all of Mike Kelly's calls of the biggest plays from last season and includes a cameo by my boy Greg Bracey, so bonus points for that.

Welcome back Zou Dave!

I've fallen way behind on my links and there have been a lot of them from this past week. I will do my best to have a fresh batch posted by this weekend and possibly another special post to Bleacher's Report. 

But because Game 6 of the NBA Finals is tonight you're going to have to make due with a much shorter post to tide you over until I get a little more free time. But don't worry, I've got a treat for you.

If the end of baseball season didn't signify the beginning of football season for you then maybe the first Zou Dave video of the year will! If that doesn't make you long for Faurot Field, tailgate parties and Lee Corso then I don't know what will.

Take two and a half minutes to remind yourself how well J-Mac's knee recovered (lets hope for the same for 'Nario). 

One thing that really stood out to me from the video that I hadn't really thought of before is the nature of Maclin's big runs. He's shown the ability to be shifty and change direction but with the exception of his punt return versus Illinois, none of his big runs involve him juking and breaking ankles. He just shifts into another gear and blows by everyone. Initially, that doesn't make for as impressive of a highlight reel. But if you really sit down and watch the gap between him and the closest defenders widen so quickly then I think it becomes even more amazing. 

And one other thing about Maclin, I think we need a new nickname for him. I know J-Mac has really caught on, but that's just so cliché. I tried calling him "The Macrowave" last season but I'm not really sold on that either. This could be a good poll question. Lets put our heads together and try to come up with something new by Aug. 30.

Armageddon Part II relegated to Fox Sports Net

Rewind to Nov. 24, 2007 for a moment. 

The nation's second- and third-ranked teams square off in a memorial contest on neutral territory bringing one of college football's oldest rivalries to the attention of a national public that had previously been largely unfamiliar with the rivalry's history. It would be the highest rated game of the 2007 college football season.

Fast forward to a little over 6 months later. Both schools are preparing for a college football season in which expectations are higher than they have ever been for both teams.

So it only makes sense to not nationally televise this year's Border War, right?

That's right. Armageddon: The Sequel, will be televised only on FSN at either 11:30 a.m. or 2. Those of us that don't live in the KC area and don't want to get up at the crack of dawn can kiss tailgating goodbye. 

I understand that it's highly unlikely that this year's game will match the hype surrounding last year's. But you're telling me we can't at least get the 2:30 ABC game? We got ABC two years ago when both teams were just hoping to get in a bowl. Now both teams have legitimate BCS dreams and we can only get FSN Midwest? The only other games that day that I could understand getting the national slot over us would be USC-Notre Dame because the Fighting Irish actually rule the world (already scheduled for 7 p.m., not sure if ABC or ESPN will get it though) and possibly Alabama-Auburn. 

Inexplicable.

In other news:

• Remember how I was saying Danario's injury gives JP the perfect opportunity to return to his freshman form? Graham Watson agrees with me.

• I guess the time we miss tailgating at Arrowhead we can make up for by tailgating extra long at the Arch Rivalry. 

• Gary Pinkel and Tony Temple won the Oscar of college sports commercials for their work in "Speed." I personally preferred the one where Chase threw a pass to Will Franklin from Faurot to the columns. I thought the special effects in that one were George Lucasesque.

• Mike Alden has the respect of his peers. Love him or hate him, the MU Athletic Department is in pretty good shape (minus the basketball teams).

NCAA Football 09: GOLD PANTS!!!

This will probably only interest  those of you who are dorky enough, like me, to count down the days every year until EA Sports releases their NCAA Football video game (July 15 for PS2).

But this year we have a reason to be especially stoked because we get the GOLD PANTS!!!

We also get the privilege of beating Kansas in their red and whites. I was going to bash those uniforms until I realized they're the color of the American flag. Horribly unfortunate that those two entities have to be associated in any way, shape or form.

Colorado and Texas Tech are the other Big 12 teams that will have alternate unis available.

The player rankings for the Top 25 teams has also been released. You can download the spreadsheet here.

Danario Alexander: Mizzou football's Grant Hill?

Photo through Creative Commons.

Yesterday afternoon the MU coaching staff found out that its most physically imposing wide receiver, Danario Alexander, will have to undergo further surgery on his left knee to repair the ACL that he injured in the Big 12 Championship game and caused him to miss the Cotton Bowl. 

It is believed that Alexander will be back for the start of conference play but he is almost certain to miss all of Mizzou's non-conference games.

This isn't the end of the world for the Tigers, obviously. But it's certainly not an insignificant injury. The Tigers still have a lot of talent at WR and they still have that Coffman guy who's alright. But they don't have the depth they had last year. Two things have to happen for the Tigers to be able to overcome this injury:

1. Jared Perry has to re-emerge as a playmaker. I'm confident this will happen. I've said before I think a lot of people forgot how good he looked as a freshman. And by all accounts he was one of the hardest working players this spring and that hard work appeared to be paying off as coaches and media alike were raving about his performances in practice and scrimmages.
2. One of the freshman weapons that MU has brought in (Wes Kemp, Rolandis Woodland, Andrew Jones) will have to pretend they're not rookies. Again, I'm confident at least one of these guys can step in and contribute immediately. If there is one position that this coaching staff seems to specialize in, it's wide receiver.

So I fully expect this injury to be an obstacle that this team can overcome. But that doesn't mean I'm not very concerned. This offense is undergoing a lot of change as it is and when your first game is against a team like Illinois, that becomes worrisome. You need as many proven guys as you can get. 

I'm even more concerned for Danario. He seems destined to be plagued by injuries during his career. He has size that no other receivers on this team has and skills that only Maclin can match. He's got a future NFL career ahead of him if he can overcome these injuries but thus far he hasn't been able to do that. 

Only time will tell if Danario can reach his potential or if he's destined to be Mizzou's answer to the NBA's Grant Hill. 

Derrick Washington vs. Jimmy Jackson: Who's gonna be The Man?

First things first. Aaron Crow. Drafted ninth by the Washington Nationals. Congratulations.

Five other Tigers. Drafted in the MLB Draft. Congratulations.

Baseball season's now over. It's finished. See ya next year. We're moving on.

And you know what that means?

IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!

I don't mean to discount the baseball team because I really do enjoy going to Taylor Stadium on sunny Saturday afternoons and there were some very entertaining games this past season (especially when Crow was pitching). It's just....

IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!

And I'm counting down the days to Dave Matter and Graham Watson's first practice reports and Mike DeArmond's first disturbing vlog post.

By now you've probably noticed the poll posted to your right about Mizzou's running back situation and this is something I've wanted to discuss for awhile. It's a very interesting position battle for several reasons.

First of all, the Temple of Doom is gone and that's obviously a significant loss. What made Tony great was that he saved his best performances for big games (Sun Bowl, Armageddon at Arrowhead, Cotton Bowl, etc.). Those performances built him a permanent home in the hearts of Mizzou fans. 

But while every Tiger fan admits they are going to miss Big Game Temple, I have yet to come across a True Son who thinks Mizzou's running game is really going to suffer without him. 

And that's because the Tigers have two guys coming back, Derrick Washington and Jimmy Jackson, who have also proven themselves in key spots.

Nobody really expected Jimmy Jackson to do anything more than occasionally give Temple a rest last year and maybe occasionally give the offense a change of pace. There was even some doubt in August as to whether he was going to be able to hold off Marcus Woods for the backup spot. But by the end of the year he was stealing carries from Temple. He was especially effective when used in the pistol formation in goal line packages, rushing for 7 touchdowns.

Washington, on the other hand, hit campus with the kind of expectations that were at least comparable to the hype that accompanied Temple upon his arrival to Columbia. Unlike Temple, he wasn't thrown directly into the fire delaying his maturation as a player and person by at least two years (possibly the worst decision of Pinkel's career). 

Washington's playing time gradually increased over the course of the season culminating when he caught a critical touchdown pass in the second half of Armageddon. 

Everyone tends to agree that this is a win-win situation for the MU coaching staff. Both players appear capable of handling a starting role. Jackson has experience starting and Washington has been groomed to eventually be the starter since he stepped foot in the Daniel J. Devine Pavilion.

But an overwhelming majority would prefer to see Washington as the starter. Why such apathetic feelings toward the more seasoned Jimmy Jack? 

Lets take a look at their stats from last year:

 

Jackson: 67 carries,  342 yds, 4.9 ypc, 7 TDs, 6 receptions, 30 rec. yds       

Washington: 36, carries, 199 yds, 5.1 ypc, 1 TD, 10 receptions, 70 rec. yds, 1 rec. TD   

Jackson's totals are higher because, like I said, he was used more at the beginning of the season. But at least on paper, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the two. Washington seems to be a bigger receiving threat but Jackson has proven to be a more reliable weapon in the red zone.

But ask yourself this question; Which player has a better chance at making it onto the cover of NCAA Football '10? 

Everyone is going to answer Washington. 

The point is, we don't know exactly how much potential Washington has. He's shown us flashes but his talent is mostly untapped. He could be a guy who runs for 800-900 yards, scores a half dozen touchdowns. He could be a guy who runs for 1,100 and scores a dozen. Or maybe he's an All-American. We aren't sure. 

So we'd rather have him than a player like Jackson who could probably rush for 800 yards and score 8-10 touchdowns. We know what we've got with Jackson and what we've got is a pretty darn good running back. But he's the safe pick. It's a fan's tendency to swing for the fences, to throw the deep ball, to not rest your starters and to run up the score. 

It's really doesn't matter who the "starter" is anyways. Everyone knows both guys are going to get their opportunities to shine. But inevitably, one will emerge as the guy who gets more carries than the other. 

I think a lot of people expect Jackson to be the starter in week 1 but Washington to overtake him by midseason. I don't see the logic in that. Washington's had a year to learn and develop. What's more, he's had a season to learn from Temple about the dangers of having sky high expectations. He can start now. He doesn't have to get 30 carries against Illinois or even 20 for that matter. But if you're expecting him to be The Man, you've got to get him on the field.

And I think Pinkel knows that. He's not going to repeat the same mistake he made with Temple. He made sure of that by limiting Washington's exposure as a freshman. But he's not going to use Jackson's experience as his security blanket either. Pinkel's proven he's not afraid to take chances provided the potential reward is high. If Washington outperforms JJ this summer or even if they finish in a dead heat, I think D-Wash is The Man.

Sun sets on Mizzou baseball

Photo through Creative Commons

My dreams of traveling to Omaha to watch our Missouri Tigers play under the lights of Rosenblatt Stadium in the College World Series will be delayed for at least another year.

I think this would sting a lot more if it hadn't been so predictable. It was like getting hit with a train that you could see coming from miles away. It still hurts, but at least you have time to come to grips with that inevitable pain. 

I was optimistic when we won 8 0f 10 heading into the Big 12 Tournament. But then when our sloppy play and trainwreck of a bullpen (guess we're going with a railroad theme today) prevented us from advancing to the championship I came to the realization that this wasn't going to be the year that I got to visit the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. 

I'll admit I thought we had a puncher's chance when we beat Ole Miss in the first game of the regional, but then in the last two games those two glaring weaknesses, fielding and relief pitching, reared their ugly heads yet again. You CAN'T CAN'T CAN'T consistently win close games against good teams without those two things (see 2003 Boston Red Sox for further proof). It got to the point where we either had to have a dominating performance by our starter (which happened regularly when Crow or Gibby was on the mound) or an offensive explosion (like we had against Texas and Nebraska) in order to beat any decent team and you can't bank on those things when you're playing the best teams in the country. 

I'm more than a little concerned about Kyle Gibson. I thought it was a great move by Tim Jamieson to move him to the bullpen for postseason play but it backfired in the worst possible way. Gibby was shelled in every one of his performances but his first. In his final 2.2 innings pitched he gave up 7 runs (6 earned) on 6 hits. He also either blew a lead or gave up the eventual winning run in each of those appearances. That's gotta affect a guy's psyche. At a point in the season when we absolutely had to have Gibby pitching lights out he did anything but. I just hope he's able to recover and come back strong because next year, he's the Aaron Crow. He's the Max Scherzer. In order for Mizzou baseball to take the next step they need Kyle Gibson to do the same. 

Other than the aforementioned bullpen and fielding woes, it was Jamieson's inability to discover a consistent third starter that spelled the Tigers' eventual doom. Ian Berger was hit or miss all season (and seemed to be a miss in the most critical games) and Rick Zagone never really regained his form from last season. Nick Tepesch looked very much like the freshman that he is coming out of the bullpen and didn't show anything to convince anyone that he could handle starting at this point. 

But the question remains, did Mizzou baseball underachieve this season? That's difficult to answer. They obviously fell well short of the expectations that most people had for them. When you're ranked pre-season top 10 and climb to as high as No. 2 in the country, anything short of Omaha is a disappointment. 

But I think early on most people failed to grasp how crippling some of our weaknesses were. Sure, Aaron Crow is as good as any starting pitcher in the country and for the most part Gibson was an excellent No. 2. There was even enough evidence to believe that between Berger, Zagone and Tepesch we'd have a darn good No. 3. Aaron Senne and Jake Priday formed one of the best 3-4 combos in the country and Ryan Lollis ended the season as hot as any hitter this side of Chipper Jones. 

But when you start facing the Miami's of the college baseball world, you find out how complete a team you are. And in the end the Missouri Tigers, although they had their strengths, were not a complete baseball team.

Mizzou 25 Champion and baseball links

Thanks to several blogs', including Big MO Sports, attempts to galvanize support for Norm Stewart in Rock M Nation's Mizzou 25 Coaches Tournament, Norm was able to make a remarkable comeback in the final days of the poll and actually accumulated more votes than wrestling coach Brian Smith. 

But in a controversial decision, the writers at RMN ruled the contest a split decision. I gotta be honest, even though I wanted Norm to win this thing and he did technically get more votes, I think Smith was the rightful winner. I'd like to think that the efforts made by blogs like my own encouraged hundreds of people to head to the polls at RMN and vote for the Messiah of Mizzou hoops, but I suspect there was a good deal of ballot stuffing going on. 

And although I felt Norm deserved to win, I admire the passion of the MU wrestling fans. For Brian Smith to get a considerably larger amount of votes than Norm Stewart on the most popular Mizzou blog on the web is really impressive. Even if I think their votes were off base, props to them and props to Rock M for an entertaining series. I thoroughly enjoyed both the Mizzou 25 players and coaches tournaments. 

I have a plethora of baseball links to pass along to prep you for the NCAA Tournament, which begins tomorrow with the Tigers playing Ole Miss at 11 a.m. in Coral Gables, Fla.

• Aaron Crow is a 1st Team All-American. Shocker.

• There's gonna be some good arms down in Coral Gables this weekend.

• Aaron Senne likes to screw with opposing pitchers.

• A pretty interesting Q&A with Tim Jamieson.

• And if you only read one of these, make it this in-depth profile of Jamieson by the Post-Dispatch's Vahe Gregorian. There's some fascinating stuff in there that I didn't know about Jamieson. My respect level really grew for the man after reading this story. 

• And finally, the Tiger Team Store is now selling wine and cheese baskets. All I can say is it's about damn time. I've been waiting years to show my school spirit while toting around all of my wine and cheese. The team store also has 30 other new items for those that are interested. 

Sports journalism and the role that Big MO Sports (and other blogs) will play in it

Photo through Creative Commons

I'll start this post with a disclaimer: If you are looking for commentary on Mizzou athletics then you should probably skip this post and come back later this week. I've been meaning to devote a post to Mizzou's running back situation and plan to write that sooner rather than later. But for now I'm going to be discussing something that is pretty much unrelated to Chase Daniel, Aaron Crow and Keon Lawrence.

I'm still trying to figure out what direction to take this blog. I plan to keep its focus predominantly on all things Mizzou, but since the conception of Big MO Sports, I have tended to include a lot of commentary on the world of sports journalism. That in itself is not entirely unrelated to Mizzou considering MU is essentially the journalism capital of the U.S. But I would like to include more of those critiques in my posts since sports journalism, along with MU athletics, are probably my two favorite things to talk about.

And that's what brings us to tonight's post. By now, if you care about blogs, journalism or Friday Night Lights (the book, not the movie or TV series) then you've probably seen or at least heard of (Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and the author of the groundbreaking FNL) Buzz Bissinger's infamous tirade on the HBO program, Costas Now, directed at Will Leitch, founder of the popular sports blog site Deadspin. 

I avoided commenting on the Bissinger ordeal immediately after it happened for several reasons:

1. Virtually every sports-related blogger commented on Bissinger's comments to the point that the topic was completely beaten into the ground and there was nothing left for me to say that hadn't already been said.
2. Bissinger's comments were completely off base. He proved to have no comprehension of what blogs were nor what they should or could be. He sounded like an angry carriage driver refusing to acknowledge that the automobile is the means of transportation of the future. Which leads me to my final reason.
3. I hated seeing what a moron Bissinger at least seems to be. I guess previous to his appearance on the show I could have been considered a Bissinger disciple. I loved his book on Tony La Russa, 3 Nights in August, and Friday Night Lights should be read by every aspiring journalist whether they have an interest in sports or not. 

Now the reason I bring Bissinger up now is not to point out how stupid (and cruel) his comments were but to use him as the prototypical example of a guy who doesn't understand where journalism is headed and the role that blogs will play in said future. 

Furthermore, I'd like to compare him to a guy who I believe does get it, the Kansas City Star's Joe Posnanski. Joe-Po recently did an interview for the blog, The Big Lead in which he discussed many interesting topics including the future (or lack thereof) of newspapers. 

The future of that medium has been a growing concern of mine with my entrance into the working world growing nearer and more and more people, including Tony Kornheiser, proclaiming that newspapers are dead. That death is being largely attributed to blogs like Deadspin and Fanhouse (although I have yet to hear Big MO Sports blamed for this death). But something Posnanski, who writes one of the best sports columns in America and also updates a brilliant blog regularly, points out is that although Kornheiser is great at what he does (he's wonderful on his radio show, fantastic on PTI and excellent on Monday Night Football) and has been one of the best sports writers of our generation, he hasn't really been a newspaper writer for quite a long time now. Therefore, he is probably not the most qualified person to be making such bold statements. 

Moreover, Posnanski sees the use that blogs can have in supplementing newspapers:

"It seems to me that blogs can be whatever we want to make them, but we have to make them ESSENTIAL. They are a direct line to our readers. It’s a great opportunity, but it’s more important than ever that you offer something unique — a strong voice, an informed outlook, an insider’s view, a funny approach, a breath of honesty, whatever — because there’s just SO much out there."

Posnanski also mentions that, depending how you choose to measure it, newspaper's readership is actually bigger than its ever been: 

"You know when you combine online and the print product, more people are reading newspapers today than at any point in American history."

The point that Posnanski goes on to make is that newspapers aren't dying but changing and changing drastically. And it's that change that makes a guy like Bissinger go on a rant with a temper and fury that would make Bob Knight blush. 

But the entire interview with Posnanski is worth reading, especially if you're interested in journalism. There's really a lot of practical advice for aspiring journalists. 

One thing I found particularly interesting is that he tries to avoid as much commentary on the world of sports (ESPN, talk radio, etc.) as he can so he is able to form his own opinion. That's a strategy that makes a lot of sense and would probably benefit a lot of writers. When you are overloaded with so many opinions on every topic in the sports world, many of which that make sense and many of which that don't, it becomes difficult to decipher your opinion from those of the Woody Paiges and J.A. Adandes. That in turn, makes it impossible to form your own unique voice, something I think most writers would tell you is the cornerstone to becoming successful writer.  

Anyways, that's my two cents on where the profession is going. Maybe it's just me hoping that I'm not entering into a dying business and destined to be homeless in 10 years, but for my sake lets hope not. 

Mizzou athletes doing their best Steven Spielberg impressions

After I posted that Glen Dandridge video a few posts down (a GD25 Production) I received a link to Marcus Woods's youtube profile (he actually does an awesome Waterboy impersonation). That got me wondering how many other Mizzou athletes have made youtube videos? Greg Bracey is featured in a popular and utterly hilarious "Res Hall Linebacker" video but I don't think he is the one that posted it. Dandridge and Castine Bridges are the only other Mizzou athletes that I am aware of that have posted videos and Bridges has several, including his high school highlights, but I am sure there are more. If you know of any please pass along the link, some of these videos are pretty entertaining. 

Now onto some other links:

• Aaron Crow was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. Not a big surprise, nor was it a surprise that OF Aaron Senne and DH Jacob Priday joined him on the All-Big 12 First Team. C Trevor Coleman earned 2nd-team honors while SP Kyle Gibson, 2B Greg Folgia and OF Ryan Lollis were Honorable Mention. I'm a little disappointed that Gibby wasn't better this year. I thought he was going to be just a notch below Crow this season but he was shakier than I expected. I guess part of my problem with Gibby is that the only other pitcher comparable to him in size that I have seen live has been Randy Johnson so I just naturally assume he's going to be just like the Big Unit, which is obviously unfair. Good thing is, he's only a sophomore and should be better than Crow and maybe even Scherzer by the time it's said and done.

• If you haven't seen this, Rock M Nation has been doing a tournament to decide "the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach of the last 25 years." Currently wrestling coach Brian Smith is beating the legend himself, Norm Stewart. Smith has earned 56% of the votes, earlier today he had a 60/40 advantage. I'm sorry but that's absurd. Rock M's readership must consist of an enormous amount of MU wrestling fans. I'm not taking anything away from Smith because he's a fantastic guy and what he's done with the program is remarkable, BUT IT'S NORM STEWART. The man is the face of Mizzou athletics. Rock M did a similar tournament a couple months ago to determine the best athlete and Ben Askren crushed Chase Daniel in the final, which I think is legitimate. Askren might be the greatest athlete to ever compete for the university. But Smith beating Stormin' Norman is nothing short of outrageous. 

• Kickoff for the Arch Rivalry will be at 6:45 and will be broadcast on ESPN. Hmmm...College Gameday anyone?

• Not sure how I missed this but Wednesday was the three year anniversary of the day that James Douglas signed his letter of intent to play for the Tigers. How is it possible that an entire 48 hours went by without a single person reminding me of this historic signing?!? I'll be sure to mark May 21 on my 2009 calendar as James Douglas Day.

Big 12 Tournament: A microcosm of our season

Is anyone surprised that the baseball team blew a two run lead in the bottom of the 9th inning to OU last night? Because you had to think our sporadic offense and utter lack of anything resembling a decent bullpen would eventually cost us in a critical situation. For the record, this is our fifth loss this season in which we had a 9th inning lead.

It's a shame too because if we would have held on last night we'd have clinched a spot in Sunday's championship game meaning we could have had a day off today and rested whoever we needed to during Saturday's game against Texas A&M. Jamieson had made the decision to move Kyle Gibson back to the bullpen, where he excelled last season, which would seem to cure our bullpen woes even if it meant sacrificing a fantastic No. 2 starter. I don't know what the plans were but Gibby pitched 2.2 innings on Thursday and an inning last night. Had he not blown the save we probably could have gotten four or 5 innings out of him on Sunday and teamed him with someone like Nick Tepesch or Ian Berger and maybe even brought Crow back out to pitch an inning.

All in all I think it was a great strategy by Jamieson to move Gibby to the pen and if things would have gone as they should have we'd be in a fantastic position to win a conference championship. But you can't commit four errors (like the Tigers did) and expect to win a close game. Now we have to win tomorrow and get some help from Texas (who play OU tomorrow morning) and Mizzou must win their game against top seeded A&M just to get to Sunday. That could easily happen but our road to actually winning this tournament just got a helluva lot bumpier and our chances of hosting a regional now seem nonexistent.

I'll be back later tonight with some interesting links I have to pass along.

Baseball bipolarism and links

I was on the verge of dismissing Mizzou baseball's chances of making to the CWS and then they went out this weekend and outscored No. 5-ranked Nebraska 37-13 and TOTALLY REDEEMED THEMSELVES!

OK, sorry for the Harry Dunne impersonation. But in all seriousness, I really don't know what our chances are of making it to Omaha. But all of a sudden we've won 8 of our last 10 and might be getting hot at the right time. 

I think the big X-factor is Nick Tepesch (you could also count Rick Zagone and possibly Ian Berger as significant variables). It's no secret our bullpen might be the combustible relief corps this side of Busch Stadium. But Tepesch easily has the best stuff of all our relievers and has the best potential to come out of the 'pen and pitch 3+ dominant innings. He did a solid job today in only giving up one earned run in 3.2 innings. 

But his inexperience has shown all year. His control has been downright awful at times. He's a guy that could come out and not give up a single hit or not get a single out, depending on the day. 

But at least we're playing well for the time being. 

Now onto a few links from the past few days:

• If Tiger baseball isn't able to make it to Omaha, then maybe their female counterparts can advance to OKC. For more info, Dave Matter is taking a hiatus from football to cover softball's run.

• Did you realize that Athena Night Club reopened? Did you realize there's already been another altercation outside the club, this one involving gunfire? Sigh.

• So Kansas cheated to win the National Championship. Not really. It's impossible to determine how much blame should be put on KU at this point and as Jason Whitlock points out, the real criminal is the NCAA. But I recall getting an inordinate amount of crap during the Ricky Clemmons era so I have no problem rubbing Beakers fans noses in this. You deserve it whenever you try to argue that your school's athletic department spotless. Bottom line, it's likely that every athletic department in the NCAA, from mid-majors on up, contain a certain degree of corruption. And it looks like Kansas might be worse than most.

• Willy-Mo and Leo Lyons are "Ridin' Neon." Personally, I'm partial to Willy-Mo's performance at the Sun Bowl talent show: 

• Also from youtube, if you ever feel like reliving the Glen Dandridge era, here it is courtesy of GD25 himself:

Unexpected Contributions: Ziggy Hood and Jon Gissinger Could Be Key For Mizzou

Special to Bleacher Report

In 2007 the Missouri Tigers had one of the greatest seasons in school history. It was a season that MU students, alumni, fans and even players have described as nothing short of magical.

The success of ’07 however, would not have been possible without the emergence of several players who made critical unexpected contributions throughout the season. Last year few people outside of Columbia had ever even heard the names Jeremy Maclin, William Moore or Pig Brown but now those names are familiar to college football fans around the country. If the Tigers are to remain in the national spotlight they will need a new batch of players to give them the same kind of pleasant surprises this fall.

There’s no sense discussing the impact that Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman, Maclin and Moore will have on Mizzou’s season. If those guys are healthy they’ll be All-Big 12 players and a couple of them will likely be All-Americans.

But there are two players, one on offense and one on defense, that I want to discuss who are relatively unknown to most college football fans and have the potential to help the Tigers reach even greater heights next season.

For the past three seasons Gary Pinkel’s high octane offense has featured a two-headed beast at tight end in Coffman and Martin Rucker. With Rucker graduated, MU is anticipating the arrival of the No. 5-ranked (according to scout.com) freshman tight end, Andrew Jones.

But it is another tight end that I expect to lining up with Coffman next year and his name is Jon Gissinger. Playing has been hard to come by for the junior who has been relegated to special teams the past two years. But that’s not necessarily anything Gissinger could help. If he would have beat out Rucker or Coffman for a starting role then you’d be looking at the best tight end in college football.

But while Gissinger doesn’t have the size or athleticism of Rucker or Coffman, he does have a great set of hands and, if the Black and Gold game is any indication, has already developed some chemistry with Daniel. Gissinger didn’t drop a pass and led the Tigers in receiving during the spring game, catching six balls for 57 yards. He also appeared to be getting open all day long.

Gissinger’s probably not an All-Conference type of player but appears to be in the Tommy Saunders (senior MU wide receiver) mold in that he is a good route runner who may not wow with his ability but will make you marvel at his consistency.

On the defensive side of the ball d-lineman Ziggy Hood is not quite the unknown that Gissinger is but Hood has a chance to make the same kind of leap in his senior season that Pig Brown and William Moore made from ’06 to ’07.

Hood earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors last season but his performance in the Cotton Bowl has led many of the MU coaches to suggest that bigger things could be in store for Ziggy.

Hood annihilated the Arkansas offensive lineman and collected 6 tackles and 1.5 sacks. If Gissinger’s ceiling is solid contributor with remarkable consistency then Ziggy could be a potential All-American candidate. And that could potentially make Mizzou’s defense the second best unit in the Big 12 (behind Oklahoma).

And if that happens then the Tigers could potentially be the 2008 National Champions.

Finals induced inactivity

I apologize for the lack of activity here at Big MO Sports the past couple weeks. Five papers due in the next two weeks in addition to preparing for finals have diverted my attention away from Big MO. As soon as the semester ends I plan on spending much more time trying to expand Big MO, so you have that to look forward to.

In the meantime, take a gander at these videos I found this weekend on youtube:

A Clarence Gilbert shooting exhibition against KU circa 2000.

And the end of a classic '97 Big Monday matchup with the Beakers at Hearnes.

And finally, a video from a fan sitting directly behind the goalposts of the second missed FG from Armageddon.

Welcome to the Big Time

This past weekend was a good one for several Tigers as 9 former weekend warriors have either landed with an NFL team or are close to doing so.

Will Franklin and Martin Rucker were drafted in the fourth round by the Chiefs and Browns respectively while Tony Temple and Darnell Terrell signed free agent contracts also with the Browns. Lorenzo Williams, Adam Spieker and and Tyler Luellen all signed free agent contracts with the Ravens while Greg Bracey signed with the Chargers and Pig Brown is reportedly close to signing with the Chiefs. Defensive lineman Charles Gaines is also reportedly trying to land with a team.

I'll pass along a few interesting draft links before doing my best Mel Kiper impression and analyzing each Tiger's chances at making at the next level:

• Dave Matter gives a great breakdown in his blog on the situation that each player will be facing heading into training camp. He also says that an inside source at ESPN told him that Kiper will be releasing a mock draft soon that will have Willy-MO ranked as the No. 5 overall prospect.

• Adam Teicher wrote a nice article on the Helicopter in Sunday's KC Star.

• Also a Q and A with Franklin from kcchiefs.com

• The Cleveland Plain Dealer explains the circumstances that led to their surprise pick of T-Ruck.

• Not a draft related story but Max Scherzer was called up to the Big Leagues on Sunday.

Now, what are the chances of these guys sticking with the teams they've signed with?

Martin Rucker: I was astonished by how many tight ends went before T-Ruck. I'll be honest, I don't know enough about football to really judge how good of a blocker he has and I know that was kind of a knock on him and I'm sure a lot of scouts attributed a large portion of his receiving stats to the system he played in. But this guy is not a product of his system. He's an hombre and anyone who saw him play much over the past four years will tell you the same thing. I'm convinced he's going to be a pro bowler. I also think he'll fit in well in Cleveland. He's in a very similar situation that he was in at Mizzou with a high octane offense and another talented tight end in Kellen Winslow, Jr. lining up across from him (the Browns also plan on using a lot of two tight end sets just like MU did). Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 80/20

William Franklin: In addition to being a Mizzou fanatic I also love the Kansas City Football Chiefs and although I'm no scout I can tell you with absolute certainty that Franklin is already a better receiver than Sammy Parker is (who the Chiefs have been starting as their No. 2 or No. 3 receiver for the past several seasons). The only guys Franklin has to beat out to be the No. 2 guy across from Dwayne Bowe are Jeff Webb and maybe Devard Darling. The Chiefs offense is still nothing to really write home about but Franklin is virtually guaranteed playing time and he has the tools to be a solid No. 2. He's got speed that's comparable to J-Mac's and, as he proved at Colorado last season, can make some spectacular catches. I think he makes a solid pro. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 70/30

Tony Temple: Another guy who's going to be extremely undersized. And as great as Tony was in the Cotton and Sun Bowls and against Kansas and A&M last year, he was still inconsistent throughout his career and has a long history of injuries. He did land on a Baltimore team that doesn't have much depth behind Jamal Lewis. I think the consensus is that if T. Temple is going to make it in the NFL it's going to be as a third down back. In his final two seasons at MU, after injuries had robbed him of a lot of his physical skills that he displayed in high school, I thought he began to resemble Priest Holmes a bit in the fact that he's a very patient runner that waits for his blockers and has excellent field vision. I think he has a decent chance of being a serviceable backup for 5+ years. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 50/50

Lorenzo Williams: I'm not so sure about Zo. He was a very good Big 12 d-lineman but I don't think he's a starter at the next level. He's got all the intangibles but is going to be undersized when going up against guys like Olin Kreutz and Steve Hutchinson. He is VERY strong though despite his lack of size. Regardless, I don't see him lasting more than 5 years. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 40/60

Darnell Terrell: Terrell worked out at receiver for scouts so he has a lot of athleticism but Terrell really struggled last year. There's a reason Castine Bridges overtook Terrell's starting position toward the end of the season. I remember reading that in the Big 12 Championship Sam Bradford was specifically targeting Terrell. He might be better suited to play safety at the next level but I still don't like his chances. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 20/80

Pig Brown: I don't see Pig being a star in the NFL but with his heart and determination I can't imagine him not sticking around for several years. He may not make a team this season but you know he's not going to quit. And who doesn't think Pig could make a phenomenal special teams player if nothing else? Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 60/40

Greg Bracey: I have to admit, being one of the founders of the Greg Bracey Fan Club, I'm a little biased on this one, but I think Bracey's got a better chance of making it than a lot of people think. He was the second fastest guy on the team behind J-Mac (fastest according to him) and made a couple very tough catches during his career despite limited opportunities. That said, you can't like the odds of someone making an NFL roster who caught less than 10 passes in his career. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? 20/80

Adam Spieker/Tyler Luellen: As I said in my analysis on T-Ruck, I don't know enough about the game to really tell how good guys are at blocking but for what it's worth our offensive line has been really good the past couple years. Chase has rarely been pressured and I don't recall too many bad snaps by Spieker. Chances of succeeding in the NFL? ???

Fulmer Cup Crap

The past few months the Fulmer Cup standings (which Mizzou is currently sitting comfortably on top of) have been circulating through various blogs and message boards. For those of you unfamiliar with the Fulmer Cup here is the description from their website:

"The Fulmer Cup is an award given to the NCAA or NAIA institution whose exemplary efforts to recruit the most capable Football players results in the most frequent embarrassing and illegal mishaps off or on the field. Players can earn points for their University or College by engaging in illegal or stupid activities off the field and committing penalties on the field that invite legal prosecution. Institutions and Boosters can earn points by illegally recruiting or providing an environment where their Student-Athlete's illegal activities are either encouraged or ignored. The Fulmer Cup recognizes the difference between NCAA penalties and criminal penalties, but all types of infractions and occurances accumulate points toward a final Cup total."

Well in the past week this "story" has been picked up by the Associated Press. Lets clarify what the Fulmer Cup actually is. It's a sarcastic web blog. The website says as much. It is very satirical in tone and nature. There doesn't appear to be a way to verify the accuracy of their standings and we don't know what qualifications the author has to be putting this thing together. For all we know it is put together by a group of rabid Beaker fans. 

The Fulmer Cup should not under any circumstances be considered a serious journalistic website. 

But Alan Scher Zagier, the writer of last week's AP article, uses the site as a source without giving his readers any sort of context as to what the Fulmer Cup actually is. Instead he offers this frustratingly vague description:

"A Web site that tracks player arrests and other forms of misconduct by college athletes has the Tigers sitting at No. 1, thanks to the arrests of six reserve football players in separate incidents since September and the arrests of five men's basketball players – and the shooting of a sixth – in the past 14 months."

Decent journalism that is not. 

If Big MO Sports determines, by measuring student-athletes' physical appearances and personal hygiene over the past 15 1/3 months, that Kansas has the sickliest athletic program in the NCAA will Mike DeArmond quote that in a story? Dave Matter? How about you Mr. Zagier? Feel free to "report" on that. Moron. 

Unfortunately, I'm also going to have to give some props to the KU fan that put together this Mizzou "One Shining Moment" parody. This is pretty painful to watch but I have to admit, it's hilarious.

Spring game observations

I'm not going to spend a lot of time analyzing Saturday's spring game because I don't think you can learn much from a glorified scrimmage. After last year's game I thought our offense looked like it was going to be amazing (it was), Jeremy Maclin looked like a star (he is) and our defense looked like it was going to be historically bad (it ended up being pretty solid). So take everything you see in the spring with a grain of salt...

• Most of last year's seniors were in attendance to receive their Cotton Bowl rings and get a final sendoff. Greg Bracey took time to sit with the fans and show off his ring (see pic to the right). I'm pretty sure Bracey had more fun than any other fan in attendance. He was leading the Missouri Waltz, waving at his old teammates on the sideline, signing autographs and enjoying every minute of it. He was actually more entertaining than the game was.

• Like last year, our first-team offense looks really good. On their first drive they went down the field and scored a TD without even breaking a sweat. A pleasant surprise was backup tight end Jon Gissinger who led the team in receptions with 6 for 57 yards. We're obviously going to miss that Rucker guy a little bit but I think with Coffman, Gissy and freshman Andrew Jones we're still going to have one of the best sets of tight ends in the Big 12.

• Meanwhile our running backs look to be running neck and neck. Derrick Washington made some nice runs and also caught some passes out of the backfield. But just when it was looking like he was having the better day Jimmy Jackson broke off a 30-plus yard run. I think were in good hands with either one of these guys taking carries.

• Unlike last year, our first-team defense looked dominant (check the statistics in Matter's blog). Sean Weatherspoon is going to end up being one of the best linebackers that Mizzou has ever had. Even with a bum shoulder he laid a few huge hits on some guys. I also thought Castine Bridges made a couple of nice plays in coverage. It's nice to go into a season considering our defense a strength as opposed to the last few years where they've been expected to be a liability. 

• Our punting is definitely a major concern. Jake Harry mad Adam Crossett look consistent on Saturday. Fortunately there is no problem at all with Jeff Wolfert. He nailed 51 and 53-yarders Saturday. 

All in all it was probably the greatest spring game in Mizzou history (our at least the highest attended one with around 26,000 fans in attendance). It felt like everyone was celebrating last season's success for a final time while at the same time looking forward to next season with unbridled optimism.

Now onto a few links:

• Another Chase Patton article but this was a little more than your token "backup QB takes everything in stride" story. Dave Matter discusses the offseason rumors that had Patton quitting the team to attend dental school. I like it that the rumors pissed Patton off. I also like it that David Yost called him the best backup QB in the country.

• A Quin Snyder sighting by Jeff Pearlman of all people.

• It looks like Leo Lyons will likely be returning to Columbia next season. This is a good thing because it means we get a potential All-Conference player back and gives us one of the better front courts in the conference. But does anyone really expect to Leo to ever turn the corner. Doesn't he seem destined to constantly tease us with his potential but constantly battle consistency issues and in the end average no more than 14 and 6? I'm glad he's coming back but at the same time I refuse to get too excited about Mr. Halfass. 

• Max Scherzer has been on a roll in the D-Backs farm system.

• And finally, a story on Carl Gettis that has to make you feel good about the future of our defense. I love this story about how he adapted to moving to Zumwalt West in high school:
  "At 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, Gettis plays bigger than his size. When he started at West — an inch shorter and 10 pounds lighter — a couple of bigger players tested him by picking a fight. The legend, as Moe tells it, goes that he whipped each one and then passed out warnings to anyone else who was looking to pick on the new kid."

It's obvious Gettis won't backdown from a fight no matter who he's going against. Last season he got into a huge scuffle with an Iowa State player on the opening kickoff and during a practice this spring he got into a fight with Jeremy Maclin. You want a guy like this on your team. 

Mizzou vs. The Law

Yet another MU football player has been arrested. RS freshman offensive lineman Austin Wuebbels was arrested on Sunday morning on suspicion of possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, possession of alcohol by a minor and false identification.

After senior wide receiver Greg Bracey was kicked off the team shortly before the Cotton Bowl for a very similar arrest you would have to assume that this is the end of Wuebbels' career. And if his arrest alone didn't do it then the fact that Gary Pinkel and the rest of the MU coaching staff didn't find out about it until the media asked a question about Wuebbels' status following Tuesday's practice (a practice Wuebbels participated in) probably did.

I'm sure that Tigerboard is currently littered with posters questioning the discipline within Pinkel's program after the John Stull and Marquis Booker incidents earlier this offseason. But unfortunately this stuff happens at every program in the country. Nebraska has had a several players run into problems with the police over the past few months and KU's Aquib Talib's smoking habits are well documented. I'm not excusing it and I'm not saying that Pinkel shouldn't be concerned (I'm sure this irks him more than anyone) but a lot of college kids make a lot of stupid decisions and that's going to be the case no matter how clean of a program you run. 

You feel bad for Wuebbels because he likely just flushed his college football career down the toilet (but when you go two days without mentioning this to your coaches then it's hard to be too sympathetic) and it sucks because this hurts our OL depth but I don't think this should be used as an indictment of the overall discipline of our program.

In other news...

• Stefhon Hannah pleaded guilty this morning to a reduced charge of peace disturbance by fighting. Lets hope this is the last we hear of Athenagate.
  

• Things got a little chippy during Tuesday's practice as fights broke out between Castine Bridges and Jon Gissinger, Jeremy Maclin and Carl Gettis and Tommy Saunders and Justin Garret. Saunders always seems to get involved in these practice scuffles. I remember reading about a particular memorable fight between him and Darnell Terrell during a practice last August. Matter goes on to say that Maclin and Gettis were joking about their fight after practice but that apparently wasn't enough to change Pinkel's attitude toward the scuffles:
  "It’s bush league, he said. "It doesn’t happen very often around here. ... I had a few words of wisdom for them after practice."

• I heard from an inside source that Graham Watson booted a 35-yard punt after practice on Tuesday. All spring I've been reading in her blog that punting is going to be a major weakness for Mizzou next season and then she shows up at practice showing off her leg. Is she trying to convince Pinkel to give her a scholarship?

• Finally some good news, Jaron Baston says he has learned a lot over the years from guys like Brian Smith and Lorenzo Williams and is now ready to step into a starting role. 

• And a shocker to leave you with, Jacob Priday was named Big 12 Player of the Week and the National Hitter of the Week.