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!