Big MO Sports

Joining the dark side

2008-07-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

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 c omparison 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 o ne 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!

2008-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-06-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Photo through Creative Commons.

Yesterday afternoon the MU coaching staff found out that its most physically imposing wide receiver, D anario 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:

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.
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?

2008-06-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

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 spli t 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.

A aron 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

2008-05-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

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:

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.
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.
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

2008-05-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-23T13:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

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...

S tefhon 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.

Offensive explosions and spring football

2008-04-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty wild weekend at Taylor Stadium as the Mizzou baseball team outscored the No. 12-ranked Texas Longhorns 44-14 in the first two games before dropping the finale 9-2.

The weather conditions on Friday night were not exactly pitcher friendly. With 40 mph winds gusting, all a hitter really had to do was put the ball in the outfield and there was about a 50-50 chance that the wind would catch it and take it for a ride (Ask Jacob Priday for more information on said conditions).

But it was good to see the bats come alive in the first two games and it was really encouraging to see Rick Zagone pitch four solid innings out of the bullpen (I know he gave up three earned runs but that was something to write home about in this game).

Here are a few links concerning Mizzou baseball from the past few days that are worth taking a look at:

Joe Waljasper's article on the circus that was Friday night's game.
An entertaining article from the Missourian on the search to find the real owner of the consecutive scoreless innings pitched record.
Another Missourian piece on how well the changes that Tim Jamieson made over the weekend to the rotation and lineup worked out.

Now onto football.

By now I'm sure you've heard that Van Alexander will be out for a while with a torn ACL. You gotta feel for Van. His career seems destined to be defined by injuries. Fortunately, Pinkel is confident he'll be back for Illinois.

Hopefully his injury ends up being a blessing in disguise. Our depth at linebacker is rail thin so maybe some of the less experienced guys like Luke Lambert and Jeff Gettys will benefit from having to play with the No. 1 defense.

Ultimately, I think our defense is going to be pretty good regardless of Van's health. The depth across the board has improved dramatically over the past couple seasons. I think Willy-Mo's inability to practice this spring is actually one of the best things that could happen for the Tiger secondary.

Mo's a proven guy who you know is going to perform once he's healthy. You really don't have to worry about him messing with the defense's chemistry because he's been in the system for a few years. His injury is getting guys like Del Howard and Justin Garrett, guys who were already pretty solid last season, a lot more action. Once Moore gets healthy our secondary is going to be stacked.

And if this Missourian article gives any indication, Carl Gettis is about to become a cornerstone of our defense. You gotta love it when a sophomore, who was as good as Gettis was as a freshman, is saying things like this in the offseason:

"I'm not a freshman anymore, so little mistakes that I used to make, I don't get away with anymore."
"It was a good experience last season, but I’m refocusing. I'm ready to step up and become more of a leader."

Some more football links:

A Dave Matter article on MU's deep backfield. De'Vion Moore has to be the frontrunner in the race for the Danario Alexander Most Pleasant Offseason Surprise Award.

I am absolutely giddy over the 2008 Mizzou football commercial as described in this Mike DeArmond story:
"So what you’ll get is a group of students daydreaming, to video highlights, of some of the biggest plays of last year’s 12-2 season. The kicker: One of the students says, “There’ll never be another season like that again,” and MU quarterback Chase Daniel and MU defensive lineman Ziggy Hood counter, 'Don’t bet on it!'"

A good story from Sunday's Missourian about the transition that most college athletes go through once their careers end.

Apparently half of the Big 12 is going to use the same type of hurry-up offense that we have been using for the past few years. Posers.

If you're not a season ticket holder or donor you might have a difficult time finding a ticket to next fall's Mizzou-Illinois game.

If you're like me, you got sick of hearing about Mike Gundy's obnoxious, "I'm a man! I'm 40!" rant months ago. But Tom Friend wrote a fantastic article that tells quarterback Bobby Reid's (the inspiration for the rant) side of the story. This is an example of superb sports journalism.

College basketball hangover

2008-04-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

I gotta admit, I still haven't quite come to grips with the fact that the Jayhawks have finally legitimized their status as an elite college basketball program by winning their first national title in 20 years.

You may have voted in the poll to your right and it seems that the consensus amongst my readers is that Memphis blew the game more than Kansas won it. I have mixed feelings about it. You have to give the Chickenhawks a lot of credit because they made some CHAMPIONSHIP plays in the final minutes to force overtime and then they just dominated the OT to seal it. And it goes without saying but the three-pointer by Chalmers was one of the biggest shots in NCAA Tournament history.

But you cannot ignore the fact that Memphis performed the biggest chokejob since Chris Webber called the infamous nonexistent timeout. There are so many woulduhs, shoulduhs, coulduhs that you can come up with that it's mind-blowing.

In the final minutes it looked like Chris Douglas Roberts was actually trying too throw the game to the point that I think we could have a conspiracy theory on our hands. I was speechless when I saw him slam the ball down nearly drawing a technical. I mean, what player who has played at this high of a level for as long as he has loses their composure to that extent.

And Calipari should now be recognized as an awful Big Game coach until he proves otherwise. There's really not much he could do about the free throws and apparently he had actually told his team to foul on the Chalmers three so we can't hold that against him. But why would you not call timeout after Chalmers hit it to set up a final play? Two seconds is plenty of time to get off a decent shot.

And the biggest problem I had was in the overtime period with his team down three with around 50 seconds left he decides to have his team foul instead of play defense, which was idiotic in of itself, but who do they foul? Super Mario himself. Anyone who's watched much of Chalmers knows he's one of the most cold blooded players in the country but if that wasn't enough HE HAD JUST HIT ONE OF THE GREATEST SHOTS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL HISTORY!!!!

I'd go as far to call this the worst coaching job I have ever seen in an NCAA Tournament game. And I'm really not doing this to discount what Kansas did because the Beakers stepped up to the plate just as much as Memphis tucked their tails between their legs and hid. But the fact remains, KU doesn't even get the opportunity to make those clutch plays if Memphis had even one player who was able to rise to the occasion and oh, I don't know, HIT A SINGLE FREAKIN' FREE THROW!

The most frustrating thing about this game for Mizzou fans is that after Armageddon at Arrowhead Tiger fans finally had a leg up on their most hated rivals and the only thing that could change that was if Kansas was able to win a National Championship. Now all a Jayhawk fan has to do when arguing about the rivalry is point to the rafters in Allen Fieldhouse. But the argument is still a lot more evenly matched than it was a few months ago. The closest we may ever come to a Mizzou/Kansas national title game was 11-24-07. It was unquestionably the biggest game in Border War history.

So lets get a bully for Ol' Mizzou!!!

(And screw Kansas)

(And John Calipari)

Spring cleaning

2008-04-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my last post so here are some links and observations on the last week of Tiger athletics:

Tough week for the Tiger baseball team despite Aaron Crow's continued brilliance. He's now gone 42.2 innings without giving up a run. There is some confusion over who holds the record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched but it appears that Crow will have the chance to set the record in his start next Friday against Texas. Unfortunately, it looks like the team isn't nearly as balanced as we thought. The bullpen is going to struggle all season long. I don't think there's any question about that. I think that when No. 2 starter Rick Zagone returns to the rotation Jamieson should consider moving either Zagone, Ian Berger or Kyle Gibson to the pen. That gives you a dominant arm out of the pen who will have the stamina to pitch a lot of innings. The offense has also been very inconsistent. Trevor Coleman has been in a major sophomore slump following his fantastic freshman campaign. Despite their struggles they're still a legit top-15 team without question and with their starting pitching they still have the potential to make a CWS run.

Spring football is back in full swing. Here are scrimmage reports from Graham and D-Matt. You gotta love hearing about Chase begging Pinkel for one more series for the offense in Saturday's scrimmage and then driving 65 yards against the No. 1 defense to win the scrimmage for the offense. I've never liked an athlete as much as I like No. 10.

The breakout star of the spring thus far has without a doubt been junior WR Jared Perry. As nonexistent as he was last season he didn't really drop a lot of balls. There were a few but for the most part he just wasn't targeted. That doesn't necessarily mean anything because it could have been that he wasn't getting open but I see a big comeback season for JP. Remember, he was named honorable mention freshman All-American by the Sporting News and made people forget that injury to Jeremy Maclin (who is also apparently getting better if you believe coach Pinkel).

A very good article on high school quarterback turned college safety Giblert Moye. I like Moye's chances of becoming a very good college player. He was highly touted coming in as a freshman but apparently looked lost during preseason practices and was not at all ready for the college game, physically or mentally. He's also battled some maturity issues (he's been criticized for a lack of effort and focus at times and was arrested after getting into a fight with his roommate during the season). That redshirt season will really benefit him in terms of maturity and it's given him time to learn the system, adapt to the speed at the college level, etc. He's also gotten to learn from a couple of pretty good safeties, one of which (Willy-Mo) also battled maturity issues early in his career.

A Chase Patton article by Graham (I think this same story has been written at least 5 times over the course of Patton's career). If you've ever met Chase P. you know he's a really down to earth guy and I'm sure he could be a pretty good college QB, but I hope we never see him take an important snap next season. Nevertheless, it's good to know that our backup QB might have a shot at playing in the NFL.

Mizzou's answer to Rudy.

And finally, GO TIGERS!!!

(Memphis that is)

College baseball websites?

2008-03-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

With the white-hot start that the Mizzou baseball team is off to, I have decided to actively search for websites that are good resources for getting the scoop on what is going on in the college baseball world. Obviously this is a sport unlike college football or basketball where you unfortunately cannot simply turn on ESPN and get your fix.

So I am calling on you, my readers, to share with me your favorite college baseball websites. I have done some searching and so far it looks like College Baseball Insider is the most comprehensive and informative resource and Baseball America is obviously good, but maybe I'm overlooking something.

I just feel like this is going to be a special season for the Boys of Spring and I don't want to half-ass (or "Leo Lyons") this thing.

With their 1-0 victory over Texas Tech last night the Tigers have still yet to give up a run in Big 12 play and Aaron Crow has now pitched 33.2 consecutive scoreless innings. I don't need to elaborate on that, I'll just let the stats speak for themselves.

The strange saga of Leo Lyons

2008-03-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

This post is admittedly way overdue. By now you've heard all about how Leo Lyons has been considering leaving school early to go to the NBA Draft. When I first heard this my reaction was to simply say "screw him." No player has played more inconsistently with less passion and focus over the past three seasons then Leo. If he hates being in Columbia so much so that he's stupid enough to leave school early when he obviously has ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of getting drafted then let him go.

But there's that other part of me that just can't ignore the potential. And after seeing the way he performed over the final four regular season games when he averaged 21.5 points and 12.8 rebounds (including that dazzling 27/18 performance against OSU) I think the potential is even greater than any of us realized.

Everyone always knew that Leo was pretty talented but I always envisioned him as a guy that could possibly be a fringe All-Big 12 selection with an outside shot of getting drafted if everything fell into place. But that's not the case. Leo's legit. I know his best games came against teams that were relatively undersized and weak inside (when he finally went up against some legit bruisers against Nebraska he disappeared) but he showed me more than enough to convince me that he could easily be 1st Team All-Big 12 and get drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft.

I have been notoriously hard on Leo in the past but when he puts it all together he is a thrill to watch. I've been trying to think of an appropriate NBA comparison and I think the best I could come up with would be a more athletic Derrick Coleman with less range (unfortunately he also has Coleman's questionable character and lackadaisical demeanor).

Leo's a brilliant offensive player. His mid-range jump shot is as good as I've ever seen. He's also a very good ball handler for a guy his size. There were times toward the end of the season where he caught the ball out on the wing and while he was setting his defender up for a drive to the rim you knew he was going to beat him and either score or get fouled. He was unstoppable.

And here's what really reminds me of Coleman; Leo's offensive basketball IQ is off the charts. I remember writing earlier this season that Leo might be the dumbest player to ever play at Mizzou. Dumb was the wrong word to use. In his career Leo has been a permanent occupant of coach's doghouse (Quin's and Anderson's). He's forgotten to put his jersey on underneath his warmup before a game and was therefore unable to check in when Snyder called his name, he was involved in Athenagate, etc. But when he's on the floor and his team has the ball? Leo knows what to do. He doesn't take bad shots, breaks defenders down, is an excellent passer and knows where to go to keep the floor properly spaced. Despite all of Coleman's off-court issues you always heard analysts and coaches talk about how DC would make a great coach someday. Leo might be the same way. His problems arise with his lack of focus and physicality but not his understanding of the game.

So for next season Leo remains an X-factor. If we get "Good Leo" back then he and DeMarre Carroll would give Mizzou one of the best front courts in the conference. But if he comes back and conducts himself in the same manner that he has the past three years then he's a cancer to the team and we'd be better off without him.

I tend to think that his coming back would benefit the team and would certainly benefit him. The infamous class of '04 has made up a huge percentage of the nucleus of each Tiger team from the past four seasons. With them gone there is going to be a changing of the guard in terms of leadership that already started taking place following Athenagate. Keon, Tiller, Mateo and DeMarre are now the leaders of this program and that's a good thing. You can question their talents but all four of those guys have proven that they care about the team. If Leo wants to continue to toil in underachievement then I have a feeling he's going to be an outsider.

There is the question of Leo's motives for considering turning pro. There have been rumors that his family is going through a lot of financial struggles and need his support. Even though he wouldn't get drafted he could still go overseas and make a very good living. But if Leo would just commit to coming back and focusing for one damn season, 5 months, 32 games, then the Lyons family's financial issues would disintegrate because Leo would be a millionaire.

One thing we know for sure; the talent's there.

Tiger baseball is UNLEASHED

2008-03-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

The no. 4-ranked Missouri Tiger baseball team defeated the no.14-ranked Baylor Bears 7-0 on Friday night in their conference opener. The victory was the eleventh straight for the Tigers and it improves their record to 16-2.

Aaron Crow pitched yet another gem. He went the distance while striking out 10 and allowing only three hits. He also struck out the final five batters that he faced. When he struck out 15 against Tulane last Friday I thought that was as dominant as he could be but maybe I was wrong.

Crow is now 5-0 with 51 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched. His ERA is a miniscule 1.03. This guy might be the best athlete at the University of Missouri and I'm the biggest Chase Daniel fan you'll ever find.

Left fielder Aaron Senne hit yet another bomb (his fourth of the year) and drove in three runs giving him 23 RBIs on the year. After the game Senne seemed to be beaming about the atmosphere at Taylor Stadium (an announced attendance of 1196) and the Tigers' performance.

This game (and Crow's consistent dominance) has me convinced that this team should be making reservations for an early June trip to Omaha. Heading into the year I thought this team had a shot at the CWS. Now I think they should get that far and will be disappointed if they don't .

This team is built for the postseason with their three dominant starting pitchers and their hitting has been better than expected thus far. The only holes appear to be the bottom of their lineup (not many teams have good 8 and 9 hitters) and their bullpen (combined ERA of 5.23), which often improves as the season goes along.

Isn't it great to have a good team to follow again?

A few must reads

2008-03-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

I want to share a few links before I finally discuss the Leo Lyons saga:

This one's over a week old but it's the best article written on the class of '08 yet. The Tribune's Joe Walljasper compares and contrasts this year's seniors expectations that they had coming in as freshmen with what they actually accomplished. It includes quotes from coaches comparing Jason Horton to T.J. Ford and saying that no team will ever play a zone defense while Glen Dandridge is on the floor. As humorous as those quotes are, Walljasper does a great job of not condemning this year's seniors but actually telling their side of the story. Everyone forgets how these guys committed to a program that was under fire by the NCAA, but no quote shows how they were misled as much as this one from Marshall Brown:
"They told me not to worry about it, and I’m not." Brown, after giving a verbal commitment to Missouri, when asked if MU’s coaches had mentioned the possibility of an NCAA investigation.

A decent column by Jason Whitlock following our lackadaisical performance in the Big 12 Tournament. I agreed with a lot of what Whitlock had to say. Anderson's play calling in the final two minutes of the game was just baffling and his decision to play Butterfield and Volkus at the same time (let alone during critical stretches of the game) was inexplicable. But you could tell Jason hadn't watched a lot of Mizzou basketball this season. The point of this column was to criticize Anderson for being too hard on Leo. But anyone who has followed Mizzou very closely this season realizes that Leo is prone to giving half-assed efforts on a fairly regular basis. Should Anderson play Leo even when he refuses to give his best effort? I don't think so. Even if it costs the Tigers a first round Big 12 Tournament game, you're trying to build a program here and Leo's (this year's Leo anyway) is not a player you turn a program around with.

Another Walljasper piece, a eulogy for the season that was.

Now that basketball season is finally over it's time to turn our attention to the no. 4-ranked baseball team. On Friday I saw Aaron Crow give one of the most dominating performances I have ever seen in person at any sporting event at any level. A complete game 15-strikeout performance. Sure he was only pitching against Toledo but it really doesn't matter when you're this good. When you throw 87 strikes on 107 pitches and strike out the side on 10 pitches IN THE EIGHTH INNING, it's impressive no matter who you're facing. Please get out to Taylor Stadium to watch this guy pitch sometime this season.

And finally, the Fair Play Hornets finished fourth in the state this weekend. After their magical run to Mizzou Arena they lost both of their games in the Final Four by a considerable margin, but quite honestly, it didn't matter. Seeing them play on the Tigers' home floor has to rank as one of the proudest moments of my entire life. For more information on "The Brotherhood" check this piece by the Springfield News-Leader.

Class of '08: Thanks for the...uh...memories?

2008-03-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

Well Senior Night came and went and the pre-game ceremonies were not nearly as awkward as I anticipated. I heard no boos and I honestly didn't notice a difference between the senior nights from the past two seasons, which is surprising considering Tiger Nation's disdain for this senior class. It was however, the first time I have ever seen four seniors benched (at the same time) in the opening four minutes of a senior night game for a noticeable lack of effort.

I've decided not to even post my thoughts on the actual game. I guess it was nice to get a win, but it was by far the most unexciting double OT game I have ever seen. Instead I have decided to dedicate this post to the class of '08. I will recap both my favorite and worst memory of each player from this year's senior class.

*Editor's note: I will also be devoting an entire post to Leo Lyons within the next week, because the scenario that we are seeing play out with him is unprecedented.

Jason Horton

Favorite memory: In December 2004, Gonzaga came to Mizzou Arena (although it may have still been Paige Sports Arena at that point) and the Tigers ended up pulling off a huge upset that ended with the fans storming the court. At the end of the first half of that game I remember Jason taking Adam Morrison one-on-one to the rim and hitting a shot with Morrison all over him. After hitting the shot Horton got right in Morrison's face and told him all about it. I can remember thinking, "Man, this kid's got some swagger to do that as a freshman." Looking back three years later, maybe it wasn't swagger, maybe it was just him being a punk. I don't know.

Worst memory: How about his entire sophomore season when our offense evolved around him dribbling the shot clock down to about 5 seconds and then passing to either Thomas Gardner or Jimmy McKinney and having them shoot an errant three-point attempt? If that's not specific enough how about when, during that same season, he suggested that the entire team might elect to transfer at the end of the year following Quin Snyder's dismissal/resignation?

Marshall Brown

Favorite memory: During his freshman season the Tigers played a non-conference game at Indiana and overcame a 16 point deficit by ending the game on a 21-2 run that culminated with a Brown 360 degrees dunk with one second left to seal the deal. The smart play there would have obviously been to run out the clock, but I was impressed with Marshall's confidence to attempt such a dunk in that situation. His well-known timeout rant against Purdue this season deserves honorable mention.

Worst memory: I'd have to say last night, when Marshall only received 10 minutes of playing time on senior night. I'll never understand what happened to Marshall Brown. During his freshman season I thought he looked like a Ricky Paulding clone. Marshall's weaknesses (ball handling and an inconsistent jump shot) even coincided with Paulding's from his freshman season. But Marshall never developed like Paulding did and I'm not sure why. On the court I always thought it looked like Marshall was simply going through the motions, yet everything I read about him mentioned how he was a team leader and one of its hardest workers. His involvement in Athenagate aside, Marshall was always a role model off the court and that's what made seeing Darryl Butterfield get over twice the number of minutes that Brown got last night so hard to stomach. For whatever reason Brown was just a soft player. I can't say that I've ever been so perplexed by a player's underachievement.

Darryl Butterfield

Favorite memory: N/A

Worst memory: Wow, so many to choose from. I'm going to go with the time he was charged with peace disturbance barely over a week after he was arrested for beating his girlfriend.

Vaidotas Volkus

Favorite memory: V' improbably ended up being the fan favorite of this senior class. I always loved him for his awkward facial expressions and goofy demeanor. I'll never forget seeing him walking alongside Providence Road following the Tigers upset victory over K-State this season. After the biggest win of the year V' was apparently unable to find a ride home. I swear that this happened and I have witnesses to prove it.

Least favorite memory: As hard as he tried, defense was not one of V's strengths. I remember him getting murdered by Aleks Maric in a game in Lincoln last season.

So there you have it. I think my loyal reader big head described my feelings toward this year's seniors best in his comment on my last post:

"It's like dumping a bad girlfriend. Hurts for about five minutes until you go to Arbys. It's all good after that, and you're excited to head out afterwards."

I don't want to be too hard on these guys because, in all fairness, they were put in difficult positions with Quin leaving the program in the state that he left it.

But this was different from the class of '06, which was also very disappointing. The seniors that year, Jimmy McKinney and Kevin Young, also failed to live up to expectations but unlike most of this year's seniors they always gave their best effort. McKinney was considered to be one of this biggest signees in recent memory when he signed his letter of intent and proved to be a complete bust. But he never quit on his team or coach, which is something most of this year's group made a habit of doing.

At any rate, thanks for the memories (or nightmares) seniors!

The most awkward Senior Night in the history of senior nights

2008-03-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, Mike Anderson has elected to start his four seniors: Marshall Brown, Jason Horton, Darryl Butterfield and Vaidotas Volkus, along with Matt Lawrence for Senior Night on Wednesday.

I think this has to be the consensus for least popular starting lineup in MU basketball history, right? Brown and Horton fell well short of the expectations that fans and coaches had for them when they hit campus four years ago, Butterfield has proven to be nothing but trouble and as hard as V' plays and as much unintentional comedic value that he offers, he's really just an awful player.

So how many fans do you think will boo these guys during the pre-game ceremonies? And more importantly, what do you think the appropriate response to give them is?

In all fairness, many of the problems with the basketball program have not been their fault. They didn't create the Quin catastrophe. And it's not their fault that they were rated so highly coming out of high school by the various recruiting websites.

But these guys did quit on their team and coach on multiple occasions throughout their careers. When I remember this class I think the games that I remember most will be the games against Texas A&M in '05, Baylor and Iowa State in '06 and K-State this year. All games where these guys just rolled over and clearly quit trying. And I haven't even mentioned Athena yet.

I can't justify booing a kid in front of his parents, but I'm not sure I can stomach cheering these guys when they've shown so little commitment to the team throughout their careers.

Volkus I can cheer for because he always gave a pretty solid effort, but like I said, he just kinda sucked. Brown has been a leader in the community and on the team despite his relatively pathetic play over the course of his career. He was involved in Athenagate, but I don't think I can condemn him for making one mistake.

But when Horton and Butters have their names called on Wednesday night I believe I will watch in silence. Is that appropriate?

Be sure to check out the rest of Watson's blog today. She gives the rundown on Leo's absurd perceived NBA dreams (I'm officially nominating Leo for dumbest player in Mizzou history), and sheds some light on Keon Lawrence's frustrating season that he seems to have finally come to grips with:

"Honestly folks, Keon had one foot out the door last month. He was terribly homesick, frustrated with the way the team was playing and worried about where he’d fit in next season. But over the last couple weeks, Lawrence has emerged out of Stefhon Hannah’s shadow and found his voice and his leadership."

"Oh, and you can thank Jeremy Maclin for some of Lawrence’s newfound confidence. The two have become close, and Maclin, who shares some experiences with Lawrence, talked his new friend off the ledge several times."

You gotta love our footballers. Now they're even taking care of our basketball team. I'm personally thrilled that Keon has decided to stick with Mizzou. I can see this guy really growing into his leadership role over the next couple seasons. He's dealt with the frustrations of losing and is clearly sick of it. I think we'll see him take a lot of the younger players under his wing the next two years and tell them about what it takes to compete in the Big 12. Remember how Rucker and Zo Williams made a pact to change the culture of Mizzou football after frustrating freshman and sophomore seasons? Couldn't you picture Keon and J.T. trying to do the same thing?

So that's what a real team looks like.

2008-03-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

I didn't post my thoughts on the Baylor game on Saturday because I was not able to watch the game. On Friday I went home to watch my alma mater, Fair Play High, win their first district championship in 11 years.

Not that I think too many of you care about class 1 high school basketball, but I do and since I'm sick of writing about our future NBAers (more on that later this week) I'm making the executive decision to write about a team that wears Black and Gold and doesn't make me want to vomit.

Like I said, 11 years since the last district champion was from the FP and we've had some pretty bad teams over the past decade and have also been the victims of bad luck on more than one occasion. I've said it before and I'll say it again, our district is as good as any in the state. There were two or three years where we probably would have won had we been in just about any other district (district 11's the Pac 10 of Missouri class 1 high school basketball).

But the streak of bad luck and bad teams is finally over. Our guys are ranked no. 9 in the state, are winners of 18 straight and needless to say, are the talk of the booming metropolis of Fair Play.

Several of the guys on the team were freshmen during my senior year and they always worked hard in practice and you could tell they loved basketball. They've had a couple rough seasons themselves and have had plenty of opportunities to throw in the towel, so I gotta say I'm proud of them.

They're the first team I've seen in person that seems to have a will and desire to win in quite awhile.

Opinions on OSU game proving to be very divisive

2008-02-28T15:53:00.001-08:00

In the days following Mizzou's loss to Oklahoma State Tiger fans have been unable to come to a consensus on how well the Tigers performed. There seems to be one segment of fans that think the Tigers played a great game and were the victims of bad luck, and another faction that thinks MU simply suffered another embarrassing loss.

Immediately after the game I wrote that I thought this may have been the Tigers second best performance of the season and I stand by that statement. Sure it was a home loss to a fairly mediocre 15-12 team, but give OSU some credit. They're arguably the hottest team in the Big 12 right now and were coming off three big wins against Baylor, at A&M and KU. They have some serious momentum right now. Don't discount that.

Mizzou outrebounded OSU, shot a better percentage from the field and charity stripe, committed fewer turnovers and only put the Cowboys at the line 8 times. The only area that the Tigers were lacking was their perimeter defense, which gave OSU too many open looks for three. For all intents and purposes the Tigers should have won this game. They outplayed OSU but failed to put them away in the second half when they were up 8 with 11 minutes left and had momentum going their way. They lost a tough game to a hot team, but the effort was certainly there, especially by the younger guys (Leo, Tiller and Keon).

I agree with Gabe DeArmond in his article "Hope is back." In case you (like me) are not a subscriber to Power Mizzou here are some clips courtesy of Rock M Nation:

"I don't want to go overboard and say Tuesday night was a turning point or a revelation, but I think it was something good for the Missouri basketball program. For maybe the first time since I started covering this team again four-and-a-half years ago, I walked out of Mizzou Arena feeling pretty darn good about the direction this program is headed."

"Next year's Tigers, no disrespect intended to the incoming recruits, are going to go as far as Keon and Leo and J.T. can take them. This is going to be their team next year. Combine them with a healthy DeMarre Carroll and a Matt Lawrence that will have more depth around him and won't be asked to do more than he's capable of doing and you've got a solid nucleus for the 2008-09 Tigers."

DeArmond wasn't the only sports writer beaming over the Tigers' effort. The Tribune's Steve Walentik wrote a Dave Matter-like blog post and called Leo's performance the best individual performance he's ever seen in person. About halfway through the second half I leaned over and told my roommate that Lyons' stat line was the most impressive one we've seen since Thomas Gardner hung 40 in the "Moody Game." I still think Gardner's performance was much more impressive considering he nearly single handedly beat the Jayhawks, but nonetheless, unbelievable game by Leo. And by the way, I would love to see more blog posts like this from Walentik. The reason I love Dave Matter so much is for the work he does on his blog. Walentik's capable of this but he usually just does those useless "What you should know about Mizzou's next opponent" posts. Give me some actual analysis.

Meanwhile the other DeArmond delivers a disturbing vlog entry on Lyon's performance.

So Jeremy Maclin's knee was less than 100% last fall. WOW. I wonder what his 40-time will be now that he's completely healthy. Matter also speculates that this could be his final season wearing the Black and Gold.

Mizzou one of the most hated teams in America

2008-02-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

CBS Sportsline has conducted a poll to determine the most hated college basketball team in the nation and our beloved Tigers finished fifth.

The reasons? If I had to guess I would say a lot of it is still residue left over from the Quin Snyder regime. It's easy to hate a guy with as high a profile as Quin's was and when you combine that with the NCAA violations and underachievement on the court, well that just equals hate (same thing appears to have happened to Michigan who finished fourth, thank you Fab Five). Plus it's just easier to blame things on Quin.

But nonetheless, screw you America.

Ouch!

2008-02-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

OSU 73 MU 71.

This one kinda hurt. So many times this season the Tigers have teased fans and tricked them into believing that they could have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. I had given up on that idea after the Manhattan Massacre...or so I thought.

Then I wake up today and see this headline from the Post-Dispatch: "Tourney birth for Tigers isn't out of the question." I laughed that headline off, but then as I watched Mizzou trade punches with OSU (who happens to be one of the hottest teams in the country) I started thinking, "Well, if we pull this out and then somehow upset Baylor on the road (which I realize would have been highly unlikely but we're dealing in hypotheticals here) then we play Iowa State at home, which we should win and then we're playing OU in a season finale that could put us on the bubble if we win."

Then of course Byron Eaton hits a last second shot and now we're probably going to have to win a road game just to have a shot at making the NIT (we've already dropped to the last no. 4 seed according to NIT-ology and that was before tonight).

Despite the disappointing finish I thought this may have been the second best overall performance by the Tigers all season. I thought they played a more complete game tonight than they did when they beat K-State earlier this year. My only complaint would be the team perimeter defense. They allowed OSU to shoot nearly .60% from behind the arc. Several of those were guarded shots by Eaton that weren't in rhythm at all but fell because he's a great shooter. But an even larger number were wide open uncontested looks.

I really can't single out a single Missouri player that played poorly. And Leo Lyons completely WENT OFF. 27 points while hitting 12 of his 13 shots, 18 rebounds three blocks and two assists. I knew he was talented but he has the potential to be a first round NBA draft pick. This is back to back solid performances by Leo. He usually plays well when he gets off to a good start offensively but on Saturday he never really got going and still worked hard on the boards. I don't want to speak to soon, but maybe he's turned the corner? He's really the X-factor for next season because he could easily be an All-Big 12 selection.

As disappointing as this game's ending was it had to make you feel good about next season.

Basketball, baseball, Dave Matter and crack

2008-02-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a couple days since my last post. Exams and papers coupled with a nasty little cold have slowed the momentum of Big MO. Despite my inactivity it was a big weekend for Mizzou with Colorado coming to town and baseball getting their season started. I'll start with a few observations on the Colorado game although they'll be brief since the game was very uneventful and I think most people in attendance were hoping to make it home in time for the second half of the Memphis-Tennessee game.

Keon Lawrence looked great. Aggressive with the ball, shot it well and was able to create. Keon's starting to remind me a little of Jimmy McKinney in how he will show flashes of brilliance one game and then disappear for the next three.

Workman like effort from Leo Lyons (7 points 10 boards). When was the last time Leo pulled down 10 boards?

DeMarre Carroll has become completely ineffective with his ankle in the condition that it is. But the way he has been battling through it has really raised my respect level for DeMarre. Even though he's not doing much more than taking up space at this point (0 points and two rebounds in 25 minutes) he's still playing hard every game. If the Tigers weren't so undersized to begin with then you would have to wonder if it would be better to just shut him down for the rest of the season. But if it was Leo whose ankle was hurting like this do you think he would still be out there? Because I don't.

Overall I guess it was a pretty solid effort by MU. They took care of the basketball (4 turnovers), didn't put the Buffs at the line (not once), and did what they had to do to win. It's kind of frustrating to think that if we had not lost that home game to Nebraska (when we only had 6 scholarship players available) we would be in a tie for fourth place in the Big 12 and might have an outside chance of making it onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. Oh well, we're another step closer to next year.

The baseball team got off to a good start, winning their first three games this weekend. It's hard to really assess their performance without having seen them play. Unfortunately I was only able to listen to a couple of innings of the three games but it sounds like Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson were as good as you would expect them to be and the offense got off to a great start scoring 30 runs over the weekend.

Now onto a few links:

A nice feature in Baseball America on Aaron Crow and another in the P-D on MU's starting rotation.

Another piece on the Tigers' starting rotation by Mike DeArmond that gives Tiger fans a pretty good reason to head out to Taylor Stadium to catch a few games:
"'This probably won't happen,' [Baseball America] analyst Jim Callis wrote, 'but the Tigers theoretically could have the No. 1 overall picks in 2008 (Aaron Crow), 2009 (Kyle Gibson) and 2010 (Nick Tepesch).'"
In layman's terms, this Tiger team has some pretty good talent on its roster.

Yet another article from Dave Matter, this one on MU's new seating and parking plans. Also be sure to check out Matter's most recent blog post on the Tigers' early morning bootcamp sessions. Is there another Big 12 beat writer that reports on offseason workouts like this? Seriously, Dave Matter is to Tiger fans what crack cocaine is to drug addicts.

And finally, be sure to check out Rock M Nation's Mizzou 25 Tournament. A great idea to determine the best, most influential, most likable Mizzou athlete of the past 25 years. My only complaint with the idea would be that it needs to be more specific on what you are voting on. For example, it's hard to say how influential an athlete Chase Daniel will end up being for MU because his career's not over. If he leads Mizzou to a national title or wins the Heisman Trophy then he has to win, but who knows.

Yet another update on Athenagate

2008-02-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately even more rumors are swirling around our beloved Athena 5. Now please realize as you are reading this that all the information included in the links in this blog post are from someone who I don't know, haven't met and have NO IDEA how credible a source he is.

Two days ago blogger George Savaricas made a post to his blog "One Bad Century" claiming that the entire Athena fracas was caused by Stefhon Hannah's demand for chicken wings after the restaurant had already closed.

I came across a link to this blog yesterday on Rock M Nation and elected not to mention anything about it because I had no way of verifying its validity (and I still don't).

But yesterday there was yet another post on "One Bad Century" in which blogger Anthony Atencio claims to have interviewed the workers of Athena about the conduct of MU basketball players at the nightclub.

In the story Athena workers claim that players engaged in "constant marijuana smoking" and said there were always issues with paying.

Atencio says that he has been interviewed by the Columbia Tribune and if these rumors prove to be true then the roof is about to be blown off of the MU basketball program. I don't want anyone to accept these rumors as truth because there is absolutely no way to verify them, but I'll definitely be checking the Tribune for the next few weeks.

Now to some more credible news from the past two days courtesy of the Missourian:

ESPN's Joe Lunardi believes that if Mizzou can finish above .500 they will be in the NIT.

It is still unknown whether or not Stefhon Hannah will return to MU to finish his degree but Mike Anderson thinks he will probably withdraw from the university.

And finally, a very good preview of the MU baseball team. This one is much better than the 5-part series that mutigers.com has been running all week.

And from the Post-Dispatch:

Martin Rucker, Will Franklin and Darnell Terrell received invites to this week's NFL Combine. No Tony Temple?

Opening Day approaching for Mizzou baseball

2008-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

The Missouri Tiger baseball team will begin their season Friday against Connecticut in the Stetson Tournament at DeLand, Fla. They will play two more games in the tournament against Michigan State and Stetson before traveling to Orlando to face Central Florida on Monday.

I've never been able to get real excited for Tiger baseball (I'm more of a basketball/football guy anyway and college baseball is so hard to follow) but this season is a little different. I've had about all of the basketball team that I can stomach and it doesn't hurt that the Tigers were ranked No. 6 in Baseball America's Preseason Poll.

Head coach Tim Jamieson is on record saying that this team could have 6 first round draft picks in this year's MLB draft with junior RHP Aaron Crow being a potential No. 1 overall pick. Crow is the ace of a staff that figures to be the strength of the team. The Tigers' weekend rotation should include Crow, sophomore RHP Kyle Gibson (who is 6'6" and just looks like a big leaguer on the mound), and junior LHP Rick Zagone.

The Tigers also have 5 regulars returning, which should give MU a formidable lineup. Senior OF Jacob Priday and sophomore Trevor Coleman should provide the biggest bats for the Tigers. Priday is a two-time All-Big 12 Selection and Coleman was the 2007 Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was selected to the Freshman All-American Team.

All things considered, the Tigers appear to have a very good chance of making a run to the College World Series in Omaha, which is one of the most underrated sporting events in the U.S. It would certainly be nice to have something to follow while waiting for college football season.

For more information on Tiger baseball check out mutigers.com's five-part season preview.

Links

2008-02-17T09:53:00.001-08:00

There were several interesting stories in today's area papers:

The Post-Dispatch is reporting that long-time Vashon High School basketball coach Floyd Irons has admitted to spending more than $25,000 for an apartment for two of his players to live in. I don't think this story will surprise anyone. Everyone knows that Irons is a crook and hasn't been running a clean program for years. I don't usually buy the argument that the PD has an anti-Mizzou agenda, but you see all the investigative reporting that they did on Athenagate, the Snyder era, etc. and yet it's taken them this long to uncover how corrupt Vashon's basketball program is? This story is at least 25 years overdue.

KC Star reporter Kent Babb takes a sociological look at the attraction that college athletes have to bars and night clubs. Interesting stuff. The whole question as to whether or not of age players should be allowed to go to bars/clubs is a tricky one with a lot of variables. You can try to forbid them from going to certain ones (like Athena and the Moon Bar in Lawrence) but how do you determine which bars or clubs are "too dangerous." Personally, I don't really have a problem with a coach forbidding his players to go to bars or clubs altogether. As student athletes you're held to a higher standard whether that's fair or not. It's even like that in most high schools. And if you take away bars and night clubs from them it's not like they're going to have a shortage of things to do on Saturday night. I'm sure they'll find something.

I LOVED Bill Self's quote in Babb's article about the curfew he has set (or hasn't set) for his players:
Self says players usually are not allowed to be out past 11 p.m. on a weeknight during the season, and "not ever after midnight." On this night, midnight was nearly an hour ago. After Self learned Friday the four KU players at The Hawk were there after midnight, he changed his earlier statement to say players’ curfew Wednesday was 1 a.m. Then he said it was 1:15 a.m. He finally said players had no curfew because the Jayhawks had no game. "I’m not positive we had one or not," Self said.

So for the record, Bill Self doesn't know whether or not his team has a curfew. And we thought Mike Anderson's zero-tolerance policy lacked consistency.

And finally, an inspiring column by Joe Posnanski on K-State guard Clint Stewart whose mother passed away a couple weeks ago. After reading the column Stewart immediately became one of my favorite players in college basketball. There aren't too many sports columnists better than Joe Pos.

Manhattan Massacre

2008-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

Wow that got out of hand in a hurry. The K-State Wildcats absolutely annihilated the Missouri Tigers 100-63 on Saturday. There's not much I can say about this one. I expected the Tigers to get blown out but I thought they could at least keep it interesting for a half. But they couldn't even keep it interesting for 10 minutes. I'll just make a few quick observations and then try to erase this game from my memory as quickly as possible.

I said Missouri would need a big game from either J.T. Tiller or Keon Lawrence and they combined to shoot 3-17 from the field for a grand total of 10 points. Tiller only played 12 minutes due to foul trouble. Mizzou has no chance of beating anybody when these two guys play like that.

Matt Lawrence regained his shooting stroke knocking down 6 threes and finishing with 20 points. That was nice to see. Lets hope he keeps it for the rest of the season.

You can tell that DeMarre Carroll's ankle injury that he has been battling all season is really affecting him. He is getting very little elevation when he jumps. There have been several instances the past few games where he has had an opportunity to throw down a dunk but has been forced to lay it up instead. I think he's a much better player than he's showing us this season. Last year all you heard about was how talented this guy was and he really hasn't been much better than Kalen Grimes was. He's gotta get healthy in the offseason.

After seeing him play in Columbia I thought Michael Beasley was overrated and felt that the Kevin Durant comparisons needed to stop. But after he matched the numbers he put up in that game in the first 10 minutes tonight and finished with 40 points and 17 boards I changed my mind. But I still think he lacks the heart, desire and maturation of Durant.

It's a pretty embarrassing day to be a Tigers fan. Sure K-State's a good team but losing by almost 40 points to ANYONE is just unacceptable. The Tigers now have a week off before their next game at home against Colorado. I'd expect coach Anderson to use this week to make his players' lives a living hell during practice.

Former Mizzou star running for Congress

2008-02-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press is reporting that former MU star running back Brock Olivo is running for Congress.

"Put the ball in my hands. I want to be the citizen's politician," Olivo said.

Athenagate update

2008-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

New details have emerged surrounding the Athena Night Club incident and they do not reflect favorably on Stefhon Hannah or Jason Horton. A probable cause statement issued to the Associated Press stated that Hannah was unhappy with the service he had received at Nikai Mediterranean Grill and confronted an employee about it. If the statement is accurate then Hannah was clearly the instigator and Horton had no business throwing punches.

Team spokesman Dave Reiter said that no further punishment will be handed down to Horton despite being charged.

Links and keys to Manhattan

2008-02-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

A few links before I get to the keys to tomorrow's game against K-State:

There have been some rumors swirling the past week that Mizzou football will travel to South Bend, Ind in 2012 to play the Fighting Irish. According to Graham Watson's Friday chat session this is a realistic possibility:

"The Mizzou/LSU game was a rumor and I'll leave it at that. Another good rumor is MU/Notre Dame in like 2012, I think. That one might actually happen, though."

Miles Smith, son of Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith, has accepted an offer to become a preferred walk-on at MU. I don't know what a "preferred walk-on" is, but it would be pretty sweet to see Lovie in the stands at Faurot.

Apparently several KU players took exception to the "refusal" of several Tigers players to take part in pre-game handshakes and fist-pounds when the two teams met in Lawrence...cry me a river.

Now onto the keys to Saturday:

The Tigers will be huge underdogs heading into Manhattan against the No. 24-ranked Wildcats. It's hard to imagine them containing freshman sensation Michael Beasley better than they did in the teams' first meeting (he scored 17 and grabbed 10 rebounds). But they can't let him explode. If Mizzou can hold him to 20 and 10 then you have to be satisfied.

Either J.T. Tiller or Keon Lawrence have to step up and bring their A-games. When these two have played well the Tigers have almost always ended up with a victory. It would also be nice if Leo Lyons could play hard for the entire game. Leo had a big second half against K-State two weeks ago after he got his mid-range game going and really stretched the Wildcat defense.

Mizzou will also need a little luck to upset this team again. Shooting a decent percentage from behind the arc will be a necessity and if they could get Beasley or Bill Walker in foul trouble again (both had four fouls in Columbia) it would obviously be nice.

To be honest, I don't like the Tigers' chances at all. I have zero confidence in Mizzou's ability to give two solid efforts, on the road no less, in a row. But while the odds are certainly against the Tigers, they do have A LOT to gain if they can pull it off. A win and suddenly the whispers about the Tigers NCAA Tournament hopes becomes a murmur and we can begin to seriously talk about what it would take to send the Tigers dancing.

My prediction: MU 71 K-State 88

Lets hope I'm wrong.

Scoop on Stefhon

2008-02-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

ESPN's Scoop Jackson wrote a heartbreaking story on Stefhon Hannah's fading hoop dreams that ran today on espn.com. I have read Scoop since his days of writing for SLAM Magazine and even though his opinions are often controversial they are always written in an eloquent prose that is rare in sports writing.

Tigers down Huskers in OT

2008-02-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Jekyll and Hyde act that the Missouri Tigers have been performing all season continued on Wednesday night as they defeated Nebraska 86-78 in OT.

Keon Lawrence and J.T. Tiller came up huge for the Tigers. Lawrence led MU with 19 points and also pulled down 6 rebounds. Tiller added 14 and four assists and came up with several key plays down the stretch. These two guys struggled against Texas A&M on Saturday, but excluding that game they have stepped up in a big way since the Athena Night Club incident.

Nebraska center Aleks Maric absolutely destroyed the Tigers scoring 32 points and pulling down 16 boards. But not one of those points came in the overtime period.

This was a great win for Mike Anderson's team and really a solid all-around effort by just about everyone that played. But I would not be doing my job if I didn't point out two strategic decisions made by coach Anderson that left me dumbfounded.

Justin Safford gets only 6 minutes after how well he's played the past few weeks? Really? And he doesn't even check in until the 9-minute mark in the first half? Maric is eating DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons and Vaidotas Volkus alive and you don't even give Safford a chance (whose help defense on Maric was outstanding when these teams played a couple weeks ago)? And why did Gary Link not bring this up in the postgame interview with coach Anderson? How does Darryl Butterfield get more minutes than Safford (even if the difference is minimal) at this point? Inexplicable.
With 5.1 seconds remaining Anderson called a timeout following a free throw by Nebraska that tied the game. He had enough time left on the clock to draw up a play that would get his team a great look at the basket. His quickest player (and one of his only players who has shown some ability to create his own shot), Keon Lawrence, had been on fire all game. But what happens? The inbound pass goes to Jason Horton, who nearly dribbled out the clock before throwing up an off balance three that doesn't even sniff the rim. What's worse is the play appeared to be designed to go to Horton. Keon was nowhere near the ball at any point during that play. I just don't understand.

But I also have to give credit where credit is due. Coach Anderson had his players ready to play tonight and they gave a resilient effort. When the game went into overtime with the Tigers missing Carroll (who fouled out) and the way Maric was dominating I didn't think there was any chance Mizzou would be able to pull out a victory, but they proved me wrong.

If you had visited Tigerboard after Saturday's loss you would have found a plethora of posts calling for coach Anderson's head. But tonight the discussion is centering around whether or not the Tigers still have a chance of sneaking into the NCAA Tournament with an upset win or two. That's been this season in a nutshell.

Tigerboarder's opinions aside, what does this win really mean for the Tigers? Do they have a legitimate shot at the Dance? Come on. This team has proven time and time again this season that consistency is not really their thing. I guarantee you'll be reading tiger_boi08's pleas for the dismissal of Mike Anderson again before the season's over.

What this win does do is keep the Tigers off the NIT bubble for the time being. As of Monday NIT-ology has the Tigers "solidly in" at a No. three seed. And I suppose there is a glimmer of hope for those Tiger fans who still have NCAA Tournament dreams.

And to quote Andy Dufresne from the Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

MU to charge for reserved parking and modernize priority seating plan

2008-02-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

MU Director of Athletics Mike Alden has sent out this letter to Tiger football season ticket holders:

Dear Tiger Fans,

Without question, we are excited about the successes of our programs academically and competitively at Mizzou. With 20 sport programs and 487 student-athletes, it is certainly gratifying to see our men and women performing so well. As we continue to build our program into national prominence, it is also clear that we could not do so without the support of our students, faculty, staff, alums, fans and friends. We have great appreciation for all that you have done and continue to do for the Tigers.

In the fall of 2008, the Tigers will again be positioning for national accolades in football. Coach Pinkel, his staff and our student-athletes are working hard in the off-season to ready the Tigers for an even better season this fall. Coach Pinkel is building a long-lasting, successful football program at Mizzou and we are looking forward to the coming year with great anticipation.

As part of our efforts, we will be focusing on our football seating and parking improvements in and around Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field. In surveying Tiger supporters, season ticket holders, student-athletes, staff and others, we were able to gather information that will help us improve our fan experiences while also generating additional resources for our program.

Our seating plan at Faurot Field has been in place since 1983. That plan is the same today as it was when it was instituted; the plan asks for those people sitting between the 20 yard lines in both the east and west stands to be members of the Tiger Scholarship Fund. While that plan has been in place for 25 years, and has served Mizzou well over that time, a few inconsistencies have developed in the donor sections. It is our goal to eliminate those inconsistencies and make the program as equitable and fair as possible for all donors, long-term and new, in 2008. If you sit between the 20's, please be reminded that we will ask you to be a member of the TSF at the necessary per seat giving levels. As part of that consistency, we will actually be LOWERING the donation requests for those areas on either side of the 50 yard line in sections I through L and II through LL (from $500 minimum donation/seat to $400 minimum donation/seat). This will assist us in ensuring that all ! fans are contributing consistently. We also will be extending our priority seating plan to include season ticket holders on the east and west stands who sit between the 10 and 20 yard lines. We are asking folks who have season tickets between the 10's and 20's (in sections F, FF, O, and OO) to join the TSF at a minimum of $25/seat. While that is a minimal level and associated increase, we also recognize that it represents a change in policy and we wanted to alert you as early as possible regarding this modernization in our program. Our hope is that you will see this as an opportunity to be a member of our TSF and help our program even more than you have. For those that do not want to join the TSF, we will have seating available outside of those designated areas.

Parking has also been a major point of discussion for a number of years, and was a focal point from our survey respondents. For 2008, in donor and non-donor lots, there will be a charge to park. Non-donor lots with close proximity to the stadium will be $15/game/car (increased from $10/game/car in 2007). In regard to the reserved parking in the donor lots, beginning this season, season-long parking passes will cost $100 each (an average of $16.66/game) above and beyond the necessary TSF giving levels needed for lot priority and assignment. While we recognize this will be an additional cost to you, it is our intention to address the overcrowded lots, traffic control, restroom facilities and other amenities for parking that our fans are requesting and deserve and, in turn, make the gameday experience more enjoyable for our valued customers. These revenues also will help assist with other departmental projects including our plans for a new sound system/video replay board f! or Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field for the 2009 season.

We know that changes are difficult, but at times they are also necessary. These efforts are being implemented to be fair and consistent and to continue to improve our program. We are the last school in the Big 12 North to implement charges for reserved parking in the donor lots and to modernize our priority seating plan. We know that these will be additional costs to you, and hope that you understand our intention to continue to build this nationally recognized department. Any and all questions on season tickets, seating plans or parking for football can be directed to the Tiger Scholarship Fund offices by email to: tsf@missouri.edu; by phone to 573-882-0704 and you may visit our website at: tsf-mizzou.com.

More information will be arriving to 2007 donors and season ticket holders in the coming days further detailing these initiatives. If you were NOT a donor or football season ticket holder in 2007 you may sign up on-line at http://mutigers.cstv.com/tickets/08-footbl-ticket-info.html to receive the necessary information and order forms in time for the much anticipated 2008 season.

We appreciate everything that you have done and continue to do for the University of Missouri. Without our loyal fan base, alums, donors, faculty, staff, students and friends, there is no way that we could have had the successes we have...we just want to keep it going. Thank you for your generous and loyal support of the Tigers.

In Black and Gold Spirit,

Michael F. Alden
Director of Athletics

Tonight's game to be televised on tape-delay

2008-02-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight's game against Nebraska will be aired on a tape-delay basis. Unless you are a subscriber to ESPN's Full Court package you will have to wait until 8:30 to watch the game that will tip-off in Lincoln at 7 p.m.

I am going to try to avoid hearing or seeing a score until then and after watching the delayed broadcast I will post my thoughts on the Tigers' performance.

On a side note, Ric Bucher named former Tiger Linas Kleiza to his First Galaxy Non-Star Team (this is actually a good thing). Here's what he had to say about Linas:

"He's scored 20-plus seven times, including a 41-point burst against the Utah Jazz. But he's just as capable of committing all his energy (and considerable athleticism) to playing lockdown defense, even if it means bodying up LeBron. No wonder the Kings asked for him as part of any deal for Ron Artest. Equally no wonder the Nuggets said forget it."

Where was that lockdown defense during his tenure in Columbia? I can remember seeing Kleiza getting abused by some relatively average big men in the Big 12.

Linas might have been the most gifted player to ever put on a Tiger uniform but I always thought he saw Mizzou as nothing more than a stepping stone that he could use to advance his own career. He was not a very team-oriented player and often clashed with Quin Snyder (although that's not saying much). Nevertheless, it's good to see a former Tiger having some success in the League.

Sayonara Stef

2008-02-12T17:58:00.000-08:00

Stefhon Hannah's career as a Tiger is officially over. Coach Mike Anderson announced that Hannah will be dismissed from the Missouri Tiger basketball team for displaying a lack of academic commitment after missing 12 consecutive days of classes following his involvement in the Jan. 27 brawl at Athena Night Club.

There had been some speculation that Hannah's absence from classes was putting MU at risk of losing a scholarship but that appeared unlikely.

Hannah has received an enormous amount of criticism over the past few weeks from fans, media and coaches alike. Despite his apparent character flaws you can't question the talent that Stefhon had. It's a shame to see it all go to waste. Anderson has given Hannah the option of keeping his scholarship to continue working on his degree (a very classy move on the part of coach Anderson).

I have heard that Stefhon was very cocky and standoffish with both the media and the younger players on the team. But the few times that I have seen him in a public setting he appeared to be a very happy and fun loving guy. Unfortunately he has developed the nasty habit of hanging out at the wrong types of places with the wrong kinds of people. Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for Stefhon and he is able to finish getting his degree (but after missing 12 days of classes the odds of that happening can't be good).

This has little to no impact on the rest of the season as Hannah was likely going to miss the rest of it to begin with. If you ask me, it will actually benefit the team. I thought our offense was too reliant on Stefhon in late game situations. Since he was the only player with the ability to consistently create his own shot the other players tended to stand around and wait for Hannah to do his thing. With him being gone it will force some of the younger players to step up and make plays even if that takes them outside of their comfort zones. It might mean a few more losses this season but could pay dividends down the road.

Beginning of the Week Links

2008-02-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

A few links I ran across this afternoon:

In Bryan Burwell's Sunday column he mentions that Justin Safford has been raising eyebrows of a few NBA scouts who think he might have some potential as a late round draft pick in a few years. If you would have asked me in December what the chances were of that happening I'd have told you Jason Horton had a better chance of averaging in double figures. Safford has suddenly become the brightest spot in an otherwise gloomy season for MU.

Burwell also wrote a superb piece in today's edition of the Post-Dispatch on the past of Stefhon Hannah. I never understood why so many Tiger fans bash Burwell so often. I've always loved him. At any rate, he's much better than "Jaba the Miklasz." But really great reporting here by Burwell. You can tell he put a lot of work into this article. Hannah's reputation sure has taken a hit in the past year. Everyone I've talked to that has covered the team has told me he's rude to the media and coach Anderson has publicly questioned his leadership and character in the past. I don't like labeling a player a thug just for trying to stay true to the people that have been with him from the start but I think Anderson's quote at the end of this article might reveal a lot about the kind of person Stefhon is:
"Sometimes it ain't the place or the culture. Sometime's it's just the person."

Nice blog post by Graham Watson. MU's underclassmen could learn a lot by looking at what the seniors on the football team did in their four years to change the culture of the football program.

This is late but Dave Matter's breakdown of signing day last week was excellent. You gotta love Matter. His coverage of the football team this season was probably about as good as it could have possibly been and it's continued into the offseason. I found Gary Pinkel's quote about how his staff evaluates players particularly interesting:
"I believe in how we evaluate. I can’t express that more clearly. I believe in our evaluation system, my staff and how hard we work at this. We go through 18 tough questions to find out everything internally about that player. We get a physical rating, a height-weight-speed rating, a high school coach’s rating, a Missouri position coach’s rating … an athletic ability rating. We get all these things to present all this information to each coach, and we vote whether we’re going to go with it. One thing we never do is ask if he’s all-state, all-county, all-conference or if he’s a nine-star or one-star. It never comes up. We do what we do and believe in.”

Another Matter piece, this one on Tiger's five-star QB signee Blaine Gabbert. I've been hesitant to buy into the hype surrounding this guy because of his lack of success in actual games but the more I read about him the more I believe he's got what it takes to succeed at the next level.

NIT-ology

2008-02-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

For some reason I was looking at NIT-ology today trying to get a read on what Mizzou's chances are of receiving an invitation. I was somewhat surprised to see that they had us in as a No. 2 seed. Bryan Burwell wrote a column a couple weeks ago and in it he said something to the effect that the NIT had become a long shot for the Tigers so I didn't realize we were in as good of shape as we are.

It's hard to believe that it has been almost three years since MU has played in any kind of postseason tournament (excluding the conference tourney). If this team could get an NIT bid and win a couple of games then that would be a significant accomplishment considering all the turmoil this season has brought.

The fact that I would actually be excited to watch Mizzou play in the NIT might be even more depressing than the fact that it's been 5 years since the Tigers have made it to the NCAAs. I don't think a lot of current MU students realize how good Missouri basketball used to be. I first started following Mizzou basketball closely around 2000 and didn't really think there was a possibility that there would be seasons where we didn't at least get an NCAA Tournament bid. They didn't always have much success once they got there but they were going to be in the Tournament.

If the Tigers shoot a decent percentage from the charity stripe in that Elite 8 game against OU in 02 (or Clarence Gilbert doesn't do his best John Starks impersonation) then Quin Snyder takes that team to its first Final Four in school history and Quin receives a lifetime contract.

The following season Ricky Paulding and Arthur Johnson nearly carried Mizzou past Dwyane Wade's Marquette team that went on to the Final Four and Mizzou appeared to be one of the nations up and coming programs. But the following season was when this year's senior class arrived on campus and the Snyder regime began collapsing under its own weight.

So I went from expecting the Tigers to become a perennial national title contender to breaking down their NIT chances. It's hard to believe things could change so drastically. Thank God I have Chase Daniel to take my mind off of this.

Texas A&M Observations

2008-02-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday brought more disappointment in a season that has been full of it for our Missouri Tigers. Ol' Mizzou fell 77-69 to the Aggies and in all honesty it wasn't that close. The Tigers actually led 30-25 at halftime but it seemed like the A&M players were moving in slow motion. MU opened the second half with a crippling scoring drought and fell behind as much as 17 before the Aggies turned on the cruise control and almost made things interesting.

I have to say I was not all that impressed with this Texas A&M team. The way they opened the game it was like they expected Mizzou to roll over and lose by 20 and then they were incredibly careless with the basketball as the Tigers tried to rally back in the final minutes. If you were just looking at Joseph Jones and Bryan Davis you would expect them to be able to trade punches with the KUs and the Texases in the Big 12, but come Tournament time this team is going to miss the heart that Acie Law IV gave them last season.

Here are some observations I made about the guys wearing the Black and Gold:

What happened to Leo Lyons in the final 5 minutes of the game? For the first 35 minutes Leo was drifting through the motions as he has done for the majority of his disappointing career when a light seemed to finally turn on. Lyons looked like a future NBA draft pick in the final minutes and finished with 24 points (10 in the final 2 1/2 minutes). Thank you Leo for finally playing an inspired game when it was way too late for us to have a reasonable chance at winning. Talk about a player I'm sick of watching. Has there been a player in MU history that has wasted more talent than Leo Lyons? Some might argue that Mizzou's only McDonald's High School All-American Travon Bryant was more of an underachiever. But I would argue that the expectations for Travon were unreasonable from the start. It's impossible to predict how some high school players are going to be able to adapt to the college game and Travon fell into that category. Leo is easily the most talented player on our roster and could be one of the more versatile big men in the Big 12 if he could focus for 40 minutes every game. Unfortunately he's more interested in becoming the next Jay-Z than he is in becoming the next Kevin Garnett.

Where was the J.T. Tiller that we saw the past three games? After capturing Big 12 POW honors for his play following the suspensions of the "Athena 5" Tiller mutated back into the erratic player that we've grown all too used to. Tiller finished with only 5 points and four turnovers and showed no sign of the swagger that he had the past week. With Stefhon Hannah gone, the rest of this season is going to be an opportunity for J.T. to assert himself as a leader on this team and if the Tigers are going to have any shot at going to the Big Dance in the conceivable future then he's going to have to step up to the plate.

In addition to Tiller, Keon Lawrence has also gone MIA once again. I thought Keon was the ballsiest player the Tigers had last season and felt like he had a chance to be the best guard at Missouri since Kareem Rush. That player made a brief reappearance last Monday when he scored a career high 25 against the Squaks at Allen Fielhouse and I thought that might have been the end of his sophomore slump but it looks like I was mistaken. I never would have thought the words tentative, hesitant and unconfident would be used to describe Keon Lawrence after watching his freshman campaign but those are the words that best describe his play this year. Keon comes from a very rough upbringing and I have read that he has been going through some personal problems this season (his older brother was shot and killed recently and both his grandmother and father are battling health problems) and I would imagine those have been weighing very heavily on him. Lets hope he's able to overcome them and become the great player that he has the potential to be.

Matt Lawrence: 23 minutes. 2 rebounds. 3 fouls. 0 assists. 0 points. Thanks for playing Mateo.

To end this on a positive note Justin Safford continues to impress since his playing time has increased. He finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes. He also played some pretty solid defense on A&M's big men. I'm still trying to figure out how much potential this guy has. There is virtually no scouting report on the guy since he rarely sniffed the floor through the first half of the season so opposing defenses have not had a chance to prepare for him. His game is a little awkward but I can see him developing into a very solid role player that can bring a lot of energy off the bench and will fit in nicely in coach Anderson's system. At least he always plays hard and he's not Darryl Butterfield, which might actually be the best thing he has going for him.

Next game for the Tigers is Wednesday when they travel to Lincoln to play the Cornhuskers. A huge game for Mizzou if they want to keep their NIT hopes alive.

I'm out like Matt Lawrence's jump shot.

Analyzing Athenagate

2008-02-07T16:22:00.001-08:00

The last two weeks the University of Missouri's mens basketball team has come under fire due to events that transpired on the morning of January 29 at the Athena Night Club in downtown Columbia.

Stefhon Hannah, Jason Horton, Darryl Butterfield, Leo Lyons and Marshall Brown have become public enemy nos. 1-5 for Tiger fans thanks to their presence at the club past the team's curfew. The facts about what exactly happened are still unclear but it ended with Stefhon Hannah suffering a broken jaw that will likely end his college career and eventually resulted in Jason Horton being arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault after he allegedly punched a kitchen worker several times.

MU head basketball coach Mike Anderson immediately suspended the "Athena 5" indefinitely. Brown and Lyons were back in action last Saturday as the Tigers upset K-State and Horton and Butterfield returned for the game against Kansas last Monday.

In the aftermath of "Athenagate" many fans and members of the media have been quick to brand the 5 players involved as thugs and have called for their dismissal from the team. Unfortunately that is the same undeniably racist attitude that led to the disaster surrounding the Duke Lacrosse team.

I suppose there is a possibility that all 5 players do deserve to be let go, but the bottom line is we don't know because we don't have the FACTS. Here is what we know:

All 5 players broke curfew by going to the night club.
A fight broke out while the players were there and some of them were involved (whether by choice or by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time is still unknown).
Jason Horton has been accused of assaulting a man.

So all we can say with absolute certainty is that the players broke curfew and somehow got caught up in a brawl that left their star point guard seriously injured. If Matt Lawrence, Nick Beradini and Justin Safford were the players implicated would the word thug even be uttered? I don't think so.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident as has been well documented and the Columbia Daily Tribune recently reported that this is not even the first time that players have broken curfew and been at the "wrong place at the wrong time" since the start of the season.

The Tribune reported that Hannah and Horton were interviewed regarding a shooting that took place outside a local gas station in December. Neither player was considered a suspect but they were breaking curfew. Athletic department spokesperson Dave Reiter said that the matter was handled internally.

I find it interesting that the Tribune waited until now to publish this story when the information being reported is almost all at least two months old. I'm not saying that it's not a story because players repeatedly breaking curfew and going directly against Anderson's "zero-tolerance policy" is a major problem that needs to be addressed. But all the information in the story could have been reported a long time ago well before the "Athena 5" partied their way into our lives.

Are there problems within the MU basketball program? Without a doubt. But other than Butterfield (who is a repeat offender and quite honestly probably needs to be let go) should anyone be kicked off the team? I think it's too early to tell. Do we have enough evidence to label them thugs? No.

Is it fair to label Marshall Brown, a guy who wants to become a schoolteacher and spends time reading to kids at local elementary schools, a "gangsta"? You tell me.

It's obvious they're hanging out with the wrong types of people at the wrong types of places and that coach Anderson's rules don't mean a lot to them, but he has punished them and is now giving them a shot at redemption.

Due to the suspensions that Anderson gave these players (most of them seniors) their legacy is most likely going to be that they didn't give a damn about Mizzou basketball. So would it benefit the program to cut ties with these athletes who have proven that they consider basketball to be a luxury? Maybe. But I'll let coach Anderson tell you why that's not something you do:

"I think the most important thing is that kids need to learn from it. The ignorant thing to do, is to throw someone under the bus, and you'll ruin that kid's life."

You'll RUIN that KID'S life.

HELLO

2008-02-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first blog post of my life. The purpose of this blog is for my online journalism class and it will be updated throughout the semester. The name of this blog of course comes from the famous drum that is present on the sideline of the University of Missouri's football games that is affectionately named "Big Mo." I am going to try to focus this blog on sports within the state of Missouri although there are a lot of topics outside the world of Show-Me State sports that I would also like to sound off on and will probably use this blog to do so. So until next time, I'm Shawn Garrison with Big MO Sports...