Archive for the ‘Mizzou’ Category
Newfound Swagger
Great article in this week’s Sports Illustrated on the Tigers. They chose “Newfound Swagger” as the title, I’d have gone with Kinder, Gentler Hard Ass.
Plane?
41-6. Wow. Take that Huskers. 2003, 41-24, but the game was really much closer than that. 2005, 41-24, but the game wasn’t really that close. 2007, 41-6, and I don’t think it was even that close. Like a punch to the gut to all in the land of corn.
We saw a cattle-hauler on the road near the stadium post-game, someone made the (obvious but still funny) joke that it was full of Nebraska cheerleaders. Turns out, that was almost true. Sarah saw them loading that stupid thing full of Nebraska fans, sort of like a bus. Sort of, except it was a trailer for hauling cattle and they were stuffing it full of Nebraska fans.
Sarah did indeed get a helicopter ride pre-game. I absolutely believed that the lighting combination (bright lights, nighttime) would make for next to worthless photos. Turns out I was wrong and they were awesome. Check them out here.
Speaking of the photos, people are funny. “Could I use those for free?” “Would you please send me a full-size file so I can use as a screensaver?” Um, no. Like walking into the car dealer and pointing out that you like the new Mercedes, maybe I could just drive it for a few months? I will make an exception for anyone that can get me on a plane to Norman, OK, on Saturday though.
beat Oklahoma, screw ku.
Summer sucks
bring on football season.
Speaking of which, here’s some football news. Media picks the Tigers to win the Big 12 North, UT to win the South. 2007 football commercials are online at mutigers.com. Also, some good video tours of the recently completed Mizzou Athletic Training Center are online.
Best Game Ever?
Some guy named Mark Schlabach from ESPN has an article calling Georgia’s 26-24 defeat over Tennessee in 2001 the best game he’s ever seen. I should write for ESPN, it seems.
I was also at that game and it was a great game, but it barely rates my personal Top 5. While heavily skewed towards Mizzou, obviously, several of these are still replayed endlessly on ESPN Classic, so I’m not alone at least. My Top 5 NCAA Football games witnessed in person:
5. GA-UT game in Knoxville in 2001. Georgia wins 26-24 on a touchdown in the last seconds.
4. MU’s 41-24 victory over Nebraska in 2003. Would be on my personal highlight list just for breaking the streak against the bugeaters, but Brad Smith’s performance in the game against the #1 ranked defense in the country (at the time) was remarkable.
3. 5th Down. Colorado’s 33-31 victory over Mizzou in 1990. Game remarkable for the officiating, not necessarily the on-field performances, as CU’s winning “score” came on a mistaken “5th Down” play as time expired. And as replays still show, CU quarterback Charles Johnson still didn’t score on the play. He was down. CU went on to claim a share of the national championship.
2. Flea-Kicker. Nebraska’s 45-38 overtime win at Mizzou in 1997 was possible due to an insanely lucky (and technically illegal) game-tieing touchdown with seconds remaining in regulation. Pass from QB Scott Frost intended for Shevin Wiggins. As the ball was deflected, Wiggins eventually kicked it just enough for a diving Matt Davison to catch for the TD that sent to overtime. Nebraska went on to claim a share of the national championship.
1. Boston College’s 41-39 victory at Notre Dame in 1993. Notre Dame had just beaten Florida State in “The Game of the Century” to remain undefeated and move to #1 in the rankings with just the BC game remaining. BC dominated much of the game, only to have Notre Dame score 3 touchdowns in 11 minutes to move into the lead with just seconds remaining. BC then drove and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired. Remarkable not only for the ups and downs, but for how the ND crowd (students at least) stayed into the game and supported their team even when they were way down.
Other tidbits, here’s a youtube clip of a 1961 brawl between players at KU-MU basketball game. Interesting as a reminder that stuff like this didn’t just start with today’s generation. Also interesting that they thought (hoped?) playing the national anthem would make everyone stop.
YouTube – Cats From Ol’ Mizzou Rap 1987
YouTube – Cats From Ol’ Mizzou Rap 1987
“I don’t speak jive”. Norm Stewart, 1987. Funny stuff.
Spring Means Football
Spring Football Game is Saturday. Good Times.
Here are two great articles on Tigers:
- Jeremy Maclin from Graham Watson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Marcus Woods from Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star.
This will be the first spring game in forever that Sarah’s not taking pictures. With the demise of Inside Mizzou (unofficially), no one is paying her anymore. Makes shooting the spring game considerably less of a priority.
The athletic department keeps talking like they might pay her for stuff like this. And talking. And talking. It was going to be worked out by September. 2006. Come December, I imagine they’ll figure out they’d really like to have had a bunch of pictures from the football games.
In the meantime, we’re getting ready to re-order our crazy number of football season tickets, buy tickets to four away games, and renew our Tiger Scholarship Fund donation. In a couple more months we’ll renew our basketball season tickets. If only there were some really obvious way to combine their needs with our needs.
We’re almost done with the attic remodel. AEB & JTB are both sleeping in their new beds. Now if we can just get the parents away from those beds too, real progress will have been made. Pictures of the latest developments are here now.
Anyone reading this that lives in the St. Paul, Minnesota, area, e-mail me. I have a clandestine mission for you.
On a side note, screw ku.
Daniel, Tigers reaching for new heights
ESPN.com – NCF – Feldman: Daniel, Tigers reaching for new heights
Read this article on Chase Daniel and the Tigers, if you get the chance. It’s April, I’m ready for football.
MU – KU in KC MO
MU and KU recently announced a two-year deal to play their football games in Arrowhead Stadium in KC. I was asked informally about it before it was official, and my response hasn’t changed. I don’t care. Any other weekend and I’d be opposed.
The game is on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, meaning it’s a difficult time for students to be in Columbia. As long as it’s that weekend, playing in KC gives it a chance of becoming an event, instead of a home game on either campus played to 70% capacity. And with it being played on that Saturday, I don’t know that you could reasonably expect more than 70% capacity with no students on campus.
It also probably means I’ll be able to go to the next two of these games. While I certainly would have gone to the game in Columbia in 2008, no chance I would have gone to Larry in 2007. Now, probably 80% chance that I’ll go to both of them.
The common criticism of the decision seems to be that the respective athletic directors are money hungry. The criticism seems to most often come from restaurant and retail owners who are afraid this will impact their sales. Seems fairly hypocritical to me.
on a side note, screw ku.
Beat KU.
That is all.
No Freakin’ Curse
Sarah & I had the good fortune of going to El Paso with the athletic department for Mizzou’s appearance in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State University. On Saturday, we also watched the Tigers’ basketball game against Iowa State.
Both games we had big leads in the last few minutes. Both games we lost on last second ‘shots’. Both times, too many Mizzou fans telling me afterwards that “We’re cursed.” or “Only to Mizzou.”
Only thing consistent (or true) about the sentiment is that too many Mizzou fans think that way. Neither game was the result of a curse. Failure to make plays in both games was a huge problem as were a few referees’ decisions.
For whatever reason, Mizzou fans seem to take much more delight in remembering the bad (I had listed the games here, but realized that was adding to the problem). We’ve beaten KU in basketball when all they had to do was make one of two free throws at the end of the period to win (and beat Illinois similarly a few years ago). We beat SIU in the NCAA tournament recently on a very questionable call at the end in our favor. Dang near every thing we tried offensively against Oregon State worked. We beat Nebraska with a bevy of trick plays in 2003. We beat South Carolina in the Independence Bowl despite being down by seemingly 50 points in the first quarter.
I remember feeling kicked in the gut after the unlucky or tragic losses. I’m not saying they don’t suck. What I am saying, is that it sometimes just comes down to luck. Or making a play. Or the crowd being loud and influencing the action (see Moody free throws) or the referees. I just simply and firmly believe that if MU fans were quicker to look for ways to help their team, instead of looking for ways to point out how we’re going to lose or how this loss is similar to other losses, we could actually help those competing. When it comes down to one play, or one call, or both, the fans’ help might be enough to make the difference.