Category: Mizzou

On the Pujols contract, the ‘New Newt” and Pinkel’s DWI

Posted by dcrim – November 17, 2011

Question of the day: Will members of the Quincy School Board ever learn how to play nice? Or are we going to have to put some of them in time out?

ESPN host Colin Cowherd says the Marlins’ nine-year contract offer to Albert Pujols is terrible, and that the Cardinals would be smart to not pay the iconic first baseman that much money. Click here for the video clip from his syndicated radio show.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in a virtual tie with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in recent polling of GOP presidential candidates, just months after his candidacy was thought to be dead. Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times likens Gingrich’s revival to that of Richard Nixon in 1968. In the end, however, McManus concludes Gingrich is no Nixon. Click here for the column.

Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated Wednesday night in Columbia. A poster on Facebook urged that Pinkel be given a pass on this one because, with Missouri moving to the SEC next year, the coach is going to be drinking a lot. Ouch!

Mizzou taking giant leap in moving to SEC

Posted by dcrim – November 7, 2011

It’s official: Missouri is heading to the SEC. And after watching LSU and Alabama slug it out through 60 minutes and overtime Saturday night, it’s difficult to see how Mizzou — which gave up 42 points and lost to Baylor — is going to compete in the country’s toughest football league.

Ivan Maisel ESPN.com puts an exclamation point on that line of thinking.

And now the Tigers, visions of long-term security in their heard, are stepping up their level of competition. The Tigers are like the Midwestern executive who takes a job in New York because it pays more. Only when he gets to Manhattan and discovers the price of rent and groceries does he understand that the rise in pay will include a decline in the standard of living.

Click here for the full story.

ESPN’s Big 12 blogger David Ubben says the Big 12 is to blame for the defections of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and now Mizzou.

One casualty will apparently be the rivalry between Missouri and Kansas. And some people are not happy about it.

Jeff Gordon provides a sampling of what other experts are saying about the move.

Who will make first managerial move: Cubs or Cardinals?

Posted by dcrim – November 3, 2011

A Thursday morning sprint around the sporting world:

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune have the same man as the top choice as the next manager for the Cardinals and Cubs. (Hint: It’s not Ryne Sandberg.) Meanwhile, the Tribune offers 11 possibilities to replace Mike Quade as the Cubs skipper.

(Interesting note: Since 1965, four men have managed 91.5 percent of the Cardinals’ games — Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa. Two are in the Hall of Fame, and the other two will be. Meanwhile, the Cubs have employed 26 managers — or 27, if you count Joey Amalfitano’s two stints.)

Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated lists the top 50 free agents in baseball, while Joe Posnanski detail’s the worst 10 contracts in the game. And here is an offseason look at the National League Central Division.

Jeff Gordon notes that Mizzou will have to make some big changes once it moves to the SEC.

On the Cardinals, Mizzou to the SEC and Yankees’ flameout

Posted by dcrim – October 7, 2011

Notes and quotes from the sports world heading into the weekend:

• The Phillies and the Cardinals are both throwing their ace in a winner-take-all playoff game. It doesn’t get any better than that. The loser has no complaints. And let’s be honest: Did anyone expect the Cardinals to still be playing?

• It’s nice that Missouri is flexing a little muscle and making the shot-callers in the Big 12 squirm, but the Tigers don’t belong in the SEC.

Mizzou’s rebirth in football has been due, in part, to the two-division setup in the Big 12 and the ability to recruit Texas. The Tigers played Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Nebraska every year, and only had to take on Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State twice every four years. There won’t be any cupcakes on an SEC schedule, and the recruiting advantage vanishes once that move is made.

The Big Ten makes more sense if MU wants a new home, but it doesn’t appear that conference is interested. And the SEC is no slam-dunk, either. Click here for the story.

• It’s always interesting to see how the New York tabloids react when the Yankees flame out in the playoffs, which happened for the fifth time in 10 years Thursday night. The story of a retired NYPD officer’s wife being acquitted of his murder seems to have softened the shots at the Yankees, though

On Mizzou basketball hire, GOP primary field and Donald Trump

Posted by dcrim – April 4, 2011

How do you spell panic? F-R-A-N-K H-A-I-T-H. Click here for reaction to the new Mizzou basketball coach.

When it comes to challenging Barack Obama for the presidency, the Party of Lincoln looks increasingly like a party of Mario Cuomos. Its biggest names and brightest lights are mainly competing to offer excuses for why they won’t be running in 2012. Ross Douthat explains in the New York Times.

How weird is Donald Trump?

Anderson’s departure means Mizzou can try to upgrade

Posted by dcrim – March 24, 2011

Sports columnists are lining up to take shots at Mike Anderson for his classless exit from Missouri to return to Arkansas. The focus now, of course, to find a new basketball coach for the Tigers.

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out some qualities he thinks MU should be looking for in this column.

Above all else, Alden needs to find a coach who wants to be a Missouri man. A coach who appreciates being here. A coach who won’t feel insecure just because he coaches on a court named for Norm Stewart. And a coach who won’t be slumming for another job, an increased payday, as soon as he wins a few games. Missouri had to put up with this nonsense for three consecutive years.

Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star believes Missouri can upgrade in this column.

Anderson spent five mostly eh seasons in charge of what could be one of the best 20 programs in the country, doing just enough to convince people that better days are always coming. On a scale of one to 10, Anderson performed like a 6 and figured out a way to be paid like a 9.

Mizzou football: Heartbreak always seems to be around the corner

Posted by dcrim – November 7, 2010

One thing you can count on with Missouri football is that the Tigers are going to blow a game they should have won.

Missouri, which two weeks ago was No. 6 in the BCS rankings after its thrilling victory over Oklahoma, has now lost two straight to fall to No. 20 in both the AP and USA Today polls. Losing at Nebraska was no sin — a lot of teams have done that, especially Mizzou the last 30 years — but coming up on the short end against Texas Tech was disappointing.

The Tigers managed a meager 95 passing yards Saturday night against the 119th best passing defense in the country in Texas Tech. The offense managed just three points after the first half of the first quarter, and had only three first downs in the second half against  a team that had lost four of six. The offense has managed just 34 points in the past two games, and held the ball for only 20 minutes Saturday night.

I had Missouri penciled in as an 8-4 team when the season started, figured their was a good chance it would lose four straight — at Texas A&M, at home against Oklahoma, and on the road against Nebraska and Texas Tech. But the Tigers won the first two games of that gauntlet to be one of the final seven undefeated teams in the country, and Tech already had lost 11 players to surgery.

But now, at 7-2, they face resurgent Kansas State in the home finale next weekend and then must travel to suddenly stout Iowa State, which beat Texas and took Nebraska into overtime. And Mizzou has always had trouble in Ames.

Missouri coould win its final three games to finish 10-2 and have an opportunity for a respectable bowl. But it could very easily lose the next two weeks and go into the Kansas game gunning for an 8-4 finish and another lower-tier bowl bid — especially if the offense continues to struggle.

Whatever happens, the scintillating victory over Oklahoma is a distant memory.

For 30 unlucky fans, Mizzou celebration could mean court date

Posted by dcrim – October 26, 2010

Missouri beat Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 in the BCS,  for the first time in 12 years Saturday night. Despite public announcements to stay off the field, thousands of fans poured out of the stands after the game to mob the players, jump up and down, and tear down the goal posts and carry them to a local watering hole.

The scene plays out in college football stadiums across the country every fall. It’s kind of silly and can be dangerous — one fan suffered a broken leg last Saturday night during the mass celebration on Faurot Field — but it’s part of the fabric of college football.

Missouri fans haven’t had many opportunities to celebrate like that. The Tigers, after all, are 7-0 for the first time since 1960. Big victories over Nebraska in 1978 and 2008 came on the road. Ditto for the Chase Daniel-fueled win against second-ranked Kansas three years ago that propelled the Tigers to their first Big 12 Conference championship game. When they last beat Oklahoma in 1998, the Sooners were a 5-6 outfit.

Besides, it was homecoming, and a record 18,000 fans showed up that morning for ESPN’s College GameDay program.

So what happens? Officers from the University of Missouri Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department arrested 30 people for trespassing. State Sen. Kurt Schaefer doesn’t fault police, but he wants the University of Missouri to drop prosecution for less ominous punishment, such as community service. The school’s administration says the matter is out of their hands, however.

“Man of these individuals arrested are students who will now have to face the task of looking for a job after graduation with a criminal record,” Schaefer said in a press release. “Perhaps we could look for a compromise given the excitement of the moment this event generated.

“We should, of course, use some restraint to keep anyone from getting hurt, and charges other than simple trespass should be handled accordingly. … We need to use some common sense without doing permanent harm to our students.”

Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden was quoted in the Kansas City Star that the emotions building during the game made the scene inevitable, and that ” … you just let them come on (the field).”

Mary Jo Banken, director of the MU News Bureau, told the Tribune the cases have been turned over to prosecutors and it is up to them to make a decision about whether to proceed. She said the university’s policies are based on the need for safety for the fans and the players.

OK, we get that, but the nationally televised game was huge. These things don’t happen very often in Columbia, Mo. At least not since the days of Al Onofrio. That’s a lot of pent-up celebration.

“We feel like our plans, our policies are communicated very directly to the fans,” Banken told the Tribune. “For coming on to the field after a football game, onto the court after a basketball game or any athletic fields after a game, people will be arrested. Now, it is impossible for security personnel to control the overall actions of an entire group, but we will enforce our regulations as much as possible.”

Besides being a lawmaker, Schaefer is also a lawyer, so don’t be surprised if he offers his services to the unlucky 30 fans who were nabbed by police. Also don’t be surprised if the prosecutors in Boone County look back on those dark seasons of Woody Widenhofer and Bob Stull, decide a little mayhem is better than a 1-10 football team and amend the charges.

There are probably a few bigger cases to try.

Will this be the day Mizzou finally succeeds on the big stage?

Posted by dcrim – October 23, 2010

We take a break from political mudslinging to bring you these Saturday morning sports shorts:

• Missouri is 6-0 for only the third time in the past 50 years (1973 and 2006) and are bucking to go 7-0 for the first time since 1960. But the Tigers have not been able to beat Oklahoma. The Sooners have won 19 of the past 20 meetings, and the past six by an average of 22 points. Gary Pinkel has never beaten Oklahoma and Bob Stoops has never lost to Missouri.

Will Mizzou finally end the drought? Will the Tigers finally come up big in a nationally televised game against a top-ranked opponent? Is the defense as good as the statistics indicate? Will Blaine Gabbert make it through the entire game? Contender or pretender, that is what is at stake tonight in Faurot Field. And we Mizzou fans already have had our hearts broken too many times.

• Texas vanquished the hated Yankees to reach the World Series for the first time since the franchise relocated from Washington in 1972. That means only two franchises — Seattle and Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos — have never appeared in the World Series. And San Francisco hasn’t won a World Series since 1954, when a 23-year-old phenom named Willie Mays was patrolling center field.

While television executives will hate it, a San Francisco-Texas World Series would be great theater because it would involve two teams without many stars (minus Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum), and one of them will end a major championship drought. Plus, that would mean Philadelphia doesn’t match the three consecutive National League pennants the Cardinals won from 1942-44 with a young Stan Musial, who turns 90 next month.

I would root for the Rangers just because I like Nolan Ryan, the former fireballer who now owns the team. Anybody else remember when he became baseball’s first $1 million-a-year-player?

• David Stern wants to cut NBA salaries by a third and possibly contract teams. What, no Memphis Grizzlies-Toronto Raptors matchup on a cold, winter afternoon on a Sunday in February? Quick now, name two starters on those teams.

My point, exactly.

• Congratulations to the Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame football teams on impressive victories in their regular-season finales. Now the wait begins for tonight’s announcement of playoff pairings by the Illinois High School Association. Let’s hope somebody gets a first-round home game.

• What was Bruce Pearl thinking?

• Love him or hate him, Sherrill Hanks, who passed away this week, was one of a kind. His coaching record speaks for itself, and the legacy he left behind at Quincy High School lingers today. One thing young reporters learned quickly in dealing with Sherrill was to do your homework, because if you asked a dumb question, he would tell you it was a dumb question. But if you did your job, remained fair and honest, and didn’t back down, he would sit and talk with you for hours, even if he disagreed with what you had written.

Anybody else remember when Sherrill did weekend sports for WGEM-TV? The whistle in the intro? OK, now I’ve really dated myself.

Time for GameDay from the Quad.

If Missouri wants to be a big dog, now is the time to strike

Posted by dcrim – October 18, 2010

Missouri is 6-0 for only the fifth time in school history and stands 11th in the initial BCS standings. The ESPN College GameDay crew will be in Columbia this weekend for the first time as the Tigers, who only cracked the national rankings three weeks ago, try to catapult themselves into the top 10.

All Missouri has to do is beat Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 in the BCS and third in both national polls. Unfortunately, the Sooners have won 19 of the last 20 meetings and 31 of the last 34, including twice in the Big 12 championship game (2007 and 2008). And has Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out, that doesn’t include their 14-game winning streak over MU from 1946 to 1959.

Two years ago Mizzou climbed to No. 3 in the polls and could have moved to the top spot with a victory over Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys pulled an upset on a Saturday night nationally televised contest, and the Tigers were blown out the next week at Texas. They still won the Big 12 North, but were humiliated by Oklahoma in the title game and haven’t been in the top 15 since.

Missouri will have to prove it is worthy of national respect. The Tigers have Oklahoma at home this week and Nebraska on the road next week. If they want to run with the big dogs, they need to be the big dog in some of these games.