Anyone in the KC Area aware of any KC Cardinals bars?  With 2 Toddlers, I don't typically go out to watch games, but I think the wife and I may be interested in trying to finagle a last-minute baby-sitter for a game or two this series.  I KNOW there's a significant population of Cards fans in KC, so I've got to think there's a few bars where they congregate.  My brother got to watch the '06 clincher at a bar in Columbia, MO, that was packed all day by Cards fans, while I sat at home with my wife drinking champagne.  Since we can't be in St. Louis (or, even Columbia), I sure would love the opportunity to watch with a bunch of my closest friends-for-the-night, come what may.

Anyway, anyone know of any common hangout?

My wife's cousin works for Western Illinois, so we're wagering a 12-pack on the game.  As confident as he is in his 'Necks, he's requesting points.  Since Vegas won't be giving points on this matchup of the ages, what should I give him?

30 seems like too much, and 20 doesn't seem like enough, so I'm suggesting 25.  Is that fair?

Fight, Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou

Right behind you, everyone is with you

break the line and follow down the field

I just got a new Sprint phone, and I was looking for Mizzou wallpaper.  I found a Mizzou Sprint ID - Mizzou is the only University that has created one available from Sprint.  However, if you're not a student, the only thing you'll care about is the wallpaper.  The Mizzou SprintID itself has a lot of apps for students (Blackboard, Mizzou Directory, etc.).  If you don't care about that, just install the Sprint ID, then you have the option for the background in the available backgrounds.

It's pretty freaking awesome looking, and it's great to know that Mizzou is the first school to set up an Android SprintID.

As a top-3 finalist for the ASAUSA National Player of the Year, Chelsea was about as close as any Missouri Student Athlete has ever come to being named their sport's National Player Of The Year (as far as I can tell). But, alas, she did not win, the winner, instead, is Stanford Jr. Ashley Hansen.

Continue reading this post »

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri is partnering with the Heart of Missouri United Way to assist in relief efforts following Sunday's devastating tornado in Joplin, Mo.

More than 100 Missourians have been killed by the deadly May 22 twister and over 2,000 homes and businesses were destroyed.

The university is producing "One State. One Spirit. One Mizzou." Tornado Relief T-Shirts and all proceeds from each shirt sale ($14.95) will go to support the United Way's United for Joplin campaign. Shirts will initially be sold through the Tiger Team Store, the University Bookstore and online at mutigers.com. Shirts are on-sale now at mutigers.com and will be on sale beginning Thursday afternoon in the Memorial Stadium Team Store and bookstore.

Other ways to assist the United Way's recovery efforts include texting the word JOPLIN to 864833. That will trigger a $10 donation, which will be added to your cell phone bill.

For more information on the United Way's United For Joplin campaign please visit uwheartmo.org.

Tiger fans, your donations do make a difference. Join us in helping out those impacted by Sunday's tornado in Southwest Missouri.

### One State. One Spirit. One Mizzou. ###

If you are not familiar with the Learfield Director's Cup, it is an annual attempt to rank overall Athletic Department achievement across each division of the NCAA.  Every sport that is recognized by the NCAA is ranked, and teams are assigned point values relative to their final rankings in those sports.  

National Championship: 100 points

2nd: 90 points

3rd: 85 points

4th: 80 points

And so on...

Two comments of note: There is a President, 3 Vice Presidents and a Secretary of this organization, and Mike Alden is "3rd Vice President").  There are 248 ranked teams.

Missouri's previous best finish was in 2008-2009 with a 36th place finish, Mizzou finished 49th last season.  

Continue reading this post »

So... if you think hard, you might be able to remember some news last summer about an expansion that the Big 10 undertook.  Long story short, they added an additional team, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.  Part of the reasoning behind their move (and one of the only strict REQUIREMENTS of the Big 10) was Nebraska's membership in the AAU.  

The AAU - American Association of Universities is a consortium of 63 schools known as high level research institutions.  Among its members are all of the Big 10, Missouri and the University of Nebraska.

That is, until today.  University of Nebraska fails to meet AAU standards, has membership removed.  This measure was passed by 2/3 of the AAU's other 62 members.  Perlman noted that "most" of the rest of the Big 10 and all of the Big 12 AAU institutions voted against removing the Nebraska from the AAU.  So, since KSU, OU, OSU, Baylor and Tx Tech are not AAU Members, that makes 17 current or future conference mates out of the 21 votes needed to keep Nebraska in the AAU, and they STILL didn't get the support needed.

Continue reading this post »

I've not heard anything about him from Pro Day, or the combine, so I"m guessing he must not have gone.  However, he has had workouts with several teams, including the Patriots and the Colts.  Apparently, the Colts are pretty high on him.  Pretty sure he's got a workout with the Chiefs coming up (either that or the Pats are coming up and the Chiefs have already worked him out).

If I had to guess, I'd say a draft-day FA signee for a special teams spot.  great kid, I wish him the best, and he was a great Tiger.  So glad he didn't stay in-state.

[From Bill C.: I was weighing whether to write this or not, but then Andy did for me, so ... hooray! Promoted to the front page.]

It's inevitable - every time the Missouri job comes up, Kim Anderson's name becomes a rallying cry for those who want to get in touch with the glory days of Norm.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  Heck, it might be possible that he'd be a great coach at the D1 level.  Even though it's unlikely that Mizzou would ever hire someone directly from D2 without some low D1 experience, I want to take a look, in the same type of format that we're looking at for the other candidates.

Age: 55 (will be 56 before the end of the 2010-2011 school year).
Career Record: 203-74 at University of Central Missouri in 8 years 

Accomplishments: In 9 years at CMSU/UCM, Anderson has lead the Mules to 3 Regular Season MIAA Championships (1 outright, 2 shared) and 3 MIAA Tourney Championships.  The mules have gone to the NCAA D-II Tournament 5 times, advancing to the Final Four twice (and one additional Sweet 16 appearance). Before his arrival, the Mules had advanced to the NCAA D-II Tourney only 8 times since their 1984 National Championship, and had not won the MIAA since the 1984 season.

Before he was a head coach: Played in College for Mizzou, and was named the 1976-77 Big 8 POY.  Drafted in the 7th round by the Bucks and played 1 season in the NBA for the TrailBlazers.  Assistant coach for Norm Stewart from 1982-85 and 1991-99 and at Baylor from 85-91.  

Ties to the Midwest: From Sedalia, played college ball for Mizzou, and has spent all but 6 years of his coaching career in the state of Missouri, the other 6 years was at a future Big 12 school.

Ties to Missouri: See above.

Does he see this as a destination job?: I'd bet your life on it.  I can think of two explanations for why he's still at UCM after the success he's had.  1. No one at the D1 level is willing to take a chance on a first-time D1 coach in his mid-50s.   2. He's not willing to leave Missouri.

Can he recruit?: That's really tough to answer for a D-II guy, but let's look at the roster.  Of the 15 players on UCM's roster, 12 of them are transfers from other schools (7 of those from JUCOs.)  The other 3 players are from Ozark, Knob Knoster and Warrensburg.  Take that for what it's worth, but it's pretty common in the MIAA to have a lot of JUCO students - Anderson appears to rely on it slightly more than his counterparts, which may be a red flag - or maybe he's doing what is necessary to be successful.

This Year's Recruits:  I'm just gonna skip this, because it's unlikely that a player who is going to UCM would warrant a scholarship at Mizzou.

Continue reading this post »