Do you want our home games played at Mizzou Arena or Hearnes Center?  That is a serious question.  With basketball season approaching, I really want to know the opinion of other Mizzou fans.  I’m especially asking Mizzou fans who have gone to games at both the Hearnes Center and Mizzou Arena, which one do you prefer?

Mizzou Arena:

I know we spent $75 million on Mizzou Arena.  I know it’s relatively new, I know it’s a nice looking arena, and I know that the athletic department really wanted to build an arena to hold 15,000 people.  And I don’t mind the longer walk to get to the game.  When I get to my seat, I have a great view of the court.  That is until someone sits in the seat in front of me, then all I can see is the back of that person’s head.  Mizzou Arena is a horribly designed arena.  The seats aren’t steep enough, so if people are sitting in the row right in front of you, then all you can see is the back of their heads.  I am not the only one that says this, I have heard many others complain about the same thing.  And not only are the sight lines horrible, it’s just not a fan-friendly atmosphere, even at sell-outs.  And I don't know if this is true, but I also heard that Mizzou Arena does not meet fire safety codes because of the lack of exits.

Hearnes Center:

I love the Hearnes Center.  I had season tickets there for years.  The seats were so steep, you always had a great view of the court, even if someone was sitting right in front of you.  Every game always had a great, fan-friendly atmosphere.  It had so much history, and there was a feeling and mystique about the Hearnes Center that you just don’t feel at Mizzou Arena.  Even the Mizzou players back then preferred the Hearnes Center over Mizzou Arena.  Back when Mizzou Arena opened for the 2004-05 season, Mizzou players who played at Hearnes for previous seasons said that they preferred the Hearnes Center over Mizzou Arena.  They mentioned how they liked how the fans were closer to the court and felt it was more of a home court advantage.

I obviously want our home games played back at Hearnes Center.  I think we should play our basketball games back at Hearnes Center, and move volleyball, gymnastics, and wrestling to Mizzou Arena.  Hearnes Center’s capacity was 13,600+, and I’m sure we could do some renovations/expansion to make it look nicer and to get close to 15,000 in Hearnes like Mizzou Arena.  And since not nearly as many people attend volleyball games, gymnastics meets, or wrestling matches, sight lines wouldn’t be obscured like they are for basketball games.  But I doubt the athletic department would consider playing our home games back at Hearnes Center, especially if Anderson keeps winning (which I hope he does) and fans keep filling up Mizzou Arena.

You know what I think, but now I’m really interested in hearing your opinions.  So where do you prefer we play our home games, at Mizzou Arena or Hearnes Center?

Just interested in the opinions of other Tiger fans.

While I know a lot of Tiger fans like our new and trendy image (e.g., Unis, Tiger logo, italicized “MIZZOU” logo, etc.), but how do you all feel about them compared to the old school stuff?  Maybe these new and trendy images help sell merchandise which makes more money, but I don’t think they have the same feel as the traditional stuff.

Uniforms:

Although I think our unis look good, the old unis have a feeling of tradition and history that big time colleges are supposed to have.  I like the plain unis with just a few decorative stripes on them, but what do you think?

Our Tiger Logo:

I think we use the Tiger logo too much.  I understand it being used in Sports Park, but even the new street signs on campus have the Tiger logo instead of the block “M” or stacked “MU”.  I’ve honestly never really liked the Tiger logo that much, it’s too “Pro Sport-like” (which it was intended to be).  I’ve always loved the block “M” and the “MU” stacked within the shield, they have a collegiate feel to them (but I never cared about block “M” inside the paw).  I’m also not sure why we started italicizing “MIZZOU.”  I think we should just use the block “M” and stacked “MU” logos, but which ones do you prefer we use?

Speaking of tradition:

I liked how we named “Faurot Field” in honor of Don Faurot.  Many stadiums have added names to them to honor someone, and I know "Memorial Stadium" was named in honor of those who lost their lives in WWI, but I’ve always thought it would’ve been nice to rename our it “Devine Memorial Stadium” in honor of Dan Devine.  What do you think?

Let me start off saying that I have no evidence of this, and I don’t necessarily believe that this was a conspiracy at all.  I’m not necessarily a cynical person, but I think it’s naive to believe that some don’t have ulterior motives.  Please don’t attack me because I’m not trying to start crap and I admit that this may be total BS.  But I do like to look deep into things and try to think if people may have other motives regardless of what they are saying.  What do you think, is this too far-fetched, or could it be a remote possibility?

After Nebraska was 1 second away from upsetting Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game, Texas believed that in the future, Nebraska, especially with an improved offense, would threaten Texas’ dominance in the conference.

As reports were circulating that Nebraska and Missouri were considering joining the Big Ten, this would be the opportunity for Texas to get rid of Nebraska and their threat of possibly becoming more dominant than Texas.

As the future of the Big 12 seemed in jeopardy, there were reports that Nebraska and Missouri were given ultimatums to stay in the Big 12 or go to the Big Ten, or 6 Big 12 schools would leave the Big 12 for the Pac 10.

Texas claimed that they wanted to keep the Big 12 intact, and leaked that the league could survive without Missouri, but the league couldn’t survive without Nebraska.

Many fall for this, like some of the other Big 12 schools, like the so-called “forgotten four” (ISU, BU, and Kansas schools) who pleaded with Nebraska to stay to save the league.

Everyone knows that the Big Ten and Delany desperately want Notre Dame, but Notre Dame wants to stay Independent in football and keep the rest of its sports in the Big East.  Delany knows that the only way to get Notre Dame was if the Big East and Big 12 imploded and there would end being 4 16-team superconferences left, Notre Dame would have to join one of the superconferences or would be left out.

Texas gets (the proactive) Delany to fall for the “the Big 12 can survive without Missouri, but cannot survive without Nebraska” rumor, and he hastily invites Nebraska to the Big Ten, hoping that the Big 12 would indeed implode, leading the way to the formation of superconferences, were he can also raid the Big East, which ends up forcing Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.

In the end, Delany was fooled, he miscalculates and the Big 12, and Big East, stay intact, and he does not get Notre Dame.  And Texas gets what they want, they get Delany to take away Nebraska, who in the future with an improved offense could threaten Texas’ dominance, to leave the conference.  Therefore, Texas secures its dominance in the conference.

What do you think, is this conspiracy theory too far-fetched, or could it have been a remote possibility?

Editor's note: In response to the divisive Stuff Mizzou People Like article that was published last week, JW emailed us about smaller renovations that might enhance the Faurot Field experience. I asked him to share them here. What do you think about some of these ideas? 

It’s been 13 years, Faurot Field needs to be updated.  If not to make us more appealing in the (inevitable) event of conference realignment, but also as a “wow” factor for recruiting.  There are a lot of quick and relatively less expensive things we could do to at least make Faurot Field look more beautiful and grand, here are some ideas just to jumpstart…

On the West side, simply build high brick walls on both sides of the press box that go up (almost) just as high and extend them to the end of the stands, and build a high brick wall on the East side that is the length of the stands (this could also help keep the fan noise in the stadium, and take away the unsightly view of the top of the Hearnes Center).  Build high brick walls at the North entrance for a grand appearance.  (May be build a short brick wall around the top of the South stands, and move the Hill closer to the North endzone to take away the tacky look of the temporary stands we put there for big games.)

Tiger Fans, what do you think?  Whether or not you like these ideas, do you all have some ideas to quickly and “inexpensively” renovate Faurot Field to make our home stadium more beautiful and grand?  We just renovated our Athletic Training Complex, time to renovate our stadium.