SB Nation User Blog: The Beef

Our new friends at the Ralphie Report

The Beef — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:06:59 -0000

Our new friends at the Ralphie Report

They are now a member of SB Nation, so I thought I would give them a shout-out and welcome aboard.

Feature Story on Askren on ESPN.com

The Beef — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:32:59 -0000

Feature Story on Askren on ESPN.com

Elizabeth Merrill of the Worldwide Leader takes a long look at Askren's experience in Beijing these past two weeks.

Monday Musings - Wrestling and Other Stuff

The Beef — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:48:56 -0000

What better way to get ready for the 2008-2009 Mizzou season (which will start this next weekend with Soccer) than to FINALLY get the wrestling wrap-up down. I will save the year to year review until next week (as I am going to need something to write about and school will start on the 25th....nice way to start the year) Soccer is underway in exhibition and I will cover those two games, along with a few thoughts on football from the 2nd of three weeks of practice. Of course, there will likely be some random thougnhts at the end, as I appear to be contractually obligated to mention Brett Favre at some point in this post.

And I am not going to lie to you...I had much of the wrestling post written out when my computer freaked and I lost it. Consider that message received that this wrap up was just never meant to be. So the football thoughts (also lost) and the wrestling recap are going to be VERY short, since I just have no desire to type them out again. I ask for Chitown and other wrestling fans to feel free to jump on in and add any and ALL the information I am bound to skip.

Soccer:

Two exhibition games came and went for the Mizzou Women's Soccer team, picked 3rd in the pre-season Big XII poll this past week. Earlier, they travelled up to Omaha, NE to take on Creighton, and while they absolutely peppered the Jays with 32 shots (to just 5 from Creighton), they came away with a come from behind 1-1 tie. Stars Alysha Bonnick and Kristen Andrighetto sat out the action, but both came back strong yesterday, as the Tigers beat down the Cardinals of Illinois State 5-0. Andrighetto went 70 minutes and tallied an assist, while Bonnick spent 73 minutes on the field and scored 3 straight goals. Senior defender Kat Tarr started the scoring, while freshman Kendra Collins scored the 2nd goal from the midfield position. Bonnick tallied her 1st to start the second half, and her last with but a minute to go.

Mizzou will now have the week off and start their season at home on Saturday against Illinois at 6:30 p.m.

Football:

I am pleased that Chase Daniel is not happy.

I believe ONE frosh WR will play

Thursday scrimmage will be about depth I am guessing

Am happy to see Chase Patton doing so well (save maybe for the scrimmage)

I don't expect a true frosh to break the two-deep on the D-end depth chart

Wrestling:

125: Tony Pescaglia, who will be an RS sophomore, was doing quite well last year before his injury. I expect him to step right back up and pick up where he left off in what should be a weaker division in the Big XII with the recent loss of Paul Donahoe from Neb. Troy Dolan is another name to keep an eye on as he becomes an RS frosh. Pescaglia could be very good within the Big XII as Donahoe is gone from Neb.

133: Two-time All-American Tyler McCormick has moved on, leaving a spot open for either RS soph Nick Velliquette (who subbed in a lot last year when McCormick was injured), RS frosh KC Pescaglia or soph AZ St. transfer Todd Schavrien who was highly acclaimed coming out of Poway, CA. This class is also somewhat open in the Big XII as Coleman Scott is gone from Okie State.

141: Senior Marcus Hoehn occupied this spot last season, and did not provide the Tigers with much in the grand scheme of things. He will return, along wth RS Sophs Willie Saxton and Vince Hannon, and RS frosh Patrick Mosley and Brandon Wiest. Also entering the mix will be a couple of skilled true frosh with local wrestling product Taylor Crane and Wisconsin product Nick Hucke (who I actually saw wrestle in the state finals at 141 and was VERY impressed). The spot is WIDE open needless to say. Yet another division where someone could step up and be very good as Nathan Morgan is gone from Okie State.

149: Very up and down senior Josh Wagner has completed his eligibility, but returning to the mat will be RS soph Ashtin Primus. Primus wrestled as a true frosh two years ago and had some big wins at 141 before running out of gas just a bit at the end of the season (as is common in true frosh). Primus will return to the mat after a RS year and is likely to hold down this spot. Primus will have his work cut out for him in the Big XII, as three other wrestlers from the conference return in 2009 to this weight class. He will have true frosh Cody Farinella and RS frosh Rudy Galarza and Daniel Hewitt (from St. Charles, MO) to battle with for the position.

157: With three national wrestlers graduating from this class, senior to be Mike Chandler could definitely be looking at a top 10 ranking to start the season. Seniors Andrew Sherry and Emanuel Brooks (who had the unlikely run at the Big XII's at 174) are here in case Chandler needs a rest, but clearly this will be a spot with a lot of turnover....next season, but the Tigers do have true frosh Nicholas Gregoris coming in from North Carolina. Chandler will continue his battles with junior Cyler Sanderson from Iowa State and RS senior NEWLY MCSPADDEN!! from Okie State.

165: Having been there in person last year to see the semis between junior-to-be Nick Marable and Eric Tannenbaum from Michigan, I am still a little disappointed for Marable and that late call that sent him to the 3rd place match. Marable will start the season almost definietely in the top 3 nationally, as actually the top 2 graduate in front of him. Sophomore Mack Lewnes from Cornell will certainly be someone who Marable spars with in the rankings this season, and this really is a loaded division for the Big XII with junior Stephen Dwyer from Nebraska, RS Soph Jon Reader from Iowa State and RS Sr. Jake Dieffenbach (at least I think that is right) from Okie State, all of whom are likely to be in the top 10.

174: This was something of a lost class last year for the Tigers, as they were all over the place, even all the way down to using a 157 lb'er in Emanuel Brooks at the Big XII Championships. This season, a lot of names will be vying for the spot, and I am hoping one in particular will be the winner. Seniors Joey Garrity and John Andrews will complete their Tiger careers while RS frosh Garrett Jones and Dorian Henderson will be beginning theirs. Personally, I recall hearing big things about Henderson and hope this is his time to step up and take the class. Of course I have also previously mentioned Raymond Jordan and Max Askren each coming down a weight class, but I doubt that happens at this point. If Henderson can take the spot, he will be facing some tough conference competition in seniors Brandon Browne from Nebraska and Brandon Mason from Okie State.

184: Senior-to-be Raymond Jordan finally realized his three-year journey as he was able to obtain his first All-American honor. Nationally, this continues to be a stacked class, as only 2 of the top 10 will graduate. Jordan will continue to battle with national #1 junior Jake Varner from Iowa State and RS Senior Josh Weitzel from OU. Senior Vince Jones from Nebraska will also be a very tough out for the Tigers. RS Soph Josh Skurnik and true frosh Brent Haynes will serve as the depth here, but look for Jordan to wrestle quite a bit in his senior campaign.

197: Nationally, we go from a stacked division to one where 10 of the top 18 wrestlers will be moving on, including the top 4. This means that junior Max Askren likely returns in the top 5 this coming season, and will do battle with RS junior Craig Brester of Nebraska in what should be a pretty thin group inside the Big XII. This is a good sign for Askren as he will strive for his 3rd conference championship and return to the NCAA's in search of his 2nd All-America honor. RS frosh Trevor Collins will serve as the depth here.

275: Saving the most interesting class for last, I am so curious to see how this works out. On one hand, you have junior-to-be Mark Ellis, who has made the NCAA's both years, and thanks to heavy national graduation, will likely enter the season a top-10 wrestler. He has been up and down, sometimes losing matches he likely should not, but other times, he will put Gorrarian-worthy efforts at various tournaments. On the other hand, you have RS Frosh Dom Bradley, who entered Mizzou as highly acclaimed as any wrestler the program has ever seen, earning the #1 HS ranking in some publications. I believed Bradley would supplant Ellis last season, and I was incorrect. I will hold off on making any guesses here again and just wait and see how it turns out. Whoever earns the position will have some tough conference foes in front of them, with RS junior Jared Rosholt from Okie State and junior David Zabriskie from Iowa State to battle.

Random Thoughts:

So, while checking scores on my phone on Saturday night through ESPN.com, I was told it was BREAKING NEWS about Favre's performance....in a preseason game. Oy.
Nothing left to be said about Michael Phelps except to see if he chooses to head to London in 2012 and tries to break the all-time medal record (which I believe is 19 to his 16)
Speaking of Phelps and all-time athletes, I am a bit torn on Usain Bolt. I have NEVER seen a race like his in the finals, but why not just shallack the field and run through? Dominant athletes like Phelps and Tiger and people in individual sports knew when to hold back and win, and then knew when to just throttle people to make a point. The finals of the 100 meters at the Olympics is time to throttle people, and Bolt passed on it. I just shudder and feel a little robbed that we might not know what he could have put down for a record.
Ben Askren will get going on Wednesday this week, and what a great effort by Christian Cantwell to come back from the pack to take the silver on his last throw. Cantwell is still pretty young as it pertains to the sport and should still be very much a factor when it comes to the next Olympics in 2012.
Nice to see the Mets take advantage of playing teams they are supposed to beat (Nats and Bucs) this past week (on the road no less) and that the Phillies took up sniffing glue and the Mets landed back in first place. Santana continues to lower that ERA (going CG shutout yesterday) and Pedro even went SEVEN innings (I still cannot believe that.) If they can get Wagner back healthy somewhat soon and get the rest of their walking wounded (Maine, Church and Castillo) back into the mix, they could finally be ready to be as high level as they should have been all season.
Happy 29th birthday to Carl Edwards who celebrated by sweeping the races in Michigan this past weekend.
This made me laugh...a lot

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The St. Louis Rams' first-team offense has yet to score a preseason touchdown in three years under coach Scott Linehan.

Seriously? I mean, yes...I realize the first team is often only on the field for a series or two...but multiply that by 4 games a year (and I thought it may have been five at some point not that long ago, but could certainly be wrong about that) and then multiply that by 2+ years, and....wow....ouch.

Christian Cantwell advances to Shot Put finals

The Beef — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:20:26 -0000

Christian Cantwell advances to Shot Put finals

Christian comes through his round (1 of 2) in 2nd place currently (behind Polish thrower Tomasz Majewski). In the qualifying round, it seems you are automatically in after throwing 20.40 meters. Cantwell scored on his 1st throw, but did not hit the distance until the 2nd of 3, where he threw 20.48. American Reece Hoffa also made the distance at 20.41, and Adam Nelson is likely throwing now.

The finals will be competed tomorrow morning (or later tonight for Cantwell) and we will be all over it as they happen as best we can.

Nebraska Wrestlers Dismissed

The Beef — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:58:11 -0000

Nebraska Wrestlers Dismissed

Well...this is certainly a tough situation for that squad...but likely relegates back into the pack a bit in the Big XII as they really put a move on the top spot and were returning some very talented people. Now...not quite as much

Much More Coverage on Ben Askren

The Beef — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:09:05 -0000

Much More Coverage on Ben Askren

Seems Ben will be updating this site a tad more than the NBC Site.

Also, he posted some video of his shopping at the silk market with his brother Max....hiliarity ensues..check it out here.

Monday Musings - Baseball and Softball

The Beef — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:15:14 -0000

Well...a week off from the Musings as I was spending the weekend up in MN with my folks leaves us with some housekeeping stuff to do as we near the start of the 2008-2009 Mizzou Sports season. I am going to extend my reviews of the teams from last year out one more week, even though soccer will start in exhibition this week. So I will still cover baseball and softball this week, with wrestling and a final wrap-up next Monday, while also peppering in some thoughts on football and soccer.

Football:

Considering the absolute information overload so far this summer (where I really have to give tremendous props to Dave Matter from the Tribune...his coverage is outstanding and getting damn close to what other sites have done in the past in terms of its depth) I figured I would try to sum up my thoughts on what I have seen in the first week. In short, I really could not be much more pleased with how the week has gone. Even when something has gone "wrong" and a situation existed where Chase Daniel would miss a day for a funeral, we got to see some great action out of Chase Patton who was able to demonstrate that while we would take a step back without Chase D, the step might not be as large of a jump as once thought.

At this point, the only small area of concern I have seen (and this was born out of a positive as well) is the status of the offensive line on the interior. Not heard too many huge question marks about the tackle positions, but Ziggy Hood appears to have potentially unearthed a deficiency at the right guard position. Plenty of time to get that sorted out and even Chase Daniel has said he is surprised at how much the "new" offensive line has gelled this early, but I will be interested to see this situation progress. Other than that, I will leave my thoughts short and say "the week that was" was about as good as I could have hoped for to start the summer.

Baseball:

So many high hopes for the 2008 Mizzou baseball season. It is interesting to take a step back from it now after all has been said and done for a couple of months and try to figure out just how successful the season could be considered. The team ripped off a long wining streak, ascended almost to the top of the country, then fell off a bit due to a lack of a strong bullpen only to recover and still finish with 39 wins on the season. What will the team return in 2009? How will the players lost from '08 be replaced? Lots of questions, but considering that Mizzou has made the NCAA tournament the last six seasons, what will the expectation be for 2009?

Let's start with what is lost from season to season, and you have to start with junior Aaron Crow. An amazing campaign ended with Crow being one of the top pitchers in college (if not THE top) with a 13-0 record and NCAA victory over Ole Miss in the regional. Crow had a "record setting" scoreless streak earlier in the season which garnered substantial national attention and ended up allowing Crow to be selected in the 1st round by the Washington Nationals (though he is still unsigned). Also lost to the draft was lefty Saturday starter Rick Zagone in the 6th round to the Orioles. OF Ryan Lollis was the only other non-senior to be drafted, but the report is that he will return for his senior season. Graduating into the draft were OF Kurt Calvert who saw a good amount of time on the field, IF Lee Fischer and Mizzou all-time home run king Jacob Priday. Needless to say, some holes will need to be filled.

However, all is certainly not lost for the Tigers. Returning on the mound will be two very solid starters in senior Ian Berger and junior Kyle Gibson, the latter off a wonderful summer effort with Team USA where he struck out 25 batters in 17+ innings and won a team-high five games. Berger bounced back and forth between the starting spot and the pen, and will likely be penciled in as a Saturday starter. Via for the final starting spot will likely be high acclaimed sophomore Nick Tepesch, sophomore Brad Buehler or perhaps even freshmen Jared Cosart or David Rollins. The key, however, may be what the Tigers can return or create from the bullpen. Junior Ryan Allen returns as the best statistical pitcher, along with Ryan Gargano and Kelly Fick. With four saves, perhaps Tepesch becomes the closer for this season if another starter can step up for the last weekend slot.

Oh, and then there is this. Will it happen? Guess we will know in about a week, but wow would that be a strange turn of events. Needless to say, that'd be some boost to the rotation, but I believe this is not likely to happen when all is said and done on deadline day.

In the field, the Tigers will be bolstered by the return of Ryan Lollis to the outfield. Lollis will be the leading base stealer returning, as well as someone who did not commit an error. Where Lollis was the #2 hitter for the Tigers, junior Aaron Senne returns as the leading hitter for the Tigers. Returning also will be freshman standout Andrew Thigpen, who while he needs to improve in the field, did a ton at the dish for the Tigers. Catcher Trevor Coleman started his sophomore season a bit slowly, but still came around to hit almost .300 and will look to have a better junior campaign. JUCO addition Steve Gray will also return his bat to the lineup along with solid infielder/pitcher Greg Folgia, who could stand to strike out just a bit less, but still has plenty to offer at the plate. Solid freshman bench player TJ Schieber will also look to break into the starting lineup. As it is easy to see, the pantry is not empty for the Tigers.

What seems to becoming more and more a trend for Tim Jamieson teams are their ability to add solid freshmen to the lineup each season. Like Senne and Coleman two years ago and Thigpen this past season, Mizzou is hoping perhaps one of the pitchers named above will make a mark, or perhaps the interesting story of Garrison McLagan, who committed as a junior back in 2007 and will be eligible to play in the spring of 2009. This young man is highly touted and burst on the national scene as a 12 year old All American and is often lauded as the best player to come out of the Columbia, MO area. It will be interesting to track his progress.

It also bears mentioning that Mizzou put two more alums in the league this past season with Max Scherzer in AZ and Doug Mathis down in TX, and put a Tiger in the All-Star game with Ian Kinsler (who went 5 for 6 last night and is batting .319, good enough for third in the AL)

To sum up...where will Mizzou end up in 2009? On offense, it looks like the team will not miss many beats, even with the loss of Priday. On the mound however, is where the majority of the questions exist. Can Mizzou find a third weekend starter? Can the Tigers find a more stable bullpen than they had last year? That is where the season will be won and lost all more than likely. I believe the Tigers will get back to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season, and hopefully the amount of junior and senior talent will be infused nicely by some of the youth to give the Tigers that program-bump they have been looking for, especially on the eve of the expansion of Taylor Stadium.

Softball:

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the Mizzou season was the softball team in 2008. Remember, while Coach Earleywine had a full season with the Tigers last year, he came on VERY late in the game...in fact...school had already started in 2007 when he was named the head coach. Coach Earleywine was able to parlay a surprising season in 2007 (where Mizzou was picked to finish 8th in the league and came in 2nd and he was named Coach of the Year) into another very successful season in 2008, complete with the team's advancing to the NCAA Super Regional Round. The Tigers would rip off 47 wins, come in 3rd in the conference (predicted 4th), finish 16th in the country and have one of the most exciting freshman in the country. And let's not forget about the monumental 19-game winning streak. How will 2009 round out? Let's take a look.

First off, what will the Tigers need to replace? Mizzou only had three seniors on the squad this season, one of which was Micaela Minner who did not play (she was hurt in her 1st year, then played the next three, then was hurt again last season, so I believe she is done). The other two were a big part of the Tigers getting to the NCAA the past two seasons. The first was Amanda Renth, the rock at first base the past three seasons. Renth would finish the season 3rd in batting average at .333 (2nd on the team in conference at .392) and led the team in HR's with 20 and RBI's with 60. Big loss to say the least. The other loss was all-everything Jenn Bruck. Bruck endured a lot ups and downs over her career to finish with a good season on the hill with 17 wins and an ERA under 3, and a great season at the plate just under .300 with 14 HR's. So the Tigers will lose 34 HRs of their team's 65, so over half of them.

So what oh what will the Tigers do in 2009? To start, let's take a look at what is coming back. And the first thing which needs to be mentioned is future sophomore Rhea Taylor. All Taylor did in her first campaign was bat over .400, score over 1/6th of the entire team's runs and stole more bases (57) than all of Mizzou opponents COMBINED against them this season. Taylor has a very good chance of becoming an All-American in the seasons to come, end of story. Senior-to-be Andee Allen will bring her 2nd on the team .379 average back for another season, and the power will return from Lindsey Ubrun in her senior campaign, bringing back 16 HR's. Let's also not forget about National Jewish Player of the Year Julie Silver. Additional freshmen from last season Abby Vock and Kathryn Poet also will return a lot of experience to the field. On the bump, future senior Stacy Delaney had a great first season for the Tigers off of her transfer from Michigan. Delaney accounted for 20 wins and an ERA right at 2.01. Future junior Jana Hainey comes back for her third season off of 10 wins, an ERA of 2.25 and a couple of saves. Plenty returning on the hill.

So this was Coach Earleywine's first full recruiting class, as he inherited commitments from Vock and C/OF Lisa Simmons last season before bringing in Taylor, C Megan Christopher and C/IF Marla Schweisberger (who may be seen as a potential replacement of some of the power lost). The coach's first full class will feature four players; two position players and two pitchers. The pitchers are top MO recruit Kristen Nottleman and top IA recruit Chelsea Thomas. Thomas jus finished her senior season (played in the summer in IA) and went 21-6 with a 0.25 ERA (which is SEVEN earned runs over 198 innings....SEVEN). She also struck out 431 batters, to bring her career total to 1567. Thomas also had hit .350 for her career and hit 15 HR's in 2006, and went on to hit .412 this season with five more HR's. My guess is that she may see some action, as she evidently hits 70+ mph. Joining them will be Ashley Flemming from Silex, MO who hit .671 in her season season with good power and Jaydee Young who hit .571 with a 1.131 slugging percentage. Needless to say, some exciting talent coming to University Field.

What must Mizzou do in 2009 to keep the momentum going from 2008? The Tigers will likely start the season ranked, just as they did this past season. The top of the order is very set with Taylor and Allen, but at least a batter or two will need to step up and add power to protect Ubrun. On the hill, the senior Delaney will clearly lead the way for the Tigers, but Mizzou would do well to see either Thomas or Nottleman step up to be a solid contributor on the hill to assist Hainey. There will be a good amount of seniors on this team, so making sure some depth is developed this year will be key towards 2010 when Mizzou will need to replace both bats and arms. But, 2009 is coming and I see do see the third straight NCAA tournament berth under Coach Earleywine and another season where the Tigers will be right in the thick of things in the Big XII, just as they have been the past two seasons.

Random Thoughts:

I think I am really going to enjoy the Olympic coverage, which here in St. Louis saw two more HD channels added to cover soccer and basketball...but...
Seriously...how in the hell do I end up watching women's fencing at 1:30 a.m. on a Friday night after the bar closes?
I LOVE Lebron James in the international game. Kobe Bryant may still be considered the better player, but I do not think his game translates nearly as well to the international game as Lebron's does.
I would have to believe the Olympic symbol for basketball has changed in recent years, considering it is someone flying above the rim currently...probably not how it started I would imagine.
Eye-witness reports from China have Craig Sager the owner of quite the red/white/blue jacket.
Few better ways to spend a glorious Saturday afternoon than to get over to Grafton, IL (we prefer the ferry) to drink at the Loading Dock. Perhaps six and a half hours was too much...who am I to judge?
And let me add my "HOLY CRAP!!" to last night's swimming effort by the U.S. 'Nuff said on that.
In somewhat related news I guess, Rowdy Gaines clearly has no idea what he is talking about...ever. In the race BEFORE the relay, he proclaimed that everyone was fighting for 2nd behind the Italian Swimmer (who was now dating the French Swimmer's ex-boyfriend...crazy stuff if you saw the report). The Italian swimmer would finish 4th. Then he said that no matter how many times he ran the race in his head, there was no way the Americans would win. Solid stuff there Rowdy...but it was amazing to see the reaction of everyone...all the way down to Chris Collinsworth back in the studio with Costas. Everyone was just pumped up.

Link to follow Julia Potter at the USGA Women's Amateur Championship

The Beef — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:04:29 -0000

I will go ahead and throw this over here....as stated in the Daily Links, her match will still not get going until later in the afternoon, and I will do my best to update later this evening. Here's hoping she can keep up the good effort she put forth in the stroke play the last two days. And I am eight words short of being able to publish this....

http://www.uswamateur.org/scoring/match/0131.html

Monday Musings - Men's and Women's Golf and Women's Tennis

The Beef — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:14:55 -0000

The weekly countdown to the 2008-2009 Mizzou sports season continues, as we are just about three weeks out from the return of soccer and the scholastic season. This week, we will take on the links and hard courts as we look at Men's and Women's Golf as well as Women's Tennis. Just remember that the seasons of baseball and softball will be covered next week, followed by the wrestling recap that is now probably 5 months in the making. That should bring us right to the start of exhibition soccer season...and the end of the scholastic summer.

Women's Golf:

We will start with the women's golf team, who continues to make news all summer long with the great performance being carded by current team members. In fact, just this week, senior-to-be Chelsea Schreiwer added to her off-season resume by winning the St. Louis Amateur Championships. Future sophomore Lindsey Haupt came in third. Considering the success experienced in the off-season along with the success experienced during the year, the women's golf team is one of the up and comers in the Mizzou family.

MUTigers.com has already gone ahead and turned over their website from 07-08 to 08-09, so a look back at the Tigers' season is going to be a bit more difficult. The fall season was a great success, where Mizzou won the inaugural Johnie Imes Invitational at Old Hawthorne and Julia Potter won that tournament and another, earning her Golfweek's Player of the Week and Big XII Player of the Week. On to the winter season, the Tigers continued their steady play, and marched into the post-season where they would take 3rd at the Big XII Championships and advance to the NCAA Regional Tournament. There, the ladies' season would end with a 14th place finish, but Potter would shine for the Tigers, coming home in 10th overall.

The team will graduate just one senior in Maddie Augustsson, who was a big contributor in the past couple of seasons. That included five top-25 finishes in seven outings this past spring, and an 8th place finish at the Big XII Championships back in 2007. She leaves five very talented golfers behind for the typical six tournament spots (top five scores are counted of the top six). Leading the pack of returning talent is future-junior Julia Potter. Potter was the top Mizzou golfer this past season with three top-10 finishes, 6th at the Big XII and an All-Big XII selection. That was after an even better fall which saw her with three top-five finishes and two tournament titles. Potter is one of three US Women's Amateur Open qualifiers with Haupt and sophomore-to-be Madison Marcolla, and she also made it to the final stage of US Women's Open qualifying this past spring. Along with Schreiwer and junior-to-be Michelle Morgan, the Tigers will be returning a ton of talent to the links.

Who will be vying for that final position? Senior Ellen Hoeper is one name which comes to mind, as she will be returning from shoulder surgery which shelved her for the 2007-2008 season. Mizzou will also welcome three new freshman, including one from across the pond in Hannah Lovelock. She will be joined by Marissa Cook, who holds the highest finish in Illinois history by a freshman and Alex Bell from Indiana. All told, with the continued improvement of the talented pieces already in place, there is no reason to believe the ladies will not improve on their finishes (though Okie State is tough to unseat at the top of the Big XII). An NCAA berth may not be out of the question as they will need to finish eighth or better to get there.

Men's Golf:

For as solid of a season as the Women's Golf team had under coach Stephanie Prismeyer, the almost opposite could be said for the men's team and Coach Mark Leroux. The men's squad, though really pretty young, did not have the season I am sure they were looking to have. In the end, their 12th place finish at the Big XII Championships closed one of the more disappointing seasons of all the Mizzou athletic teams.

The same season-review issue exists for the men's golf team as it did for the women's golf team. Just know that in golf, they really get to play in some lovely locations. Las Vegas, California, Mexico, Florida are always among the destinations for the team. The men were able to add the UMB Mizzou Tiger Intercollegiate Classic, where they came in 10th this past season with Peter Malnati having the high individual finish. On the season, the best finish by the team was a tie for 2nd in the UK Bluegrass Invitational .

As mentioned earlier, this was a young squad, with only one senior on the team in Beau Crawford (who did not see much action on the season). The team next season will be very senior and sophomore heavy, as only one junior (Bud Reynolds) will be on the squad. The group of seniors will be highlighted by the duo from Tennessee in Peter Malnati and Ryne Fisher. These two were a big part of the first recruiting class put together by Coach Leroux and they need to step up their effort to start driving some team improvement. Local boy Kyle Marcolla will round out the trio. On the sophmore side, the Will's of William Harrold and Will Hogan both saw a lot of early action, along with Tyler Hillis.

The biggest news for Mizzou from this past season might be who they expect on the links next season in their lone signee of Jace Long (Dixon, MO) Long is an extremely decorated junior golfer who is expected (and needed quite frankly) to make an impact on the squad. And, considering the team finished 12th in the conference, improvement is expected. However, with a nice group of seniors and some talented youth, the time is now to get past this bump in the road and back on course.

Women's Tennis:

Along with the men's golf squad, another very young Mizzou squad was the women's tennis team of Coach Blake Starkey. Featuring a trio of very solid freshman, the team got out with some good, early success before getting into the conference season. The highlight of the conference season was a win over kansas, one of their two conference wins. In the end, Mizzou lost a number of tough and close matches and will return all but one of their players from this past season, while adding a five-star recruit to the fold. What will that spell in 2008-2009? Let's take a look back before we look ahead.

First off, a quick piece of tennis education. Each competition is made up of nine total matches, six singles and three doubles. The doubles is competed first and a team must win two of three to earn the doubles point. The other six singles matches are competed for the remaining six points to give you the seven total points accumulated. Four team points are obviously needed to win the competition.

Often times, when a number of freshmen are big contributors to a team, there is usually an adjustment period to start things. For the most part, no so with this past tennis squad, as freshman Mallory Weber won more matches at the #1 position than any other Tiger member in some time, freshman or not. The Tigers would start the season nicely and rattle off a number of solid wins in the out of conference. Weber would be joined by fellow frosh Maureen Modesto and Kaitlyn Richie, with the former having the most wins (23) on the season and the latter having the 2nd most with 18.

Among the others returning to the squad will be one of two seniors next season in Sofia Ayala. She actually had the best record of any Tiger this past year at 16-6 and will be counted upon again for her ability to dominate at the later seeds. The other senior will be Jessica Giuggioli (it took me almost a minute to get that name spelled correctly) who was also over .500 on the season for Mizzou. Jessica also paired with Ritchie to make up the #3 doubles team while Ayala got with junior-to-be Kaitlin Dunham to be the #1 team for the Tigers, who won helped them in seven Big XII matches earn the doubles point. The #2 team will return Mallory Weber, but lose the only graduating senior in Chrissy Svetlic.

With one senior departing, one freshman will be arriving, this one from the Tampa area in Jamie Mera. Mera was listed as a top 50 national recruit, giving her 5 stars by whatever recruiting service is being used. Mera was on the Florida champion doubles team and was state runner-up in singles. Mizzou will also evidently add one more member, as Raquel Wagner is no longer with the squad. Between the depth of returning talent and addition of highly ranked member(s), the Tigers should improve upon their 10-13 overall record and hopefully start an ascension through the ranks in the Big XII.

Random Thoughts:

Good for Cardinal fans to see Albert finally get out of his HR slump. Bad to see them parlay their insane 10-8 in 14 inn. win with an awful an effort on Sunday. And really, Joel Piniero needed to pinch run for Albert in the 9th?
Always enjoy the NASCAR race at Indy...that front stretch is just kind of fun in its setup with the fans on both sides and the fact you can hear the crowd over the race cars is pretty impressive.
However, the competition yellows did drag the thing out just a wee bit and the tire issue bit a TON of people.
However again, wow, what a finish that set up...boy I thought Carl was going to be able to take it after he got back to 2nd spot through the final pit.
I did FINALLY find a copy of the Phil Steele magazine/book, a true marvel in space conservation.
I am not the biggest fan of Mixed Martial Arts, but I will typically TiVO any free event and watch it in fast-forward later. Saturday night, CBS had their second Elite X-C (dont ask me what that stands for) event, and much to my pleasure, GUS JOHNSON!!! was the ring-side announcer. And yes, he was just as good as he is at basketball.
Thankfully my worst month of the year (July) is getting ready to end. August is not great, though it certainly ends nicely with football season actually starting.

Chase Daniel's Diary for the New York Times

The Beef — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:30:08 -0000

Chase Daniel's Diary for the New York Times

As always, some great insight from our leader about his senior year, his ridiculous schedule and other stuff.