Mizzou

Are any Jayhawk Fans going to take shots at MU Fan?

Lost

The blog should be hot with the return of Lost. I can't believe our 8 month wait is over.

Mizzouri state bird......The Jayhawk??

A 'Mizzouri' State Senator introduced an actual bill to change the 'Mizzouri' state bird to the Jayhawk. After I first read this I was confused.....until I noticed he was a Republican, and then it all made sense.

http://www.stlsportsmag.com/index.php?postid=1281

Polls

I guess only Nate can make a poll. You need the template tab and I don't see it.

Majerus vs. Burke

Not sure how many Catholics we have among the group, but this recent issue between Rick Majerus and Archbishop Burke has gotten a lot of play in the media over the last couple days.

Personally I'd like to see Burke take his "act" elsewhere. He's really rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and could personally be responsible for driving many local Catholics away from the religion.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/bryanburwell/story/B18B7EBCAAB26360862573D9001A8AC0?OpenDocument

Monday Thoughts....

* I will not touch on the current economic situation as Gouk did a great job of analyzing the situation in the post directly below this one.

*I heard the Oscar nominations this morning and have two recommendations for movies that are nominated for Best Picture. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are both excellent movies! Nate has been on the Daniel Day Lewis bandwagon for quite some time and he delivered in Blood big time. I am not sure that any other actor could have pulled of that type of performance as Lewis's facical expressions and voice tone were mesmerizing in certain scenes. The same can be said of Javier Bardem (sp?) in No Country.

* The Pats/Chargers game was a bore (Philip Rivers is still a bitch even though he played with one ACL) but the Packers/Giants game was one of the more entertaining football games I have watched in recent memory. The fact it was -4, the game was played at Lambeau field, Brett Farve and it was the NFC championship game were all the ingredients for a classic.

* MU/KU was entertaining! I realize that this is MUs Super Bowl (outside of the annual home NIT game) but I was impressed with the effort the Tigers put forth. KU has not been challenged lately and MU put them to the test as the game was in doubt late into the second half. The officials called the game waaayyy to tight which resulted in numerous trips to the FT line which BTW is the Jayhawks Achilles heel. I can see missing from the FT line costing the 'Hawks in March.

Feds Cut Rate

In my opinion, one of the key strengths of the United States and our "democracy" is that it's slow moving. However, the federal reserve, you know the arbitrary body that coins our money and sets interest rates, seems to be the most reactionary of any entity related to our goverment.

Granted, cutting the rate puts money in people's hands right now and eases some high-interest debt, but what does it say about the long-term value of the dollar itself? If foreign investors pull money out of our markets because of low-interest and the price of oil, food and other commodities continue to inflate, will the dollar rapidly lose value in the long term while foreign currency continues to grow (i.e the Euro)?

Technically, by definition, a "recession" is two consecutive quarters of a falling gross national product. To date, we have only recorded one. Are you worried? Is it a benefit or a hinderance when foreign investors buy up American companies at a record rate? What is the real issue here? To me it is allowing US manufacturers to set up shop overseas or over the border and not holding the businesses accountable. I want cheap goods as much as you do, but we cannot outsource everything and expect unskilled workers to keep up as the chasm between the rich and the poor grow.

Wii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My quest is complete. On Sunday morning at 4 AM I got up, put on 5 layers of clothes that included; thermal underwear, fleece pants, jeans, two pairs of wool socks, snow boots, two thermal shirts, turtleneck, long sleeve T, hoodie, fleece jacket, down coat, 2 scarves, 2 pairs of gloves, ear band and hat.

I was fully ready to sit outside the Circuit City until they opened at 10. I had dowloaded 5 new podcasts (Pottercast, Coach K, WDW Radio, Force-Cast, Indy-Cast) to get me through it, and packed a bunch of snacks in my backpack.

As expected I was the first on there. So I sat went up to the door, put my folding chair next to the door and returned to my warm Honda Pilot for a while. At 5:30 another car showed up, but luckily they wanted to stay in their car too. At 7:00, many more cars showed up, wherupon I was forced from my idling car to brace the 5 degree temperature.

It wasn't that bad. I was really the only one ready for the cold weather (what were they thinking?). But at 9:00 they handed out vouchers that said we had until 12:00 to pick up the Wii, and I returned home for more coffee. I returned at 10:15 (after all the angry people who showed up at 9:30 had left and the Circuit City people took the heat for only getting 9 Wii's) to get the prize.

Overall, very worth it. Anyone else have it, or played it?

Fun Read

I love this guy. Gave me a good chuckle this morn.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/080118&sportCat=nfl

No Air Time

Now I understand that MU is not a great team these days. On the other hand, KU is highly ranked and this is still a top tier rivalry game. I hadn't heard of this situation until reading the paper this morning. In my lifetime I can't ever remember a MU-KU Game not being available to most of the tv audience. This is very disturbing. I now know how you folks who don't have NFL Network felt.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/dancaesar/story/BF1DA7EFBB2E938E862573D500141B67?OpenDocument

Dirty Foreign Travelers Blaimed for Epidemic

Around Orlando, inlcuding at one Walt Disney World value resort (All-Star), the Orange County Health Deprtment has seen a rise in reports of bed bugs. Once thought to be rid of the world, bed bugs have recently been discovered to be able to lie dormant for several years while living in mattresses.

In their official release the Orange County Health Department attributed the rise to three factors

1. Unseasonably Warm Winters

2. Certain Pesticides Being Banned

3. Increase in International Travelers

Yes thats right, Dirty Foreigners are being blamed for the increase.

Enjoy your next vacation, which for me begins in 8 days.

Greg Paulus Flops like a Champion

I saw this last night and almost fell out of my chair when it happened. Paulus taking a Lambier-like flop is classic. I have also attached another classic Paulus flop from last year. Looks like GP is continuing the line of Dooke soofties that look for cheap fouls (Redick, Laetner etc) I must credit deadspin as a source for this post.

Biiiiaaaaatttcchhhhh........

Is there any bigger bitch in sports today than Philip Rivers? After screaming out Jay Cutler a few weeks back he spent Sunday taunting the Indy fans. Not to parrot Champ Bailey's comments from a few weeks back but what has this guy done? With a HOF RB, a future HOF TE and a great defense I could win eight games. I am looking forward to this Sunday when he and the Chargers will be systematically destroyed by the Pats in frozen Foxboro.

Rolen for Glaus

Goodbye, Scott Rolen......

Hello, Troy Glaus!!!

The Cards continued their rebuilding by unloading disgruntled third baseman Scott Rolen to the Blue Jays for PED-suspecting Troy Glaus. I live and breathe Cardinals' baseball and still don't understand the feud between Rolen and Tony LaRussa. Publicly we only get Tony's side of the story. To Rolen's credit, he hasn't to this point gotten into a public war of words. To me, their spat doesn't make much sense. Thanks to the Cardinals, Rolen is a rich, rich man. He has more money (some $90 million) than he and his family could ever spend. On the flip side, Rolen was a huge part of LaRussa's success. Not only does he play the game the right way, but he played through numerous injuries, not once using them as excuses. Some point to Rolen's previous spat with Larry Bowa in Philly and now coupled with this disagreement as a trend. All I know is that if I ever have a son, I'd want him to play baseball like Scotty Rolen.

I do commend new Cards' GM John Mozeliak for making the best of a bad situation. Never did I think that he could get "fair" value in return for Rolen. But in Troy Glaus, it appears that he's done so. Only time will tell, and for both players, it's a matter of who can come closest to regaining his peak health.

Wazzu???

It appears that Washington State wants to go by the name "Wazzu." I don't think so. Didn't someone at ESPN call Missouri State "Mizzou St" on a ticker one time and get a reprimand from the throngs of Mizzou J School alum in Bristol. Sounds like someone in Bristol needs another reprimand. This is just another attempt by a school trying to rip off some culture from an established institution. Much like the execs at Kauffman Stadium trying to change the name of the field to "The K", St.Louis trying to pretend that they aren't Chicago's little sister, or anyone born in Jackson County rooting for the Jayhawks; this is a "tradition" that needs to end.

Linky:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=280120026

Unfathomable.....

LONDON (AFP) - Twins who were separated at birth and adopted by different sets of parents later married each other without realising they were brother and sister, a peer has told the House of Lords.

David Alton, an independent, pro-life member of the Lords, said the brother and sister were granted an annulment after a high court judge ruled that the marriage had never validly existed.

The Catholic politician -- who discovered the case after talking to a judge -- used it to highlight perceived deficiencies in the government's proposed Human Embryology and Tissues Bill, which is currently going through parliament.

The bill is designed to make it easier for lesbian and gay couples to have children through assisted reproduction, recognising same-sex partners as legal parents of babies conceived through donated sperm, eggs or embryos.

But it contains no provision to require the identity of the donor to be disclosed, potentially meaning a child could not be told they were conceived by assisted reproduction.

Alton raised the case of the married twins -- who were born after IVF treatment -- during a debate on December 10, details of which only appeared on Friday.

"There are implications for everybody involved, but the needs of the child will always be paramount, and it is right that we should therefore make the process as transparent as possible," Alton told the Lords.

IVF -- which increases the chances of multiple births -- meant such cases could become more common if the law does not require children to be told they were donor conceived and have access to their genetic history, he said.

"The right of children to know the identity of their biological parents is a human right," he added Friday.

"There will be more cases like this if children are not given access to the truth. The needs of the child must always be paramount."

The identities of the twins and details of their relationship and marriage have been kept secret, but it was known they were separated soon after birth and never told they were twins.

They only discovered they were blood relatives after the wedding.

Worst Performance Ever!

Wow only scoring 20 points for the whole team in a college game has to be painful to watch....I wonder if Majerus is rethinking his return to the college game after a game like that?

January 10, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Majerus knew it would take some time to get Saint Louis playing the kind of successful basketball he's used to getting from his teams. He couldn't have expected a game like Thursday night's
Saint Louis set a modern Division I record for fewest points in a game, falling 49-20 to George Washington in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.

SLU Billikens Set Record

Our beloved Billikens scored a total of 20 points (7 in the 1st half) last night vs. George Washington. That point total is the lowest since the onset of the college basketball shot clock in 1985. SLU made 14.6% of its shots to break the school mark for lowest shooting percentage in a game.

To borrow a philosophy from one of the my favorite sports' movies of all time, "Hoosiers", Rick Majerus is in the middle of "breaking this team down so he can build them back up". After last night, I'd say he's got the 1st part down.

Can't wait to see the progress first-hand on Saturday night as they take on the #22-ranked Dayton Flyers'.

7-Foot-7 ?!?!

Anybody catch 7-foot-7 Kenny George play against UNC last night? Looking at him in the lane reminded me of when we were kids and would lower the rim to a dunkable range.

By the way, there's a reason Kenny's not playing at a bigger school than UNC-Asheville. Check out Hansborough taking it to him. As a Mizzou fan, it makes me cringe every time I watch this kid play:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xXK7wnR_V2c

Bourne?

Now everyone here knows how I enjoy a good argument. We also know I am usually right. I'm going to throw a new stake in the ground for your entertainment.

Is there any better action hero than Jason Bourne?
Is there any better trilogy than The Bourne Series?

Now I don't consider myself a cinenamtic like a few bloggers here do, but I can't think of a trilogy that is better. If you have one, lets hear it.

There have been numberous action heroes that I have enjoyed. Many of their characters have a fairy tale side to them. This in a way ruins the excitement of their character. Come on, do we really think Rambo could single handedly take out the Russian's and some Southeast Asian Country.

You see where I am going with this. I can be swayed, but boy do I enjoy J Bo. Whatcha ya got?

Too close to Call????

Despite both frequenting several Dunkin Donuts on Tuesday , (a favorite breakfast, snack, hangout spot for fat Chowds), Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barrack Obama were able to claim an early victory on Tuesday night. Although Obama was thought to have as much as a 12 point lead going into this week; Clintons shrewdness (hiring Bills old staffers) was apparently just what the doctor ordered; or atleast what Bill ordered.
Clinton appears to have bested Obama by 2%, but most of the media likely won't want to kill Obama's momentum and so they will likely award both the victory through a "Close Call" headline. Maybe this will get ugly. Bring on the Willie Horton ads
On another note: Write-Ins received 1% of the vote, and Joe Biden received 0%.
John McCain, however, repeated his 2000 efforts by winning New Hampshire again, this time by 6% over windy Mitt; this giving hope to liberals everywhere that Mike Huckabee could be destroyed.

Golf Idea

What if we just did the majors this year.

You select any 5 golfers, and we add up what place they finish in, and the lowest team total wins. We could just open it up for the Masters and select any five and it doesnt matter if a player is on more than one team, then figure some sort of selection order for the last two tournments so that the first place team doesnt automatically secure a victory by selecting the same team as the next closest player.

I'm not set on any of these ideas except I think it would probably be ebst if we just played the majors. I used to love gettign ready for all of the tournaments, but I just dont think everyone has the time anymore.

MU Recruiting

For all you Tiger Fans its good to see Pinkel and Co. winning some recruiting wars. In case you haven't heard, they gained a few nice recruits today. DeSmet WR Wes Kemp switched his verbal from Wisconsin to MU last evening. In addition, a former DeSmet Spartan DB Munir Prince is leaving Notre Dame, will sit out the 2008 season and join The Tigers in 2009 with two years of eligibility. And in late breaking news, 4 Star OL Recruit from Iowa, Dan Hoch, has just committed to play at MU this fall. Throw in one Blaine QB this year and another Blaine QB in 09 and things are looking good for years to come for Mizzouuuuuuuuu.

Please....

Please don't post any questionable material on this blog. My "district owned" laptop is not something that I want to lead to termination from my job. Also, I want to be able to view this site from various places and sometimes (thought not intentional) I leave the screen open to my computer when students or other backstabbing coworkers might be able to see what is on it. Thanks
Nate

Stock Market Game

Would anyone be intersted in playing in a fantasy type stock market game. I do one with my class and it is totally addicting (Screw Papa Johns). It is kind of like the one you probably played in high school, but now its online (and instant) and you don't have to mail it to St. Louis to submit your results.

Loving the new blog.....

To find it on my home computer I Googled it, and to my suprise, it only took until the 2nd "O" to find. Hopefully everybody makes it a part of their regular internet surfing routine.

I'd post a picture, but like Nate and Rip, it seems I better wait until March when my child is born!

Kansas Will Go Undefeated Through The Regular Season

Thats what I am predicting.

At this point, they are 14-0, and are virtually done with their non-conference games. They basically only have 3 games to worry about for the rest of the regular season. I am not going to pretend that any of those games involve Missouri as they are nothing to worry about with the talent that Kansas has, and Clarence Gilbert is gone.

The first game that Kansas will be tested in will be the Jan 30th game at Kansas St. The talented young players at K-St have likely had this date circled on their calendar.

The next date to concentrate on for the Beakers is Feb 11th at Texas. Kansas should be favored in this game because although Texas is currently ranked #14, they will probably drop their Jan 30th game at Texas A&M.

The last game that Kansas has to be concerned with during the regular season is their Feb 18th game at Texas A&M. This might be a game where I would pick Kansas to lose, but the Aggies win in Lawrence last year will probably give the Hawks the focus to come out with a win.

Soccer errrrr....Football Players have the best on field celebrations.

Found this on the Internets......quite amusing......not much else to say but thought I would explore the wonderful world of blogging. Quiz for Nate/Blake.....who is in the picture above?

College Football Recruiting

Check out the U.S. Army All-American High School Bowl on NBC today.

Very unusual to see not one, but TWO MU recruits playing in a National All-Star Game.

And check out all of those Notre Dame commits playing for the East. Wow!

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=880&CID=746936

Final 2007 Fantasy Sports Championship Results

Here are the final standings:

1st - Nate - 41

2nd - Goyer - 40

3rd - Dave - 39

4th - Blake - 36

5th - Sed - 35

6th - Chris - 33

7th - Rip - 33

8th - Gouk - 17

Bowl Pick

1st - Rip - 8pts

2nd - Gouk - 7pts

3rd - Goyer - 6pts

4th - Nate - 5pts

5th - Blake - 4pts

6th - Dave - 3pts

7th - Sed - 2pts

8th - Chris - 1pt

March Madness

1st - Sed - 8pts

2nd - Blake - 7pts

3rd - Rip - 6pts

4th - Dave - 5pts

5th - Gouk - 4pts

6th - Goyer - 3pts

7th - Nate - 2pts

8th - Chris - 1pt

Baseball

1st - Nate - 23pts

2nd - Blake - 20pts

3rd - Sed - 17pts

4th - Dave - 14pts

5th - Goyer - 11pts

6th - Chris - 8pts

7th - Rip - 5pts

8th - Gouk - 3pts

Football

1st - Chris - 23pts

2nd - Goyer - 20pts

3rd - Dave - 17pts

4th - Rip - 14pts

5th - Nate - 11pts

6th - Sed - 8pts

7th - Blake - 5pts

8th - Gouk - 3pts

Nates' Top 10 Coaches in College Football

1. Pete Carroll - I dont think theres a person alive who would argue this one, but I think winning 65 games in 6 seasons says it all.

2. Bob Stoops - 4 straight BCS losses aside, he has returned Oklahoma from the pit of the mid 90's. And really, only 1 of those BCS games meant anything

3. Jim Tressell - Has coached the Buckeyes to two different 19 game winning streaks. Oh, and has won 5 national championships.

4. Urban Meyer - After beating Missouri twice at Bowling Green (those losses don't feel so bad now) Was 10-2 at Utah in his first season, then went 12-0 the following year. Then went to Florida and won a National Championship in his second year.

5. Nick Saban - Won a national championship for LSU, then skipped town for Miami, then skipped town for Alabama, now rumors circulate that he may be headed to West Virginia. However taking LSU to the top of the SEC says enough.

6. Mark Richt - Since taking over in 2001 has won two SEC championships, and 4 divisional championships. He also led Georgia to top 10 finishes four consecutive years in a row from 2001-2005

7. Les Miles - Some would say that he should be ranked higher than Richt, but he took over a program that was much better off. However he has 11-2 in his first season even after being displaced because of Hurrican Katrina. Then finished 11-2 in 2006 and are currently 11-2 this season (a season when he beat 4 coaches who have won national championships).

8. Butch Davis - Brought Miami out of its disarray including several inherited NCAA violations from previous coach Dennis Erickson. During his tenure the Hurricanes were 51-20 and were screwed out of a national championship game. The Hurricanes also won a championship with his players after he left for the NFL

9. Rich Rodriguez - Took over at West Virginia, in 2001 and eventually turned it into a powerhouse posting back to back 11 win seasons, 4 consecutive New Years bowl appearances and 3 Big East championships.

10. Mack Brown - The butt of many a joke about his wealth of Texas and lack of hardware, however has come close to equaling rival Oklahoma in recent years. Won a nation championship in 2005. However he did do an impossible by turning around consecutive 1-10 seasons at North Carolina and eventually having three ten win seasons. At Texas he has compiled a 103-25 record including 7 consecutive seasons with 10 wins.

Let us be Honest

We, as Americans, are fairly good at mending fences. After Nixon, we brought in Carter? After Bush, we brought in Clinton? After Kennedy died, we elected LBJ?

Ok ok, maybe we're not that good at it.

I'm going to break this down. This election is EXACTLY like 1992, without an encumbant...

No matter who the Democrats collectively support, they can win if Ron Paul runs as an independent. After viewing Paul's numbers in Iowa and examining his monetary collections, I think we can safely say if he does choose to run as a Populist or a Green Party member, he will pull enough votes away from the evangels to let the Dems win (Perot - Bush = Clinton).

So, the question is...if the Dems take over and continue to towe the Repub party line, will anyone really notice if they take the White House? Which begs a more important question....why are we putting so much emphasis on this election?

2007-2008 Bowl Update

What a game last night……I think with that KU win over Va Tech the Big 12 can be proud of what it has accomplished this season, even with the Conference champ OU once again underperforming in a BCS game.

My thoughts from last nights game:

• Talib is one hell of a Cornerback, BTW I am not sure I have ever seen a flag thrown for high stepping.
• I don't understand Va Tech's platoon QB situation- it appears to me that when they want to pass they go with Glennon and when they want the possible option of the QB to run they go with Taylor- it looks like KU exposed this weakness early on.
• I also don't understand why Va Tech didn't run the ball more. It seemed like KU's defense had a hard time stopping Ore, yet for some reason Va Tech felt compelled to try and pass to win the game.
• Is it me or did Mangino out coach Beamer in that game?

With three Bowl games left it looks like the top 5 placement is locked the outcome of the International and GMAC Bowls could cause a change between 6th and 7th place:

1st place 61pts - Goyer
2nd place 56pts - Vratny
3rd place 55pts - Rippee
4th place 54pts - Stephens
5th place 52pts - Sedovic
6th place 47pts - N Parrish
7th place 46pts - Little
8th place 40pts - M Parrish

Victory in Iowa?? Victory in Miami!!

Is this what the American voters want as their Presidential Candidates? Mao and Jerry Johnston? Now I see why 50% of America stays home.

The Jayhwaks did it. No one, but a bitter old Jack Harry actually thought that they could win a BCS game prior to this season. But hell, it was just December of 2006 when Kevin Keitzman was calling for Mangino's head to be rolled out of Lawrence after going 6-6, so Jack knew that he had to go against the company line and break the rank and file of Marconi and his band of cronies. But enough about them. How about those Jayhawks. Even the the awkward Fox telecast, a half time featuring 300 chubby chicks in shiny shirts, but more importantly guys who looked like they left their walkers at the edge of the stage. Their trademark shimmy-step backwards reminded me of Tina Turners 1990's farewell tour.

Congrats beakers. Lets all go the MU-KU game next year.

Time for Change

Anyone else tired of hearing about the Iowa Caucuses? Is it me or is the relative importance of Iowa overstated by them having the first contest in the primary season? I heard one analyst say that an Iowa voter in this process is 20 times more important then votes later in the primary process I am guessing because they just happen to be the first ones? I reject the notion that all of a sudden I need to give credence to what someone in Iowa happens to think about Mike Huckabee who by the way I am tired of hearing about or that I now have to take him or view him as a serious contender just because he seems to touch a populist sentiment that resonates with Iowans. I guess I think it is far more important how a candidate performs on Super Tuesday (February 5th, 2008 when upwards of 20 states with over half the delegates hold their primaries) then what might happen in Iowa or New Hampshire.