I was pretty miffed at Mike with the whole Quin thing. I wanted him fired. What took place was worthy of it. But that's water under the bridge at this point and despite a 7 or so year period of Missouri basketball that's now a drunken blur, Mike has put together a nice little program at Mizzou.

Both Gary Pinkel and Mike Anderson are Alden hires. Both have put Mizzou in a high profile position nationally. Moreover, has there really ever been a better time to be a Tiger? When have we had both basketball and football knocking at the door of a national championship?

I'll give this to Mike...the last few years have been about the most entertaining for me as a fan. Retaining both Gary Pinkel and Mike Anderson were watershed moments for Mizzou and we sent a clear message across the bow of the rest of college sports that Mizzou is for real.

I can't stop running through my head the missed open threes, the missed free throws and the crazy, circus shots by UCONN that seemed to all go in. In the end, Missouri played the game exactly as they wanted to. They forced turnovers and created a tremendous number of open looks. Unfortunately, they just weren't dropping.

I've been following Mizzou basketball closely since I was a kid. I've watched many talented Missouri teams. I watched Stipo and Sundvold, #2 Mizzou beat #1 KU at Allen, Anthony Peeler dunking over Oliver Miller, Melvin Booker hitting a shot and a free throw to push Mizzou to 14-0, Greg Church, War Horse, Moon, Dougie Fresh, Cool Breeze, a freshman named Kelly Thames score impossible goals under the basket, the original Junkyard Dog Lamont Frazier, Julian Winfield take on UCLA and push them to the wire, triple overtime vs. Illinois...

I've been there for many, many years. I've liked none more than this group. Thanks, Mike Anderson, for giving me a reason to love Mizzou basketball again.

Turns out Missouri A.D. Mike Alden and Kansas A.D. Lew Perkins like to send each other text messages during games. So we used our connections to get this exchange from last night's Memphis game:

Lew: omg lol u guys look awsm

Mike: Dear Mr. Perkins: I appreciate your sentiment. Warmest Regards, Mike Alden, University of Missouri Athletic Director. Notice of Confidentiality: If this text message fails to reach the intended recipient, destroy your cell phone immediately.

Lew: it's beer thirty bro

Lew: hfs u win foshizzle

Lew: HALF CT DAYAM

Mike: May I call you Lew? Yes, that was a particularly skillful shot by Mr. Denmon. He shows the heart, skill and desire that embodies the University of Missouri. (see NOC above, implied hereafter).

Lew: dude im so drunked up i can see thru peoples skulls

Lew: if i dont get me sum wings someones gonna get murdered

Lew: WTF UR LETTIN THEM BACK IN DA GAME DUDE WFT????

Mike: Lew, I would appreciate if you maintain decorum and support the University of Missouri athletics as approved in our University of Missouri handbook. I will mail you a complimentary copy with your donation to the Tiger Scholarship Fund. Kind Regards, MA.

Lew: Fo sho bro. jus sayin

Mike: Did you see that? Yes. In your face. Holler. We're going to the Elite 8.

Lew: DUDE EFFIN' A BRO EEEE 8 WOOO!!!!

Mike: Dear Lew, please accept my apology for the preceding outburst. Please disregard. My lawyers will be in touch.

So CLC is again going after someone claiming copyright infringement on behalf of Mizzou. A small South Dakota high school is using a similar (okay, it's identical) logo for their school.

I'd like to offer a GPL to the Harrisburg School District for use of the missouritigers.com Kitty logo.

Check out my post from December 19, 2006. No, we're not there yet, but I just wanted to recognize my amazing instinct on your behalf.

FEEL THE HATE!

I learned something today. The Missouri Tigers will battle the Mighty Furman Furmen September 19th at Faurot.

This has to be pulled out at least every few years...

The ref is lucky to be alive.

Rumor has it that Lew Perkins and Mike Alden got into a little discussion following the Mizzou win last night after Perkins supposedly said "you got lucky". As far as I'm concerned, rumors are just little golden nuggets of truth coated in fiction, but the fiction can be chipped away to reveal delicious gold.

Mike Alden had no comment about the steroid scandal sweeping America or whether his ill temper was related.

Ever. This game was beyond sloppy. Low shooting percentage. High turnovers. Missed free throws. The difference? Pure guts. That's something we haven't seen in a decade.

aka Notorious_NTP, Hustla, Jay-C and finally Jay_Caesar. Jeffrey Crawford passed away this morning. The most prolific, notorious and popular Tigerboarder ever, Jeff was Tigerboard. No one matched his popularity or ability to create conversation. Tigerboard, and The Shack in particular, was a constant chatterbox thanks in large part to his continual contributions to the conversation.

I've been around that place for over ten years as did he, and I've often wondered why. Isn't there a better use of my time? Why am I farting around on a message board at my age with my responsibilities?

I guess the answer is pretty simple. People are social creatures. We like to interact. It's a website that talks back to you. I have this blog and even though I regularly neglect it, it still gets read by thousands when I add something, but it doesn't satisfy me much. It feels a little self indulgent and narcissistic. If I get the urge and think of something people might think is funny or interesting, I'll throw it up there. But for me, I'd rather hang out and chat with the likes of Jay-C.

The internet is a funny place. We can feel both close to and distant from people at the same time. We can sort of get to know somebody, but often the relationship is superficial and anonymous. However you see it, when it's 2 am and you just had a bad dream or something woke you up and you feel like you're sitting in a black cloud, there sits TB, faithfully waiting to take your thoughts and pass them along to your pals. Except now, it feels like 2 am all day long.

To you, Jay, I raise a pint. May it always be spring training for you. May it always be the heat of August beckoning two-a-days. May it always be the day before midnight madness. It won't be the same.

This isn't sports-related, but it's my blog, so...

1. Cut taxes in half. The objective is to create massive opportunities for business, create more jobs and therefore make the pie bigger. Take 14% in taxes from two people instead of 28% from one. The engine of this country is business. The government can create tremendous opportunity by slashing taxes.

2. Make everything out of bacon. This will eliminate all waste, make the planet green and create a delicious world. Think about it. Have you ever seen bacon thrown out? Test my theory. Next Saturday morning, make 14 pounds of bacon for your family, sit back and watch as they consume every bit of it.

For the first few years of the Anderson Era, many skeptics questioned his system. It was easy to compare it to Nolan Richardson's 40 Minutes of Hell. As the first few seasons went by, people started to call the full court press gimmicky and wrong for Big XII play.

Now that Anderson has 11 players, he's proving his critics wrong. Moreover, there's nothing gimmicky about effort. Call Mizzou's style what you want. I call it Quiet Riot. Just a bunch of guys playing at peak speed and effort for 40 minutes. Getting the team to transition from Quin Snyder's Stand and Dribble offense hasn't been easy. Anderson has had to match talent with desire.

While still in the B range on talent, Mizzou is pegging on effort. Anderson deserves full credit for this. Effort isn't a skill, it's a decision. The execution might not always pan out. Basketball is just a series of successes and failures on both ends of the court. When the buzzer sounds, you hope the scale is tipped in your favor. Still, success or failure, Mizzou will not be outworked.

Missouri is quietly putting together a very good season.

Feel the noise. It's a Quiet Riot in Columbia.

What a treasure Jeremy Maclin has been for Mizzou.


Maclin bids tearful farewell to Tigers from Columbia Daily Tribune Video on Vimeo.

Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock had some pretty harsh things to say about Mizzou this morning following the 30-23 victory over Northwestern. Among them, he called Mizzou a fraud.

Let's back up a few years...

November 6, 1993. Bob Stull's Missouri Tigers took on the Oklahoma Sooners. Late in the afternoon, the temperature was in the teens and most of the 31,000 announced attendees were long gone. I can't find a box score, but if memory serves, OU had gone up 28-0 in the first quarter. Missouri wound up getting back into the game late and actually raised the hopes of the few people hanging around. It had been a long time since Mizzou had beaten a halfway decent team much less OU despite them being down by their standards.

Faced with a 3rd and long (I think it was around 3rd and 17), OU converted to seal the game. Another moral victory for Mizzou. The score doesn't reflect how close we made it. An old man next to me kicked his seat back down the stands. We were 25 rows up at the fifty yard line. The seat back clanged off of the bleachers and settled somewhere far below us. Nobody was in danger because nobody was there.

The few of us left filed out of dismal Faurot, huddled in our coats trying to keep warm. I could hear the final plays echoing off the empty bleachers as we walked back to the car. The team left the omniturf field to nobody and to no interest from anyone outside of the staff, family members and the media who get paid to care about such things.

That was Missouri football for many years. National champion contenders? Who says that? The media, that's who. Columnists like Jason Whitlock declare teams national champion contenders, not the players and coaches.

People like Whitlock don't have perspective. He saw an underachieving team celebrating a victory over an inferior opponent. I saw a group of kids getting it done despite disappointment and adversity for my alma mater, the sum of countless hours of dedication, sweat and tears.

No one on the squad will tell you that they are satisfied with this season. They'll tell you they wanted much more. But it's a game and they're kids. Things don't always work out. You would think a person paid to follow sports would understand this. In the end, you play the team across from you and all you can do is win, which is what Missouri did.

So to the Big XII North and the 2008 Alamo Bowl champions, thank you. Thank you, Coach Pinkel. Thank you to all of the players, staff and supporters. Fight Tigers.

Mangino, Perkins ring opening NASDAQ bell.

I'm sitting here watching OU frantically trying to score another touchdown up 55-21 with three minutes to go and all I can think is how I would react if one of their key players got knocked out for the season. No, I'm not wishing that on anyone, but let's say Bradford were to get a broken leg as Stoops desperately tried to run up the score. Would I cry a tear? Nope.

Last year, the University of Washington did some forensics and discovered that the Helms Athletic Foundation crowned the Huskies national champions back in 1960. In September of 2007, they honored the team at the USC game as national champions. Pretty convincing. Only 47 years had gone by and as we know, the Helms Athletic Foundation is synonymous with college football.

Back in the day before there was the mass confusion caused by the BCS, we had mass confusion caused by a variety of polls. Which school won the national championship depended on which poll you chose to accept.

Well, Mizzou has the same claim. Among the many polls at that time was the Poling Poll. I haven't found a lot of information about this poll yet, but there is an explanation on the Notre Dame site.

Here are the final poll results for 1960:

1960 National Champions and the polls:

• Iowa (8-1, lost to Minnesota): Berryman, Boand, Litkenhous, Sagarin
• Minnesota (8-2, lost to UW, Purdue): AP, FB News, NFF, UPI
• Mississippi (10-0-1, tied by LSU): Billingsley, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, FW, National Championship Foundation, Williamson
• Missouri (10-1, lost to Kansas): Poling
• Washington (10-1, lost to Navy): Helms Athletic Foundation

Poling? Poling? Sure! Why not?

NATIONAL CHAMPS, BABY!!!

As I predicted below, OU found a way to feel disrespected. They'll be playing with a chip on their shoulder. I think there's been some miscommunication. I want to set things straight and show the proper respect.

Dear Honorabley Exalted Very Big Head Coach of the Very Big and Very Big Tradition Oklahoma Sooners Football Team Bob Stoops:

As I write this letter to You, I am in a fetal position sucking my thumb. My soul trembles just thinking that I am directing a letter at You and Your program. Even thinking a thought about The Very Big and Very Big Tradition Oklahoma Sooners makes me feel meek and naughty.

(I will walk on nails at this time to prepare for the conclusion of this letter)

My feet are bleeding, but that is simply an allegory for my unworthiness to write a letter to You and Your PROGRAM.

(At this time I will slam my hand in a car door)

That hurt. But it won't hurt as badly as the well-deserved beating my Missouri Tigers will take this Saturday night. I apologize if a Mizzou player tries to prevent a Sooner from enjoying the game that will honor You and Your PROGRAM. It is not our intent to deny the OKLAHOMA SOONERS unfettered annihilation of an opponent. If I were in charge, I would dig a large hole on our side of the field and we would cover ourselves with dirt as you dance on our mass grave. Then we would crawl out of the hole only for the sole purpose of scoring on ourselves to honor You. We would do so joyfully and would never look upon Your face.

BIG BOB STOOPS, ACCEPT THIS AS MY UNDYING DEVOTION AND LOVE, ALBEIT UNWORTHY, TO YOU AND THE SAINTS THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE US WHO ARE ALL SOONER FANS.

Amen.

Iam4