Post spring around the Big XII. Part 4, kansas

So I'm halfway through the 6 teams that make up the north division of the Big XII (for now) conference.  I've discussed a program with a glorious past and no apparent future, Colorado; a team with an abysmal past but a glimmer of hope, Iowa State, and a contender for the worst college team of all time except for a 15 year period, that hopes to re capture lightning in a bottle via their local legend Bill Snyder, Kansas State.
So today, let me spend a few moments talking about the team that all Missouri fans love to hate, the kansas jayhawks.  As I've written before, there are few if any rivalries that carry the hatred of Missouri/kansas.  It's a birthright for both of us.  If you doubt that, visit a Missouri message board such as Tigerboard and spend a few minutes reading.  This isn't some feud born of a prank that occurred in 1940.  This is a full blown war that began in 1854 and has resulted in multiple atrocities from both sides that continue today.

Last year lew perkins and company hit on a genius marketing strategy with their "History awaits" campaign to pump their season ticket sales.  They'd just gone to consecutive bowl games for the first time in their long and storied history, returned the most experienced quarterback and receivers in the division and were only 2 years removed from their thrilling Orange Bowl triumph over Virginia Tech.  As an aside, did you notice that Fed Ex discontinued their sponsorship of the Orange Bowl last week?  Apparently the matchups weren't quite providing them with the audience they'd been hoping for the last few years.  But anyway, this was their best opportunity to win the division in the 15 year history of the conference.  The prognosticators were kind if not entirely confident and the fan base could hardly keep from jumping for joy at the possibilities.  So, naturally, after a promising, if uninspiring 5-0 start, they promptly went on a 7 game bender to finish 6th in college footballs softest division this side of Prairie View's conference opponents.  The carnage wasn't restricted to the field however as their head coach was terminated for "abusive behavior" of players.  Of course some of these charges were several years old, confirming that old saying, "winning cures everything".

So now they will begin the 2010 season with new head coach Turner Gill from Buffalo.  I've always had some grudging respect for Gill, and I understand his motive with some of the changes he's attempting to make, such as no more names on the backs of uniforms, and no swearing.  I don't think they're going to bear the fruit he's hoping, but it's his team now and he can do whatever he wants.  Well, as long as it's ok with lew.  I'd like to be able to wish him well, but I mean come on, it's kansas!  And frankly, I'm just not certain you can expect great things from a guy that just came off a 5-7 season in the MAC.  It was however an opportunity for him to move up and gain some BCS experience.  It's a high risk/high reward position, and after he couldn't get the guy that was the best man in his wedding to hire him once the Nebraska gig opened up, it was I guess in his opinion, time to take a chance.   
So now we have a new head coach in larry and a new group of players that while I don't know much about them, I'm sure I'll learn to hate.  I am kind of hopeful for the kid that appears to be their next quarterback, Kale Pick.  Anyone willing to take a guess what his nickname will be once he throws his first interception?  But he's going to have to go some to beat the legend that was Todd Reesing.

So I have to say, I really have no idea what to expect this year from the beaks.  They have a new coach that is attempting to install discipline and a no I in team concept to a group of kids who placed trying not to get punked by the basketball team at the top of their to do list every day.  There is also the little matter of an FBI investigation into the athletic department and 4 resignations among former staffers.  If I have one piece of advice to offer you TG, it's don't hold on to your paychecks for too long.  I'd get those babies cashed ASAP.  But hey, lew assured you it was no big deal, right?  Next time I'll talk a bit about the prohibitive favorite for the north crown this fall and the complete antithesis of Turner Gill, the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Bo Pelini.

Post spring around the Big XII North. Part 3. K State

We've talked about a couple of teams in the north already.  2 perennial door mats.  Colorado only recently has been of that status, but shows no sign of returning to respectability any time soon.  Iowa State has been terrible historically but now show signs of life.  Today I'd like to opine on a team that was once one of the absolute worst in college football; one of our neighbors to the west, the Kansas State Wildcats.
Pick most any time frame, pre Bill Snyder and you can present a solid argument that they were not one of but the worst.  As evidence I present a 28 game losing streak, one, that's right, one, bowl appearance during a 90 year period and having a punter in their ring of honor.  They were 299-510 in their history in 1989 for goodness sakes!

However, in 1989 they took a chance on a relatively unknown offensive coordinator with the Iowa Hawkeyes and brought Bill Snyder to become the head coach.  Snyder was a tireless worker and a master of scheduling and over the next decade brought them not only to respectability, but got them a #1 ranking and within 10 minutes or so of an appearance in the national championship game.  He was also the beneficiary of such assistants as Bob and Mike Stoops, Mark Mangino and Jim Leavitt.  He retired in 2005 to ride off into the sunset....sort of as he continued to have an office as a special consultant.  He apparently was largely responsible for the absolute train wreck of the hire that was Ron Prince.
So after the failed experiment with 'scary smart" ended, who should come back to save the day?  Why old Mr Burns himself.  To be fair, there was a marked improvement record wise fot the Cats last season as they went 6-6 and missed a bowl due to the fact that they'd played 2 Division 1AA members in getting to those 6 wins.  Foiled by his own scheduling strategy.  Gotta love that one.

So now we move on to 2010.  K State loses their best running back, receiver, kick returner and a number of starters from what was a respectable if not spectacular defense.  They received little help in recruiting although they have managed to pick up the Brown brothers from Wichita after they decided to transfer from their previous colleges.  That will provide them with no relief this season those as they'll both be forced to sit out the season.  While I'll never underestimate what Snyder accomplished during his 1st tour of duty, I think it may be even more difficult this time around due to stricter academic standards and an even greater disparity in athletic budgets.  They is also a lot more energy on the basketball side of things now as Frank Martin is proving to be a much better head coach than I originally expected.  However, one thing K State will always have is one of the weirdest mascots in college athletics this side of the Wisconsin Badger.  And when watching and cheering on K State, don't forget to bring your power towel.
Not sure how quickly I'll get to something else since I stupidly agreed to work a graveyard shift this week.  But whenever I make it back we'll talk about everybodies favorite team to hate.  The kansas jayhawks.  Have a great week folks.

Post spring around the Big XII north. Part 2-Iowa State

Last time I talked about a coach on a very hot seat, Dan Hawkins and his Colorado Buffaloes.  A guy that doesn't have anything to worry about this year is 2nd year head coach Paul Rhodes of the Iowa State Cyclones.  Last year the 'Clones surprised pretty much everyone as they went from 2-10 and 0-8 in conference under then head coach Gene Chizik to 7-6, including an Insight bowl win over Minnesota.  While they only went 3-5 in the Big XII, they did have the distinction of winning in Lincoln, Neb in a 9-7 slug fest that sent college football back about 30 years.  3 yards and a cloud of dust this bitches!  They also gave Missouri all they wanted before falling 34-24 against my Tigers in Columbia in a game that was too close for comfort until the 4th quarter.  They did however receive the dubious honor of being the only conference win for the kansas jayhawks.

This year the Cyclones attempt to build on that success in the weak Big XII north.  They lost a large portion of the defense from a year ago, as well as their leading receiver.  They do however return their leading rusher and have an experienced offensive line.  Doing his best Bo Pelini impression, conventional wisdom says that ISU will try to control the time of possession with the running game to take heat off the defense.  However, they do have the most experienced quarterback in the division with senior Austen Arnaud.  He's a guy that may not have the best arm but can dink and dunk and occasionally unload an unsuspected bomb.  

While I believe that Rhodes is a pretty good coach, there are plenty of questions about his recruiting as he brought in the 10th rated class in the Big XII. (60th nationally)  Yes, it's great when you can coach players up, but it's nice when you don't have to coach them up quite that far.  Fortunately for he and the Cyclones, the division includes Colorado, KSU and ku which didn't exactly tear things up either.  Regardless of what talent he has or brought in, they should be able to compete with all of them for 3rd place, well at least Kay State and the beaks.  I feel really solid about picking the Buffs for the cellar. 
So I've talked about 2 of the 6 north teams.  Don't take too much out of the order I'm doing them in though.  If I had to pick right now, I think I'd put the 'Clones in 3rd this year.  This is pretty much based on the level of animosity between their school and my favorite team.  I've always enjoyed the Iowa State fans and have some really good memories of meeting up with some of them at Kelly's during the old Big 8 basketball tournament.
Next time I expect to talk about Kansas State a bit, where former and current head coach Bill Snyder has been up to his old tricks.

Post spring around the Big XII North. Part 1-Colorado

Well, spring football is over and done so I thought I'd take a look at how it progressed and what we might have to look forward to this fall.  We'll start up with a trip to Boulder and take a look at everyone's favorite whipping boys, the Colorado Buffaloes and coach Dan Hawkins.  The Buffs finished last year at 3-9, (2-6 in conference) and probably would have to call their 34-30 win over north rival kansas the highlight of the year.  Considering the beaks went on to lose the next 6 games after that might take a bit of the luster off, but you have to find bright spots wherever you can.  About their next biggest accomplishment was scoring on Missouri for the first time in 3 years.  I'd say that this was a make or break season for coach Dan, but hell, that's what I said last year.  Considering the state of their athletic department they may well be stuck with him until his contract expires and it costs them nothing to buy him out.  Hard to believe this is the same program that regularly competed for Big XII titles and won a national championship not that long ago. 

The good news for Colorado is that they return most of last years team.  The downside of that is they really fucking sucked last year and the odds are they will just become more experienced at losing this season.  And it's not like bringing in the 12th ranked recruiting class in the conference, (66th overall) means you've landed some immediate help.  I mean seriously, I could sit and break down positions, likely improvement by receivers and quarterbacks, linemen getting bigger and stronger, new schemes, but we'd all know I was full of shit and just trying to put lipstick on a pig.  The bottom line is they stunk last year, they stunk the year before that and they may well be worse this season.   They've never been known to draw big crowds and the best reasons for attending a game in Boulder are the view of the mountains and I hear it's a good place to score weed.

So trying to keep a straight face while I type this, the future is very murky for Dan and the Boys this fall.  With a non conference schedule of Colorado State, Hawaii, Cal and Georgia plus their 8 conference games, I think that if things really break well for them they could win 3 games.  Now this assumes that their quarterback, Dan's son Cody suffers a season ending injury early in game 1 and someone comes to Boulder and the team develops a mass case of dysentery.   Without that, well they could be looking at going 0 fer this fall.  But, it isn't hopeless.  They do still have kansas on their schedule.
I don't know that any Buff fans have ever read my blog, but if you do, I feel for you.  I know it has to be tough when you start the year hoping that your football and basketball teams can somehow manage to get to 10 wins....combined, but hey, you'll always have the 5th down game, a beautiful stadium and the possibility that the Pac 10 decides to take you as a new whipping boy.  In the meantime, here's something for you to pass time with this fall as you tailgate.  No really sharp edges to hurt yourself, but try to remember to actually go into the stadium at some point. 

I was going to cut back on expansion talk, but what the heck, everyone else is.

I said a few weeks ago that I was tired of talking about expansion of the Big 10 and in a way I am.  But this seems to be taking on a life of its own and now everyone else is writing about it, so what the hell?   When this all started I really thought it was their hope that adding a 12th team would induce Notre Dame to finally say fuck it and join the Big 10 while they still have enough of a fan base to be of interest.  Today I have very little doubt that while they still want the fighting irish, they have set their sites on becoming the first "super-conference" and intend to add 5 teams, and cripple the Big East and the Big XII in the process.  And seriously, in business, and make no mistake, this is business, that's just how these things happen.

As it stands today, and that may change sometime this afternoon, the likely candidates for Big 10 expansion would be Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers from the Big East and Missouri and Nebraska from the Big XII.  Of course all bets are off in they can attract Notre Dame and someone from that group would fall, likely Pitt in my opinion.  At that point what does the Pac 10 do?  Reports indicate and have for months that Colorado is on their radar but what about Texas and Texas A&M?  They'd certainly be a bigger prize than the Buffs and why not take all 3, add Utah and BYU and become their own super conference?   Then you've practically forced the SEC to respond and don't think OU and Okie Light wouldn't be on their radar, along with South Florida and possibly Florida State.  Then the ACC is forced to respond.

So what happens if all of this occurs?  You wind up with 4 mega conferences encompassing 64 teams.  Currently there are 65 schools in BCS conferences.  Wouldn't be much of a change would it, other than some teams enter, some teams leave?  I can see the Big XII rotting away at the roots, destroyed by Texas greed and inept leadership starting with the buffoon Dan Beebe that was placed as conference commissioner by, you guessed it, Texas.  If we see something like this happen, you can thank Mr Beebe for much of it.  Shit may float to the top but that doesn't mean you should put it in charge of anything.  Hope your week is going well.  I have a feeling that things are just beginning to heat up so we may have much to talk about in the next few months.   

Just when you thought it would be a dull summer

Well, as we approach the end of April I expected nothing less than a dull summer.  The Royals decided not to wait until May to go into the tank, spring football is over and frankly, I have no idea what's going on with Big 10 expansion although that might get interesting again in a few days.  About the biggest suspense for me was where my new seats would be for this season now that I qualified for an upgrade.

But we as Missouri fans can always count on one thing when times are tough.  The university of kansas will come along and provide us with some amusement.  This handsome gentleman on the right is David Freeman, a lawrence, kansas developer, and convicted felon that's prompted and FBI and IRS investigation into an alleged ticket scandal at everyone's favorite university and bastions of purity, the university of kansas.      
Now to be fair, the only reason this guy appears to have rolled over on beaker tech was the hope that it would result in some leniency for him in an unrelated bribery case.  (it did but not to the extent he and his attorney hoped)  So you'd need to take his accusations with a grain of salt; right?  Well, not so fast.  Apparently Mr Freeman has bragged for years about making substantial amounts of money of kansas basketball tickets.  And apparently the story has a few legs since terms such as theft, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion are being thrown around by no less than the Kansas City Star, which has generally refused to print any anti-ku news. 

Rodney Jones, who in 2004 was appointed to a $70,000 job as the head of fundraising arm of the Williams Fund, the main fundraising arm of ku athletics has resigned.  At the time of his resignation he was making $135,000.  He becomes the 2nd member of ku athletics funding to have resigned or been placed on administrative leave.  Of course, the beak spin is that there were a couple of bad apples that made their way into "sweet" Lew Perkins pristine administration that took advantage of the sensational demand for kansas basketball tickets to their own financial advantage.  Whether or not that is true remains to be seen.  But when push comes to shove, it's a hell of a lot of fun to sit back and watch isn't it?  I have a few Boulevard Wheats in the refrigerator.  Feel free to grab one and sit down for the show.
I'm heading out for a few days of R&R but assuming that they have wireless connections in Arkansas, I'll be keeping an eye on this.  Have a great week folks and let's talk again really soon.  Oh, and Lew, here's something for you from Amazon that might come in handy in the future.  IRS REGULATION: income tax preparers, enrolled agents and tax attorneys (EA Exam)

Bits and pieces

It's been a while and I apologize but I always said I was more of a college football guy.  Compound that as I've been bidding on a couple of outside projects and contemplating my own independent website and there just hasn't been a lot to talk about.  However, last weekend was the black and gold game and the 4th annual PowerMizzou tailgate so I'm feeling a bit recharged today.  Saturday was a beautiful day in Columbia and the tailgating was spectacular.  The football is usually (ok, always) secondary to getting back together with some good friends, trying out some new recipes and firing up the grill that's sat under the cover for the last 4 months.

The day before the game I had both smokers going and had 18 lbs of ham injected with honey and teriyaki sauce and a beer and pineapple marinade brisket that apparently was quite the hit.  My old tailgate buddy beach deep fried a couple of turkeys and we brought in wings and ribs from 2 of the local restaurants.  I'm going to guess we had around 150 in attendance, which made up about 1% of the 15,000 that reportedly attended the game.  One of the highlights for our group was Missouri basketball player Kim English stopping by to have a few photos taken with some of the kids.  I did hear one young man describe it as "like Christmas morning" after he'd had his photo snapped with Kim.  A fine representative for the university.

As for the game itself, well, I've never believed you could take anything from a spring football game when it's 1's against 2's, the quarterbacks can't be tackled and the play calling is vanilla.  But it was a nice diversion from the last 5 months of a fairly brutal winter here in the midwest.  And anyway, it may be just a scrimmage, but the Golden Girls were in mid season form.

Now something else that has raised its head this week is the Big 10 and expansion that may come a year earlier than previously announced.  Apparently the Tigers are now on a short list and many are thinking this could be something that happens within the next few weeks.  I really doubt that.  When this began, I thought that they'd prefer to drag it out and keep the conference in the headlines for as long as possible.  While I suppose they could have found some university or universities that have just blown their doors off, or maybe just worrying that the Pac 10 or another conference could leapfrog them, I kind of think this was just them throwing a little fuel on a fire that had started to go out.  I mean they can keep running it 24/7 on the Big 10 network but they have all of those fans anyway.  Why not throw out a few rumors and get everyone talking about it?  Hell, who knows.  Maybe I'm just jaded.

Finally we had the Mike Anderson to Oregon rumors floating around all weekend.  I've got pretty mixed emotions about this.  I believe it's his obligation to listen when he's offered a huge raise from someone else and I'm certainly glad he stayed.  I just hope this isn't something we're going to have to deal with on a yearly basis from now on.  If so, then he'd better have as good a year as this recruiting class indicates he might have or I can see the athletic department and fan base turning on him pretty quickly.
That's really all I have at this time, but don't be surprised if you see me opening up my own website before long.  I have some ideas that I'd like to try that just aren't possible with this platform and then I could overwhelm you with some cheesey advertisements just like this.Missouri Tigers 28"x40" Collegiate Banner Flag
Have a great week folks and I'll be back soon.