Mizzou and Oklahoma

Mizzou’s football program has been on the rise ever since Gary Pinkel took over in 2001. He’s put his stamp on the Tigers, building high-powered offenses based around excellent quarterbacks. Mizzou was one win away from a national title in 2007 and has appeared in several Big 12 championships the past decade. This Saturday, ESPN’s College Gameday will make its way to Columbia, Missouri for the matchup of #1 Oklahoma and #11 Missouri. Oklahoma has been the proverbial thorn in Missouri’s side since Gary Pinkel arrived. He hasn’t beaten Oklahoma in six tries and some of those losses were more devastating than just another loss.

After losses to OU in 2002 and 2003, the Tigers and Sooners didn’t meet again until 2006. The Tigers were 7-1 (3-1 Big 12) and coming off a big win against Kansas State. The Sooners were unranked and struggling through the season after their starting quarterback Rhett Bomar was forced to leave the school following NCAA sanctions and star running back Adrian Peterson was out with a broken collarbone. It looked like a good opportunity for Missouri to knock off one of the historical Big 12 powerhouses. But Peterson’s replacement ran all over the Missouri defense and the OU defense held the offense that had been averaging over 30 points a game to just 10 and won by sixteen.

The next season, Missouri once again started the season unranked but skated through a soft non-conference schedule and then pummeled Nebraska on national television 41-6 to move to 5-0 headed into the Oklahoma game. Mizzou headed into Norman to face the number 6 ranked Sooners and erased a 13 point deficit to take a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. But Oklahoma rattled off three straight touchdowns to knock Mizzou from the ranks of the unbeatens.

The two Big 12 rivals would meet again two and a half months later in the Big 12 championship game. In the time since their first meeting, Oklahoma had suffered their second loss of the season two weeks beforehand against Texas Tech which wiped out their national championship hopes, but Missouri had won six straight games by an average of more than three touchdowns and came into the game 11-1 and ranked second in the nation. A win against Oklahoma would send Missouri to the BCS national championship game. The two teams were deadlocked at 14 going into halftime and Mizzou was 30 minutes away from college football’s biggest game, but Oklahoma scored twice within a span of two minutes in the third quarter to take a 28-14 lead. Missouri was overmatched by the bigger and stronger Sooners and lost by a score of 38-17 to knock them out of national title contention.

They did not meet in the 2008 regular season, but the 9-3 Tigers won the Big 12 North and the right to face Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship for the second consecutive season. This time around it was Oklahoma looking at a trip to the national championship game should they win the Big 12 and Missouri looked to return the favor Oklahoma paid them the previous season. But Oklahoma was better and Missouri not as good as the last time they met and Oklahoma wiped the floor with Missouri in a 62-21, piling up over 600 yards of total offense without turning the ball over. Oklahoma would move on to the national championship game against Florida which they lost 24-14 while Missouri managed a 30-23 Alamo Bowl win over Northwestern.

Missouri (#11) and Oklahoma (#1) have not met since the 2008 Big 12 championship and both come into Saturday’s College Gameday matchup with 6-0 records and realistic national title hopes. ESPN’s College Gameday will make it’s way to Columbia for the first time. This will be the fifth Mizzou game that they cover, but the first time that MU’s campus will play host to Chris Fowler and company as they preview Saturday’s matchup. Gameday covered the Mizzou-Oklahoma game in Norman (2007), the Border War matchup in Kansas City (2007), the Big 12 title game (2007) and the Mizzou-Texas game (2008).

This will be the third time Missouri participates in a Gameday while ranked #11 and are 0-4 in Gameday games. They have been the higher ranked team only once, in the 2008 Big 12 Championship game when they were #1 and Oklahoma was #9. Gameday is known for it’s prediction segment, when various people predict the winner of the game. Two of the more well-known predictors are Lee Corso, who dons the mascot head of the team he picks and the celebrity picker, who is a well-known alum from the host school. NFL quarterback Brad Smith, actor Brad Pitt and performer Sheryl Crow have all been unavailable for this weekend’s matchup, and the celebrity is still TBD.

It’s a huge opportunity for not only Missouri’s football program but to showcase the campus, the school and the town to the rest of the country. I wish that I was able to make it out there to be on the quad in the crowd the morning of the game, but hopefully the student body and community has one helluva showing. And hopefully that showing is well-behaved and mature. Missouri has some terrible juvenile fans and the school would do well to avoid those particular individuals when representing itself on a national scale.

Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert

Due to the nature of college football that includes high turnover rates, games that happened two or three years ago have little significance on what will transpire this year. Mizzou and Oklahoma are still included amongst the nation’s top teams, but both are starkly different from their 2007 or 2008 counterparts. Oklahoma owned the nation’s highest scoring offense and was loaded with future NFL talent led by quarterback Sam Bradford. Missouri had a flashy offense but an extremely porous defense. They were dominated on both the offensive and defensive lines and could not establish any semblance of a running game.

This time around, Missouri possesses more complete talent on the defensive line and the offensive line looks to be the best unit Gary Pinkel has had. Despite the dismissal of top running back Derrick Washington before the season, Mizzou has used four different running backs and is averaging nearly five yards a carry headed into their matchup with the Sooners. Both teams have changed, as college teams are wont to do. Both are still excellent programs, but have adjusted themselves to the talent that they have. Expect the Zou to be rocking on Saturday night and one helluva football game.

Reindeer Race

I threw an Christmas Party last week and overall, it was a huge success. I had hosted two other parties previously, but nothing too fancy. My birthday was in August and I hosted a small party for our friend Lindsey in early November.

I went to a little more trouble to put this one together and it was a huge success. For the first time, I served something other than simple snack foods like chips and munchies. I decided to do something fun, easy and that wasn’t a whole lot of work for me – kebabs. I twisted it up a little and had a “Make Your Own Kebab” night and provided steak, chicken, peppers and mushrooms for people to create whatever kind of kebab they wanted. Some people had all veggie-kebabs and I even saw a few meat-babs. Overall, it was a huge hit.

Fires have become a staple at my parties simply due to the presence of a nice firepit in the backyard. This time, with a little help from Mason, I built up a bigger fire than before and kept it burning long into the night. It was a nice change of pace for people that wanted to get away from the games, dancing and music going on inside. It was chilly that night, but fortunately not unbearably cold.

Being the complete belle of the ball that I am, I was looking for ideas of what I could do at my party that would be a lot of fun and something that people would remember. After a few weeks of thinking, I decided to hold a Reindeer Race. No, I couldn’t catch a real reindeer for the race, so I settled for the next best thing – my riding lawnmower with antlers and a big red nose. Didn’t get a great picture of the finished product (it was dark outside and I didn’t think to photograph it beforehand) but with the mower’s headlights serving as eyes, it looked pretty convincing.

I bought 24 small wooden stakes at Lowe’s and used them to mark out a simple loop course that ran from the backyard, up to the frontyard and then back again. I worried about how to illuminate the course, but when the mower’s headlights worked, that wasn’t a problem.

The night of the party came and the poor mower wouldn’t start – turns out the engine had a warm-weather carburetor – who knew? I ended up jumping the battery from my car and everything worked out. We had 17 people compete in the Reindeer Race – some taking multiple turns.

The winner for the men was Bradley, completing the course in an astonishing 32.8 seconds. The winner on the women’s side was Jenn at 34.8 seconds.

Jenn wins the women's competition - 34.8 seconds

Men's 3rd place winner - Justin!

Mason finished 12th, but he had the most fun!

Even the dog had a turn!

Every good race needs a photographer who forgets the lens cap is still on!

I like to think it was a great night had by all, if I’m not being too assuming. I know I had a lot of fun. It really was a great way to end a great semester.

Hey there!

The men of the party do a Christmas shot!

I'm gonna miss the heck out of that little guy!

Video Walk-Through of The Shire

Here’s a quick peek into the house and property I’m living at for the next few months.

Conceal-Publish Worse Than Conceal-Carry

Seeing that Mizzou allegedly houses one of the more prestigious Journalism schools in the nation, you’d think that the student newspaper would be able to put together an editorial board that isn’t complete horse-squeeze.

The Editorial Board uses their twice-weekly column to consistently vent their ill-informed and highly inaccurate “concerns”. Editorials can only be effective if the Editorial Board is credible and accountable, of which, the Maneater’s staff is neither. They are however, full of themselves and hold their misinformed opinions in the highest regard.

Take last Friday’s editorial, Conceal, carry laws endanger students.

Missouri recently passed a bill to lower the age for concealed weapon carry in Missouri from 23 to 21 and permit concealed carry on college campuses. The age thing is somewhat irrelevant as an 18-year old can obtain a Maine permit which is valid in Missouri.

The concealed carry portion of the bill was tacked on in an amendment – likely so it would pass more easily…

If their point here is that somehow this makes it a less valid or even a bad idea, they’re wrong. Look up the term “genetic fallacy”.

Turning universities into potential battlegrounds by deputizing the students is not an effective measure against campus violence…

I have a problem with this because clearly, the Editorial Board is speaking on a subject on which they clearly have no knowledge. They equate having a permit to carry concealed weapon with “deputize”. A deputy, in the law enforcement sense is one charged with upholding the law, serving warrants and guarding prisoners, none of which apply to a student carrying a concealed weapon. If a student were to brandish his or her weapon in order to apprehend a graffiti artist, they would lose their weapon permit and most likely face jail time. Having a conceal-carry permit doesn’t magically make you a law enforcer, but rather grants you a better ability to what people are already entitled to do: defend yourself and others from a deadly threat. Look up the term “straw-man fallacy”.

We couldn’t imagine allowing people to carry and conceal weapons on campuses doing anything but harm…

That’s cool, but who cares about your imagination? First, you’re the Editorial Board of a liberal trash-rag student publication, secondly, no one knows who exactly you are. If you say “we”, especially when referring to your personal imagination, you should let people know who you are. Lastly, liberals are known to have little-to-no imagination when it comes to constructive advancement.

The fact that legislators are putting people who will be required to take an eight hour class with two hours of practiced shooting on the same level as officers who undergo 24 hours of training annually is appalling

Kind of a run-on from #2. MU Police officers are sworn with full powers of arrest provided to them by Missouri Revised Statutes. MU Police officers carry mace and a baton, they carry handcuffs and open display a weapon. They drive police interceptors, and are charged with intervention on even minor infractions. They wear a uniform and are Columbia Police Special Police Officers, Special Deputies of the Boone County Sheriff, and are Peace Officers commissioned by the Curators of the University of Missouri. They respond to calls for law enforcement and general service, take reports of criminal incidents, respond to fire and intrusion alarms, assist in medical emergencies and handle traffic accidents. They patrol not just the MU campus, but are the primary if not only law enforcement on MU dozens of remote facilities and farms, and they provide security at many university events. On exactly which of these things would a student with a concealed weapon be “on the same level”. (text in this paragraph from the MUPD website).

Some college campuses around the state don’t even have armed police officers…

So because some students are even more vulnerable than MU students, we don’t need more protection?

To make campus safer, the state should instead be making provisions to provide support for more support and resources for mental health care…

I agree we need more provisions for mental health care. But that wouldn’t have prevented the muggings that have taken place on campus this past year. Why can’t we have conceal-carry AND better mental health care?

This bill needs to be stopped, and we’re hoping that the Senate can exercise some restraint by not focusing on gathering votes…

Here, they make an unsupported assertion as to the motive of legislators. Most likely, it is completely untrue, and is another prime example of genetic fallacy.

A fact completely overlooked by the Editorial Board is that conceal-carry gun owners are documented to be the most responsible with their weapons. Someone who goes through hours of training to obtain their firearm is less likely to rampage a college campus than a punk or a thug that bought his or her gun through some black market dealer. When’s the last time you read a news story about a conceal-carry permit holder shooting up Virginia Tech or NIU?

The most likely outcome of this legislation would be the prevention or control of these types of tragedies.

Journalism used to be a field that interested me, and it’s situations like these that turned me off from it. The simple fact that these types of uneducated and improperly informed people can print whatever they want, regardless of inaccuracy and bias is appalling.

March Madness at Mizzou

For the first time in 6 years, Missouri’s basketball team is dancing in March. The Tigers would have received an at-large bid even if they didn’t wrap up an automatic bid by winning the Big 12 championship.

I don’t care how my brackets turn out, I’m picking Missouri to win everything, upsetting Memphis, Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse along the way.

And I felt I’d match the blog to the times. Enjoy DeMarre Carroll and Wheeler graduate JT Tiller for the next few weeks.

Up first, No. 14 Cornell!

Gender Identity & FOCA

On an additional note, a “big” movement around campus recently has centered around adding “gender identity” to Missouri’s non-discrimination clause.

While I certainly don’t advocate discrimination against anybody (okay, probably not entirely true) there are MUCH more important things that our university (student governments in general) can allocate our time and resources towards.

Last week in The Maneater (our student newspaper) ran a column by Marcus Bowen entitled Student Leaders Lack Maturity To Be Curators.

Now typically, the columnists employed by the Maneater are complete rubbish, but Marcus Bowen has impressed me. He writes about issues that are (read, should be) important to college students while other columnists write about sororities and the Jonas Brothers. Exactly what I want to read about when I open my paper (end sarcasm).

You can read over the responses The Maneater received from “tolerant” students. I emailed Bowen commending him for his public stance against this frivolity and we exchanged a few emails and eventually became Facebook friends. For those of you unaware, that now constitutes a serious friendship.

Bowen’s new column quickly addresses last week’s before criticizing FOCA.

Now, I’m not named explicitly in Bowen’s new column, but some of our conversation is used in it. See if you can find it, pretend it’s a game!

Torgos Basketball: Game 5

TORGOS —– 25 33 – 58
ADMIRALS — 27 19 – 46

With both teams already eliminated from the playoffs, the first half resembled a matchup of two teams fighting for the dignity of finishing off the season with a win. But the second half was all Torgos.

After Jaryd and Nate scored all 25 of the Torgos first-half points, the Torgos finally received some solid play from the rest of the team. Logan went 3-for-5 from the field in the second half for six points and Kyle scored five points and hit a fadeaway three. Paul and Mike added ten points as the Torgos finished off their season on a high note.

The Torgos played their best half of the season in the second half, playing hard and unselfish. They had eight of their ten assists in the second half, including a baseline pass from Jaryd to a wide-open Kyle who buried a three. Mike backed off a rebound in the waning minutes, allowing Nate to grab his tenth rebound, completing the teams first double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Mike hit Paul on three pick-and-roll baskets in the second half and the Torgos shot fourteen free throws, a season high. The Torgos finish their first season of competitive-league play on a high note and with a record of 2-3, having won their last two games.

TEAM LEADERS
Points: Nate (12.8 PPG)
Rebounds: Jaryd (7.0 RPG)
Assists: Jaryd (2.2 APG)
FG%: Nate (69.0%)
3P%: Nate (81.0%)
FT%: Nate (11-11), Paul (4-4), Kyle (1-1) (100%)
Turnovers: Mike (6.4 TPG)

Torgos Basketball: Game 4

TORGOS (1-3) 20 23 – 43
FRIDAYS (0-4) 20 21 – 41

The Torgos managed their first win of the season by scoring eleven of the last 13 points in the game. Making his first start of the season, Nate took a bounce pass from Jaryd and hit a mid-range jumper with 5.9 seconds left to give the Torgos their first lead of the game.

The Fridays managed to get off a wild three-point attempt as time expired, but it banged harmlessly off the backboard.

Nate and Jaryd again carried the team, scoring 33 of the team’s 43 points by shooting a combined 12 of 18 from the field, four of five from beyond the arc. Despite being out-rebounded 31-18, the Torgos managed to win by outshooting the Fridays 41.7% to 25%. The Torgos also held ad thirteen to six advantage in free throw attempts.

The Torgos will finish off their season taking on the 1-3 Admirals next week.

SEASON STATISTICS

JARYD: 9 PPG, 6.75 RPG, 2 APG, 50% FG, 36% 3PT, 50% FT
LOGAN: 4 PPG, 4 RPG, 0 APG, 20% FG, 0% 3PT, 57% FT
NATE: 11 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1 APG, 71.4% FG, 89% 3PT, 100% FT
MIKE: 1.25 PPG, 2.75 RPG, 1 APG, 5.6% FG, 0% 3PT, 75% FT
PAUL: 1 PPG, 0.25 RPG, 0 APG, 0% FG, 0% 3PT, 100% FT
ROBERTO: 2 PPG, 2.75 RPG, 0.25 APG, 33.3% FG, 0% 3PT, 0% FT
KYLE: 1.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.25 APG, 60% FG, 0% 3PT, 0% FT
CARL: 0 PPG, 1 RPG, 0.25 APG, 0% FG, 0% 3PT, 0%FT

2009 RHA Ball

Friday night saw the Upper Crust host the 2009 RHA Ball. We dropped the “Inaugural” from the name because the new President and Vice President aren’t sworn in until May under the new Constitutional amendments.

Tanner Tucker, former Speaker of Congress and current Director of STRIPES, delivered the keynote address, and was very good. As the Board of Elections Chair, I was tabbed to announce the election results and did so admirably.

The election had a very good student turnout and saw three slates run for the first time since 1997. Rachael Feuerborn and Lauren Thomas won the election, capturing 49% of the vote. The slate of Blake Lawrence and Jon Cleair finished second with 32% and Bobby Wood and Michael Crawford managed 19%.

J, Tanner and myself

My date, Stacy, and I

I perform Marc Cohn’s Walking In Memphis

Justin & I, the only two RHA men to win re-election

2009 Mizzou Iron Chef

On Thursday, February 26 RHA hosted the third annual Mizzou Iron Chef competition. However, the 2009 installment of Iron Chef was the first since the event won the MACURH Program of the Year Award.

Five teams of three student chefs (paired with a CDS sous-chef) competed for the title. Each team was required to prepare two dishes, with one required to incorporate something from another culture’s cuisine. Each dish must use the featured ingredient, which this year was rice.

Patrick & I check in with Vice Chancellor Cathy Scroggs

Alicia models the featured ingredient, RICE

I pose with the MACURH Program of the Year Award

One of the teams prepares their dish

Jim’s guide-dog helped clean up any dropped food!

All of the competitors pose for a photo after the event