Ugly Uniform of the Day

Last Saturday, the Missouri Tigers broke out these threads in their annual rivalry game against Kansas. The Tigers came out on the short end of a 40-37 loss played in the sleet in Kansas City.

The game was great, but the uniforms are as ugly as the weather they played in. It looks like something my high school wore in the 80's, only Mizzou's has some white trim on it. The only thing worse was when Missouri last broke out gold uniforms, in a 1984 home date with Notre Dame. That day, the Tigers wore gold pants with the gold jerseys. Interestingly enough, they lost that day, too. Maybe the Tigers won't wear these again any time soon.

These uniforms are really bad. We won't be subject to them Saturday night in the Big 12 championship game, since the North team wears white when the championship game is played in the North. These jerseys look like puke.

One Shining Moment, Missouri Style..

..or as viewed through the lens of a Kansas fan.

I couldn't help but get a kick of this latest example of America's most underrated rivalry: Kansas vs. Missouri. The rivalry doesn't get a lot of pub outside of the heartland, but these schools really, really don't like each other. As documented earlier, these states fought a war against each other.

An enterprising KU fan put together this video montage to the tune of CBS's signature, "One Shining Moment". It documents a quarter century of Mizzou miscues and lowlights.

Among the infamous events:
* The Nebraska 1998 comeback in football, climaxed by the touchdown reception on the tipped pass. This helped preserve a national championship for the Huskers.
* The Colorado fifth-down touchdown in 1990, allowing the Buffs to beat Missouri and to go on to win a share of a national championship.
* Tyus Edney's coast-to-coast drive for the buzzer-beating bucket, giving UCLA a comeback win over the Tigers in the second round of the 1995 NCAA tournament. UCLA went on to win the national championship.
* Ex-basketball coach Quin Snyder exiting the court to a shower of popcorn.
* QB Chase Daniel picking and eating boogers on the sideline.
* The time in 1983 when Missouri All-American center Steve Stipanovich accidentally shot himself in the arm.
* Missouri removing the name of Wal-Mart heiress Paige Laurie from their new arena, after it was discovered she paid someone to attend classes and take tests for her at USC. The arena was named after her when her father gave a significant sum to Mizzou for naming rights. What was once called the Paige Sports Arena is now simply Mizzou Arena.

I can't wait to see a Mizzou response...

Sometimes, The War Never Ends

Next Saturday in Kansas City, the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers will play the biggest football game in their history, providing both teams take care of business this week. Both teams happen to be in the midst of the best starts in the history of both schools. This game is normally a home-and-home affair, but has been moved to Kansas City for the next two years. Arrowhead Stadium will be a zoo.

These two states once fought a war against each other. For over ten years before the Civil War, abolitionists in Kansas fought with slaveholders in Missouri over the issue of slavery. The Missourians wished to settle in Kansas with slaves, while the settlers of Kansas wished to not have the scourge of slavery in their territory. Groups of settlers went back and forth between the two states in guerrilla warfare over the issue of slavery.

The above shirt celebrates the destruction of Lawrence, Kansas. In 1856, Missourian William Quantrill led a band of raiders known as "Bushwhackers" into Lawrence, where they went on a four-hour rampage and burned the city to the ground. On the back of this shirt is Quantrill's slogan: "Raise the Black Flag and Ride Hard Boys. Our Cause is Just and Our Enemies Many".


Kansas fans have responded with a shirt featuring radical abolitionist John Brown, who led the Pottawatomie Massacre, a retaliation for Quantrill's Lawrence Massacre. Brown's group killed five pro-slavery settlers north of a place called Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas. Brown advocated violence in favor of the cause of abolition of slavery, and was hanged after attempting to start a slave rebellion in Harper's Ferry, Virginia in 1859.

These shirts are kinda funny, but they are really sick. And people think the South is still fighting the Civil War? The South has nothing on these Kansas and Missouri fans. They act as if they still want to fight the war. I've been reading Kansas message boards where fans refer to Missouri as the "slavers". Like people in Missouri would want to bring slavery back. Puhleeze.

Therefore, KU and Mizzou are mortal enemies. Up until this year, both schools have mostly stunk in football. The football game hasn't mattered nearly as much as their annual basketball games, where they have the biggest hoops rivalry in the Big 8/Big 12.

I really don't have a dog in this hunt. My mother was born in Missouri, but moved to Oklahoma as a child. I've watched both schools all my life. As a Sooner fan, it benefits my team for KU to win this game and to be undefeated going into the Big 12 championship game. This game will be fun to watch. I've been geeked up about it for a month.

These shirts, however, are insane.

Special thanks to AOL's Fanhouse for the tip.

Eleven Plus One=Ten, Continued

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany backtracked this week on expansion discussion. It seems that he opened up an entire can of worms when he mentioned it last week.

I think just the opposite is happening. I believe the Big Ten, behind closed doors, is actively searching for a 12th member, preferably in an adjacent state. Now that the Big Ten Network is a factor, the conference needs to expand their footprint. I have seen goofy speculation mentioning schools such as Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. I don't look for the Big Ten/Eleven to think that far out of the box.

I do look for the Big Ten to rock the Big 12's world, by peeling off the University of Missouri. This makes sense for several reasons. 1) Missouri is an adjacent state, with two large TV markets in St. Louis and Kansas City. The Big Ten would solidify their place in the St. Louis market with this move. 2) Mizzou has a competitive, but not great athletic program. They provide the ability to generate revenue without providing a huge threat to schools such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 3) The Big Ten can offer more money, especially with the advent of the Big Ten Network. Unlike the Big 12, the Big Ten shares all television revenue equally among all schools. This would be attractive to Mizzou, especially compared to the Texas-dominated Big 12. 4) The Big Ten is an academic conference, in addition to an athletic conference. The opportunity to participate in prestigious academic research projects with fellow conference members would be too much to pass up.

Missouri would leave more than a century of history behind, as a charter member of the Big 6/7/8 and Big 12. However, this is the 21st century, and money talks.

What would happen to the Big 12? First, this would solidify the Big Ten Network, providing a blueprint for the SEC to start their own network. With this in mind, the SEC would be wise to look toward Texas to add more television sets. This can be done by adding Texas and Texas A&M. A&M would go in a heartbeat. Texas would go where they can generate the most revenue. If this scenario happens, all bets are off. It would not be farfetched for the SEC to expand to 14 or even 16 schools, if there is enough money to justify the move.

The next commissioner of the Big 12 faces the responsibility of keeping the league together. That will be easier said than done.