Typical Missouri
Throughout my four-and-a-half years at the University of Missouri, Tiger fans grew accustomed to dealing with athletic grief.
Mizzou athletics weren’t necessarily bad, in fact, most teams had a winning record and qualified for their sports version of a postseason. But, if I had a nickel for the amount of times that fans were left disappointed, upset or felt like knocking their head against a wall until a state of unconsciousness set in, I’d be able to buy a tank of gas.
My inner circle of friends and I dealt with the heartbreak and constant anxiety by putting on a sly grin, shaking our heads and uttering the following phrase: “Typical Missouri.”
Pathetic? Maybe. But, it was merely a product of buying into the enormous expectations placed on the programs by local media and the Missouri athletic department—easily the best hype machine in the country.
No team left a worse feeling in our mouths than the 2003-04 Missouri basketball team. With preseason All-Americans Arthur Johnson and Ricky Paulding, the Tigers were ranked among the top-5 teams in the country and a near-unanimous pick by “experts” to make a trip to the program’s first Final Four.
I entered the season thinking championship, and after defeating Indiana in Bloomington to improve to 6-0, I had no doubt that team was the best in the country. Then allegations of cheating haunted the team off the court and their play began to slide on it. A series of disappointing losses—including one to Belmont—left the team stumbling to 16-14 and a 1st round loss in the tournament…NIT, that is.
Now, thanks to consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and Texas the 2008 Missouri football team may surpass the aforementioned disaster (not taking into account the embarrassment that came with the NCAA investigation).
The Tigers entered the season with hopes of a national championship. A trip to my alma mater’s first BCS bowl was almost an afterthought. No doubt, winning the Big XII North for the second straight season was never even a question.
Suddenly, not even a rematch with the Longhorns in Kansas City for the Big XII championship is a lock anymore. What’s worse is that after looking totally unstoppable against opponents like Buffalo, Nevada and Illinois—a middling team in the horrendous Big Ten—Mizzou has more closely resembled Syracuse than Florida in losses to powerhouses in the mighty south division of the conference.
Last season, Mizzou’s success came as a great surprise to the fans. They were expected to be ranked and win a majority of their games. Nobody expected a week at No. 1 with only one win standing in the way of a shot at the crystal ball. Even a loss to Oklahoma in the conference championship couldn’t upset Tiger nation.
What’s taken place in the last nine excruciating days has left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. Hopes of a national title are gone, but thanks to a terribly flawed system a BCS bowl is still reachable by winning the Big XII. Of course, nothing suggests this Mizzou squad is capable of upsetting Texas or OU.
The offensive and defensive lines have been manhandled and Chase Daniel will be lucky to make his way back to New York as a Heisman finalist. Clearly there’s a reason the Longhorns didn’t originally offer him a scholarship—or half of Missouri’s roster for that matter. Daniel is clearly a system quarterback and any future of playing on Sunday’s is probably gone.
Mizzou is currently at a crossroads. With their ultimate dreams squashed, they can either rally to give themselves one last chance at the BCS at the end of the season; or mail it in from here on out. For Gary Pinkel’s sake, it had better be the first option or Missouri should roll a red carpet out for him to walk from Columbia to Washington.
Missouri has taught their faithful fans an important lesson through all this—instead of buying into the hype; wait until a team accomplishes something. Then, the success is so much sweeter.
At least a lot of fans will maintain a healthy budget by hanging onto the money they had earmarked for whichever BCS bowl proved to be the ultimate destination during the first week of January.
Now, a late-December trip to the Holiday Bowl is a realistic possibility…
San Diego’s weather is great in December.
Mizzou athletics weren’t necessarily bad, in fact, most teams had a winning record and qualified for their sports version of a postseason. But, if I had a nickel for the amount of times that fans were left disappointed, upset or felt like knocking their head against a wall until a state of unconsciousness set in, I’d be able to buy a tank of gas.
My inner circle of friends and I dealt with the heartbreak and constant anxiety by putting on a sly grin, shaking our heads and uttering the following phrase: “Typical Missouri.”
Pathetic? Maybe. But, it was merely a product of buying into the enormous expectations placed on the programs by local media and the Missouri athletic department—easily the best hype machine in the country.
No team left a worse feeling in our mouths than the 2003-04 Missouri basketball team. With preseason All-Americans Arthur Johnson and Ricky Paulding, the Tigers were ranked among the top-5 teams in the country and a near-unanimous pick by “experts” to make a trip to the program’s first Final Four.
I entered the season thinking championship, and after defeating Indiana in Bloomington to improve to 6-0, I had no doubt that team was the best in the country. Then allegations of cheating haunted the team off the court and their play began to slide on it. A series of disappointing losses—including one to Belmont—left the team stumbling to 16-14 and a 1st round loss in the tournament…NIT, that is.
Now, thanks to consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and Texas the 2008 Missouri football team may surpass the aforementioned disaster (not taking into account the embarrassment that came with the NCAA investigation).
The Tigers entered the season with hopes of a national championship. A trip to my alma mater’s first BCS bowl was almost an afterthought. No doubt, winning the Big XII North for the second straight season was never even a question.
Suddenly, not even a rematch with the Longhorns in Kansas City for the Big XII championship is a lock anymore. What’s worse is that after looking totally unstoppable against opponents like Buffalo, Nevada and Illinois—a middling team in the horrendous Big Ten—Mizzou has more closely resembled Syracuse than Florida in losses to powerhouses in the mighty south division of the conference.
Last season, Mizzou’s success came as a great surprise to the fans. They were expected to be ranked and win a majority of their games. Nobody expected a week at No. 1 with only one win standing in the way of a shot at the crystal ball. Even a loss to Oklahoma in the conference championship couldn’t upset Tiger nation.
What’s taken place in the last nine excruciating days has left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. Hopes of a national title are gone, but thanks to a terribly flawed system a BCS bowl is still reachable by winning the Big XII. Of course, nothing suggests this Mizzou squad is capable of upsetting Texas or OU.
The offensive and defensive lines have been manhandled and Chase Daniel will be lucky to make his way back to New York as a Heisman finalist. Clearly there’s a reason the Longhorns didn’t originally offer him a scholarship—or half of Missouri’s roster for that matter. Daniel is clearly a system quarterback and any future of playing on Sunday’s is probably gone.
Mizzou is currently at a crossroads. With their ultimate dreams squashed, they can either rally to give themselves one last chance at the BCS at the end of the season; or mail it in from here on out. For Gary Pinkel’s sake, it had better be the first option or Missouri should roll a red carpet out for him to walk from Columbia to Washington.
Missouri has taught their faithful fans an important lesson through all this—instead of buying into the hype; wait until a team accomplishes something. Then, the success is so much sweeter.
At least a lot of fans will maintain a healthy budget by hanging onto the money they had earmarked for whichever BCS bowl proved to be the ultimate destination during the first week of January.
Now, a late-December trip to the Holiday Bowl is a realistic possibility…
San Diego’s weather is great in December.
posted by Jeremy Lynn | 1:02 AM
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