Weekly Report

By Tiger Fan

Tiger notes…

-After an up-and-down week, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what to make of the baseball team. The one thing that seems clear is that Max Scherzer is a beast. But the rest of the team has been strangely inconsistent. After putting up 14 runs Friday in a marquis victory over No. 1 Florida, the Tigers struck out 19 times on Saturday and Sunday in losses to unranked Wake Forest and Ohio State. Those losses dropped the Tigers out of the top 25 in two polls and Baseball America has dropped Mizzou to No. 20. They bounced back in their home opener on Wednesday, trouncing Illinois State by a score of 18-5, so hopefully that win will get them back on the right track. I’ll be in Columbia this weekend to watch the series against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, so keep an eye out for game reports coming soon.

-After a loss to Nebraska on Wednesday in its regular-season finale, the women’s basketball team is firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble. The Tigers are the No. 4 seed at the Big XII tourney in Dallas and probably need a win or two to shore up a trip to the Big Dance because of a weak non-conference schedule.

-The No. 9 gymnastics team dominated the Cat Classic for the fourth straight year, bringing home the team title and four individual honors. Freshman Adrianne Perry took home the all-around title and tied with Bunny Schwartzman for the floor exercise title. Schwartzman also won the title on the beam with her third 9.95 score of the season. Seniors Jodie Heinicka and Sarah Zigler tied for the title on the bars. This weekend, the Tigers host Centenary on Friday and travel to SEMO on Sunday.

-Mizzou basketball… is anyone still watching? Does anyone care? I’ll find out for sure on Sunday when I attend the regular-season finale against Nebraska in Columbia. If it’s nice outside, baseball might outdraw basketball… or at least it should. The Tigers lost twice again this week, dropping games at Colorado and at Iowa State. My only hope here is remembering what happened a few years ago at North Carolina: Matt Doherty had a terrible, sub-.500 season and was fired. Roy Williams came in to replace him. Two years later, the Tar Heels won the national title. Granted, the current freshman class of Matt Lawrence and Leo Lyons aren’t exactly Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashard McCants. And the Tigers aren’t likely to lure Coach K away from Duke. But I’m not expecting a national title… I’m just hoping that a new coach might be able to generate some excitement among Mizzou fans and get the team back into the tournament in the next couple years.

-I know we rip on Jason Horton a lot, so I feel obligated to mention that he was named to the All-Academic Big XII Second Team, which means he has a GPA of more than 3.0. Congrats to Jason on this accomplishment… although I have to wonder why that classroom success can’t translate to intelligent decisions on the court. And I can’t forget this important stat from the press release: Jason “is already second among Mizzou sophomores all-time with his 4.5 assists per game.” Has it really come to this? Have we sunk so far as a program that we have to dig that deep into the record book to say something positive about our players? Man, this season can’t end quickly enough…

-A lot of us want Alden fired, but the following headline illustrates why this won’t happen: “All Sports Meet Eligibility Requirements, Seven Sports Have Perfect Scores in '04-'05.” Mizzou released its NCAA Athletic Academic Progress Rate this week and every sport meets the minimum eligibility requirements. The sports that achieved perfect scores: men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. Notably absent from that list are the football and basketball teams that have been the constant source of controversy under Alden’s tenure. Still, Alden’s job is probably safe as long as he continues to have success with the non-revenue sports because Deaton and Floyd realize it would look bad to fire an AD who graduates student-athletes because of a couple bad basketball seasons.

-Speaking of Floyd, I never got around to writing my in-depth thoughts on this issue, so I’ll just outline them here. The bottom line is this: People who are calling for Floyd to be fired because of poor basketball performance have a very myopic view of the university. Believe it or not, there are other things going on at the university that are – gasp – much more important than basketball. It is, after all, an academic institution… and other than the School of Journalism, it’s best-known nationally as a party school. THAT should be the primary concern for Floyd as president of the entire UM system, which includes four campuses, thousands of students and only one Big XII hoops team. Yes, Floyd has tied himself to the basketball program’s demise through his involvement in the Clemons debacle and his investigations into Quin’s firing. But men’s basketball at Mizzou should not be Floyd’s main concern – in fact, in probably shouldn’t even be in the top 20. I’m sure Duke’s president keeps an eye on the basketball team, but his main goal is clearly to maintain Duke’s reputation as one of the nation’s top academic institutions. Likewise, academic issues should be Floyd’s main concern – and I think they are. Some people want to fire Floyd because he’s not paying enough attention to basketball. To me, Floyd should only be fired if he is paying too much attention to basketball and neglecting the academic mission of the university. Since Floyd’s arrival, there has been plenty to criticize: state funds have been cut, tuition has been raised and the administration rolled over on the SMS name change debate. If you think these things are grounds for firing Floyd, okay. But basketball? Come on. That is the fault of the coach and the athletic director. Quin is gone… Alden should be next.

Quick-hit non-Mizzou thoughts…

I am a Fantasy Olympics gold medalist. Thank you Julia Mancuso… This NFL labor dispute is ridiculous. Do the various league’s ever learn anything from the labor problems in other leagues? I can’t believe that every couple years, we have to deal with another one of these things. To me, this one is even worse because it will fundamentally change the league. Players who have been the face of their franchises are getting cut. In 2007, mediocre teams with cash to burn will simply be able to buy free agents away from small market teams. Once that happens, say good-bye to parity, which is what made the NFL great. Ah, America. Isn’t selfishness great?... Darren Daulton is a freaking nutcase… An article on CNN.com today revealed to me that Dave Chappelle lives on a farm in Yellow Springs, Ohio. That certainly explains all his comedy that centers on the inner city experience. Oh wait, no it doesn’t… Acie Law is the man…