Weekly Report

By Tiger Fan

Law school exams are over, so that means that the Weekly Reports are back! Without further ado…

Tiger notes…

-For the definition of “too little, too late” please see the Mizzou baseball team. The Tigers have won seven of their last eight, but they are only 25-21. Even if they win out (which probably won’t happen given the two remaining Big XII series against Texas and Texas Tech), it probably won’t be enough to get the Tigers into the postseason. At this point, the only hope would be winning the Big XII Tourney. The crazy thing is, this team is entirely capable of winning that tournament. But I don’t think that will happen… in fact, I removed the College World Series from my personal calendar last week. Tough season for the Tigers.

-The rumors surrounding the men’s basketball roster seem to be clearing up. Kalen Grimes, Leo Lyons, Marshall Brown, Marcus Watkins, Glen Dandridge, Matt Lawrence, Jason Horton and Nick Berardini should all be back next season. James Douglas has reportedly not been attending workouts, so it looks like his short career is over. Keon Lawrence, Vaidatos Volkus and J.T. Tiller are all signed to join the team next season. Ty Morrison has officially signed at Creighton. And Thomas Gardner still claims he is going pro… but he can still come back and hopefully will.

-Marcus Watkins will probably play this season as a walk-on, which means his scholarship will be available. That means the men’s basketball team still has two scholarships available… and three if Gardner does not come back. Mike Anderson is still working to fill those spots. The leading candidates at this point are Stefhon Hannah and DeMarre Carroll. Hannah is a JuCo point guard from Chipola Junior College in Florida. Mizzou has not had much luck in the past with JuCo point guards (see Ricky Clemons, Randy Pully, James Douglas), but lots of folks like him. KSU coach Bob Huggins seems to be the only obstacle at this point to Hannah being a Tiger. Carroll is a sophomore guard at Vanderbilt who is looking to transfer. Thus, he would not be able to contribute until the 2007-08 season.

-The women’s golf team signed a recruit from Indiana last week named Michelle Morgan. The only question is whether any other women’s programs at Mizzou will be trying to get in on the act. In high school, Morgan earned all-conference honors in soccer, basketball and softball and reach the state finals in diving. Yowzers!

-In other women’s golf news, the Tigers have qualified for their fourth consecutive NCAA regional… which is more than the basketball or baseball teams can say.

-As I reported last week, Brad Smith and Tony Palmer were selected in the NFL draft. Four other Tigers have also been signed to free agent contracts: Marcus King with the Cowboys, Sean Coffey with the Chargers, Derrick Ming with the Bills and Calvin Washington with the Redskins.

-Just when things seem to finally be settling down over in the athletics department, the Board of Curators decided to make themselves look like idiots again. On Thursday, two members of the board called for the creation of a task force to oversee athletics on the four UM campuses state-wide. Apparently, this board of businessmen and women (several of whom hold degrees from SMS and one of whom is a donor to the SMS athletic department at the highest level) thinks that they are qualified to oversee the athletic department. But are they? The plan would call for a uniform enforcement plan for all four campuses – even though UMSL has an ANNUAL athletic budget of $300,000 and Mizzou has raised $1.2 million in booster donatios in the last MONTH. To make matters worse, the Curators promptly tabled the issue at their Friday meeting, proving once again that the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing in the UM administration. As many qualms as I have with Alden, financing is not one of them. He has succeeded in more than doubling the athletic budget at Mizzou and the department is completely self-sustaining. I could go on, but Bryan Burwell wrote an excellent article on this matter in Friday’s Post-Dispatch. Rather than repeat his thoughts, I’ll just direct you to his column.

Quick-hit non-Mizzou thoughts…

If you haven’t been watching the NBA Playoffs, you should start now. Today. What have you missed so far? Instant classic buzzer beaters by LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Martin. A triple-double by LeBron in his first playoff game. Kobe throwing down a nasty dunk on Steve Nash, only to have Nash get revenge by winning the series in seven. Shaq dropping 30 and 20 like its 1999. Dwyane Wade falling seven times, but getting up eight. The entire Nets-Pacers series (don’t worry, everyone missed that series. It was only carried on NBA network). The Mavs and Pistons looking unbeatable. The Spurs looking human. The Clippers (yes, those Clippers) winning a series time since 1978. And that was all in the first round!... Michelle Wie finally made the cut at a men’s event and everyone acts like this is a big deal. But lets get one thing straight: She’s still not even the best teenage golfer in the world, much less a top five player on the LPGA tour… The whole debate over whether MLB should authenticate the homerun ball when Bonds passes the Babe is ridiculous. Did everyone go crazy when Pete Rose passed the guy who was No. 2 on the all-time hits list? Did everyone go nuts when Hank Aaron passed the guy who was No. 2 on the all-time home runs list? The only time second place matters is in the Olympics. If Bonds wants recognition, he better slim down so his knees will last long enough to break Aaron’s record. Or he could just retire and we’d all be much happier… Does anyone even realize that the NHL playoffs are going on? Quick, name for me all the teams that are left. **awkward silence** Uh, the Red Wings? **awkward silence** That’s what I thought… Someone please explain to me how the Patriots wound up getting one of the best tailbacks in the draft, the best WR in the draft and one of the best TEs in the draft in the first three rounds. Man, they draft well…

Cincinnati sports notes…

I know most folks don’t care, but a few shout-outs about my hometown teams… The Reds are off to a blistering start and sit in first place in the NL Central with one of the best records in baseball. I think the fans are about 50-50: Some want to print World Series tickets, some are waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’ve followed Cincinnati sports long enough to fall firmly within the latter group. Unfortunately, I think it’s coming sooner than any of us thought. After taking four of five from the Astros and Cardinals, the Reds have dropped three of four to the Rockies and Diamondbacks. That is a BIG problem. There’s no way we can keep up this pace all year. If only we played in another division… I saw an interview with Steelers linebacker Joey Porter the other day on ESPN, during which he said that he doesn’t think the Bengals can compete physically with the Steelers. Really Joey? I know you won the Super Bowl last year, but you know you would have lost in the first round were it not for Kimo von Oelhoffen, right? You do know you didn’t even win the division, right? You do know that the refs gift-wrapped that Super Bowl for you, right? You do know Chad Johnson is not Jerramy Stevens, right? We’ll just see what happens this season... I’m not quite sure how to feel about the Bengals draft. On one hand, they did address some areas that need help. On the other hand, they failed pick up a much-needed TE, even though they had several chances to do so with good choices on the board. I felt like they picked Frostee Rucker a round or two early and I didn’t like the fact that they took three “project” players (all listed at wide receiver) with their final three picks. I thought we were pretty well set at wide receiver (Chad and T.J.) and kick returner (Tab Perry), but what do I know? Oh well. In Marvin we trust…