Mizzou Baseball: Rock Choke Jayhawks

■ "Yeah, I think so. You grow up being a Kansas fan your whole life and everyone hates Missouri, and wants to beat them as bad as they can. It's good to come out here, beat Missouri and get the win." - Jordan Dreiling (rockchalktalk.com, April 7)

■ 2011 Preseason Big 12 Baseball Coaches Teleconference - KU Coach Ritch Price:

Q: Ritch, I gotta ask you. What's it gonna be like, not coaching a Price?

A: It's definitely going to be different. I jokingly tell people, If my wife hadn't cut me off, I'd have a lot better team.

■ Jayhawks fight way into finale (Lawrence Journal-World, May 29, 2006)

In a road rendition of the Border Showdown, bad blood spilled in the second inning when KU's Ryne Price, rounding the bases during a home-run trot, dipped a shoulder into Missouri third baseman Brock Bond.

The two players locked up and soon were on the ground scuffling. Players from both schools immediately scurried to the scene from positions, the dugouts and the outfield bullpens. Fists were flying in some confrontations.

Several players had to be restrained by teammates as the two sides faced off near the Kansas dugout.

The umpires and coaches eventually cleared the field, and the two head coaches met with the umpires to discuss ejections, which were handed out to Bond and Price, the sophomore son of Jayhawks coach Ritch Price.

Big 12 officials later ruled that Price and Bond were suspended an additional game, meaning today for Price and next week for Bond, should the Tigers make the NCAA Tournament.
. . .
Price said he thought the incident was unintentional.

"I honestly believe none of it was on purpose,'' Price said. "Ryne is running the bases, he's got his head down, and the third baseman just turned around and walked into him as he's running. They collided pretty hard.

"I don't think that either guy was intentional in what happened. I think it's something that just unfortunately happened. He got hit pretty hard, and he responded.''

■ Quotes:

“We’re the good people, they’re the bad people. That’s the best way I know to explain it. I don’t like their people, I don’t like their players, I don’t like a damn thing about ’em.” (Former KU coach Don Fambrough)

“They’re a bunch of thieves is what they are. And you can look it up in the dictionary. What the people in Kansas did I’m sure they felt was justified. And what we did over here we know was justified.” (Missouri historian Richard Sunderwirth regarding the Burning of Osceola, Mo., which predated Quantrill’s Raid of Lawrence by two years but was not nearly as bloody)

“Anybody that’s involved in a rivalry game like this, they can say they treat it like any other ballgame, but you don’t. They’ll run faster, they’ll jump higher and they’ll make plays in that ballgame that they wouldn’t make in any other ballgame.” (Former Mizzou basketball coach - and former MU Baseball pitcher -Norm Stewart)

“It doesn’t matter if you go 0-10 — you want to beat Kansas. It really hurts to lose against them.” (Ex-MU wide receiver Tommy Saunders after KU’s 40-37 victory in 2008)

■ It never gets old: