Conference Hokey-Pokey™: Actual usual information

outkickthecoverage.com dissects the conference by-laws:

♦ Reality: There are no barriers to Missouri in the SEC (outkickthecoverage.com)
Let's dive in and consider the situation that Missouri faces so you guys have better information to combat those who would argue that Missouri's fate is hemmed in by the buyout that would be owed under the Big 12 bylaws, by lawsuit threats, or by other nonexistent issues. Missouri factions that don't want to leave are saying the cost would be $40 million and that a lawsuit would ensue that could cost even more. Please. That's not the case. The actual cost to Missouri for jumping to the SEC would be in the neighborhood of $12 million. And if the school really fought it could end up being nothing at all.
. . .

Mizzou in the Majors: Kinsler's suprisingly great year

♦ What did Ian Kinsler do that's even more impressive than 30-30? (Dallas News)

Ian Kinsler joined the 30 homer/30 steals club for the second time in his career Tuesday, but it may not have been the night's biggest accomplishment for Kinsler.

That would be the two runs he scored to cross 120 for the season. Kinsler went into the final game of the season with 121 runs scored, the fifth-highest total in Rangers history.

Kinsler scored 116 runs while hitting leadoff. It's the most runs scored by a leadoff man in Rangers history, surpassing the 102 Kinsler scored in 2008.

Conference Hokey-Pokey™: Impact on non-revenue sports

♦ Missouri coaches talk about SEC's pros and cons (Columbia Tribune)

Gary Pinkel has served as the public voice of Missouri’s frustration with the Big 12, calling the unrest and defections over the past 15 months “sad,” “embarrassing” and “unbelievable.”

But the Missouri athletic department’s angst about the realignment saga extends beyond Pinkel and the school’s power brokers. While a potential conference switch would be driven by football and television riches, a move also would have a profound effect on the Tigers’ nonrevenue athletic programs.
. . .
Baseball is an especially interesting case. A move to the SEC, which claims the last three NCAA champions and is regarded as the country’s top conference, would generate excitement. But Missouri is a world away from the fevered baseball culture of the South. While MU spent a Big 12-low $1.18 million on baseball and averaged less than 500 fans per game at Taylor Stadium last season, LSU might as well be running a small-market major league franchise. LSU spent $7.5 million last year and drew an average of 10,534 fans to its $38 million stadium.

Baseball Coach Tim Jamieson and track Coach Brett Halter, who would face similar weather and cultural challenges, declined comment.

Mizzou announces exhibition game this Saturday

♦ Baseball Set to Host Ontario in Fall Exhibition (mutigers.com)

Tigers will face the Ontario Blue Jays in an exhibition contest at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The Mizzou baseball program will open its fall schedule on Saturday (Oct. 1) at 3 p.m. as it squares off against the Ontario Blue Jays, a high school team based out of Ontario, Canada. This marks the first time that Mizzou has brought in outside teams during fall competition as it will also play a pair of games next weekend against Iowa in hopes of raising money for Joplin, Mo., Little League.

♦ More on the Ontario Blue Jays at OntarioBlueJays.com

Student-Athletes

♦ It's interesting how skewed and how varied the public attitudes about college sports have become.

For many, it's all about the money:

♦ BCS football: Big 12 expansion options (Boise State, BYU), Missouri to the SEC (?) and more on realignment (mercurynews.com)

*** Why would Missouri want to join the SEC?

Because of the long-term stability and because when the SEC signs a new TV deal — which cannot happen without expansion — then each school will likely receive $25 million-plus per year for TV rights.

*** Why would the SEC want Missouri?

Because it’s an Association of American Universities member and because there are 2 million TV homes in the state.

Mizzou would be the SEC’s fourth AAU school, in addition to Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Florida.

(And don’t forget: UF president Bernie Machen chairs the SEC’s executive board.)

*** If SEC commish Mike Slive is considering a dedicated network comparable to what the Pac-12 has created, then Missouri and Texas A&M are smart additions: The schools add 11 million TV homes to the league’s footprint.

At $1 per in-market subscriber per month … and this is all back-of-the-napkin conjecture … that would be more than $100 million per year — just from Mizzou and A&M.

♦ Or maybe it's because Mizzou and its athletes and fans would enjoy the challenge of top notch athletic competition against the highly skilled athletes of the SEC and their institutions of higher learning. 

And yet there are still some who value the out-of-fashion ideal of the "student athlete":

♦ Student-Athletes Deserve Praise (The Harvard Crimson, 9/28/2011)

In October’s edition of The Atlantic, Taylor Branch wrote a brilliant piece titled “The Shame of College Sports.” His story outlined, and in many ways underscored, what those of us who pay attention to big time college sports have known for years: that the two hallmarks of the NCAA—amateurism and the student-athlete—are fraudulent.
. . .
Former Harvard President Charles W. Eliot, class of 1853, once famously said of Harvard’s baseball team:

“I’m told the team did well because one pitcher had a fine curve ball. I understand that a curve ball is thrown with a deliberate attempt to deceive. Surely this is not an ability we should want to foster at Harvard.”

Folksy naivety aside, Eliot was a firm believer in amateurism, the importance of athletics in conjunction with academics, and the significance of sport as a worthy endeavor regardless of the result...

♦ I'm not folksily naive enough to think anything will change.  You can't turn back the clock.  Modern American athletic culture is like a modern American religion, and its adherents demand nothing less than the glorification of money, power and perfection.


Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a traditionalist and baseball purist.  There's a part of me that hopes Mizzou goes to the Big "Ten", a decidedly 2nd (or even 3rd) tier baseball conference, so that I can return to enjoying baseball for the love of the game, without the high stakes pressure of the Big 12 or SEC.

Word on the Tweet

@KendallRogersPG (Kendall Rogers of PerfectGame.org):

• Spoke to #TAMU coach Rob Childress for fall profile. Said you talk about the #SEC and you're talking about the best league RPI-wise. #Aggies
  
  
• Childress said #Aggies look forward to the challenge. Said if you want to be the best, you want to play the best. Feels like that's the #SEC
  
  
• Childress has all 12 #SEC teams schedules. Said #TAMU will take a long, hard, look at non-conference scheduling in the future. Interesting.
  
  
• On playing #Texas: "Rivalry has gone on forever, and schools have each other in their fight songs. I'd be disappointed to see it end." #TAMU
  
  
• Lastly, Childress believes going to #SEC helps in #collegebaseball recruiting. Prefers Texas recruits, but admits it could open new doors

@KyleBarbs (Mizzou junior transfer pitcher Kyle Barbeck):

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

@RyanClubb29:

Hope my buddy @casemunson had a successful surgery. You're the man!

Conference Hokey-Pokey™: MizzouTube

Mizzou Baseball fans will want to take note of the shady character in the background in one of the final scenes of this video. Click HERE for a larger version at YouTube

Baseball Sets Time for Joplin Relief Game

♦ Baseball Sets Time for Joplin Relief Game (mutigers.com)

The Mizzou baseball program has announced a 12:30 p.m. start time for the Oct. 8 exhibition game against Iowa. The game will serve as the first of two exhibition games with the Hawkeyes that will directly benefit Joplin Little League as the community continues to recover from a devastating tornado back in May. The 12:30 p.m. start time is scheduled around Mizzou's football game with Kansas State, which was selected for a 2:30 p.m. start earlier today. Fans are encouraged to come out to Taylor Stadium before watching the Tigers take on the Wildcats in Manhattan.

Mizzou baseball has teamed with the Daniel Boone Little League, Diamond Council, BC Baseball and The Callaway Bank to host the University of Iowa in pair of fall exhibition games that will benefit the Joplin Little League program in its efforts to rebuild the program following the devastating tornado that hit the area back in May. The games will be played on Oct. 8-9 at Taylor Stadium and tickets are just $5 with all proceeds going directly to the City of Joplin Little League program. 

Tickets to the games will be sold for $5 and can be purchased at MUTigers.com or by calling the Mizzou ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS. As mentioned, all proceeds will go directly to rebuilding Joplin's Little League programs, which were ravaged by a tornado back in May. Tickets can also be purchased at Taylor Stadium the day of the each game. Time for the Saturday (Oct. 8) tilt with Iowa is still TBA as it will be scheduled around the Tigers' football game at Kansas State. The Sunday game (Oct. 9) will begin at 1 p.m.

For questions or information on how to make donations to Joplin Little League, please contact Evan Pratte, director of baseball operations, at 573-882-1917 or via e-mail (prattee@missouri.edu). The relief efforts of the Mizzou baseball toward the Joplin area are just another in a long line goodwill by Mizzou Athletics for the Joplin Area. In addition to several outreach trips to the area, Mizzou will also host an exhibition basketball game as Mizzou will battle Missouri Southern in Joplin in the One State, One Spirit Classic Presented by Legget & Platt on Oct. 30.

Also, the City of Joplin has a special tie to the Mizzou baseball program. A former Mizzou baseball jersey from the early 2000s was found in the rubble following the Joplin tornado and made its way to Oklahoma City with the team and hung in the dugout as Mizzou became the first-ever No. 8 seed to ever advance to the Big 12 Championship game. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MUTigerBaseball.

Conference Hokey-Pokey™: Aggies officially headed to SEC

♦ CollegeBaseball360.com looks at A&M's move from a baseball perspective in Texas A&M officially headed to SEC

Considering Nebraska will play its first season in the Big ten this year, Big 12 baseball takes another big hit as well with the loss of Texas A&M. They only had 10 teams to begin with (Colorado and Iowa State didn’t have baseball) before schools starting defecting for other conferences, and now they’ll be down to eight baseball playing schools in the 2013 season.

Nebraska and Texas A&M aren’t just any old baseball schools they’re losing. While Nebraska has been down in recent years, the Cornhuskers and Aggies represent two of the five Big 12 schools that have advanced to Omaha in the last decade. Childress was an assistant on all three Nebraska teams to advance to the CWS before leading his own team to the promised land this year...