Random thoughts

Hello to anyone who reads this. It has  been quite a while since I have updated this so I will share a few random thoughts on what has gone on recently.

The Bulls

     The last time I wrote, I promised an update after the first ten games. Well those first ten games started off fairly well. They did not score much, but they rebounded, played together, and even played defense. Unfortunately things went sour quickly. What happened? The dreaded circus trip happened.

     Suddenly the Bulls of old came back and not the even post championship play off teams. The Bulls that came back were the unwatchable Bulls teams during the Tim Floyd era. I thought the Bulls hit a low when they let Toronto Raptor Jarrett Jack tie his shoes! Yes, I said let him tie his shoes. Five Bulls players watched as Jarrett Jack as he crossed half cort and bent ofver to tie his shoes. That has not even been the worst part if that is believable.

     On December 21st 2009, the unthinkable happened against the Sacramento Kings. The Bulls came out firing and the Kings came out flat, such as the Bulls have normally done lately. The Bulls played well into the third quarter, but as the 8:50 mark hit, things went south. How south? With 20:50 to go in the game, the Bulls were up 35, got outscored 58-19 and lost! A lost of epic proportions and left many fans wondering how Vinny Del Negro still has a job.  No words can describe the collapse, so none will be given to try and figure out how that happened. This is a Bulls team that needs to be blown up if possible. The only two players that should be kept are Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Big Ten expansion

     Recently there has been lots of "talk" about the Big ten expanding and adding a twelth team.  Normally this would not be discussed here, but Missouri has been mentioned a lot, so it will be discussed.  Of course this is all speculation and only in the explaratory phase. I have still not decided if this would be a good move for the Tigers. Here are a few possible pros and cons.

Con:

Losing natural rivals. The two I am speaking about for Mizzou fans should be an easy one, Kansas and Nebraska.  It would be nice if Mizzou could somehow fit both teams onto the schedule but in a new conference, it would be unlikely. The rival that would get booted from the schedule would have to be Nebraska. Kansas and Mizzou recently signed an extension to keep the Kansas vs. Mizzou game at Arrowhead. Money talks, so it would unlikely that Arrowhead would want this series to be lost.

Pro:

Gaining new rivals. Here is some idea of what a potential Big 10 (I guess they would stay the Big 10) would look if it went to an East/West split.

West                                   East
Mizzou                               Ohio St
Iowa                                   Michigan
Illinois                                Michigan St
Northwestern                     Indiana
Minnesota                          Penn St.
Wisconsin                          Purdue

New rivals are always fun and the west side of the conference would be pretty even for the most part.

Pro:

New recruiting bases. Joining the Big 10 would allow Mizzou to recruit more into the Chicago area. It does not seem as if they really do much of that know. There is a lot of talent in the Chicago area that could be helpful to them.

Con:

Losing a potential recuritng base. For kds growing up in Big 12 viewing areas, it seems as if they like to stay those areas.  A big recruiting base for Mizzou is Texas. Chase Daniel, Sean Weatherspoon, and Danario Alexander are three guys from Texas that hardly got a look from schools in Texas. Mizzou picked up the scraps and benefitted greatly from having those three on the team.  Here is an interesting quote from Sean Weatherspoon about if Mizzou could still recruit the Texas area.

From Dave Matter's Behind the Stripes, "Four and Out" blog


I posed that question — Could Missouri recruit Texas kids to play in the Big Ten? — to Tigers linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, a native of Jasper, Texas. He leaned toward doubtful for two reasons. “If you look at that conference, you think of it as being cold all the time,” he said. “And you think of never really getting the chance to come down south so your parents can see you play or family members that you want to see you play.”

This can only be proven if Missouri actually joins the Big 10. Until then, I am likely to agree with Spoon here.

Tiger Woods

Moving on.

There will be a lot more college basketball updates since conference play is getting ready to start. One last thing, it was nice to finally see Mizzou beat Illinois at basketball. Nine years in a row is far too long.

-Mike Moreau