Mizzou Links, 7-16-08

I'd say Ian Kinsler acquitted himself decently at yesterday's All-Star marathon, with a hit, a walk, and a stolen base (plus a caught stealing) in six plate appearances, while also taking part in turning two double-plays.  (I can't believe they didn't just call another tie in that game, btw.)  If you want some good Kinsler reading material, be sure to check out SimmonsField.com...he's got a few nice links, including one from SBN's own Beyond the Box Score.

PowerMizzou continues its unit previews by taking a look at the D-Line.  I'm kinda confused by this statement:

Frankly, if there's a question mark, this is probably it.

More than the O-Line (which I believe he gave a unit ranking of 6.5, as opposed to the DL's 6)?  Really?  And punter?  Yes, the loss of Lo Williams will hurt, but Jaron Baston and the continued development of Hood/Sulak/Chavis should offset that pretty well.  I'm not saying it's the best D-Line in the country, but this is the first time I've seen someone make a pretty demonstrative statement of concern.

The P-D's Bryan Burwell has a really nice look at Will Franklin and Laurence Maroney and their participation in camps in St. Louis.

"[O]nce I started doing my camps, I started seeing how these kids looked up to me and clung to everything I was saying," Maroney said. "I could see that these kids are looking at me in a different light simply because I was a pro athlete."

When he saw those faces looking at him with that much admiration, Maroney did some hard thinking. "I asked myself, 'Well, since you clearly have their attention, what's the message that you want to get to them?'"

Eventually, the message was clear. Imagine the possibilities.

"It's good to have the cameras around," said Franklin, "but a lot of what we do is behind closed doors. You know when I was in school, I used to work for the city parks and recreation, so I know just about every gym and rec center in the city. And if there is a gym, there's a summer camp going on somewhere, and Laurence and I will on any given day do our morning workouts, then get in the car and spend a few hours at a city gym or rec center and just hang out with the kids."

The Trib's Steve Walentik says goodbye to Billy Packer.

I appreciate Packer's knowledge of the college game, which he developed over nearly five decades as a player, coach and commentator. But I often seemed to disagree with what he had to say. I thought Packer was flat wrong for ripping the selection committee for giving St. Joseph's a No. 1 seed back in 2004 and for lambasting them again two years later for including so many mid-majors. He was always seemed to be a voice for the traditional powers of college basketball, whether it be Kentucky, the ACC or the Big Ten. I remember Packer calling an NCAA Tournament contest four or five years ago and taking a shot at the NBA game then declaring minutes later that he never watched the world's best league. He always struck me as someone set in his ways and unwilling to change his perceptions, and I think that hurt him as an analyst.

Finally, be sure not to miss the 24-hour NCAA 09 review at BushLeague.tv.  Insane.  And awesome.