M-I-Z... E-R-Y: Najera vs Reesing

Reesing played for Kansas, but Najera actually beat Mizzou more than once (sod sod sod sod sod) ... so who's the most hated at this point?

Eduardo Najera

Eduardo Najera was so hate-able that it's a wonder he didn't play for Kansas. He fit the "your fans love him, opposing fans hate him" categorization, only he went nuclear with it. And, of course, no single moment encapsulated his relationship with Missouri fans more than the one that came in the first half of a game at Hearnes on February 15, 1999.

With 8:24 left in the first half, Dooling was on his way to electrifying the Hearnes Center crowd with one of his patented high-flying jams on a Missouri fastbreak. But instead of finishing off the play with a two-handed dunk, Najera hit Dooling from behind and sent him and the freshman careening into the basket standard.

Dooling hit his head on the padding at the bottom of the goal, and Najera slammed into the other side. Dooling was motionless for a few moments as a hushed crowd wondered if their star was seriously hurt. But Dooling shook off the cobwebs and even did a few push-ups before he got to his feet. Najera, who seemed to take the worst of the collision, also got up slowly.

The officials called Najera for a foul, but not an intentional foul like most of the 13,330 faithful had hoped. Until then, Dooling had ripped off seven points in helping MU take a 20-13 lead. But after the foul, Dooling only scored two points, and those were on free throws with 5:51 remaining in the first half.

The foul seemed to take the wind out of Dooling’s sails. He never attacked the basket the rest of the game.

When asked if he felt the foul was intentional, MU coach Norm Stewart said: "Yes. Completely."

Should Najera have been thrown out of the game?

"I don’t know, it’s whatever they want to call," Stewart said. "They didn’t rule it that way. They ruled in another way."

What about Najera’s overall play?

"I’m not going to compliment him," Stewart said.

I had actually forgotten that the play was NOT ruled an intentional foul. It was the most intentional foul in the history of intentional fouls. Now I'm mad all over again. And now I'm looking at the picture of him above and realizing that there's a 100% chance he was 0.3 seconds away from planting an elbow into Hafer's back and getting away with it. Now I'm REALLY mad. Screw him. Who's idea was this contest, anyway?

Todd Reesing

Really, if not for the 2008 game at Arrowhead, Mizzou fans would have little reason to even remember Todd Reesing. They went 3-1 against him, they took him down in the biggest game in the history of the Border War, and they ended his career with a second sack in the same end zone two years later. But the 2008 game happened, so he makes this list. Oh yeah, and...

That too.