UPDATE (Friday, 1:50pm Central): Been in touch with the wonderful MU Health people, and we're beginning the donation process (getting the money from PayPal to them, basically). I'll keep you guys apprised and will giddily announce a final total when, you know, the money is actually donated, but let's put it this way: you guys freakin' rule.

If you haven't donated yet but still want to, we encourage you to follow this link and donate directly to the MU Children's Hospital. Or, if you donated and want to donate again, go to that link. You know, you should just bookmark that link.

So, in short: you guys rule, and if you haven't donated yet, send it directly to the hospital instead of to me. K THX BYE.

-ghtd36

Continue reading this post »

Today's Schedule

1:30 PM CT
Women's College World Series: No. 5 Mizzou vs No. 9 Oklahoma (ESPN)

3:30 PM CT
Soccer: United States vs (gulp) Spain (ESPN)

8:30 PM CT
Women's College World Series: Mizzou-Oklahoma Winner vs No. 4 Florida No. 11 Baylor (ESPN2)

We found a leak coming in from the main line and had the water shut off until we can get an excavation estimate Monday morning.  Gag.  But hey ... at least we don't have any major expenses coming up soon ... like a baby or anything crazy like that.

So we'll be headed over to the in-laws' house (which is currently struggling in the A/C department ... because why not?) for laundry and, eventually, showering. Don't know what that does for my availability for the day. But here's your Saturday Live Thread! Topics of the day:

1. Mizzou Softball Has One More Chance To Kill The Meme

The Trib: Tigers seek answers after opening-round loss
The Missourian: Earleywine, Missouri look to avoid another winless Women's College World Series
Post-Dispatch: MU can't explain problems at Women's College World Series
KC Star: Mizzou softball wants to solve problems at WCWS
KC Star (Campus Corner): MU softball coach holds closed practice for reeling Tigers

Daily Oklahoman (Good Old Berry Tramel): OKC is becoming a victim of its own success

Daily Oklahoman: WCWS notebook: Big 12 not faring well, homers are down

The way you end a negative meme is, basically, by continuing to try until it happens.  Mizzou spent all week saying how they wouldn't be intimidated by the environment or "happy to be here," and that they would be ready.  But when the game started Thursday night, they seemed intimidated by the meme itself.  Now they get another chance -- against Oklahoma, no less -- to prove they can actually play well on softball's biggest stage.  Ehren Earleywine says it's not physical, it's mental, and I think that's mostly right.  They lost to a really, really good softball team on Thursday night, one that may have won even if Mizzou were playing well, but the pressure is on today.  To not only go 0-fer for a third straight year, but to be finished off by a team you swept (yes, barely) in the regular season ... that will eat away at them all summer.  And while disappointment/annoyance can be a good thing for players who are returning next year, Mizzou has a ton of seniors who won't have a chance to bounce back from the disappointment next year.  The good news, of course, is that if they can get past Oklahoma, they'll get an opportunity for revenge against Florida.  Well, I guess that's good news.

(I also reiterate what I said yesterday -- playing Oklahoma in an elimination game in any sport fills me with dread. The softball team has an opportunity to exorcise all sorts of demons today, not just their own.)

And by the way ... is "Big 12 doing poorly!" really going to catch on as a theme too?  Not including Baylor-OSU for obvious reasons, the Big 12 has played three games, all against higher seeds.  No. 11 Baylor lost to No. 2 Alabama, No. 9 Oklahoma lost to No. 1 Arizona State, and No. 5 Missouri lost to No. 4 Florida. The only truly poor performance was, well, ours.  The Big 12 has little to prove at the WCWS itself -- it's already seen three teams overachieve just by getting to OKC, and none of the teams have actually underachieved (in terms of pure wins and losses, at least) since things began on Thursday.

2. The Big 12 Ups Its Revenue Sharing

The Missourian: Big 12 giving pay raise to 10 league teams
College Football Talk: Big 12 agrees to dish out more cash for members with loss of Nebraska, Colorado

And they let the news trickle out late on a Friday news cycle!!  At some point, this conference will learn the basic principles of good P.R.

Granted, it's not equal revenue sharing, but it's a lot closer, and it's a sign of semi-unity for a conference always starving for such a thing.  (It is also probably only happening because Texas will have the Longhorn Network soon, but whatever ... small victories are still victories.)

3. The Football Team Was In Joplin Yesterday

The Trib (Dave Matter): Images from MU football's Joplin visit

The athletic department continues to make huge efforts to help the people of Joplin. Yesterday, it involved Chase Daniel and tons of current football players helping to go down and both unload the giant truck of donations they brought with them, and help clear debris.  I always talk about how divided the Mizzou fanbase is against itself -- well, the base has done pretty beautiful things to show unity recently, and it warms the heart to see it.

What: The Women's College World Series
Who: Mizzou (52-8) vs Florida (51-10)
When: 8:30 PM CT
Where: ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City

TV: ESPN2

Mizzou Game Notes: Here (pdf)
Florida Game Notes: Here (pdf)

THREE REASONS FOR OPTIMISM TONIGHT

1. Mizzou has Chelsea Thomas, and Florida does not.  The Gators have two studs of their own in Hannah Rogers (33-6, 1.59 ERA in 238.0 IP) and Stephanie Brombacher (19-2, 1.09 ERA in 135.0 IP), but Thomas was a runner-up for the national player of the year award.

2.  The wind is blowing out, and Thomas is much less of a flyball pitcher than either Rogers or Brombacher.  She has allowed just seven home runs in 245 innings while Rogers has allowed 13, Brombacher seven.

3. Mizzou's got their heads on straight this year.  No "happy to be here," no starry eyes.  Florida's awesome, but so is Mizzou when they're dialed in.

TWO REASONS FOR ... LESS OPTIMISM TONIGHT

1. Again, the wind is blowing out, and Florida can absolutely mash the ball.  They have 110 home runs on the season (Mizzou has 67).  Ashley Fleming is Mizzou's best power hitter with 14 home runs -- the Gators have FIVE players with more than that, led by Brittany Schutte and Megan Bush, who each have a ridiculous 20.

2. We need proof that Mizzou's offense won't dry up against big-time pitching. Mizzou was held hitless for five innings against Washington last weekend, bringing to mind, among other things, last year's WCWS, when the Tigers scored two runs in 14 innings.  So many players have come up big for Mizzou at so many different times, but Mizzou's going to need to string together some nice innings to stay alive past the weekend.

ONE MORE REASON FOR OPTIMISM

4. #stubble

M-I-Z ... !

Ehren Earleywine got tossed, Washington got to Chelsea Thomas a bit ... and Mizzou still swept the 2009 national champions and head to the Women's College World Series for the third consecutive year.  This is your celebration thread, so celebrate.

Four things for today's huge Memorial Day Sunday...

1. Mizzou Softball Is One Win Away From The Women's College World Series

MUtigers.com: Tigers, Thomas Shut Out Huskies in Game One
The Trib: Missouri softball team beats Washington
The Missourian: Missouri softball team one win away from Women's College World Series
The Missourian: 'Zou Bus' rolls into NCAA softball Super Regionals
KC Star: Thomas, Hudson bring Mizzou softball team to brink of World Series
Post-Dispatch: Missouri shuts out Washington on Thomas' pitching
PowerMizzou: One win away
KBIA Sports Extra: Chelsea Thomas returns to dominance, gets Mizzou one game closer to World Series

At some point, you run out of superlatives. After a dominant season that saw her named as one of three finalists for, basically, Softball's Heisman Trophy, Chelsea Thomas began to look like she might be running out of gas last weekend, misplacing some pitches against DePaul (granted, while allowing only two runs in 11 innings) ... and she responded by winning twice last Sunday, pitching a no-hitter in the regional-clinching game, and then shutting out a dangerous Washington squad last night.  The more important the game, the more disgusting her changeup becomes, and though Washington was starting to get a smidge more comfortable facing her as the game progressed (there was nowhere to go but up after she completely emasculated them the first time through the order), you have to like Mizzou's chances at this point.  Against DePaul last weekend, we learned that being down a game is still a pretty good place to be when you've got Chelsea Thomas on your side.  Being up a game is even better.  To win this series, Washington now must get to Thomas more than Mizzou gets to their pitcher ... then they must do it again. Anything's possible, but I like where we stand.

One more thing: Nicole Hudson is incredible. The Webb City product watched her father's businesses get blown away last Sunday evening, went through a week of Joplin stories that hit a lot closer to home for her than most ... and then went out and played a nearly perfect game.  She smoked a double to left center in the first to set up Ashley Fleming's RBI groundout; then in the third, she fought off some great pitches until she got the one she wanted, and on a 3-2 count, she hit a ball that might have been a home run on a baseball field. She worked a walk in the fifth, made a couple of nice plays in the field, and was just generally awesome. She's got the most effortless swing you've ever seen -- no huge windup, no huge step, just a small step and a compact swing, and the ball just explodes off of her bat -- and as with Chelsea Thomas and Jenna Marston, Mizzou's got her for two more years.

Okay, one more thought: wow, Big 12.  Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, against whom Mizzou went 4-0 this year, qualified for the WCWS yesterday, and Missouri and Baylor are each one tough win away from joining them.  Considering there are only eight teams in the WCWS, I would say the conference has represented itself rather well so far, wouldn't you?

2. Mizzou Baseball Is One Win Away From The NCAA Tournament

MUtigers.com: Tigers to Play for Big 12 Title
SimmonsField.com: Big 12 Tournament: Mizzou to play for Championship on Sunday
SimmonsField.com: Big 12 Tournament Championship Game: MU vs. Texas A&M
Big 12 Sports: Mizzou Pitching Takes Down Longhorns
Daily Oklahoman: Relief pitcher Kelly Fick starts, shines in Missouri's win over Texas
Houston Chronicle: Missouri bounces Texas from Big 12 baseball tourney
The Missourian: Missouri advances to Big 12 Tournament championship
Post-Dispatch: Mizzou reaches Big 12 baseball title game

We knew that Mizzou had begun to improve in mid-April. After losing 10 of 11 to fall to 14-22 overall, and 2-9 in conference, the Tigers won four of five conference series to end the regular season to rise from dead last and qualify for the conference tournament. With the way they had been playing, simply making the conference tourney was a nice accomplishment and something off of which Mizzou could hopefully build next year.  But all they've done since then is sandwich two wins over No. 6 Texas between a win over NCAA-bound Oklahoma State.  Now they play Texas A&M -- against whom they won a home series four weeks ago -- for a spot in the NCAAs.  The pitching has been great, the hitting has been clutch, and Mizzou Baseball now has a lot off of which they can build for next year.

3. One Mizzou

The Trib: Tigers playing with Joplin on mind
Post-Dispatch (Burwell): Haith leads group to Joplin to offer help

When Nicole Hudson's story isn't the most emotional, heartening Joplin-related story of the weekend, you know it's already been one helluva weekend.  Kelly Fick may have pitched his final game as a Tiger yesterday, but if so, he's leaving with an unbelievable story. Amid the Joplin rubble, someone found a No. 21 Mizzou Baseball jersey, and it ended up in Mizzou's possession in Oklahoma City.  With the jersey hanging in the dugout, No. 21 Fick, a reliever, not only pitched a career-high seven innings, but he pitched seven shutout innings, striking out three, walking none, and allowing just four hits. That's incredible. There's nothing else to say; it's just incredible.

Obviously I like being a Mizzou fan; otherwise, I wouldn't be one.  But the last couple of weeks, which have seen the Stubble Drive raise more than we anticipated (the total is still rising), and which have seen the entire state rally around Joplin ... well, I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of being a Mizzou fan.  You guys are all awesome.

(Now, somebody remind me I said this when I'm being driven crazy by the idiots a row in front of us who scream "Screw you, Gary!!" at football games. Mizzou fans are still awesome, even when they suck.)

4. Keep The OU Family In Your Thoughts

Tulsa World: Former OU safety Brandon Everage drowns in Texas river
Daily Oklahoman: Coaches try to help players move forward after tragedy

The Mizzou family is going through quite a bit with one of the bigger Missouri towns being, basically, wiped off the map.  But remember that others are suffering too.  Just a day after burying linebacker Austin Box, the OU family lost another one: former defensive back Brandon Everage. Everage was probably my favorite player from that 2000 national title squad. OU rarely gets to play the underdog card, but with a scrappy, undersized, rather under-recruited defense, the Sooners rolled to a national title, and Everage reflected the underdog mentality as well as anybody.

Today's Schedule

1:00 PM CT

Big 12 Baseball: Mizzou vs No. 13 Texas A&M (FSN)

6:00 PM CT

NCAA Softball Super Regionals: No. 5 Mizzou vs No. 12 Washington (ESPN2)

So we're in an odd situation this Saturday morning: both Mizzou Baseball and Mizzou Softball are in a "win two of three" situation.

Softball: Two Wins Away From WCWS

Post-Dispatch: Mizzou faces stiff challenge against Huskies
The Missourian: Missouri softball seniors see no end in sight
KC Star: In any role, Schweisberger contributes to Mizzou softball

Washington is not going to be cowed or intimidated playing at University Field; they've been in these situations before.  I see them as a more seasoned version of DePaul, a team that is salty and talented and isn't going to give Mizzou anything. If the Tigers play well, they're the better team, but if they make mistakes, they're in trouble. Luckily they got all their mistakes out of their system last Saturday afternoon, eh?

Big 12 Results
Texas A&M loses series to Arizona State, 2-0 (3-2 on Thursday, 4-2 yesterday)
Oklahoma State leads Houston, 1-0 (3-0 yesterday)
Oklahoma leads Arizona, 1-0 (6-0 yesterday)

Big 12 Schedule
Houston at Oklahoma State, Game Two (1:30pm, ESPNU)
Oklahoma at Arizona, Game Two (4:00pm, ESPN)
Baylor at Georgia, Game One (6:30pm, ESPNU)
Washington at Mizzou, Game One (8:00pm, ESPN2)

So Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are looking good, and Baylor and Mizzou get started today.

Baseball: Two Wins Away From NCAA Regionals

The Trib: Missouri eyes one vs. Texas
SimmonsField.com: Big 12 Tournament: MU vs. UT

This really couldn't have set up any better for the Tigers. Texas was saving Taylor Jungmann, who might be the best MLB prospect ever from the Big 12, for their second game, hoping others could get them past Mizzou and Jungmann could keep them undefeated to Saturday. Instead, Mizzou knocked off the 'Horns, Jungmann was used to shut down Baylor, and now Mizzou has gotten a day of rest as Texas had to take out Oklahoma State yesterday.  So Mizzou plays Texas, bright and early, at 9am today; if they win, they're in tomorrow's single-elimination finals, and if they lose, they play again at 4pm.  Honestly, Texas is probably still as likely to win two as Mizzou is to win one, but Mizzou wasn't likely to win the first two in this tournament either. Two wins in the next 32 hours or so, and Mizzou's NCAA tourney drought ends at just one.

Frank Haith's A Good Person

PowerMizzou: Haith helps in Joplin

I've got to say ... the university has come together so beautifully during the Joplin situation.  KOMU raised $1,000,000 via telethon, the athletic department raised a ton via T-shirt sales and loaded up donations in a semi, and Frank Haith went down there with the semi.

Mizzou Basketball spokesman Dave Reiter said this campaign for United For Joplin raised approximately 300 stuffed animals.

"We ended up having to take my truck down there as well since our 18-passenger van was filled up with "stuff" for Joplin," said Reiter. "Incredible effort by our campus for donations and Tiger fans in general."

The new Tiger coach said he was inspired when he watched the first images of the disaster on television Sunday night. The next day, he sent a text to Mike Alden volunteering to help.

"I wanted to be a part of this because it's in our state."

There is plenty of time to find out what kind of coach Frank Haith is; in the interim, however, he's certainly gone about proving what kind of person he is.

Today's Schedule

9:00 AM

Mizzou Baseball: Mizzou vs Texas (Video Here)

4:00 PM

Mizzou Baseball: Mizzou vs Texas If Necessary (Video Here)

8:00 PM

Mizzou Softball: Washington at Mizzou (ESPN2)

In what is becoming an annual tradition (both in Columbia and on RMN), it is time to preview the Columbia Super Regional, which will start up at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night. It is a standard, best two-out-of-three format, as the #5 seeded Tigers will take on the #12 seeded Washington Huskies for the right to move on to Oklahoma City in the Women's College World Series.

And remember, don't forget to lay down your pledge for the RMN Charity Drive!!

Washington had the distinction of being the first team to move into the Super Regional round, thanks to a Thur-Fri-Sat (BYU-altered) sweep through their own regional. Washington is only two years removed from having won the national title, and was back in the WCWS last season (suffering the same fate as the Tigers in going 0-2 on their way out). How did 2011 play out for the Huskies? Let's take a look.

Overall, UW finished the season at 34-14 (plus 3-0 last weekend) with a 9-12 record in the Pac-10 Conference, which was good enough for a tie of seventh (of eight) with UCLA. They went 10-5 at home, 12-7 on the road, and 15-2 at neutral site games. Their RPI is 13th per the NCAA site (linked here). They run-ruled an impressive 14 opponents, were run-ruled themselves four times, and went 4-1 in extra inning games.

Common Opponents:

Mizzou and UW, for the distance apart from one another, actually do share a decent amount of common opponents (and were actually supposed to play one another in the ill-fated San Diego Classic):

• San Diego State (UW won 6-3, Mizzou won 9-1 in 5 innings)
• Fresno State (UW won 10-0 in 6 innings, Mizzou lost 6-3)
• Cal (UW won 2-1 in 8 innings, 9-1 in 6 innings, and lost 10-0 in 5 innings, Mizzou lost 1-0)
• Texas A&M (UW won 7-4, Mizzou won 6-3 and 3-0)
• Illinois (UW won 3-2, Mizzou won 4-3 and 8-0 in 6 innings)
• Oklahoma (UW lost 7-6 in 8 innings, MU won 3-2 in 9 innings and 1-0 in 11 innings
• Texas (UW lost 10-0 in 5 innings, Mizzou won 6-3 and lost 2-0)

Continue reading this post »

Rhea Taylor is awesome, Chelsea Thomas throws a no-hitter, the Stubble Drive raises more money, and Mizzou fights back from yesterday's loss to assume their spot in the Final 16. Huzzah! Consider this your celebration thread. You know what to do.