Hurricane Ike is playing havoc with Saturday's schedule of games to be played along the Gulf Coast, and one consequence may be to shift the Missouri vs. Nevada game (currently scheduled for pay-per-view) into Fox Sports Net's national TV slot.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/792431.html

"Hurricane Ike could put Missouri’s 11:30 a.m. game against Nevada on national cable television on Saturday.

"A Missouri official - director of media relations Chad Moller - has told The Star in a text message that MU, Fox Sports Net and the Big 12 Conference are having discussions over whether the game - set for pay per view only at present - could be switched to Fox Sports Net’s national game at the same time.

"Washington State at Baylor is currently in that time slot, but the threat of Hurricane Ike has already caused postponement of the Arkansas at Texas game in Austin on Saturday. The game at Baylor could be postponed as well, although that decision has not been made."

I was going to have some fun with last night's box score, but The Boy stole some thunder with his comments in today's links.  Still, there's a treasure trove of barely fathomable numbers to dissect.

As The Boy noted, Colorado didn't shoot a single free throw last night.  Not one.  Can you remember a Big 6/7/8/12 game in which any team ever got the goose egg from the line?  Me either.  Mizzou's media guide doesn't seem to have an entry for fewest free throws attempted by an opponent in a game, but I know, at the very least, a record was matched last night.

Also, the teams combined to make just four free throws.  Another guess, but I'll bet that's the lowest total ever in a Big 12 game.

Almost as remarkable is that the Tigers turned the ball over just FOUR TIMES in the game.  Again, the media guide doesn't list a record, but I'd be shocked if any modern Tiger team had fewer turnovers in a game.  We are, after all, approaching a limit.  Perhaps even more shocking is that Mizzou's guards combined to turn the ball over just once (Lyons had two of the four turnovers, Safford had one).  I don't care how soft the defense was, that's quality work by the Tigers' perimeter guys, and is the single biggest reason the team prevailed.

The Boy noted that Carroll is hobbling, but it's still remarkable that the team's leading active scorer and rebounder played 25 minutes and recorded just two points and two rebounds.  That's another one for the Elias Sports Bureau folks to sort out:  Has a D-1 player who is leading his team in scoring and rebounding in February or later ever played more than half the minutes in a game and contributed a combined four or less points and boards?  And has that player's team ever won?  I'll bet it has happened, but less than once in every one thousand games, maybe once in ten thousand games.

Despite turning the ball over only four times and shooting a respectable 43.9% from the field, Mizzou scored just 60 points.  And despite turning the ball over a respectable 14 times and shooting an impressive 51.1% from the field, Colorado scored just 53.  That tells you about all you need to know about the pace of the game.  With Mizzou's depleted depth, and Jeff Bzdelik's deeply deliberate style, this wasn't 40 Minutes of Hell; it was 40 Minutes of Leisurely Strolling Through a Nature Preserve (oooh! a butterfly!).

The Tigers' 60-point output was the second lowest of Mike Anderson's tenure, and the lowest total in a win.  Missouri hasn't scored fewer points in a victory since February 19, 2005, when Quin Snyder's Tigers beat Nebraska, 56-53.  That season's team, if you'll recall, was no stranger to offensive ineptitude, scoring 60 or fewer points on eleven occassions.

See anything else magical, mystical or maniacal in the numbers?  Leave a comment.

In the hangover haze of Mizzou's Orange Bowl snub, my buddy The Boy makes a pertinent point:  the problem isn't the BCS - it's the bowls.

He's absolutely right.  Expecting the bowls to cultivate championship consensus is like expecting ice cream to cure cancer.  They were never designed to deliver the desired result.

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I am prone to belief in the divine, but not the supernatural. I recognize the existence of coincidence, happenstance, and random events of bad fortune. Never in my life have I believed in curses. Except when it comes to the Missouri Tigers.

There are the lightning bolts of cosmic scorn that even casual fans know: Colorado’s fifth down, Nebraska’s kicked ball, Tyus Edney’s zero-to-heartbreak in 4.8 seconds. There have been other moments, equally powerful but more obscure, like first round NCAA flameouts against Rhode Island and Northern Iowa back when I’d never heard of Rhode Island or Northern Iowa (geography, alas, was not a strong suit). And then there were those times when we were made to pay for our prosperity, like when the undefeated, top-ranked football Tigers lost their shot at the national title by falling to Kansas in the 1960 season’s final game, only to have the game futilely forfeited back later. Or Norm Stewart being blindsided by cancer at age 54 in the midst of a season in which he had one of his best and toughest teams. Or 2002, when an ascending basketball program welcomed Ricky Clemons to town and became a national punch line. Sadly, I could go on. There’s more where that came from.

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How do you articulate what you can’t even fathom?  How do you express what you can’t comprehend?

This week, in my hometown, on the last day of the regular season, the Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks will play a football game, and the winner will be one game away from playing for a national championship.

There, I’ve written it, put it on the page, stared at it.  And I still don’t quite believe it.  The Missouri-Kansas game is the center of the football universe.  In the best rivalry in sports, in the town that serves as the front for the border war, these two universities will play the biggest game in more than a century of hostilities.

I’ve written it again, and it’s starting to sink in.  But I still can’t quite wrap my mind around it.

Still, I like it.

When I heard that former Rat Pack funnyman Joey Bishop had passed last week at age 89, my first reaction, regrettably, was "Joey Bishop wasn't already dead?!?"

My reaction was much the same upon hearing that Charlie Henke had been elected to the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.  "He's not already in?" I asked, incredulously.

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I officially declare it the Greatest Homecoming Weekend Ever! Glorious weather, good friends and a thorough dismantling of a nationally-ranked team made for a fabulous 48 hours . . . .

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A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at the Kansas City regional dinner for the University of Missouri's Jefferson Club. A packed house of Tiger supporters came to celebrate Mizzou's basketball history and their own commitment to the University.

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It was a Dali painting of a Fellini film set to a Tom Waits soundtrack.  When victory became inevitable, fans searched for novel ways to entertain themselves.  Under the black of night, a sea of gold unleashed a wave that gathered momentum, and for a time, seemed to gain consciousness.  A beach ball bounded lively on the alumni side.  Tens of thousands lingered at Faurot Field until midnight to soak in the sultry, surreal atmosphere despite the fact that the outcome had been decided an hour earlier.

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