Watch and observe how the Roundtable crew goes from Awful Awful Burger to Rilo Kiley to Paris Hilton in just a couple thousand words...
It's Nevada Week! But don't worry...I'm not going to actually test anybody's knowledge of the Nevada Wolfpack beyond a very basic level...
1 - On a scale of 1-5 (1 being SEMO, 5 being 2004 Troy), where does this Nevada game rank on the Mizzou Upset Potential Scale (MUPS)?
2 - Get creative: most interesting running subplot for Mizzou-Nevada.
3 - Give me a MU-UN prediction.
4 - What's the best thing about the City of Reno?
5 - Everybody wish ZouDave a happy birthday (yesterday...unless Facebook lied to me)!!
The Beef: 1 - Is the MUPS like MUST…I mean….er…Rolla? Anyway, based on your head-spinningly (Bill Gates says that is not a word) analysis over the past couple of days, I think this game will provide an interesting challenge for our defense, but not our offense. I think we win in a high scoring affair which will be an 11:30 a.m. game on FSN…making a lovely full day of tailgating AFTER the game.
2 - Will UNR bring the cast of Reno:911 with them?"
3 - High scoring affair, probably close enough after a half for Mizzou fans to grouse about it at halftime in the parking lot. Mizzou takes it in the end 48-27
4 - Being in the same state as the city of Las Vegas
5 - Happy birthday you old Fruitbat…yes…am bringing that one back. ZouDave: 1 - I'll go with 1, because it's at home. Nevada isn't going to beat us. I remember people wringing their hands incredibly nervously in 2006 because the Solich-lead Ohio Bobcats were coming to town. 33-6. 2008 Mizzou is slightly better than 2006 Mizzou, and I'm not sure Nevada is as good as 2006 Ohio.
2 - Uh...can a tiger beat up a wolf? More specifically, a pack of them?
3 - Mizzou will win by 25+, but may not bury them like we could. It might resemble Western Michigan from this year. We were in control the whole game, it was never in doubt, but we didn't absolutely destroy them. Pinkel just doesn't do that, and we'll probably be playing the younger guys a LOT in those first few home games to help us overcome our age issues on the 2 deep.
4 - Never been there, so I have no idea.
5 - Yep, I'm 32 now. I think this is the last year of my "early 30's" and next year I move into "mid 30's". Oh, and my hair is graying at an alarming rate, and I don't even have kids yet.
Doug: 1 - Hmmm... guess I'll give it a 2.... though I have no idea why.
2 - Will UNR players be impressed by Missouri riverboat casinos... or will they look upon them with scorn?
3 - I'm sticking with: "One team will win. One team will lose."
4 - The Awful Awful Burger. Had one at the Golden Nugget on my honeymoon. My wife thought I was insane for insisting upon it, but after one bite, she came around. Oh, and that fact it's close to Lake Tahoe.
5 - Don't you set up the birthday reminders on Facebook? And: Happy. Birthday. Dave. ZouDave: wow...a fruitbat recall AND a Stuart Scott allusion. Best. Roundtable. Ever. mizzourobot: 1. About a 2.0. It's not Troy, because losing to them wouldn't be as bad as losing to Troy. But it's not happening. Have I mentioned I spent all day yesterday watching 2007 highlights and an entire hour on the Border War? We're destroying our non-con this year.
2. The over/under. I can't imagine what Vegas is thinking about it so far. It's got to be somewhere around 85+.
3. Chase Daniel kicks the Golden Watermelon Balls of Fury into high gear and Maclin returns a punt and a kickoff for scores. 42-17, Mizzou.
4. Their new NBA D-League affilliate.
5. Happy Birthday, have some pre-victory victory whiskey. ZouDave: setting the O/U at 85 and then picking a score of 42-17? Bet hedger. The Beef: Wow…didn’t take long to bring that one back from last week…good to know. And seriously? You went to Reno for your honeymoon? And some info on the Awful Awful…
Though the Nugget cooks will not ask you how you want your Awful Awful prepared that's okay because they know what they are doing. They start with a half-pound patty of ground beef and grill it until there is little if any pink in the middle, though it still remains quite juicy. Then they melt on a slice of cheddar cheese.
The burger is served on an oversized toasted bun with lettuce, tomato, onion and a generous helping of 1000 island dressing. Like everything else about the burger there is no skimping here. The tomato is always a big round slice that seems to have been cut from the center of the fruit. The onion is not just a ring or two, but rather a full slice of raw onion goodness. The lettuce and dressing are never in short supply either and finish off the burger nicely. It is hard to imagine the enormous Awful Awful leaving many people hungry. But if the sandwich is not enough to satisfy you then the mountain of fries that come with is certainly will be. Nugget fries are seasoned to perfection and served hot and crispy. Every Awful Awful is served on top of a large basket filled with a heap of delicious Nugget fries.
If all of that is not enough to convince you try the Awful Awful then the price certainly should be; it is only $3.50 for all of that food.
ZouDave:
The Beef: Seriously….not sure how that rates against a 3X3 animal style with fries…probably with the price being so cheap it wins…but Nevada must be the burger capital of the country (yes, I know they have In and Outs in other states…somehow I never got to one in California…only passing a truck of which The Boy received a picture) ZouDave: Weird, because the ONLY In & Out I've ever been to was in San Diego. The Boy: 10 responses in under a half-hour...nice work... 1 - I also say 2.0...maybe 2.5. They're obviously much better than SEMO, but we simply do not have the fatal flaws that we did in 2004 or 2006 or any other time. Granted, our punting's a big question mark, but the only way that impacts this game is if we find out Jake Harry can only punt backwards. In which case we'd just turn him around... 2 - Who'd be a better defensive player, Deputy Junior at SS or Deputy Williams at LB? 3 - I do think Nevada's better than WMU was last year, but I agree that the games could somewhat mirror each other. Missouri jumps out ahead, puts it on cruise control, gets a lot of young players involved, and wins by about 17-20. I hope, at least. We'll say Mizzou 42-23. 4 - The fantastic police force and the fact that there are indeed In-N-Out Burgers there...well...in Sparks, at least. 5 - Dave, you know what I should get you for your birthday? A bottle of Iron City. ZouDave:
rptgwb: 1. I only have it as a 2 or a low 3, but that's a statement of the strength of this Mizzou team rather than an indictment of Nevada. If this was the 2004 Mizzou team, then it'd be a 5. Nevada's a talented team that should give Mizzou a run in the early going.
2. Find the ratio of Nevada's plays from the Pistol to Missouri's plays from the Pistol. Better yet, find the success rates from each formation. For another subplot, tell the sororities that if any of them can throw a party that gets Nevada coach Chris Ault fired a la Larry Eustachy, then they get extra points for Homecoming/Greek Week. What ensues should be legendary.
3. 41-20, Missouri. The teams trade scores for their first two possessions before Mizzou puts it on cruise control.
4. The Sheriff's department 5. Was that a question? Regardless, happy birthday ZD. Michael Atchison: Did you fellas stuff my inbox or are you just happy to see me? Nothing like jumping into one of these things at the end. I’ll confess that my knowledge of Nevada athletics is more or less confined to their hoops program (Nick Fazekas in full effect, y’all!), and I’ve been in Philadelphia the past few days and haven’t been reading The Boy’s Wolfpack coverage. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t have read it had I been home.
1 - I’ll make it a 2 only because Nevada is a legit 1-A program (I know it’s not called that anymore), but Mizzou isn’t losing to these guys. Capeesh?
2 - ACL grafts.
3 - Chris Matthews calls this one for Mizzou at kickoff after exit polls show a Tiger rout. 52-17.
4 - I once shot a man there just to watch him die.
5 - Happy birthday, Dave. Are you the second oldest member of this society? The Beef: Why yes…yes he is…at least to my knowledge he is, I just assume Robot is a few years younger than him ZouDave: I seem to be, though your lead is still comfortable I think ;-) I'm only a year or so older than Beef and The Boy. No clue how old Doug is, but the rest of you guys are dangerously close to being called "whipper snappers" I think. Michael Atchison: I may be older than a couple of these punks combined. I saw Rilo Kiley in Philly a few nights back, and my crew alone increased the average age in the room by 1.4 years per person. The Beef: I saw Rick Reiley in Italy, is that the same? Michael Atchison: Not unless Rick is a lot sexier in person than I might imagine. The Beef: Nope…imagine the classic middle-aged white man-dance to Stereo MC’s "Get Connected" (being played live) for about 20 minutes…it is almost hypnotic ZouDave: I got Rick Roll'd on YouTube the other day...I think that's the same. Michael Atchison: While you make that sound more appealing than it has any right to be, I’ll take Jenny Lewis: The Beef: There were hot Italians in there….so that does spice it up…was about 2 a.m….but they came out…sang a couple of songs I don’t think anyone had heard of, and then launched into the super-mega extended version of Get Connected and the place was nuts for those 20-25 minutes The Boy: And my favorite Rilo Kiley clip...Rilo Kiley watching the Paris Hilton sex tape. And by saying the words "Paris Hilton sex tape", I just assured that we'll get 14,000 hits today.
Doug: Actually, we went to Tahoe for the honeymoon, but we spent our last day down in Reno which included a stop at the Nugget.
However, did you know there are actually three Nugget Casinos and each one serves its own Awful Awful.
I remember wanting to eat one when I saw Dave Attell's Insomniac episode in Reno.The Beef: That sort of insight should probably close out the Roundtable for the week…