Mizzou Links, 5-4-10

ROARS

• MUtigers.com: Mizzou's Stars Honored at Second-Annual ROARS Event
• The Trib (Dave Matter): MU players bring home awards

  Two former and three current Missouri players picked up some hardware Monday night at Missouri's second annual ROARS Awards program, a two-hour ceremony honoring the year's best accomplishments of MU's student athletes. Winning awards at Mizzou Arena were former safety Del Howard (male academic achievement) and former wide receiver Danario Alexander (male athlete of the year) along with defensive end Aldon Smith (male rookie of the year), wide receiver L'Damian Washington (male courage award) and kicker Grant Ressel, who was honored for the male highlight play of the year, his game-winning field goal against Kansas. Cornerback Kevin Rutland accepted the top male athlete award on Alexander's behalf.

• KC Star: Mizzou athletes share the love at awards

Mizzou Football Links

• PowerMizzou: 2010 season preview: Opposing quarterbacks
• The Trib (Dave Matter): Spring snapshots: Miami (Ohio)
• ESPN.com: May 2010 Big 12 power rankings
• Post-Dispatch: Gary Pinkel recalls Kent State, 40 years later (just an AWESOME write-up by Vahe Gregorian ... I wasn't even sure which part to excerpt -- read it all)
  

  Say "Kent State," and the likely word association of a generation or more is "Ohio," the Neil Young song with the refrain of "Four dead in Ohio" that became an anthem for those disillusioned by the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
  
  The incident that also left nine wounded and sent seismic national ripples not only marked Pinkel's four years there but also shook a belief system infused by his father, George, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
  
  "I was always a G.I. Joe, Mr. USA guy," Gary Pinkel said, saluting as he sat in his office. "That was just how I was brought up. But I was a little less naive after the Vietnam War about trusting your government about everything.
  
  "After that, I kind of felt like you analyze, rather than (trusting) somebody else to analyze."

Basketball Links

• ESPN.com: 68 teams and a more entertaining tourney?
  ESPN.com: Expansion has never been popular

Other Mizzou Links

• Mizzou Softball
  The Maneater: Hainey helps MU softball get its swing back

  The Tigers were ranked third in the country, dreaming of a return appearance to the WCWS. A week [after Chelsea Thomas' injury], they found themselves near the bottom of the Big 12 standings, losing three of their first four conference games. Coach Ehren Earleywine needed someone to step up and stabilize the pitching staff.

  Jana Hainey, one of only three seniors on the team, assumed the leadership role on the staff, earning a 7-1 record heading into Saturday's game against BU and 2-1 in Big 12 play with an earned run average hovering around 3.00.

• Mizzou Baseball
  MUtigers.com: Mizzou Baseball Pitcher & Player of the Week
• Mizzou Wrestling
  MUtigers.com: Missouri Wrestling Awards End of the Year Honors
• Mizzourah: Ranking the Top Athletics Schools of 2009-10

Other (i.e. Expansion)

• SimmonsField.com: Big 12 > Big 10 > Big Trouble
• Omaha World-Herald (Tom Shatel): Big Ten, NU would be good fit

  Why would Nebraska want to join the Big Ten?

  Two reasons. Revenue. Security. Big Ten members already are raking in $22 million each per year, thanks in large part to the Big Ten Network. Grow the network and grow the earning potential. That's about $15 million more than what NU gets from the Big 12. Think of what you can do with $15 more million per year.

  Then there's long-term security. Does anyone really trust that the Big 12 will stay together or be something that NU would want to be part of? How does Nebraska vs. TCU/New Mexico/Colorado State grab you?

• Austin American-Statesman (Kirk Bohls): Nine things and one crazy prediction

  Don't get overly worked up by rumors last week that it's a "done deal" that Missouri will leave the Big 12 and join the Big Ten. It's not a done deal, or even close.

  If the Big 12 were to lose only Missouri, I'm hearing the Big 12 would go hard after the SEC's Arkansas, which might be willing to listen. Texas will never leave for a destination without Texas A&M, and should more than two schools leave the Big 12 for other conferences, I'm convinced the Longhorns and Aggies would work toward joining the SEC or perhaps try a far-flung, Pac-10 arrangement of 16 teams, with the two schools from Texas and Arizona and maybe Texas Tech making up a South Division.

  Roll Bama Roll: "If the Big 12 were to lose only Missouri..."
  Dr. Saturday: Today's hypothetical Big 12 expansion scenario: Welcome home, Hogs

  A westward move would reunite the Razorbacks with a handful of their old Southwest Conference rivals, namely Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor, with whom Arkansas helped found the SWC in 1919, and Texas Tech, which joined in 1956 and remained until the league folded in 1996. The Razorbacks won 13 SEC championships, seven outright, including five in nine years from 1960-68 and back-to-back titles in 1988-89 – at which point they decided to bolt for the greener pastures of the SEC, where their championship tally remains at zero 19 years later.

Also, I'm passing along Posnanski's long post about Alex Gordon's demotion, just because of one specific line: "This isn’t just rearranging furniture on the Titanic. It’s rearranging furniture on the Titanic to make room for the wagon wheel coffee table."  Epic.