Neat! Gmail has a new feature where it asks you to add other likely recipients to an e-mail ... I typed in beefy's name, and it asked me if I wanted to include the other six people automatically. You're the best, Google. You help me on e-mails...you point coaches toward things I've written...the best.
1 - Obviously it has been determined that this was as minor a violation as minor gets, if it's a violation at all, but we still witnessed something interesting yesterday. Mike Dearmond asks Frank Haith about Otto Porter. In a text, Haith responds that Porter had basically told him not to waste his time, and that he was going to Georgetown. Dearmond broadcasts the news on his KC Star blog, and Haith looks like he just revealed information about an unsigned recruit on the record. Who's at fault: Haith for talking to DeArmond in the first place, or Mad Mike for potentially missing a signal that this information was on deep background?
2 - Now that DeMarre Carroll is without a team (just got released by the Rockets), which situation is most desirable? Stick with the NBA and struggle for playing time with the hopes that he can somehow make a name for himself, or head overseas and start a long career there as a starter (and dominate).
3 - With Mizzou softball winning big this weekend, what is this year's ceiling?
4 - What is the most obscure sports stat, fact, or figure you can rattle off the top of your head?
5 - Best series or miniseries that HBO has made? (Not named The Sopranos or Band of Brothers)
The Beef: 1 - I suppose it is Haith really, though I suppose I’d love to see Mike D. help him out there a bit. However, at the end of the day, it is the media’s job to report the news, which is what Mike D did. Do I want him to maybe "protect" Haith there because of the week he has had? Sure…but it is not his job. In the end, nothing to get worked up about really, though many tried and some even succeeded.
2 - I don’t know about dominating, but the overseas route is becoming more and more fruitful for many people. DeMarre is young (though I have no idea about his personal or extended family situation), but I should think if he is not too tied down, that heading over the pond and playing for 8-10 years over there is a fine option. His size and game just don’t quite fit in the NBA (at least not at this point), and I think he stands a better chance at long-term success overseas.
3 - I assume we are talking about this past weekend? The ceiling is still just about as high as you can go. I can’t sit here and tell you that with a healthy Thomas they are a favorite to win the national title or something (because the offense is currently not dynamic enough), but with a healthy Thomas, they can beat just about anyone any day. This weekend’s series again OU is a real big one, but teams have scored some runs on Ricketts in between all the strikeouts. What will be REALLY big is continuing to hold court and welcoming UT to town in a couple of weeks. But in the end, I would love to see MU be right there for the regular season title…be right there for the conference tournament title, and then make another run back to OKC, getting to host two regionals again. The more that happens, the more it puts the focus on our program and the more it leads to bigger things (stadium, recruiting, exposure, etc…) It is how the program will have to take that last step.
5 - I love me some True Blood, but understand it is not the same type of series as the ones above (neither of which I really ever watched). and am looking forward to Game of Thrones in a couple of weeks. I really enjoyed Oz back in the day, and I thought Boardwalk Empire was watchable this past fall. Eastbound and Down had its moments for me…can you tell I work at a cable company?
The Beef: It would also appear our coaching staff is getting closer to completion, with reports saying Tim Fuller is moving from L’ville to join Haith and Nestor.
ZouDave: 1 – I blame DeArmond, honestly…if blame is the right word. He needs to be cultivating a good relationship with the new coach, not showing him tough love. Perhaps a better phrase would have been "A source EXTREMELY close to the situation who would indeed know about this has told me that Porter says not to bother." I know people are sick of sources, but you really can only get made about them when they’re wrong.
2 – Head overseas. Europe has to be awesome, and you’ll get paid handsomely and get to play a ton. Make lots of money, see lots of awesome places, then come back to the USA when you’re in your 30s and live comfortably the rest of your life. Yes, please.
3 – National Title is the ceiling. Great pitching can take you all the way.
4 – Geez, that’s a hard question to answer on a cold start. That’s like asking what your favorite individual piece of popcorn is out of a bag. I’ll need something to trigger my mind on this one, because I love me some obscure facts, but I’ll start off by saying that in the season Barry Sanders ran for 2052 yards, he only had 52 yards through his first 2 games. He ran for exactly 2000 yards over the next 14 games, meaning OJ Simpson is NOT the only person to run for 2000 yards in 14 games. Also, though Barry only had 52 yards rushing through 2 games in 1997, he had over 100 yards receiving in the 2nd game of the year.
5 – I can basically name the HBO Series I’ve ever watched on one hand: Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Oz. So, given that, I have to answer Oz, don’t I?
Doug: 1 - It's not that bad at all. In fact, it's even more minor than what Roy Williams did after going on PTI and mentioning David Padgett and JR Giddens by name and talking about how they are "stuck out there" without a coach at Kansas. That came much closer to recruiting a player by name publicly. This sounds more like Haith was just speaking candidly, a little too candidly, about a recruit who he knew wasn't going to show up at Missouri.
2 - Go over seas. Make money. Come back and go into sales or become an Arkansas assistant coach. I think you have to be realistic about it, and no matter how great it is to be a bench warmer for the league minimum in the US, your earning power is so much greater in Europe, you'd be a fool to not start picking up the check.
3 - Um... uh... hmmm... pass.
4 - The Mizzou softball team won big this weekend.
5 - Double check your calendar, Seth, I think Game of Thrones premiere this Sunday. I have to say, while not as great as Band of Brothers, the Pacific was still really, really good. I've re-watched Band of Brothers on DVD and on TV several times now, but I've only watched the Pacific through once. And, if the Wire isn't on your list, you're an idiot.
Bill C.: 1 - I do guess that, in the end, "blame" isn't quite right. But my first impression of the incident was that Haith assumed they were speaking off the record, and that turned out to be incorrect. Doesn't really matter, I guess. Certainly made for an interesting hour or so yesterday, though.
2 - Yeah, overseas. He's just not big enough to play PF and not quick enough to play SF in the NBA. It's what I feared before he was drafted, which was why I was, frankly, really surprised when he was taken in the first round. I loved it, but it was still surprising. He should have a lovely career overseas if he chooses to pursue it.
3 - You do have to figure the goal is getting to the WCWS and winning a game this year. Anything's possible when you have pitching this good -- conference title, national title, etc. -- but if they can get to the WCWS and win a game, it's a continued step in the right direction.
4 - THE HUMAN HEAD WEIGHS EIGHT POUNDS. /JerryMcGuire'd
5 - I LOVED From the Earth to the Moon back in the day.
ZouDave: Oh snap I totally forgot about From the Earth to the Moon. Move that to #1 on my list for that question. LOVED that one. The episode where they design, build, test and finally complete the LEM was my favorite…all those damn tennis balls on the roof.
Michael Atchison: Hello, fellas. Name’s Michael Atchison. Glad to make your acquaintance. Let’s let it rip.
1. First, this is beyond minor. Did anyone else watch Harrison Barnes’s press conference on ESPNU about 18 months ago when he announced his school of choice? He told those in attendance that he would Skype the coach to whom he was committing. He went to his computer, and next thing you know, Roy Williams’s big head pops up on the screen and the proceed to chitchat on live television without a letter of intent having been signed. Nothing came of that.
I don’t want to assign blame to one or the other. Suffice to say that they share it. I don’t remember anything quite like it. It’s as rare as Frank Martin dropping hints through the press to try to get Miami to call him.
2. If you can get a job in the NBA, you take the job in the NBA. That’s the grail. Could he play more in Europe? Sure. Could he dominate? Probably not, especially not in one of the top leagues. There’s immense talent everywhere. Could he make a great living? Oui.
3. Stubble knows no ceiling.
4. In the 1997-98 basketball season, K-State beat Missouri by 55 points and then Missouri beat KSU by 30 later in the year, making for an 85-point swing, which I suspect is the greatest swing in two games between two teams in a single season in D-I history.
5. The Wizards of Waverly Place.
ZouDave: If only we’d been able to get a rematch with Arkansas in early 1994…
Michael Atchison: It would be nice to get a rematch with Arkansas now, but the irony would be that – a year from now, at least – Arkansas would have a big leg up because the coach they fired recruited like a madman to stock the roster for the coach they hired from Mizzou who, in turn, failed to successfully recruit a single player in his last year in Columbia, thus leaving nine spots for the new coach to have to fill in a year’s time.
It’s hard to wrap your head around this: Pelphrey created a better spot for Anderson to succeed than Anderson created for himself. I’m not saying that’s why he left, but he had to consider it, didn’t he? Didn’t he have to look at the kids that Arkansas has coming in (three blue-chippers and two other quality guys) compared to what he had secured at Mizzou over the past year (nothing) and think "now would be a good time to move"?
It makes it even worse because this was one of those years in which local recruiting could have redefined Missouri basketball – Beal, Porter, McLemore, Young. That’s a fifty-year flood of local talent. That’s like missing Tyler Hansbrough and Brandon Rush in the same year, plus another prospect. How much difference can an in-state class like that make? I’m thinking back to 1979-80 when Ricky Frazier, Steve Stipanovich and Jon Sundvold debuted for Missouri. Those three guys were the anchors for a golden period – maybe the golden period – in the program’s history. Every time you whiff on a stellar class of kids, you whiff on the possibility to create some history.
I think Frank Haith can succeed. But Anderson sure didn’t make it easy for him.
SleepyFloyd7: Greetings, fellow internet travelers!
1 - Mad Mike was just doing his job. Now, he made a choice to go with the information, and potentially burn a bridge with a guy he's going to have to deal with for as long as they are both at their respective jobs, but I can't really blame him for that. I can't say that I would have made the same choice either.
As far as Haith goes, he's got to know (and I'm sure he does now) that there can be no gray area when it comes to talking to the press. If something needs to be off the record, expressly state it. If you don't, guys like Mike are going to run it.
2 - Go see the world, DeMarre. There's a lot to see.
3 - They can take down the whole thing. No one can match the stubble.
4 - My sports knowledge is no where near as good as my Star Wars knowledge. Like the only member of the Cheers cast to appear in a Star Wars movie -
5 - Top 5:
The Wire
Deadwood
Larry Sanders Show
Six Feet Under
Flight of the Conchords
ghtd36: In the words of Mother Teresa, let's rock this bitch.
1 - Oh, what's that? Oh, I'm sorry, I was too busy YAWNING AS A SIGN OF MY DISINTEREST IN THIS SO-CALLED "STORY" WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY A NON-ISSUE BECAUSE THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN ALL OF THE TIME, AND NOBODY IS REALLY TO BLAME SINCE THERE WAS A CLEAR MISCOMMUNICATION BETWEEN HAITH AND DEARMOND, AND SERIOUSLY KIM ENGLISH IT'S PROBABLY NOT THE BEST CAREER MOVE TO START CALLING OUT JOURNALISTS WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW THE ENTIRE STORY, I LOVE YOU KID, BUT SERIOUSLY, THAT'S NOT GOING TO FLY ON THE NEXT LEVEL IF THAT'S WHERE YOU WANT TO BE AND JUDGING BY ALL OF YOUR TWEETS THAT IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.
2 - It's time to go overseas, DeMarre. You have a unique set of skills that make you a great basketball player, but do not tend to make you a great NBA player. You can make bank overseas and have a good time. And, of course, you should come back and coach Mizzou sometime in an assistant's role.
3 - This team can win the national championship. There is no doubt in my mind. Think about this: Rhea Taylor is struggling. Rhea Taylor, the one player who we pretty much banked on at the beginning of the season to have a big year. And this team is No. 9.
4 - So many Rangers things that it's amazing that my girlfriend puts up with me. Prior to last year, the Rangers had one playoff game win: Oct. 1, 1996 in Yankee Stadium. John Burkett got the win, throwing a complete game giving up two runs on eight hits. David Cone took the loss. Juan Gonzalez homered, and I believe Dean Palmer did too. In the 30-3 game back in 2007 in Baltimore, Ramon Vazquez of all people had 10 RBIs. Ian Kinsler is the last Ranger to hit for the cycle; went 6-for-6 and was the first player in I think 100 years to do both in the same game. And that was Jackie Robinson Day, but it wasn't; the real Jackie Robinson Day got rained out, so to make it up, they all wore 42 on some random game a week later or something. I could go on.
5 - The Wire, and it's not close. The game is the game.
Side note: I'm getting into Breaking Bad, since AMC is replaying it from the start. It's incredible. AMC has carved out a nice little niche for itself: not quite as edgy as HBO, but similar quality programming. Love.
ZouDave: So you’re saying you’re the Cliff Claven of Star Wars?
SleepyFloyd7: Due to the shape of the tauntaun's esophagus, even if it could speak, it could not pronounce the word lasagna.
Doug: Then it's a good thing Hoth doesn't have any decent Italian places.
ZouDave:
Michael Atchison: I fear a game of Dungeons and Dragons is about to burst out in the middle of this roundtable. Ten bucks says Ross shows up as a druid with a cloak of invisibility.
The Beef: I’ll take that bet….
…Ross never shows up to Roundtables anymore
Michael Atchison: Too busy buying bagels for his awesome coworkers.
Doug: He shows up, you just can't see him because of the cloak of invisibility.
SleepyFloyd7: But, for sure, you'd be able to sense the charisma.
ghtd36: "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I was just basking in the glow of my colleagues' collective genius. Anyways, hockey hockey site management snarky comment I miss Dallas I love my coworkers hockey Rangers snarky comment site management Shiner."
-RPT
ZouDave: It may not be D&D, but Tepper has role-playing down pretty well.
In the words of dorks, he "rolled a 20."
Michael Atchison: That’s just an 18. He only said Shiner and Dallas once, and there was no mention of a Pat Green station on Pandora.
ghtd36: You nailed it, new Facebook friend Michael Atchison. Or should I say...BEST FACEBOOK FRIEND?!?
SleepyFloyd7: I know why we haven't heard from Ross!
His attempt to start growing a "playoff beard" requires so much energy that he has lost the ability to type.
Oh, and I'll take the Justin Townes Earle station over Pat Green.
Michael Atchison: Chief, JT Earle lives in New York City. That’ll never fly with a Texan.
ghtd36: The JTE station is good, though I'll throw Randy Rogers Band and Josh Abbott Band in the conversation as well.
Michael Atchison: The imagination those Texans show in naming their bands always amazes me.
SleepyFloyd7: The Gourds, politely disagree.
ghtd36: Get this, Best Facebook Friend: there's a band from Denton called Eli Young Band (and they are greatness). Except there is no Eli Young; it's a guy named Mike Eli and James Young.
Michael Atchison: What won’t they think of next?
ghtd36: By the way, Atch, which half of the BFF heart necklace do you want? I'm pretty partial to the left one, but if you like the left one, I'll let you have it.
Michael Atchison: The right side is fine with me.
SleepyFloyd7:
ZouDave: How does that picture NOT have Mexican Super Greg in it?
Michael Atchison: They were known as the Gibbons Hill Beard Band until they found a band from Laredo with the exact same name.
SleepyFloyd7: Atch, I'll allow your point about Texas Bands to remain in the record, because there is some validity to it.
Signed
13th Floor Elevators
The Judys
Asleep at the Wheel
The Flatlanders (I think they are coming to CoMo this fall)
Soul Hat
Okkervil River
Spoon
Butthole Surfers
Ghostland Observatory
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Poi Dog Pondering
and Willie Nelson & Family (because stick it)
Michael Atchison: Why are you doing Ross and Greg’s work for them?
And why does every band on your list (save for Spoon and Okkervil River) feature someone who is either insane or dead? And why didn’t you include Denton’s Centro-Matic on your list? There’s a band for you.
SleepyFloyd7: I do this work, because it is my work too.
Signed,
The Ghetto Boyz
ghtd36: Here comes Hipster Atchison. "I'd list a bunch of awesome band names, but you've probably never heard of them."
Bill C.: Atch was a hipster before being a hipster was cool.
SleepyFloyd7: Atch is a Titanium Hip-ster
ghtd36: Atch scoreboards oak trees on not being around when he was.
Michael Atchison: Back to Mizzou. Anyone else have a strange yearning for one of these just now?
The Beef: That took me a second, but I see what you did there.
Real curious to see who the last asst. and the DBO end up being.
SleepyFloyd7: We should all know soon how the rest of the staff is fleshed out. Fuller looks like a true home-run hire.
The Beef: Agreed. Looks like a great recruiter to compliment what Haith is already known for. Nestor also appears to be a solid hire with tremendous experience and time in the game.
Bill C.: Hey Beef, it looks like Wright Thompson is on the latest Bill Simmons podcast. I'll give it a listen and see if he disses Tigers Lair somewhere in there, or if he mentions you by name.
The Beef: why…..WHY would you do that? The only person I dislike more than Ron Prince is Wright Thompson. And of the two, I was FAR more confident in my abilities to take down Wright than I would have been if given the same option with Prince.
ghtd36: No, don't worry, guys, you nailed it. Norm MacDonald is definitely not funny. I can't believe how right you guys were. I mean, who would find this funny?
/immediately makes TiVo subscription for The Sports Show
SleepyFloyd7: It was a surprisingly strong start for Norm last night.
What is it that makes it so hard to do a sports comedy show? The subject and medium seem made for each other.
Oh, and Sports Nation doesn't count.
ghtd36: Per Deadspin, 80 percent of the athletes punished for honor code violations at BYU are minorities.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Michael Atchison: Per Deadspin, 80 percent of the quarterbacks who text photos of their junk to Jenn Sterger are Brett Favre.
ghtd36: Are you saying Deadspin isn't a reliable source?
SleepyFloyd7: Per Mike D at the Star - http://campuscorner.kansascity.com/node/1781
Big 12 could announce new TV deal today at 3pm.
"Word leaked from industry analysts has Fox paying (the Big 12) $90 million annually for 13 years."
"...it would be added to the $60 million annually the Big 12 receives from ABC and ESPN for first-tier games."
Michael Atchison: I hear he got that in a text from Frank Haith.
ZouDave:
ghtd36: But seriously, read this article from Deadspin. Aside from being well-written and apparently well-researched, it's stunning.