Mizzou Links, 11-20-12

Mizzou Football Links

• A&M Week
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Get One Last Shot on Saturday
  MUtigers.com: Mizzou Football Media Day Quotes - Nov. 19

  On possible similarities between Manziel and Brad Smith...

  "Not really. To me it is more Chase Daniel: a young player playing at a high level. That's what I see more of. When Kevin (Sumlin, Texas A&M head coach) came in, what was intact that was as good as anyone was their offensive line. They have a really good offensive line that has been intact the entire season. (Manziel) also has receivers making plays. But he's playing at a high level."

  On the recent success of Jimmie Hunt and other young receivers...

  "Jimmie is athletic. He's been looking better in practice and always has a great attitude. Bud Sasser is also playing pretty well, as is Dorial (Green-Beckham) . With James (Franklin) healthy the last couple of weeks we've been able to throw the ball down field. So these guys seem to be showing up more because of a healthy and experienced quarterback. "

  The Trib (Dave Matter): Franklin, Richardson listed as starters
  The Trib (Dave Matter): Tigers Meet the Press
  The Missourian: Missouri doesn't plan on giving up against Texas A&M
  Post-Dispatch: James Franklin's condition improving but still questionable

  “He was better yesterday than he was Saturday night,” offensive coordinator David Yost said, adding that head athletic trainer Rex Sharp had said Franklin also was better Monday “than he was yesterday.”

  Franklin left the game in the fourth quarter after a two-week streak in which he was at last in good health and completed 36 of 55 passes for 505 yards, six touchdowns and one interception against Tennessee and Syracuse.

  But he actually was injured on a sack late in the third quarter, Yost said.

  Franklin told Yost over headphones that he’d hit his head, Yost said, but he sounded like himself as he spoke of plays on the drive.

  He was examined but OK’d to continue, Yost added.

  During a timeout on the next drive, though, receivers coach Andy Hill told Yost Franklin was “looking off” in the huddle and thought, “Something’s up.”

  “It wasn’t to the point where he didn’t know what he was doing,” Yost said.

  But …

  “He was not completely there,” Yost said. “He was not normal.”

  After the drive ended two plays later, Franklin was examined again by the training staff and taken out.

  PowerMizzou: PMTV-HD: Week 12 Media Day
• Sheldon
  The Trib: Richardson reinstated at MU
  KC Star: Pinkel says MU's Richardson will play at A&M
  Post-Dispatch: Mizzou's Richardson expected to return Saturday
  Post-Dispatch: Mizzou hopes Richardson's suspension was an "awakening"

Other Football Links

• UGGGGGGGGGGH
  ESPN.com: Nate Silver, quantification of sports and edging out of surprise

  Symbolism and empty poetics have taken a real beating these last few years, and we've roughed up metaphor and cheap cliché too, but we're mostly better off for doing so and have a clearer understanding of what it is we're seeing. And while I'd never make an argument in favor of ignorance or innumeracy, I will make the following observation: It's still fun to be surprised. Proposals, elopements, birthday parties and Baylor's unexpected massacre of Kansas State on Saturday are sufficient reminders of this small truth.

  But surprise, however charming, is the enemy of efficiency. And efficiency, rather than ephemeral nonsense like your happiness or mine, is what we're all chasing in this new Western world of ours. […]

  In other words, more information leads to fewer surprises. Which is essential for survival, great in business, and probably good for politics -- but opposes everything we love most about watching sports. Or magic acts. Or reading novels or going to the movies. Part of our deepest joy lies in emphatically not knowing what happens next. My steam-driven colleagues worry the price of prediction and our new precision is too high.

Two things:

1. DAMN NERDS AND THEIR DAMN COMPUTERS RUINING EVERYTHING.

2. There was not a single number, computer, spreadsheet, anything that would have told you that Baylor was going to crush Kansas State, or that Texas A&M was going to beat Alabama, or probably even that Stanford could hang with Oregon. The Nerds are not trying to "solve" sports or defeat sports in any way -- they pursue numbers because it makes them enjoy sports, and its unexpected surprises, more. Sports are never going to be incredibly predictable, and if nothing else, numbers help you to understand what is really surprising and what isn't. It just isn't that hard to understand. You don't want to mess with numbers? Then don't. But it's 2012; by now you should have at least figured out why the nerds like the numbers...

EXPANSIONAPALOOZA™ 2013

• Maryland And Rutgers To B1G
  SI.com (Andy Staples): Maryland's realignment move to Big Ten is sound economic choice
  Frank the Tank: The Big Ten invites Maryland with Rutgers on Deck
  MGoBlog: Screw It: S-E-C
  Team Speed Kills: SEC Doesn't Need to React to Big Ten Expansion
  Testudo Times: Scott Van Pelt makes his Big Ten sales pitch

Mizzou Basketball Links

• Atlantis
  MUtigers.com: Mizzou Basketball Faces Stanford Thursday
  The Trib (Steve Walentik): Watching the Battle 4 Atlantis

  The tournaments games will be split between AXS TV and the NBC Sports Network, with Missouri's opener against Stanford showing on AXS TV at noon on Thursday.

  Here are the places to find AXS TV on Mid-Missouri cable or satellite providers:

  Mediacom: Does not carry AXS TV
  Mizzou Telecom: Does not carry AXS TV
  CenturyLink Prism: Columbia/Jeff City: Channel 350
  Charter Communications: Channel 857
  DIRECTV: Channel 340
  DISH Network: Channel 362

  Here are the places to find NBC Sports Network on Mid-Missouri cable or satellite providers:

  Mediacom: Channel 404
  Mizzou Telecom: Channel 39
  CenturyLink Prism: Channel 108 or Channel 408
  Charter Communications: Channel 54 or Channel 206 or Channel 806
  DIRECTV: Channel 220
  DISH Columbia: Channel 159 or Channel 9466

  PowerMizzou: Atlantis Preview: VCU
• Polls
  KC Star: Mizzou moves up to 13th, KU drops to 12th in basketball polls
• Earnest
  Post-Dispatch: Well-traveled Ross getting comfortable at Mizzou
  PowerMizzou: Earnest Ross practicing patience

Mizzou Diamond Sports Links

• 2013
  SimmonsField.com: Who's on First: St. Louis Newcomers
  SimmonsField.com: You Make the Call: Tiger Newcomer of the Year
• SEC
  SimmonsField.com: SxSE: Knoxville, Tennessee

Other Mizzou Links

• Mizzou Volleyball
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Return Home for Final NCAA Tournament Push
• Mizzou Wrestling
  MUtigers.com: Mondays with McCormick

Other

• More Bourdain, More Fieri
  Baltimore Sun: Anthony Bourdain, back in Baltimore, with some thoughts about Guy Fieri