Simply put: Read this profile on Gary Pinkel’s life after football

Happy Monday, y’all! I usually try to include a little preamble in these here links posts, but seeing as the main link in today’s post is good enough without my musings, I’ll go ahead and link directly to it.

“I just felt, kind of empty,” Pinkel said by phone this week. “Not empty from not being the head football coach at Missouri. People ask me all the time: What do you miss? I miss game day. I miss putting my headset on. And for four hours, I went into a zone. I was gone. And I loved it...”

I’d also typically intersperse chunks from the story with my own commentary, but that would be very unfair to the post itself. Needless to say, it’s very good human interest work from Ben Frederickson, and you should all take the time to read it.

It’s been about a week since we found out that Gary Pinkel’s cancer is back. In that time, I’ve thought a lot about my memories with Gary Pinkel — which, for me, is most of my life as a Missouri fan. It’s interesting to remember that Pinkel isn’t a Mizzou-lifer, but instead has become a legend in CoMo and Tiger Nation by embracing the community where he ended his storied career. These types of stories seem trite and fluffy, but they’re still pretty special and should be celebrated. While Pinkel’s life is his own, his stories have become — and will continue to be — ours as well.

More Links:

• Over at PowerMizzou, 2021 basketball target Pierre Brooks dished on his recent unofficial visit, and 2021 football target Beau Stephens talked about the beginning stages of his recruitment, which includes an offer from Mizzou; both stories are premium content.
• In extremely irrelevant news:

• Meanwhile, Mizzou made the top lists for a few 2020 football targets...

• Congratulations to Mad Max Scherzer on his 7th straight (and overall) MLB All-Star selection!
• Finally, Jordan Clarkson has entered the next phase of his career as a soothsayer.