Welcome to Deep Thoughts with Karen

A simple question— Where were you? I promise this is not meant to be accusatory, like, “WHERE WERE YOU (instead of at last night’s game)?” It’s more of a rhetorical question I was thinking to myself as I heard the newest injury news to a very important Missouri player... Yes, Facebook commenters and random twitterers, Tilly IS important, and he’s not a bum and we are not better when Nikko is playing and stop being dramatic.*

Anyway, this is what I kept thinking about at Mizzou Arena as I prepared myself to watch our beloved Tigers play without perhaps our most important player “indefinitely.” Where was I and what was I doing each of the last three years these devastating injuries were announced?

2017- Michael Porter, Jr. I was at the Iowa State game with fellow Rock M writer, Ryan Faller, and truth be told, I was so into the game and it was so loud and so wonderful to be surrounded by 15,060 of my new closest friends, I didn’t even notice the dude was sitting on the bench until the people next to me questioned his disappearance aloud. I only allowed myself to fret for a moment because, well.. that was a great game. The potentially catastrophic blow that injury caused didn’t seep in until much later. Yikes. That one stung.

2018- Jontay Porter. This one was wild and I almost injured myself in the process. I was working at my part time job and was walking upstairs to the break room looking at my phone (yes, that is unsafe, and yes, I do it anyway), when I saw the tweet from Schiff that Jontay had torn his ACL at the closed scrimmage against Creighton. I almost fell up the stairs and had to actually catch myself on the railing, repeating, “OH MY GOD” really loud over and over again, then having to explain to my coworkers, (most of whom could have given a crap) that our best hoops player was injured... again. I might have cried reading the news in more detail later (in the privacy of my own home, of course).

2020- Jeremiah Tilmon. I was just minding my own business and parking my car to run into the MU Student Center and get some food before heading over to the arena, and what does the KTGR Big Show tell me? Breaking news from the Missouri Basketball team 30 minutes before pregame. Oh god. No. HELL. NOT AGAIN.... COME ONNNNNNNN. NOT DINO JAMMIES JEREMIAH**. I couldn’t even muster up tears over this, as I am now dead inside.

*editor’s note- changed to nicer word

**editor’s note- at the ISU postgame in 2017, Tilly showed up to his very first podium appearance in what seriously looked like turquoise dinosaur pajamas- I can’t find the evidence now, but I’ve been searching for years and it is my life’s goal to find the footage)

Is it weird that I recall these moments as clearly as I recall, say, when the Cards won the World Series in 2006 when I was living in NC and at my friendly neighborhood bar, or 2011 when I was at Shiloh with my dear college friend, ChadBass, or just last year when the Blues won the Stanley Cup while I watched with friends at Flatbranch? Is that just part of my fandom? Are you all like this as well?

Anyway, enough babbling. Onto the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Tuesday’s Top Mizzou Moment focused on Markus Golden’s fumble helping to secure the East (again). I highly encourage you to check out the hard work Josh (& Sam) have put in on this project.
• Josh previewed Tuesday night’s SEC home opener against Tennessee, and said the Vols were coming to CoMo looking for answers.
• Sam provided us with the news about JT’s injury. Seriously, what kind of voodoo is going on here?
• Ryan wrote a postmortem game story for us.
• New-ish Matt put up the game thread. I never did look at it and can only imagine what sorts of fits people were having of deep joy and immense pain.

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More Links:

Football

• PowerMizzou (subscribers): Sean Williams took a closer look at the recent offers.
• The Athletic ($$): Peter Baugh made 10 predictions for Missouri in 2020: On the QB competition, bowl eligibility and the NFL Draft. Check it out... if you’re a subscriber.
• Looks like the coaches checked out their new digs... I love this photo.

• Can’t wait to see what’s in store for Nick Bolton in 2020!

Hoops

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave conducted a Q&A with former Tiger Kim English as he made his return to Mizzou Arena (the article was updated Tuesday with the Q&A portion).
• PowerMizzou (free): Mitchell previewed the Tennessee game, saying in order to win the Tigers would need to 1) get more from their bigs, 2) take care of the ball, and 3) limit Jordan Bowden, before predicting a winner for the Tigers. (editor’s note: about that...)
• Tennessee game previews: Brian Napier (Columbia Missourian). Souichi Terada (KC Star). MUTigers.com.
• Columbia Missourian: Brian Napier reviewed the SEC’s weekend performances.
• Choose Your Own Gamers are available in various places, and they are not for the faint of heart: Souichi Terada (KC Star). Dave Matter (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Gabe DeArmond (PowerMizzou). Mitchell Forde (PowerMizzou).
• Mizzou has joined the mix for Northeastern Oklahoma top JUCO guard, Rueadale Williams.
• This made me laugh.. a lot. I know that after the technical, it seemed like the game changed for Mizzou (and not in a good way), but still... Former Mizzou scribe Mark Kim had a funny response to it in the thread.

Other Mizzou Sports/ Miscellaneous Mizzou News

• Awesome news for Mizzou Baseball player, Ian Bedell, named 2020 Perfect Game/Rawlings Preseason All-American! More info at MUTigers.com.

• Gymnastics: Senior Ashton Tucker and freshman Helen Hu earned SEC Weekly Honors for their performances against Illinois and SEMO this past weekend. Congrats, ladies!

And also this from the Tigers’ gymnastics twitter... Wow.

• Volleyball: The Tigers officially added Anna Dixon to their roster, and had a write up on MUTigers.com.

• Mizzou Athletics put together a comprehensive list of top performers of the last decade, and they are asking for your help in determining the most important male and female athletes from 2010-2019. You can vote for best male athlete and best female athlete at MUTigers.com.
• Today was the first day of practice for Mizzou Softball! Love their new hashtag, #ownit.

• In non-athletics news, but really glad to see it— A $500k federal grant is helping Mizzou’s law school to restart their Innocence Clinic.
• More non-athletic news, but still cool— Senior Writer at ESPN, Wright Thompson (BJ, ‘01) wrote about his time at Mizzou for the new issue of Mizzou Magazine.
• And this is sad— Former MU Chancellor Barbara Uehling Charlton passed away at age 87. Barbara was the only woman ever to serve as permanent chancellor at MU and is credited as the first female head of a land-grant university, and responsible for turning Mizzou into a botanical garden and building Lowry Mall and Conley House. (thanks JST for the link for this)

Michael Porter, Jr News (he gets his own section this time, y’all)

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Former Denver resident, Benjamin Hochman, wrote an excellent story about “the once-injured, forever-intriguing” Michael Porter, Jr. I highly recommend it, as I do all of Hochman’s stuff.
• CBS Sports: There’s a new NBA Rookie Power Rankings out, and guess who’s on top?!
• Truman's Tales/FanSided: Thomas Huitt-Johnson covered MPJ’s week.
• UpRoxx: Brad Rowland said MPJ is arriving.
• Forbes: Joel Rush did a Film Study on Mike, saying his offense is on the rise.
• ClutchPoints: Trae Young, best friend of Michael Porter, Jr, called playing against him a dream come true.
• Will Mike get another start tonight vs Dallas? Mike Singer of The Denver Post seems to think so!

Mizzou in the Pros / Former Player News

• SI.com’s Mile High Huddle covered how Drew Lock’s emergence changed the Broncos’ locker room.
• Jordan Elliott was profiled as a first round talent by Pro Football Focus. There’s a nice video to go with it.
• Michael Scherer, former LB & grad assistant for the Tigers last season, is on the move... to Arkansas, per Gabe DeArmond.
• The ‘Cougars for Kimmie’ Fan Club came out in full force last night for Kim English’s return to Mizzou.

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)