What’s that you say?!?

Why yes, readers, if you read the headline correctly, you’ll soon hear the sounds of squeaky sneakers, bouncing balls, helmets crushing and whistles blowing... because sports are coming back! If the SEC approves it, that is...

Before I give you some details, I can’t help but mention what I consider to be one of the greatest basketball commercials of all time. Cue up the 2007 YouTube...

Anyway, just had to work that video in somehow, and now back to sports news. According Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the NCAA has announced that football and basketball can resume practice on June 1, BUT it’s up to the conferences to decide. The SEC will determine its fate today, apparently, as presidents and chancellors are voting on what they will do.

Because the return will be on a voluntary basis, this piece was added:

The Division I Council also extended the blanket waiver that allows teams in those three sports to require eight hours per week of virtual non-physical activities through the month of June for athletes who can’t return to campus or aren’t comfortable taking part in on-campus activities.

There were other addendums mentioned as well to account for scheduling, financial aid, and other information. I encourage you to check it out; it’s good stuff (as Dave’s work always is).

Moving on.

And because I’m so excited for some sort of sports activity to resume, I’ll also use this opportunity up top (this deserves more than a measly links sentence below) to tell you that Gabe DeArmond’s recent PowerMizzou article on grad assistant Nafis Ricks is a MUST-READ. Seriously, stop what you’re doing and read it now. It is phenomenal. If you follow Ricks on social media and interact with him, as I do, he often talks about mental health, whether it be his own struggles with it, difficulties associated with African-Americans in talking about their mental health, or interesting quotes and articles he’s reading associated with the topic. He’s one of the best follows on Instagram and twitter, and really just a lovely, hard-working individual. So do yourself a favor and read the post (and follow him).

On to the Links. Happy Friday!

---

Yesterday at Rock M

• Coach Bussen continued his defensive film room series with Part 2. These are really well done pieces and you all should check them out. You can learn a lot from them... I know I did!
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I’ll keep saying this— if you’re a Mizzou hoops fan, you really should check out Matt’s piece on Mizzou’s pace.
• COMING UP: The football staff awards the Mizzou Football Underdog Hall of Fame this morning, and I have a piece in the works (likely coming out this weekend) on the latest MIZ-ZOOM event with coaches Brian Smith & Shannon Welker! I love me some non-revenue sports, y’all.

---

More Links:

Football

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter wrote about how Mizzou (and other teams) are continuing to pile up commitments as the pandemic pushes the pace of college football recruiting. In this piece he talks with Washington, MO native Ryan Hoerstkam about his Mizzou commitment and that Alabama offer. Great stuff.
• Columbia-Missourian: Adam Cole wrote about how Jim Sterk is optimistic for football’s fall return after the NCAA’s decision.
• PowerMizzou (free): Mitchell and Gabe were back with new hot taeks on their Blowin’ Smoke, Presented by Weston Tobacco series, and it’s all about the football.
• Jim Sterk went on Finebaum today, and here’s what he had to say:

Hoops

• PowerMizzou ($$): Mitchell touched base with 2021 target, Legend Geeter (awesome name), who was surprised by his Mizzou offer.
• Some nice reminiscing about Jordan Clarkson, now of the Utah Jazz, from his Mizzou days...

Assorted Mizzou Sports News

• Dave Matter was back with a new chat on STL Today! Read the Q&A!
• Eric Blum of the Columbia Tribune also covered the NCAA’s news about activities possibly resuming in some capacity on June 1.
• In Mizzou-adjacent college baseball sports news, several head coaches from each Power 5 conference got together to assemble a ‘New College Baseball Model’, which includes a season starting in mid-March and the CWS in July, according to Kendall Rogers of D1baseball.com.
• We see you, #TigerStyle. DAMN. And we LOVE IT.

• In more wrestling news, incoming freshman Rocky Elam was awarded the National Wrestling Hall of Fame central regional winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award. (story at MUTigers.com)

• Swimming & Diving’s Daniel Hein earned Academic All-District honors. Not only is he a great student (3.98 GPA in Mechanical Engineering!), but also was a multiple-time All American. (story from MUTigers.com)

Interesting/Non-Mizzou News

These are a few of the best sports stories & tidbits I found regarding some goings-on in sports and the world— Enjoy!

• Love to see the Blues players doing good things for their communities as a result of being really good at video games, haha. This time, it involves Jordan Kyrou and noted Mizzou Football fans, Vince Dunn and Robert Thomas (they attended several games last season).

• According to Associated Press reports (via the Missourian), Vanderbilt has removed the interim tag and officially named Candace Storey Lee the SEC’s first female Athletic Director. She’s also one of only two African-American women athletic directors at Power Five schools. I hope to to see other institutions follow because this is really great.
• Tom Ackerman of KMOX Sports chatted it up in his Garage Happy Hour chat with St. Louis native, Sterling K Brown!

• Friend of the Site & Co-host of Bench Minutes (we need another one of those, SAM), Jarrett Sutton, is talking about his experiences with NBA culture and the new landscape of leadership in a live Zoom meeting on May 28th with Brad Hill, Executive Director of HeartConnexion Seminars. Tune in! (link goes to the Zoom info)

• If you’re a subscriber to The Athletic and a fan of The Last Dance, writer Richard Deitsch wrote three behind the scenes pieces for the site. SUBSCRIBE!!!!
• And finally... I was catching up on the May 17 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (fast forward to 25:04 if you want to learn more about this), but CHECK THIS OUT. This is the most fascinating thing ever... competitive marble racing! There’s a YouTube channel, with more than a million devoted subscribers, and I must say— it’s INCREDIBLE. I may or may not have wasted at least 20 minutes of my workday watching videos and cheering for inanimate objects on Thursday afternoon. Below is a trailer for their newest event, and a link to their YouTube page. Enjoy. You WILL get sucked in.

• 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.**)