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Happy Gameday Eve! Dream a Little Dream with Me

Mizzou Football Links for Wednesday, August 30

By Karen Steger
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It’s Gameday Eve!

Allow me to entertain you with some music, dear readers. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to our guys Nate and BK chat live on the BTBS YouTube show. Let’s dream a little dream with me (and the BTBS pod crew).

As the legendary Doris Day sang so beautifully in 1957:

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you

Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you

But in your dreams whatever they may be

Dream a little dream with me

Can you feel it? Happiness. For one more night at least, you can go to sleep peacefully and dream sweet dreams of Mizzou’s season starting. You can put your worries aside because for right now, it’s all just a delightful black & gold-colored haze. There are no concerns. Isn’t it nice? BK and Nate were discussing this on the YouTube show Tuesday night.

From BK:

“This team allows you to dream. I don’t think we had that in previous seasons under Drinkwitz... It’s time for Mizzou to beat a good team, not a fraudulent (2020) LSU team. Get a win against K-State, LSU, Georgia or Tennessee, and now we’re talking. “

You know what else allowed BK to hope, despite the fact that he’s afraid to believe in this team? The success of Men’s Hoops last year.

“No one expected anything of them,” he said. “There was no reason really to believe in Mizzou Basketball, and then things just started going their way.”

He continued.

“If they (Mizzou Football) look good in their first two weeks, maybe there’s a little more here. Maybe they can be 7-5 or 8-4. If they can beat K-State. And then maybe they beat one of these other teams if they’re worse than expected. And it can snowball in a good way into a 9 to 10-win season. If you see what happened with TCU last year, it makes you wonder, has NIL and has the ability to go into the transfer portal and coaching turnover allowed teams to come out of nowhere? But if TCU can go from terrible program to the CFP, it stands to reason that Mizzou could go from .500 to winning 8-9 games, especially if 4 of their losses were by one score.”

Ahhhh... can you feel it? Hope. I love hope.

Moving on. To more hope.

You guys, Nate got me in my feels the other day, as I know he did many of you. You know the post I’m talking about— Why Not Now: A Realist’s Reflection on Optimism and Mizzou Football. I am not kidding when I say I wept. Like tears streaming down my face. It was perfection. Let’s review.

“Why not now?” It’s a phrase that bounces around in my head, more fervently and fiercely around this time of year when the summer is still bleaching fields and making life miserable for us regular folks while 120 young men put on plastic pads and black helmets and start colliding with each other.

...

But here’s my secret: to this day, I still have that hope of the 4-year-old watching wide-eyed as his favorite team plays in front of him and believes that they are the best.... It’s a little irrational part of my brain that will forever believe that Missouri is one or two pieces away. And that every year could be a magical year. Or that this season - no matter the players, coaches, opponents, whatever - is the season that the Tigers throw off the shackles of mediocrity and kickstart a run that rivals those dynasties of the blue bloods of yesteryear.

...

Frankly, holding on to hope is what fans are supposed to do. It’s a continuous flame that unites all of us, from our elders who suffered through 30 years of some ups but mostly downs, the folks my age who’ve been shown flashes of promise but no sustainability, and those more recent fans who have only known a world of .500 football records. Holding on to that flame of belief is important, especially for the fans who hoped and prayed and wished to see a run like we saw in ‘07 and ‘13 but never had the opportunity. And I’ll admit, that flame still carries on in me, especially for the people who taught me about the game and the fandom and kickstarted an interest that became a hobby that became a job. I carry it for my fellow alums and current members of Marching Mizzou. I carry it for my original fan-support system from the folks in Section NN.

THIS is why I’m a fan. I go into every year feeling this way. This is going to be the year. This is the year they’ll get it together. They’re too talented not to. Is it naive that I just want to see the good in it all? Maybe. But you know what? I’d rather be the kind of fan who always has hope than the kind who’s always looking for something wrong. Someone to argue with on the interwebs. Something to criticize.

Moving on.

We’re back for a new year of Tiger Talk, but with a new location! Oh hey, Bud’s BBQ. I love Bud’s. Great food and drinks (though a bit pricy). Great location, right across from the J-School. The owner, Jason, is super nice and has been so welcoming to the athletic programs. I think it’s going to be a hit there (last year they were at Shiloh, and the year before was Cheerleader’s Pub & Grill). I was enjoying some time outside at Shakespeare’s and with the windows open to Bud’s, you could hear the sweet dulcet tones of Mike Kelly and Eliah Drinkwitz chatting down the street. I could see how this setup could bring in the crowds when the weather is good. We simply love to see it.

Looks like all the beat writers were there checking out the new digs (except us, ha). I’ll likely go to the next one.

Moving on once more.

Hope you all have laid out your very best black and gold attire for the game Thursday. I was going to complain about not knowing what color to wear for the #TigerStripeFaurot, but crisis averted you guys— we have a map. Looks like I’m supposed to wear black... BOO. All my best Tiger clothes are of the gold variety.

But at least I’ll match the team, which is like, super important.

On to the Links!

A fun poll for you, courtesy of Mizzou superfan and professional internet pro-Mizzou arguer, Maggie Johnson (also of the Mizzou That’s Who podcast on PM/KC Sports Network).

Yesterday at Rock M: A LOT

More Links:

Football

  • It’s about time, Des!

Hoops

  • Wow. A chatty bunch they are, huh?
  • Resharing because I love it.

Other Mizzou Sports

  • In case you missed it: Thank you, Dennis!
  • Another tourney— the Tiger Invitational — is on deck for Mizzou VB this weekend. Will you be there to cheer on the undefeated Tigers? Because they’re 3-0, you can get $3 tickets. WHAT A DEAL. We’ll have a weekend wrap-up from our newest Rock M’er, Matthew G— I knowwwww, ANOTHER one — we’re now called Rock M(atthew) Nation.

  • If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now!
  • If you’re looking to sign up for a new streaming service, you can try FuboTV: click HERE for FuboTV access — FuboTV now has ESPN, CBS, FS1 and more sports channels.
    (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)

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