SI touting the Tigers a tall tale

[alanm]

Published Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008

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My mailbox laughed the other day.

That may seem kind of weird, but not really. My Sports Illustrated had arrived. And Missouri football was on the cover as a national title contender.

No, Lucy. Not again. I'm not going to kick the ball. How many times do you think I'm going to fall for that gag?

Everybody loves Mizzou. The Tigers are the hip team in college football, the hot inside trader stock tip you can take all the way to the Orange Bowl. Just don't let the SEC hear about it.

The Tigers are loaded. They've got two Heisman Trophy candidates. They've got a defense with teeth. They've got it all, except, well, a Big 12 championship ring.

Can't we let MU win the Big 12 before we anoint it national champ?

Normally rational, and cynical, folks are predicting that Mizzou will win that BCS championship, in the Orange Bowl. SI selected the Tigers preseason No. 4, meaning Mizzou was one of five teams to make a regional cover. That black and old gold cover is pretty sweet, but I digress.

Missouri in the same group as Georgia, Ohio State, USC and Florida? Right. The next thing you're going to tell me is SI has Nebraska ranked No. 45, Miami No. 46 and Michigan No. 54.

A friend said he was having lunch in Omaha on Friday, when a Husker fan walked in with a copy of Sports Illustrated with Missouri on the cover and said, "Can you believe this? Missouri? They don't think much of Nebraska. They ranked us 45th."

Well, if it's any solace, I can't believe it, either. But for totally different reasons than your average Husker fan.

For one thing, there's my background. You may not be aware of this, but I graduated from Mizzou (class of 1980).

And here's the thing about MU School of Journalism types: we took Objectivity 101. In fact, if we have any slant, it's negative. We don't try to put our team in the Orange Bowl, we try to put it on probation. Just for the byline.

Blame it on the J-School. They beat the pompoms out of you. It's a point of pride. It's also how you survive. The J-School daily paper, the Missourian, had more than 1,000 staff members when I was there (every J-School student had to spend at least a semester on the Missourian). And there isn't that much going on in Columbia, Mo.

No matter. You moved up by getting compelling stories. My first year, I was put on the "social services" beat. I spent the semester trying to get some dirt on the Columbia dogcatcher.

Now that I've been in Nebraska 17 years, and married a Husker, some local Missouri grads in Omaha call me "Traitor Tom" because I won't kiss up to my alma mater. They should know better: that's just the Missouri Way.

But it's interesting to see what Missouri's success last year, and its dalliance with No. 1, has done to some hardened alums. For instance, at last year's Super Bowl I ran into an old Missouri writer who now covers the Dallas Cowboys. His computer screen saver was a picture of Chase Daniel. Another Ol' Mizzou guy, a national college football columnist, said if the Tigers had made the Sugar Bowl last year, he would have been "too nervous" to cover it.

What are they worried about?

This is one school that doesn't need an SI cover jinx. Missouri never delivers. It never answers the hype. The Tigers have been great giant-killers — when nobody expected it.

For years, nimrod Missouri writers like myself used to pick MU to topple Nebraska and Oklahoma. Why? Because we were tired of the same-old, same-old. And MU seemed the logical candidate, as if being located between Kansas City and St. Louis was a birthright for winning. Truth is, it's only good if you're a baseball fan.

Missouri was always the great sleeping giant. At some point it got cruel. If a receiver wasn't dropping a touchdown pass in the open field against Nebraska in 1981, then Colorado got five downs to score. If the school didn't hire Woody Widenhofer as coach, then a Nebraska kid fell out of the sky to make a miracle catch and snatch away the greatest Missouri home win in history.

By the way, did I mention that, in 1977, the Missouri chancellor told director John Landis that he couldn't film "Animal House" at MU because it wasn't appropriate? Talk about your bad karma.

Anyway, even with all the hoopla, a Missouri fan might not admit it, but he's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I have to admit, this time it might not.

There's nobody in the Big 12 North close to Missouri's talent or experience. The schedule falls in the Tigers' favor. Daniel and Jeremy Maclin might be the two best playmakers in the country. Mizzou's defense is underrated. And I like the way the Tigers are handling the hype — so far. They aren't boasting but they aren't hiding from the expectations, either. The Big 12 title game is in Kansas City — Missouri.

I, gulp, like the Tigers to win their first league title since 1969.

But I can't, and won't, pick them to win the national title. Maybe because of inexperience at that level. Maybe because that defense can't be up to that task yet.

Mostly, because I have a reputation to uphold. And never mind who's on my screen saver.

• Contact the writer: 444-1025,
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1921

Thought you guys might enjoy this.

[SPATCH]

incoherent babble... worthless article

[Third Eye]

Summary:

Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Mizzou wins the Big 12

[POND_OF_RED]

Times are changing when a Nebraska fan writes a "**** MU" article a month before football season. I love it.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

Summary:

SOME OBVIOUS CONFUSION ON THE BCS TITLE GAME AND THE ORANGE BOWL
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
I TOTALLY GOT A JOURNALISM DEGREE AT MU
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
STRANGE TANGENT ABOUT HIS COLLEGE NEWSPAPER DAYS
Hate on Mizzou
Hate on Mizzou
Mizzou wins the Big 12 (WHAT A DOUCHE)

FYP

[KCrockaholic]

sounds like a P.O.S. article fatlock would do.

[Boris The Great]

Originally Posted by alanm

And heres the thing about MU School of Journalism types: we took Objectivity 101. In fact, if we have any slant, it\'s negative.

Wieberg, Forde, Dodd and the rest must not have taken any of those classes.

[Reaper16]

I didn't think that calling a team a national title contender was the same thing as "anointing" them the national champs. Calling them a contender implies that there is at least one other contender as well.

[Spott]

Actually, SI only predicted them #4, not national champs.

Life's a bitch when your on the other side of those lopsided scores.

[eazyb81]

What a worthless article. Georgia didn't even make the SEC Championship yet everyone has them #1, so why is the writer making a big deal about Mizzou at #4?

This team is just dripping with talent on both sides of the ball. I can't wait to see them run through Illinois on the 30th.

[Demonpenz]

All this hype and it is going to come crashing down the first game of the year ILL is out for blood

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

All this hype and it is going to come crashing down the first game of the year ILL is out for blood

BCS fraud takedown, Part 3.