Sooner Dominance

For those that follow my posts, you understand that I am a die hard Mizzou Tiger fan. However, since the Tigers had a bye this past weekend, and are currently preparing to meet KU at Arrowhead this coming weekend, i want to talk briefly about the Big 12 South showdown this past Saturday night.

CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS
I for one expected this to be a close game, and ultimately felt that OU would prevail on their home turf. But, there was no way that I would have predicted the blowout that we all witnessed. After watching the Red Raiders the past several weeks, and the way they marched up and down the field against the likes of Texas and Oklahoma State, I was shocked, and ultimately impressed at how well OU shut Tech down. This was a dominating performance by the Sooners, and they really seem to be clicking on all cylinders right now. The way OU handled Tech at the line of scrimmage was most impressive. It takes me back to last year when they did the same thing to MU(twice), which by the way were the only 2 losses the Tigers had.

MIXED EMOTIONS
Although the current BCS rankings have Texas slightly ahead of OU, I have a hunch that after OU beats OK State this coming weekend, they will leapfrog Texas and will be the Big 12 South champs. This sets up the Sooner/Tiger rematch from last years Big 12 championship game.

I have to admit that I have mixed emotions about this. I was really hoping to play Texas Tech simply because we have beat them the last couple of times we have faced. I realize Tech is a different team than they were in the past, but there's something to be said about having confidence against an opponent.

CONFIDENCE
This is one thing that really bothers me about an OU/MU match up. The Tigers have not proven yet that they can hang with the Sooners, likewise Texas. Therefore, I feel that somehow coach Pinkel has his work cut out for him. Do I think Mizzou can beat OU? Yes, however, they are gonna have to play the best game they have ever played, and most importantly they can't come into this game intimidated with who they are playing.

MENTAL BLOCK
I have seen it time and time again, and have experienced it first hand playing high school athletics. There always seems to be a team out there that you just can't beat. You might hang with them, and you might even be more talented, but at the end of the day they always find a way to win. Sort of a mental block, i guess, is what I am getting at.

Regardless, the next couple of weeks are going to be interesting and exciting. I can't wait to take our shot at either OU or Texas, and I just really hope our boys show up mentally and physically. (Its going to take both to win this game).

Give me your thoughts about this potential match up, and please let me know if you can relate to my message about how certain teams somehow dominate others, just because they always have. Go Tigers!!!

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Football Picks: Even a Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut Every Now and Then

I get tickled at times to read certain blogs or smack talk that goes on between opposing fans, and even fans of the same teams. My wife and I are both participating in a football pool this year, and it has been a lot of fun. It's amazing how cocky people get when they are not face to face with somebody. (Myself included.)Ha!

The funny thing about picking football games is that you don't have to know much about football to be successful. My wife doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about who she is going to pick, whereas I do all kinds of research, and put a lot of thought into my decisions. When game day rolls around, I am glued to the TV, and I get very stressed if my picks aren't panning out. My wife on the other hand, doesn't watch the games. She checks in every little bit to see how she's doing, but that's about it. It's not that she doesn't care, trust me, she wants to win. She does get pretty into Monday nights game if her picks are doing good. Ironically, her attitude and approach has so far paid off nicely for her. She has been victorious 2 weeks and is currently 2 points behind the season leader. I on the other hand have flirted a couple of weeks but either blow the Sunday or Monday night games, and trail my wife overall by 3 points for the season.

Let's get back to smack talk. A part of our pool is that we have the ability to go online and chat amongst each other. This is a lot of fun, but it can get a little heated at times. One individual in particular spatted off last week about the success my wife was having and basically told her that "A blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then". This is a little bit humorous and maybe true to a certain point, but after 11 weeks of picking, I think the numbers speak for themselves.

I am a very competitive person, and am determined to improve my season standing, but I am pulling for my wife to finish off the season strong and prove all the nay sayers wrong.

I would love to hear your opinions on picking teams, and about some of your experiences you have had with trash talk in your groups.

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Guess What I Found in the Bottom of My Cooler

This past weekend my wife and I made plans to go visit her brother and his wife. The plan was for us guys to chill out at the house, have a few drinks, and watch some college football. Of course the girls had a day of shopping planned. So they got around, and left for their day of fun! Us guys were getting ready to go grab a bite to eat before we settled in for an afternoon and evening of football. Or at least that's what we thought.

What happened next is really awesome!!!

THE COOLER
After about an hour after the girls leave, they show back up. They come in the back door with this serious look on their faces. We thought something bad had happened. To our surprise, they pull out a couple of Mizzou coolers. This was really cool in itself because obviously we could put those coolers to good use that day. However, when opening the coolers we find Mizzou t-shirts, coolie cups, and low and behold, in the very bottom of the coolers were.....tickets to that evenings Mizzou vs. Kansas State game! I am sure the expression on our faces were priceless, and more than anything, I think the girls were really excited that they had pulled off the ultimate sneak job. They had been planning this surprise for weeks and their mission was a success!

THE TRIP
So, we load up and start the 3 hour drive to Columbia, obviously pumped, as this was the first time for my wife and I to ever attend a College Football game. We show up to one of the few parking spots still available, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The weather could have been a little warmer, but as my brother-in-law kept reminding us " This is football weather!" So with that attitude in mind, we began our 1st tailgating experience.

TAILGATING
I've heard about tailgating, and how cool it is, but until I actually experienced it for myself, I would have never believed just how cool it really is. You could feel the excitement in the air. There were Mizzou fans everywhere getting pumped up for the game! Well, almost everywhere, there were a few Kansas State fans, too. Anyway, we grilled some hot dogs, had a few drinks, and sat back and soaked up the experience.

GAME-TIME
When it was time for the game to start, we made our way to the stadium. Wow! As soon as I got to my seat, which was awesome, I could tell that this was going to be a lot of fun! Being at the game was so much different, in my opinion, to what you actually see on tv. The size and speed of these athletes is unbelievable. I must say that Jeremy Maclin is a machine. This guy is unreal, and I can't wait to watch him play pro ball. Hopefully he sticks it out at Mizzou for another year though. The excitement of the fans was so amazing. The game was great, the Tigers won easily, and I can now say that I have experienced a College Football game.

THANK YOU
I want to thank my wonderful wife and sister-in-law for giving me the opportunity to experience this. That was the most fun I have had in quite some time, and I highly recommend to anyone that has never had this experience, and regardless if you are a football fanatic or not, you gotta try it once.

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Top 6 "What Ifs" for the 2008 St. Louis Cardinals

As the 2008 MLB season has come to a close, I would like to reflect a little on the ups and downs my Cardinals have had this year.

As most of you are aware, the birds were basically left for dead before the season started, after a very disappointing 2007 campaign. However, I believe most die hard Cardinal fans knew that this squad would compete day in and day out (as Larussa says, "we play a hard 9").

Although the season overall turned out to be a very respectable season for the birds, there is a lot that you can look back on and say "what if." Below I have listed my top 6 "what ifs" for the 2008 season. Check them out and see if you agree that if one or two of these situations had turned out differently the end result might have been a lot different this season..... or maybe not.

TOP 6 "WHAT IFS" OF 2008

1. What if Carpenter could have come back healthy and made 15 or 16 starts?

2. What if the Cardinal bullpen hadn't blown 30+ games in the late innings?

3. What if the bullpen only blew half of those games? (we had 86 wins, you do the math)

4. What if Mulder had been able to come back and compete effectively?

5. What if Ankiel hadn't gone down late in the season? (probably not a big affect on the season outcome but still has an impact)

6. What if Glaus hadn't taken so long to adjust to his new team? (Great glove all year but started very slow offensively).

Just a few simple questions that I am sure all true Cardinal fans have asked themselves at some point. Please share with me your thoughts on these simple questions, and any recommendations you may have for next year.

What is Mozeliak gonna do to improve what we already have? Is he going to do anything this week at the GM meetings? Let me know what ya think.

Oh yeah, congrats to the Phillies for a fine season.

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