Mizzourah! - A Missouri Tigers Blog
With hate starting to boil over in preparation for tomorrow night, I almost forgot to welcome the Fucking New Guy. Say hi to Gideon ("Hi Gideon"). Gideon will hold down the Mizzourah North office in Chicago. No word if he's a Cubs fan, and sweet god, we hope not. He does like gambling and offered free beer when we hit Chicago, so yeah, we all have a price.
His Mizzourah badge picture did come up looking a little strange, but whatever.
Every year at this time things get pretty heated between football fans in the Show-Me State and people from the land of corn. One of the arguments that keeps popping up on message boards and blogs around the Internet is whether or not the Tigers and Huskers are actually rivals. To me, it’s a very strange conversation to keep rehashing.
I guess it depends on your definition of “rivalry.” Only the most arrogant of kU fans would argue that Mizzou and kansas aren’t rivals in basketball despite the beakers historically having a sizeable competitive edge over Mizzou.
I also find it bizarre that so many Nubs fans are so adamant about not being rivals with Missouri. Being another team’s rival doesn’t mean your admitting you’re inferior (or even not superior) to them.
I guess the definition of a rivalry is very open to interpretation but here’s something I think we all can agree on: Rivalries are born naturally. They aren’t manufactured by ESPN bigwigs like the Kobe-LeBron thing last spring. It also takes more than proximity to one another and an annual match-up (a la the Arch Rivalry series).
What it takes more than anything is a legitimate dislike of each other and unadulterated blood-boiling hate. I don’t think there’s any question these two teams and fan bases have that. I know you’ll hear Nubs fans arguing they hate any team that stands between them and a conference championship and it just so happens that the last few years that team has been Missouri. They’ll claim that alone doesn’t mean this is a rivalry.
Except it’s a lot more than that. Kellen Houston didn’t punch out a Colorado fan. He punched a Tiger fan. Ndamukong Suh didn’t spit in Josh Freeman’s face. He spat on Chase Daniel. Gary Pinkel didn’t run a fake field goal when he was up 34-6 against Iowa State. He did it against the Cornhuskers.
I realize for decades this game absolutely did not matter. Missouri was a joke and Nebraska was as good of a team as you could find in all of sports. In those years the rivalry lost its pulse. It was a vegetable. But don’t ignore what this game meant before the MU football program went to hell. Listen to players from the Faurot and Devine years talk about what Mizzou-Nebraska was about back then. Sounds like a little more than just another game. So even though this game was meaningless for decades that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in history. This party didn’t just start in ’03.
Again, I know all of this isn’t going to mean anything to Husker fans. They’ll point to Mizzou’s lack of national success. They’ll point to the K-State and Colorado fans of the ‘90s who tried to say they were Nebraska’s rival. But read the comments from some of the current players and I think they’ll tell you something different.
Sam Keller’s gone on the radio and bashed Chase Daniel. Chase Daniel’s “dirtiest team he’s ever played against” comments were well publicized. Mizzou players have called this the biggest game of the year. Don’t tell me there’s not hate for one another in each locker room because we all know that there is.
But it’s OK. Go ahead and deny that this thing means just a little more than most of the other games on the schedule. Go ahead and insist that you hate Iowa State fans just as much as Missouri’s. Keep living in your Big Red bubble of ignorance.
Because reasonable college football fans can admit that this thing has been a rivalry before and it’s a rivalry again. And if I had to guess I’d say things are going to keep escalating. Like every other Mizzou fan I’m sick of hearing “NEBRASKA’S BACK!” But truth be told I think Jesus Bo Pelini has that program well on its way. And since we’re being honest, tomorrow night scares the hell out of me. I have no idea how Big Blaine is going to respond to this type of pressure.
But even if Mizzou hasn’t reached the national prestige the program desires and Nebraska had for decades I think it’s obvious that Gary Pinkel is in the process of proving that his program is here to compete for Big 12 North titles for the foreseeable future.
And while those guys in Larryville have a pretty good thing going themselves and look like they’ve got a good shot at representing the North this season, I think they’re probably due for a major step back next year. I think we’re seeing the Tigers and Huskers establish themselves as the class of this division. They could be trading blows for a while.
But rivalry or not, lets do this shit.
no comments...and kill some time at that timesuck you call 'work'. Some are via ZouDave, of course.
no comments
Via Rock M Nation and DXP.
I think I can speak for the entire Mizzourah crowd, when I'd say we'd prefer this.
Or upgraded from the comments (Hat).
Oh, you want rumors? You want some damn rumors? Here's some rumors.
This is only a rumor, and I have no way to confirm.....
However, I got a call from a buddy of mine in Omaha who said that he was told that Ben Cotton is out of Thursday's game w/H1N1, and that Hickman and Helu are being tested for the flu. This friend of mine has been right in the past, as he told me about Castille before the rumors started on that issue.
I sure hope this is false.....please don't kill the messenger!
UPDATE 6:52p: Bo Pelini just released a statement that confuses things even more.
Roy Helu didn't practice Tuesday, but Bo Pelini was quick to nip rumors of a flu bug spreading through the team.
“There are no issues like that," Pelini said. "That’s news to me.”
As for Helu?
"Roy wasn’t feeling well today but he’s fine. He could’ve practiced.”
So he's sick, but fine? Huh?
UPDATE 7:41p: Our boys over at DXP have some words on this as well.
We can confirm that Roy Helu and several unnamed players sat out of practice today. According to Chris Whitney, Helu showed up late yesterday to the press conference and looked under the weather while drinking his orange juice. Whitney went on to say that Pelini put away rumors that the flu bug has hit the team but confirmed that those players that were out were indeed sick. Take that for what it's worth. On a much brighter and unrelated note, Larry Asante is 100%.no commentsGo down on the right side at 1620 the Zone and click on the Chris Whitney segment to listen.
One word. Quarantine.
Via Dave Matter's Twitter page.
no commentsGot a Huskers fan posting messages on the Tribune making fun of Aaron O'Neal and threatening to bring his gun to the game. Stay classy!
Have to agree with Pinkel's assessment of Thurs. nite game
Scheduling aside, Pinkel said he is delighted to be playing on Thursday night.
"For us, it's a no-brainer," added Pinkel. "It's like Monday Night Football on Thursday. We're the only game on. National TV on ESPN. It's great exposure for our team. It's great for our university and the whole community."
9. Nebraska 3-1
Last Week: Didn't Play This Week
This Week: at Missouri
Why the ranking is too high: The Huskers will probably lose at Missouri on Thursday night. The offense hasn't produced enough points against anyone with a pulse and it will have to prove it can keep up in a firefight, which it might be in Columbia.
About not having a pulse, let's take a look at that Husker schedule. According to Jeff Sagarin, the ranking genius, the three Husker wins came against the #103, #104, and #113 ranked teams, for an average of 108. For perspective, Bowling Green, Mizzou's lowest ranked FBS win, is #100.
And in case you missed it, the Huskers loss to VTech isn't looking the best this week. VTech avoided an upset bid AGAINST DUKE. By the way, Duke actually scored some touchdowns.
no commentsGod I love the smell of hate.
Nubs: "We are the kings of the North"
From a discussion on whether or not Missouri was a rival, this Huskerpedia poster said:
"We are the kings of the North and we decide who is a rival. No one else does! I don't care who has won it in recent years. There is ONLY one team in the North that has National Recognition and inspite of recent tarnishment we are still there.
Colorado and KState are not our rival just becasue they have a spirt of good fortune and announce that we are their rival. Tom Shatel and other sports writers cannot declare a rivaly for us. We decide and so far no in the North deserves that respect from us.
The best line of thought I have come accross concerning North rivalries is the poster who said they are all equally our rival. Championship in the North will always be step 1 to a 3 step yearly goal and all of the other teams in the north are just pawns to be taken on the way to that step.
Man I hope we destroy all of these guys this year and REALLY RESTORE THE ORDER... "
Arrogant? You make the call.
