Ouch

[Guest]

Its the professional sport in Arkansas.

We have no pro teams here.

Football is king, basketball is great, and baseball team is the best of the bunch with the lowest attendance due to seating.

Other than that, none of the other sports are talked about or covered anyway.

Hey, those "other" sports are important just not publicized or worshipped like football.

Actually, baseball doesnt offer a full scholarship.

Wrestlers can always turn pro in MMA or football.

My cousin has been the starting center for the Green Packers for 8 years straight.

He was the Tenn High school state champion in Greco Roman wrestling.

Then moved on to the Tenn Vols in college.

[ozark trout fisher]

You win. I've said enough about college athletics, money, greed, the SEC, and the Big 12 to last me several lifetimes...There's no question I'll continue to be a Tigers fan, but goodness it ain't ever gonna be quite the same again.

[stlfisher]

Yup, sucks for them, but it sure is great for football, so it must be what is right for everyone. After all, nobody really gives a darn about wrestling or track or anything like that. Why should they? They're boring as hell to watch and they don't haul in the cash.

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything quite so narrow minded, but the thing that worries me is that most people actually seem to agree with those sentiments. This is a university, not a professional sports franchise. I know I've said that like eight times now, but still no one seems to hear that. These decisions should be made to be in the best interest of ALL ATHLETES, and the university as a whole. It's not okay, for example, to be leaving our wrestling team high and dry without a conference because we think it would be sort of neat to get Alabama at Faurot field.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to go off. I just have sort of lost my patience with no one caring about the ramifications of this move beyond football. I don't understand it.

OTF I am not trying to mean, but dude this isn't rocket science. All this talk that the move to the SEC is not good for anything besided football is just flat out wrong. It is not that no one hears your arguement, it is just your arguement is not reality. The revenue from football does fund those "other sports that no ones cares about". Those sports don't bring in revenue....they cost the university money. Without the revenue from football you don't have funds to support many of those "other sports". The move to the SEC will be beneficial on a whole (yeah wrestling will have to find another home) to the majority of athletic programs within the Missouri athletic departmenl. Part of this benefit will be additional revenue to support those other althetic programs.

If the Big 12 collapsed all those "other sports" would be in danger of being cut for lack of funds. Playing in the WAC or the Big East is not an attractive or lucrative option.

Bottom line is football does, on the whole, support the majority of althetic programs at a university.

[Justin Spencer]

Both sides obviously have viable arguements for or against. The move just sucks for the fan, and for the long term relevance of the university's sports teams. Unless they are more consistent then they have been for the past 50 years the SEC won't care about them much, and the rivalries they developed in the Big 12 will be gone so they won't care about them either. I could see them being like Ol' Miss or Vandy who you really never hear about except the few years they have a good team. I guess I'm getting old and just want things to stay the same.

[Guest]

We've been in the SEC for 20 freakin years,

Most die hard SEC fans dont recognize our school as part of their brotherhood.

Ask any LSU or Bama fan, who happen to be the most outspoken and arrogant group of people I've ever seen.

In fact Alabama played in Fayetteville in 2010, we had them down 21 points in the first quarter.

There was a group of poser bama fans sitting next to us.

They wore street clothes with no sign of any sports affiliation.

For the most part they were quiet and well behaved until the end of the 4th quarter.

They started talking trash with 2 minutes to go, after Mallett threw an int to seal our fate.

A 60 year old bama fan looked at my aunt and wife and said:

"ya'll can sit down now, the games over"

talk about rude,

my first response was to cram my fist down his throat, but my wife told me to ignore him.

What kinda fan shows up in street clothes, acts like a coward most of the game, then has the balls to berate the home teams female fans? Bama fans, thats who

They will be in Columbia this season, just wait and see what kinda white trash shows up with those stupid bear bryant hats.

These are the same fans that poisoned a 100 year old tree at Auburn b/c they felt violated by Auburn fans.

Okay, my rant is over. Carry on

[stlfisher]

I would agree that Missouri will need to remain competitive in the SEC and not fall into the bottom threshold of the conferance. It may take awhile for them to compete consistenly, but I think they can do it. Not saying they will win championships, but they do need to be able to compete in the top half of the conferance on a consistent basis. I think they can do it.

.

[ness]

Both sides obviously have viable arguements for or against. The move just sucks for the fan, and for the long term relevance of the university's sports teams. Unless they are more consistent then they have been for the past 50 years the SEC won't care about them much, and the rivalries they developed in the Big 12 will be gone so they won't care about them either. I could see them being like Ol' Miss or Vandy who you really never hear about except the few years they have a good team. I guess I'm getting old and just want things to stay the same.

That sums up the way I feel about it too.

[ness]

You knew when KU played MU you were gonna have a game. If one was 0-9 and the other was 9-0, it was still gonna be real fun.It was gonna be packed and it was gonna be the buzz around here all week, where it's about 50-50 KU/MU split. Folks flying their flags, wearing their t-shirts, tails hanging out of their trunks, talking smack at the grocery store, church, work, wherever. 'God help me I do love it so', as Patton said.

One of the things I find so annoying about it all is the giddy Mizzou administration and some of the fans. It seems the priorities are just jacked up. But, that's the way sports have become.

Compare and contrast:

[ozark trout fisher]

If the Big 12 collapsed all those "other sports" would be in danger of being cut for lack of funds. Playing in the WAC or the Big East is not an attractive or lucrative option.

The Big 12 didn't collapse. And I don't think it's going to. Let's be honest, there was never any real risk of Mizzou having to go to a conference like the WAC. That was always just silly doomsday talk...Even if the Big 12 did dissolve, that just wasn't gonna happen. The worst case scenario is that we might have ended up in the Big East or the ACC, which wouldn't be great, but could hardly be considered a disaster. Honestly I'd prefer either one of those conferences (or at least the ACC) to the SEC.

You talk a lot about how the extra revenue is going to be so beneficial to the other sports. But have you also figured in the travel costs, which are now going to be WAY higher? I bet that at least off-sets any extra funding these sports will get. It isn't rocket science, but the implications of this move are a hell of a lot more complicated than you're making them out to be. This isn't a no-brainer, one sided issue, and it's not going to be as easy to brush off all the negatives as you'd like.

Goodness I keep getting drug back into this. I won't even say I'm done now, because, well.....

[stlfisher]

Travel cost are minimal in the grand scheme of things and Austin, Texas is farther than all but two SEC schools. The way the schedule is set up Mizzou will not have to travel to Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina in the same year. Your complaining about travel to the SEC, but want Mizzou to join the Big East or The ACC? That travel would be much much worse. The Big East is not a good conferance anymore...this is were teams now go with no other options. The ACC won't take MU anyway...they will fight with the Big 10 over Notre Dame. The SEC is a much better fit than both of these conferances. Why you want to stay in aconferance with an uneven playing field is beyond me.

One of the things I find so annoying about it all is the giddy Mizzou administration and some of the fans. It seems the priorities are just jacked up. But, that's the way sports have become.

Yeah, but not as annoying as Bill Self continually crying about Mizzou leaving. He is a phenominal coach, but he makes KU look bad every time he cry's about it.

And so far I think I am the only one giddy about it on this board....so blame me.