Ice Ice Baby

It sure is nice to get the feeling back in my fingers and toes.

Yes, I spent my evening in Kansas City, watching my team get ass-pounded on National TV, in sub freezing temperatures. Sure, I should have seen it coming…everybody saw it coming. However, I figured this being the last championship game in Kansas City for God knows how long..I owed it to myself and my favorite team to go check it out.

After a pleasant evening of college athletics, a few observations:

1) Stop saying, “Even the Huskers would have given OU a better game than that”. No, they wouldn’t have. Almost nobody would have. The only reason Texas did, was because they have the physical front-four to put pressure on Bradford. Nobody else does…and no, Florida won’t either. That team is steamrolling everyone, and nothing anybody can do will stop it.

2) Bradford is NOT a Heisman candidate in my eyes. You want to give a Heisman to Bradford? Fine, but give it to his offensive line. Those guys are the largest humans I”ve ever seen, and NOBODY got within 8 yards of Bradford. I could throw for 250 yards behind that line. They are unreal. Don't get me wrong, the Mizzou pass rush isn't too great, but I'm not even sure Bardford had to wash his uniform last night. It was one of the most amazing offensive line performances I've ever seen in person.

3) Bob Stoops is a great coach. He’s smart, he savvy and he’s a master of motivation. With that being said, he doesn’t graduate his players, he’s a crybaby jackass and one of the most unethical game commanders the world has seen since Idi Amin. Running it up, crying about calls when up 40 points...making up fake quotes about the opposing team or general douchebaggery makes Big Game Bob the single biggest asshole in sports, and that includes Tom Osborne. (So yes, I’m serious about this.) What a prick. Oh, and after spending 3 hours with Oklahoma's finest..I'm 100% sure I could write the exact same blog as this one...if given 23 years of hell in Oklahoma City. Great team...horrible people.

4) Missouri has a lot of weapons. Missouri has enough weapons to win a lot of games. But Missouri will never get past that “woe is us mentality” that has nagged them since the mid 80’s. Don’t get me wrong, they started to get over that hump last year, and the overall talent is there, but still, it finds a way to creep back into the conciousness of everyone involved. Don't get me wront though, I’ll take losing a Championship game ANY DAY over being relegated to 1pm on a Saturday with no TV. But make no mistake…they are held back by their own minds. Whether that is the coaches, captains or everyday players..I’m not sure.

5) Hey "Ruff-Neck" jackoffs: Just because you wear short sleaves, doesn't make you any less of a male cheerleader. Neither does shooting a gun every 10 minutes. It only makes you an armed male cheerleader with zero common sense.

And finally…one thing I do know is this:

I rip on Nebraska fans for being a 2 million strong band of hayseed inbreeds who spend their lives trying to convince you how great they are. However, in light of last night…I will give you people this one thing…at least you care.

Missouri lost before the game was even kicked off last night, because Missouri fans…for whatever reason still unclear, decided not to show up and support their team. Instead of packing Arrowhead to the brim with a 2 month head start on ticket purchases…they decided to either stay home on their warm couch, or sell their tickets to Oklahoma fans...who apparently had no problem with the cold, the transportation or the ability to find a babysitter. (Assuming their cross-eyed kids aren’t still out in the parking lot in the truck, which very well could have been the case.)

I’ve never claimed Missouri fans to be anything other than surly, but last night was the first time in a long time that I’ve actually been ashamed. I’m not sure the exact cause; perhaps it was the loss to KU and the rotten weather…but they showed the entire world that they…as one…are not ready to join the upper echelon of big-time programs in the country.

Blame it on a bad match up, a bad season or whatever you like…there is absolutely ZERO excuse for throwing up your hands and quitting. How can you expect your team to fight on against the odds if you can’t even find the time to show up yourself and support the team you claim to live and die with?

This goes against a lot of what I stand for, because God knows I can find enough reasons to hate Nebraska and their idiot fans. But I will say this…even if they were 45 point underdogs, those hayseeds would have found a way to swarm those tickets, and keep the 40,000 or so OU fans who did show up out of Arrowhead. I can handle the missed assignments, the horrible defense or Chase Daniel suddenly playing like a high school sophomore. But bitching about your team and then not supporting it…IN YOUR OWN STATE with a 2 month head start on tickets is absolutely 100% unacceptable.

The difference I guess is, at least we as Missouri fans don’t claim to be the greatest in the country…only the most downtrodden. Not too tough to lose that tag when you create such golden opportunities for failure, long before the game even kicks off.

However, despite the gross brutality of spirit shown by Missouri fans..or lack thereof in this case, it’s still hard to get down too much on the Tigers. They did win 9 games…possibly 10 with a match up against a mediocre Big 10 team in Texas later this month. It’s also pretty hard to complain too loud when you are throwing your hands up in despair, and you’re coming off back-to-back division titles.

Coming up this week, we’ll take a look back at this season, before we preview the bowls, and kiss the Husker hating movement goodbye. Until then, you can figure out new and exciting ways on how you’re going to spin the Gator Bowl being a titanic match up that combines speed, tradition and 9 combined losses.