The Verdict Previews: Basketball is Back

Welcome to The Verdict, Preseason Edition.  In this series we’re going to be looking at a host of topics in the lead up to the much anticipated 26-27 Tigers Basketball season.  Instead of going through the nitty-gritty of every single player as I’ve done in past Player Previews, I’m taking a bit of a step back and looking at some larger scale topics for Mizzou’s team. In this first installment I’m going to be doing something different, even uncomfortable, on my end. Throughout the series we’ll dive into some film, plenty of data and of course, analysis.  My sweet spot if you will. To lead off, however, I’m going to try my hand at an op-ed of sorts.

I absolutely adore college basketball. Whether it’s watching the hometown Tigers or tuning into a late-night Mountain West game, college ball is the best.  For my money it’s the perfect combination of order and chaos. The structure is both familiar and comforting. Each league is afforded an automatic bid to the sport’s championship. 45 additional teams will be granted leave for having good enough seasons to qualify. That much is assured. Everything else? Well, that’s where chaos rules. Nothing else combines the things you feel fairly confident about and things you truly cannot comprehend. The beauty is the balance; the name is college basketball and we’re all here as eyewitnesses.

This unrestrained passion didn’t happen overnight.  No, this affliction has a long latency period.  Not only is the hook set deep in my sports soul, the beginnings were humble.  Over the years those experiences fomented this demented passion into what it is today.  In the process, not only did I catch the fever I earned many memories along the way.  And it was more than just memories, nostalgia was created.  I think Jon Hamm said it best about nostalgia when hawking another superfluous product during his period piece, Mad Men:

“Nostalgia – its delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It let’s us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.”

I mean, the guy has a way with words, right?

Growing up in Mid-Missouri many, MANY years ago, televised sports were a luxury item.  In the early 1990’s you might get the NFL game of your pick on Sunday afternoons. A couple of times a year you’d get to see your preferred MLB team on television when they visited the Chicago Cubs or Atlanta Braves – if you’re old enough to know, you know.  Mizzou Football was in a terrible spot. They rarely were put on the televised windows for their weekly beating.  In the early 1990s, it was a different world.  But…there was Mizzou Basketball to save the young sports soul’s day.

Whether it was the Phillips 66 Game of the Week on Saturday or a local station picking up home games on a week nigh, you were assured of many chances to see the Tigers in action.  And what a good thing that was, in hindsight.  My obsessive journey kicked off during the 1990-1991 season.  Doug Smith, Anthony Peeler, Norm Stewart and of course, NCAA probation.  Sunday dinners at my grandparents’ house would often include a debate of whether Doug Smith or Anthony Peeler was the better player – I was a Doug man. It was simply a topic of life in our rural hub.

Household schedules were set around seeing the Black and Gold tip it off against Billy Tubbs, Roy Williams, Danny Nee or whichever of the host of characters the Big 8 conference housed.  A time-honored tradition of staying up late on a school night and rearranging visits to friends’ houses.  Beamed directly into our low-definition 30-inch tube. The still fresh memories of celebrating with my pops when Kiwane Garris clanked the second of two free throws or when Corey Tate banged in a jumper during an otherwise forgettable campaign.  Then you have the still festering wounds of 4.8 measly seconds from immortality in Boise or David ‘friggin’ Padgett shutting down your hallowed hall, the home to all of these recollections. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to reenact the Brian Grawer shot that fell short against New Mexico, hoping for better results. No matter the era or generation, you’ll find similar stories. Tiger basketball was at the center of our sports universe.

When you’re brought up under these circumstances I figure there’s two ways you can go. Perhaps the smarter path is to disassociate. Rip off the Band-Aid and let the wounds heal once and for all. After all, the moments of Tiger brilliance have unquestionably been outweighed by the shadows of failure.  Why subject yourself to the inevitable pain? Or do you just dig your heels deeper, convincing yourself that maybe this is the year? Mizzou sports ain’t for quitters, after all.

In some ways I feel that the past informs us of the present, or at very minimum, insulates us from it should we choose to forge ahead.  We’ve come to know that no matter how bad it gets there’s brighter days in the future. We also know that no matter how good it gets, something undesirable is inevitably lurking around the corner.  Some argue that becoming wise is a part of the aging process. I would argue that we just become better prepared. As we prepare ourselves for yet another ride on the Mizzou Basketball roller-coaster, I felt it necessary to look back on why we do it to ourselves.  For me, it’s not just the memories of the names, games, ups, downs and memorable moments, it’s also the people we share them with. The ride around the hoops carousel begins anew.

If you’re reading this, we’re all in it together.

College basketball and sports in general may have gotten harder to love in recent years.  It’s no one’s “fault,” really, it’s just a fact. Constant roster turnover, annual transfer portal exodus, exorbitant player and coach contracts, the monetization of everything aside from jockstrap manufacturers, free play for 10-leg parlays, it’s all a lot to take in.  Now, add in the constant litigation over the most basic rules leaves a fog of uncertainty over everyone’s favorite team, Mizzou especially included. (I quite literally saw an alert that another player was granted a temporary restraining order for eligibility while drafting this, and another when giving it a read through.)  Still, we emotionally scarred diehards remain steadfast, ready to love it all just as we always have.  That’s where old friend nostalgia kicks in, “around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.”

Over the next month we’ll have plenty of material to get prepared for the season. Mizzou Basketball does seem to be in a good place for the upcoming season. It’s entirely reasonable to get unreasonably excited.  It’s also not unreasonable to be reasonably anxious. At some point we’ll hear musings that this has the making of a historic Tiger campaign. You’ll almost assuredly hear that “someone must be held accountable.”  Both will be overly dramatic and almost certainly wrong. That’s what we do. No matter our attempts to quantify things, human performance is inherently unquantifiable.  And so are the emotions that go along with the sport we love. We come by it honestly.

We greatly appreciate your support here at RockM+ — both financial and emotional – and we promise to leverage all of our fun tools and Sicko dispositions to make your stay as worthwhile as possible. Here’s to another season and creating core memories for our current and next generation of unflappable Tiger faithful.