Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
MUValjean asks: You may have answered this already in another thread.... what is a realistic timeline for ramping up the team for the football season? Can you see a scenario where the season is pushed back a few weeks to give teams time to prepare? All speculation I know, but your speculation is more informed than mine.
GD: Before I even attempt anything approaching an answer let me be clear that the only answer is "I have no effing clue and neither does anyone else." These are definite questions that are being asked. While everyone remains positive publicly that football will go on as scheduled, they have to be ready if it doesn't.
You ask about a shortened season and that's something I've thought about. What if you could push it to October 1 and only play conference games? But the SEC only plays eight and other teams play nine. Who the hell does Notre Dame play? What about the conference games that are scheduled in September and teams don't have bye weeks or non-con weeks that line up? It's just one nightmare after another.
However, all that said, if the choice is some football or no football I'm almost certain they would go with some football. A half season is better than no season even if it means the postseason and the championship come with a giant asterisk.
The other thing to think about here is the player safety angle. It sounds good to say everyone gets the spring practices back that they lost, but are you going to have kids do 25 practices without enough days off and THEN play a full season? No damn way. The first kid to have a concussion would have a very winnable lawsuit on his hands.
It's a nightmare. I'm glad I'm not the one in charge of figuring it out. Let's hope, for now, that media days happen in mid-July and camp opens in early August and everybody plays 12 games and gets two bye weeks and football rescues us from the current hell.
MIZ25! asks: What's your favorite show to binge watch?What's the best office episode?
GD: I'd honestly say I've only truly ever "binge watched" two shows. To me, binge watching is you sit down and the next thing you know you've watched six episodes and it's 1 a.m. The two were "Breaking Bad" and "Friday Night Lights." We started BB after season six was over. We were caught up weeks before the final season started. With FNL, I watched the entire series in about five weeks. With both of them, I'd be watching and say "Okay, last episode" and then I'd get to the end and there would be a cliffhanger and I would say "okay, one more." With Breaking Bad, I'd leave town for a weekend to cover a football game and my wife would text me, "Sorry, I watched four episodes last night." So those are my two votes. Anyone that hasn't seen them, start them and that will cover your first two or three weeks in quarantine.
The Office has a ton of great episodes (all before Michael Scott left because it was trash after that). I love the one where Pam and Jim stay at Dwight's farm. I love the Dinner Party. I've seen a lot of people kill Scott's Tots saying it's so awkward they can't even watch, but that's the point. I've watched every episode probably at least three or four times. It's a fantastic show to turn on when you lay down because you already know what happened so you don't have to pay a ton of attention and if you fall asleep and miss three episodes, so what?
DrTigerTooth asks: End of the world and you get 1 Album, 1 Movie, and 1 Book to get you through. Whatcha got?
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GD: I'm not really a music person. I couldn't tell you what my favorite album is. I'd probably take something from Billy Joel or James Taylor (although the album I definitely listened to more than any other in my life is Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi, all between the ages of 13 and 17). For the movie, my favorite movie is Stand By Me. That would be a strong contender, but the four movies I've probably seen more than any other and could watch pretty much every day are Billy Madison, Friday, Remember the Titans and Tin Cup. The book is easy. The Outsiders is my favorite book of all-time. I bet I've read it 20 times, although none in about 20 years. Maybe I'll read it again during quarantine. Runners-up are Animal Farm and Watership Down.
mexicojoe asks: Tom T Hall sang :Faster Horses, Younger women, Older Whiskey, and more Money.You can only pick one.
GD: I have no idea who Tom T Hall is or really even what you're asking, but if you're asking me to choose one of those four things I will choose more money because I can use that to buy the other three.
RyJones624 asks: If Walters leaves next year, do you think Harbison will be promoted to Defensive Coordinator? Possibly Gibbs if he doesn't leave?Also, on a related note, do you find it plausible Drink could promote Harbison or Gibbs to coach the entire secondary to make room for a Defensive Ends coach separate from Haley?
GD: I haven't even seen Eli Drinkwitz coach a game. There's no way I can start speculating on what he might do with his staff 12 months from now. It's just not even fair or possible for me to venture a guess at an answer.
mufootball1 asks: Have you missed sports more , less, or about the amount you expected?In your opinion, is the NCAA Tournament or Masters a bigger loss?
GD: It's either about the same or less. To be honest, I haven't missed them at all yet. Don't get me wrong, if the NCAA Tournament had been played, I'd have watched it. But I didn't feel like there was some great void in my life. I shredded about four years worth of financial documents, reorganized our filing system, read a couple books, did some yard work, worked out every day, watched quite a bit of Netflix and Amazon and Hulu with my wife, did a jigsaw puzzle and played some games with her and my son. I watched a couple of old basketball games and I've gone back and watched a couple Chiefs games I still have on DVR, but it was just to pass the time. Truthfully, the older I get, the less I consider any sporting event appointment viewing. I'll watch it and enjoy it if it's on, but the Chiefs and Tiger in contention in the final round are the only two things I built a day around watching last year.
The NCAA Tournament is a bigger loss. Because there's ALWAYS something worth it. There are years the Masters isn't that great. The Tournament is 63 games and at least a handful of them are going to be awesome. Plus, I can text my friends and say "Hey, want to watch the tournament at a bar and get some drinks?" and they'll say yes. Nobody's meeting me at Shiloh to watch the Masters.
shawneetiger asks: Unusual times call for unusual circumstances. Due to the lack of information now, would you reach out to cavey Michael Jacobs and let him post in the OT only? Please? Time heals all wounds.
GD: I don't think there's any reason he couldn't post if he wanted to. I don't even know if he still subscribes, but if he does, he's more than welcome to share his wisdom (?).
MU CHI asks: I know you've said that we may not have a football season.Wouldn't you at least imagine that they'd play in front of no crowds? If we haven't figured this out by August, we will have much bigger problems than football.I completely get the Olympics, but this seems different.
GD: Like I said above, I think they'll do everything in their power to play football. I'm not saying they're not going to. But it's at least got to be on everyone's mind that it isn't guaranteed.
Dorsey101 asks: Name your dream starting five of Mizzou athletes/coaches/administrators you’d want to spend a night at Black & Gold Tavern with.Second, there’s only one case of Tank 7 left in Columbia during the apocalypse. To get it, you have to either fight two @mitchell4d-sized versions of Sean, or five @Sean_Williams-sized versions of Mitchell. What opponent do you choose?
GD: Hmmmm, this is interesting. I want Rich Daly there for the stories. Give me Lorenzo Williams, Martin Rucker and Laurence Bowers because they're great guys that I enjoyed covering and getting to know. The fifth spot is going to Eli Drinkwitz. Dude makes four mil and has some idle time right now. He can pick up the tab.
I'll fight any version of Mitchell over any version of Sean. I think Sean's got some country toughness to him. I've known very few swimmers who are really fighters. That said, when you're my size and my age, you pretty much avoid fighting if you can because you'll usually lose.
Dorsey101 asks: With coronavirus taking away the entire spring sports season, does it lesson the blow Mizzou took from the NCAA ruling since every school met the same fate this year? Obviously the bowl revenue and recruiting restrictions are still there but does recent events make it a little better to deal with?
GD: Yeah, I think it does a little bit. Because now they know even if they went undefeated, they weren't playing in the postseason even if they were allowed to because there was no postseason. There's nothing good about any of this, but at least Steve Bieser and Larissa Anderson can find a little silver lining.
tigerfever00 asks: Gabe, hypothetically which grad transfer out there right now would help out Mizzou the most, in your opinion? Who’s the most realistic? What’s the biggest need in your view?
GD: They need a scorer and preferably one who can shoot from at least 21 feet away. I'm not going to pretend to have researched the available grad transfers to a point I could tell you who they should get, but that's the type of player they have to get.
TMitch72 asks: Let's say things return to somewhat normal in the next couple of months. Do you think the powers that be will allow an extra month of football practice in the fall, since they missed pretty much all of spring practice?
GD: It can't be a month. It just can't be for the reasons I mentioned above. You can't tell us you're concerned about player safety and then have kids go bang heads for 30 practices in six weeks and then go play 12 games. I think they can add some time to fall camp, but I don't think they can double the length of it. They've still got to maintain off days, have some of them be without pads, etc. If you can't get ready for the season in 20 practices, I don't know that you're going to be a whole lot more ready with 25 or 30.
Zoufan27 asks: Is HCCM around here by the end of 2020?
GD: Yes, 100%. No doubt in my mind. They're not firing him in the middle of the season or before it.
bakker asks: Do you like Dave Matter’s likes?
GD: I can say with 100% honesty that I've never looked at what someone else has liked on Twitter. I like that Dave can like whatever he wants and none of us should care.
jbl291 asks: I’ve thought for the last 10 years that Mizzou should try and get a home and home with Notre Dame. ND usually schedules several P5 games outside of their ACC lite slate (check out their 2023 schedule which includes Ohio State) and have several SEC opponents on their past and future schedules. The reason for doing this is 3-fold: 1) they are good not great, constantly overrated and beatable, 2) the NBC nationally televised game for the away year, and 3) a name brand opponent MU fans would flock to see at Faurot. Three part question: 1) what do you think of the idea? (your real, unfiltered Gabe opinion) 2) do you think this is something Mizzou would schedule or even is working on? 3) is this realistic/could this ever happen or does MU lack appeal for ND/does MU have no interest in playing ND (probably an opinion question for you)?
GD: It appears not because Mizzou doesn't have many openings over the next ten years. But I'd support it. I remember a few years back hearing something like Notre Dame wanted a 2-for-1 maybe? I could be wrong on that but I feel like I've heard it. I'd be in favor of a series like this because I like things that are good for fans. But coaches tend to like games they have a better chance of winning. I'd try a four-game set with Notre Dame. One in Columbia, one in South Bend, one in St. Louis, one in Chicago. If that doesn't work, straight home and home. I don't know that the Irish would do it. I don't think they're hurting for teams to play. But I'd be good with it. It's a series I've always kind of wanted to see (I'd also like to see something with Nebraska again).
