Ten Thoughts for Monday Morning
Stein & Summers is a rock solid real estate firm with over 46 years of success that can be attributed to our willingness to go the extra mile in service and expertise. With offices in Kansas City and St. Joseph, we provide a full range of services in residential, commercial, multi-family, investment and agricultural real estate. Confidence comes from feeling you’ve been taken care of, so when you see our sign you can rest assured that one of our agents will be ready to provide the best care for any of your real estate needs. Click on the logo for more information.
1) I believe something happened after the Ole Miss game and before the Vanderbilt game. I do not know what that something is. I was told again Monday morning that Missouri has not heard anything from the NCAA. I do not believe the team was told it couldn't play in a bowl game and mailed it in. There are a few reasons for this:
*If they'd found out after the Ole Miss game, even if it was Friday, we'd know by now. The NCAA would have released it. They did not.
*If the players knew, we'd know. There's no way they wouldn't have told a friend or a parent or someone and word would have leaked out. I've always said I think the players will find out about the same time we do because if you tell them before it's out, even by a few hours, it's getting out.
*It would go against absolutely everything this team has said since the sanctions hit. Now I'm not saying they always tell us the truth and such, but nobody left, they talked all about how they were a team and had a great culture and played for each other and all of that. And I tend to believe even if it wasn't 100% gospel truth, there was enough truth to it that simply finding out they couldn't play in the Taxslayer Bowl wouldn't cause this team to lay down and mail it in.
2) I do not like to throw the Q word around when it comes to teams. If players on the team say it, if coaches say it, that's fine. I'll quote them and I'll take their word for it. I will not accuse a team of quitting, especially after a game which I watched from my couch rather than being at the stadium and after which I did not talk to anyone involved face to face. I understand how you could watch the Kentucky game and believe there was a lack of effort. I won't say they weren't trying. They weren't executing. They seemed flat. But I won't say they didn't want to win and weren't giving it their best effort.
3) Before we talk about what did happen, let's talk about what didn't happen. I know there are people who lay a good chunk of the game for Saturday on the Missouri defense. I am not one of them.