Come Monday...Unbeaten Missori State

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about, websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time. Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.” This is subject to change, however. In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while. For rants promote change, and change can be good—right? Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

Last Saturday (12/12), the Missori State Bears traveled down to [Jonesboro, AR] and defeated the [Arkansas State Red Wolves] 75-64 in a men’s basketball game to [remain unbeaten] so far this season. Of course, it was actually the [Missouri State Bears] from [Springfield, MO] who made the trip, but you sure couldn’t tell it from their road uniforms. For Missouri was spelled Missori.

Aside from the obvious being how it was possible for a university to take possession of uniforms with its name misspelled, a question about just how many uniforms the mens basketball team has also came to mind. After all, since there was no mention of the name being misspelled on their uniforms when they went down to [Little Rock, AR] and beat [Arkansas-Little Rock (UALR)] 75-62 December 2nd, I assumed that they had more than one set of road uniforms, which does make some sense. For if a team takes off on a long road trip that includes several different games, it might become problematic to secure a facility to get their uniforms washed before each game. There is also the possibility of a uniform getting torn, or even swiped by some overly-enthusiastically co-ed (I hope) during a post-game celebration and/or consolation.

Nonetheless, while musing about all of that, the [University of Oregon Ducks] football team came charging through to send the peace I had made with Missouri State having more than one set of road uniforms diving for cover. For they have sported no less than [five different color combinations] just this season alone, and all of these cost a fair amount of money—right? I mean, with our education institutions supposedly being so underfunded, how can they afford to purchase so many different uniforms sets (complete with matching helmets, of course)?

Okay, maybe I am missing something. For it may very well be that the revenue generated from licensing fees for replica jerseys more than pay for the real ones, but…

Still (and somewhat on the same subject), how can [Brentwood High School] justify traveling down to [Clever, MO] to play the [Blue Jays] in a boy’s high school basketball game last week? You see, [Brentwood, MO] is located in the western suburbs of [St. Louis, MO], which is around 200 miles northwest of Clever and had to cost a pretty penny or two to bus, feed and whatever the team after it was all said and done.

Now, I can see where traveling a long distance to play in a prestigious tournament could be of great benefit to all concerned. For that would give the players some exposure to college scouts, and put the town where the school is located on the map (so to speak) to those who were not already familiar with it. In fact, [Bass Pro Shops] sponsors the really big-time boys basketball [Tournament of Champions] here in Springfield, and this years (January 14-16, 2010) field will have the [Alpharetta (GA) Milton Eagles], [St. Louis (MO) Chaminade Flyers], [Weston (FL) Sagemont Lions], [Charlotte (NC) United Faith Christian Academy Falcons], [Memphis (TN) White Station Spartans] and [Middle Village (NY) Christ the King Royals], along with two Springfield schools, which are the [Hillcrest Hornets] and the [Kickapoo Chiefs].

However, the Brentwood Eagles traveling around 200 miles to play the Clever Blue Jays in a regular game is not even close to being anything big-time, but it does help to provide an answer when my wife starts screaming about what the schools are doing with all of the money every time she hears about another possible property tax hike before the ink has dried on the last one that was passed. So, I suppose I should be more thankful that Brentwood scheduled the game.

Please, do not get me wrong. I am a big supporter of both high school and college athletics. For I get it that a winning program makes the skies bluer and the food taste so much better for everyone around, but some common-sense must apply somewhere. Of course, since that was dropped from most curriculums some years back, we may be seeing just beginning of the idiocy.

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