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Basketball from a fans perspective

I ain’t getting paid for this

You might remember my debate with myself a few weeks back, should I purchase ESPN+? Most of Mizzou’s non-conference games were not available on television. In addition I wanted to “scout” Emoni Bates as he transferred from Memphis to Eastern Michigan. There might have been additional reasons however those two mentioned are the basis for me purchasing the service. My only complaint thus far is the half time period, there is none. My computer screen shows the logo of the game until action starts again for the second half. Other than this little glitch I’m satisfied, as for the future you might remember this. I said I might cancel ESPN+ after the college basketball season was over in March, now I’m not so sure.

No decision made until spring

LeBron James Jr. better known as Bronny will make his decision known in the spring. Bronny is a 6-foot 2-inch combo guard, he’s a 4-star prospect in the Class of 2023. Bronny has an extensive list of schools offering scholarships. It’s reported Ohio State has the inside track but there is no guarantee he’s headed to Columbus in the fall. It should be noted the schools are not in any order of preference:

Memphis

North Carolina A&T

North Carolina Central

USC

Duke

Kansas

Kentucky

North Carolina

Ohio State

UCLA

I received pushback

The Pelicans are not moving to Kansas City or at least that’s an opinion of an associate. He listened to my comment regarding the expiration of the Smoothie King lease and the fact its reported the team is losing money. At the end of the discussion I said, “This is all speculation on my part, I have no evidence the Pelicans would move here.” This associate claims with the Chiefs, Royals and soccer there are no extra dollars to spend on an NBA team. This is the portion of the discussion that might be difficult to determine without extensive research. It was a different time however the Chiefs, Royals, Kings basketball, NHL hockey and soccer all existed in the metro at one time with a much smaller population.

Was it too much professional sports based on the population at the time? I cannot testify to the financial stability of each franchise, the NHL Scouts were the first to leave in 1976, the Kings also moved however it was after the 1984-85 season. In 1969 the metro population here was 1,073,000 folks today that number is 2,192,035, a population increase alone fails to sell tickets…it’s the product that sells. The Kings had 4 winning seasons in the 13 years Kansas City was home, there are only so many games fans will pay their hard-earned dollars to see a poor or average performance. The associate said Gayle Benson could place the team on the market and sell to a local owner, that is certainly plausible. So we close this out by stating there are far too many issues to say an affirmative yes however I wouldn’t say don’t do it because of possible difficulties.

The problem…it’s the conference

I finally figured it out, i.e. the Kansas City media issue with the Tigers. I cannot remember local media coverage of Mizzou 10-years ago only last season and in the present. The State of Missouri shares its northern border with Iowa (Iowa State) a portion of its northwestern border with Nebraska (The University of). It’s western border with Kansas (Kansas & Kansas State) and a small portion with Oklahoma (Oklahoma & Oklahoma State). Mizzou had been in the Big Six Conference (1928-1947) which morphed into the Big 7 (1948-1959) then the Big 8 and finally the Big XII. There were few changes over the decades with the majority of schools plus the fact Mizzou was in the conference all along.

In addition to length of time you might note the geography, with the exception of Colorado now in the Pac-12 the conference was linked by geography. Once Mizzou left the Big XII for the SEC the geographical connection was severed. Arkansas shares a northern border, and a tiny portion of the Tennessee border is shared with Missouri that’s it. It’s far easier to identify with Iowa State or Nebraska a distant but compacted drive versus a 14-hour drive from Columbia to the University of Florida in Gainesville. So there you have it my belief as to why the media somewhat ignores sports activity at Mizzou although the university is only a 2.5-hour drive from Kansas City. Unless Mizzou wins a national championship in football or basketball the school despite its location will always be the “other school.”

What do you think

I’ve got an opinion however yours is just as important. If you’ve read this blog for a time, you are aware there are issues with a number of the “talking heads.” No requirement for me to name them you are acquainted with most of them. They are ever present on our television sets providing us their view of an issue or player, you notice the wording underlined. I don’t know about you but oftentimes they have been incorrect in the information related to us the viewer. Despite this fact networks pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars for being wrong at times.

Are these the words of a frustrated person…not really my problem has always been dispensing information as a voice of authority. No one is correct all the time in accessing an issue or situation. Stop trying to impress us, you don’t have the answers. An opinion is not the same as an answer. I admit it a couple of co-workers push me into 21^st Century thinking. They said, “All these guys are doing is entertaining, they are just trying to get clicks.” If I came at you loud and boisterous its likely you’d pay more attention than a quiet me despite providing the same view of the matter.