Greetings from an old foe...

[RedRex]

I always hated the formation of the Big 12. Adding the rotten core of the SWC to the Big8 was like adding dirt to spring water and thinking it would make the dirt cleaner. I would've been happier dragging in a few WAC teams...that shows what I thought about the SWC. Still getting used to the B1G, maybe in 50yrs. we'll be "accepted" by the "trophy game gang", but happier than if we had stayed with the Big 12.

[SWAMI]

Well it's been four years since we last faced each other, and much has happened since then. I thought I would check in, share some of my thoughts on our SEC experience, and collect some of yours regarding the B1G.

 

What do you think of it so far? Given the dynamics that existed in the Big-12, do you think leaving was the right move?

 

Do you feel you're being accorded an appropriate amount of respect by the other B1G fan bases?

 

What do you think of the football that's played there? And how does it compare to what we had in the Big-8 & Big-12?

 

With respect to Mizzou, I'm largely ambivalent.

 

While I'm thankful we were able to get away from the Texas cancer, I hate the fact it was necessary. The Longhorns were homeless, the Big-8 took them in, and they ended up burning down our house. If we only knew...

 

I miss the Big-8 in a huge way, but also recognize there is no way it would survive in today's landscape of mega-conferences with billion-dollar TV contracts. It would have imploded or been taken apart sooner or later.

 

I'm pleased to be in the SEC, but have been shocked at the hostility of many of their fans. Mizzou has never been a dominant power, and we likely never will be, so I have a difficult time understanding the hate and venom that gets thrown our way on places like SECRant. We're no threat to the Bamas and LSUs of the world.

 

Strangely enough, a lot of it is based on the Yankee/Midwest/Northerner thing, and has very little to do with football. And Southerners wonder why the rest of the country think they're backward.

 

At first we were thrilled to be in the SEC, and football-wise we still are. But a lot of my fellow Tiger fans are starting to see the dynamics of the situation for what they are: When Mizzou wins an SEC game, all it means is that the other team sucks, has injuries, etc. When Mizzou loses, it only confirms that we suck. Our home loss to Indiana was devastating in that regard (thank you Coach Pinkel). It's a lose-lose situation.

 

Truth be told, I think the old guard SEC types are threatened by any success Mizzou has; it upsets the perception they have of themselves. Whatever. We're there, we're not going anywhere, and we're taking our share of the revenue.

 

As we finish our third season in the conference, I believe that Mizzou is a little better than some of the bubbas thought we were, and that the SEC isn't as good as they like to think it is. I still think it's the best conference, but the distance between it and the others isn't that great. Michigan State would definitely challenge, and perhaps 'the' OSU if they consistently played the way they did Saturday night.

 

MU's success thus far has helped to expose that fact (along with mind-numbing games like LSU-Bama - two anemic offenses battling solid defenses), and I take some pride in it. At any rate, we'll continue to take scalps when we can and hang them in our solidly Midwestern tipi.

 

I'm not all embarrassed to say that I miss seeing you on our schedule. Yes there was hate, but it was hate borne of respect for a hard-hitting program supported by fans who know their football. For all their self-professed fanaticism, SEC fans seem to want to talk about everything BUT football. I wish their board was like this one.

 

Here's hoping we meet in a bowl game one day. That would be awesome.

 

Best of luck to you guys...

 

TrueMizzou

That's a great post.

[huKSer]

I miss the Big 8, not the Big 12.

I miss Tuff Tiger

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Great post, nice to hear from a Mizzou fan, which is weird to say!

 

As far as the move, I'm still in neutral on it to be honest. I don't like being part of what is perceived to be the weakest conference and in the weakest division in said conference. I think eventually we'll get some respect, but we need to actually do something to get that respect, like win the B1G. We've had the chance and we've crapped the proverbial bed unfortunately. I do think our tradition fits in with the B1G a lot better than it did in the Big XII. I don't like having to hear Iowa fans constantly run their mouths, non-stop, every day, no matter what sport it pertains to and I obviously didn't have to deal with that when we were in the Big XII.

 

As far as the football itself, the defenses are a cut above the Big XII, but the offenses, outside of a few teams, are largely a step down IMO. The players are just bigger, look at Rutgers lining up against us to see what we kinda faced when we first came into the B1G, if I remember correctly.

 

The trophy games are really annoying, every frigging game feels like it has a trophy. It's really annoying.............

 

Now's our time to get the respect back, beat Wisconsin, then beat Minny, then boot stomp Iowa and then take it to OSU. Enough is enough..........

[VectorVictor]

Lets face it...if NU wins that Big 12 Championship game, if UT had missed the FG or if the play never even happened...none of us Husker fans would have "wanted out" like we most of us did AFTER that game.

 

Correction: Nebraska did win that game in regulation time.

[VectorVictor]

 

I miss the Big 8, not the Big 12.

I miss Tuff Tiger

 

 

Tuff as rain?