The issue is playing this outfit IN SPRINGFIELD

Posted on: June 2, 2020 at 11:11:08 CT

Here is a post from PowerMizzou that explains this perfectly:

The issue is playing this outfit IN SPRINGFIELD. If you are not an MU fan who lives in Springfield, and unless you have studied the history of MSU/SMS and its handful of boosters constantly trying to undermine MU, and the chickenbleep ways they had done it for the past 30 years plus, then you really do not understand, and you have no standing to criticize this decision.

The most recent example – In January 2016 after the 2015 racial unrest in Columbia, MSU/SMS attempted to repeal the agreement with MU that gave them the name change, and obtain funding to start professional schools and doctoral programs, shifting the funding for these programs from MU to Springfield. At a time when MU was wounded, they tried in a subversive and dishonest way to take advantage. They failed, thanks to an uprising of MU alumni and supporters.

You do not reward enemies. You do not give them credibility. You do not allow them the perception of equal standing.

As their radio announcer said today after he bushwhacked Cuonzo about this (after getting him on air with the pretense of talking about a Bears fan who just died) – "This game would have been about more than basketball. It would have legitimized us as an equal to MU."

This is precisely why you do not play this outfit in Springfield.

And, from a basketball standpoint, they have been to one NCAA tournament in the 29 years since Spoonhour left to take the job at SLU. They are not KU or Illinois. They are not SLU. And if you think we owe a state school financially – they run an Athletic Department budget deficit of nearly $20 million ANNUALLY. That is not a typo – $20 million! That is $20 million that could be used at MU, or any other state school that values academics, for research, easing student debt, paying faculty and staff, etc. The University of Missouri is not a stimulus program for people with warped priorities and delusional dreams of someday joining the Big 12.

Springfield is a majority MU town. Don't question me, I am a native. And the vast majority of MU supporters in Springfield did not want to see people who slander MU given the stature of a game in Springfield. The Springfield paper even wrote a story about this. If they want to come to Columbia like other state schools have, fine. But, playing this outfit in Springfield makes no sense financially, ethically, or to further the advancement of our basketball program.

Edited by Big Casino at 11:16:58 on 06/02/20