A point of clarification (if you will allow) from an (long)

Posted on: July 17, 2022 at 09:30:19 CT

outsider. I enjoy reading this board. It is one of only two I post on, the other (Tiger Roar, a paid dues LSU board)
I enjoy this board because there are many thoughtful and insightful football savvy fans here with many different perspectives. It is like sitting at the dinner table discussing football with your good friends and family, albeit some is unfiltered.

There are three dominant views constantly presented here.
(1) Missouri can not compete in the SEC
(2) Missouri is a bad fit culturally for the SEC and therefore belongs in another conference more suited culturally.
(3) it seems a lot of people enjoy coming here and trashing your athletic programs.

Let me address number 1 about not able to compete.

That simply is not true.
Missouri came into the league and competed straight off two years in a row for the SEC championship.

Athletic success is a lot like military success, it is fleeting at best. To compete at a very high ‘consistent’ level (which I believe is the heart of the issue) requires the university leadership to be fully committed to competing at the highest levels and show that by its actions rather than lip service. I believe Missouri’s leadership is committed but like everything else is a work in progress. It is this way everywhere. Two years removed from a national championship LSU had a losing season. If you were to have asked LSU fans if this was possible, the unequivocal answer would have been ‘no way in hell’. But there it is.
NIL has changed the landscape. Missouri will adjust accordingly. Keep the faith.

Number 2. Missouri is a bad fit culturally.

I don’t believe this is true either. I said when I first came to this board (10 yrs) that give it ten years and Missouri will look and act like every SEC team member including their fans. I also said your former BIg XII conference mates if given the choice would trade their eye teeth to be in the SEC. Low and behold ten years later Texas and Oklahoma did.

Something I found very troubling for a long time was how would I ( as a hard core LSU fan) reconciled leaving the SEC and all the rivalries? I never found a good answer.
The Big 8 was a great conference. The dynamics changed when the four Texas schools were brought in. The bonds that hold a conference together, trust, mutual. respect and institutions on an equal footing were not there like they were in the Big 8. As a consequence Nebraska, Colorado,Texas A&M and finally Missouri left. Very difficult choices in a time of uncertainty.

What Missouri found as did Texas A&M is they were welcomed and treated as founding members with equal votes and equal distribution of monies. There were no binding contracts to handcuff Missouri or Texas A&M into staying in the SEC. A simple paragraph of we are leaving at so and so date would suffice.

There was no ‘junior membership’ discussion except when Missouri or Texas A&M asked about it.

There is no one that I am aware that doesn’t think Missouri or Texas A&M belongs.
No one. I am no fan of Texas or Oklahoma but they saw light and ran toward it. They will be welcomed the same way and treated the same way too.

3. It seems a lot of people enjoy coming here and trashing your athletic programs.

This was a head scratcher for me for a long time, but this board is populated with fans of other teams who pose as Missouri fans. They do so because their teams (now more than ever) are on the outside looking in and there they will stay.

They like many here yearn for the Big 8 days and they can make a good case about it. They felt the need to blame someone for their lot in life. I don’t blame any for that. Given the circumstances I would in all likelihood feel the same way.
The reality is this:
Missouri is in the SEC and not going anywhere. This is home and where you belong.—oz

Edited by Ozland Tiger at 09:51:00 on 07/17/22