Starting next week, these are probably going to get a little more sports/Mizzou-centric. But for now, you get my summer ramblings one more time.
1. There's really only one place to start this week for me. Not sure how closely you guys have followed the story of the Thai soccer team. Thumbnail: 12 kids, ranging in age from 11 to 16, and their coach, ducked into a cave to escape a downpour in Thailand. They were then trapped there by floodwater, went ten days without being discovered and have been there for more than two weeks. The first boys were rescued on Saturday night. They've now gotten eight of them out. Here's a look at what the divers have to go through to extract the kids from the cave. One rescue diver died late last week when he was leaving oxygen tanks to provide more oxygen for the trapped team. Without him, they might not even be alive to rescue. Just a captivating story.
2. Speaking of heroes, I think Wendi Winters qualifies. She sacrificed herself to save multiple colleagues at the Capital Gazette in the shooting two weeks ago. Here is her story. Really, #1 and #2 on this list make everything else inconsequential. We hear a lot about the terrible stories. We don't hear enough about the people we should all strive to emulate.
3. Let's do a little bit of a tease for upcoming PowerMizzou.com content now. About a month ago, an NFL writer messaged me asking if I could point him to a good in-depth profile of Drew Lock because he was having trouble finding one. So I looked. And I couldn't find one either. Amazingly, nobody's ever really done it. Part of that is that Missouri hasn't been good enough to warrant much coverage outside of the local guys. Part of it is that nobody has really had the access to do it. Part of it is that Drew tends to be robotic in interviews. Well, a friend of mine contacted me wanting to write an in-depth profile of Drew. I've read some of it. He's got some great stuff. We'll have a five part series on the making of Mizzou's QB starting on Wednesday. I think you all will enjoy it.
Also on Wednesday, I hope to be able to give you guys some more details on something I've been working on with a friend of mine in the media. We're ironing out some details in the next couple of days, but if you live in the Kansas City area, keep July 25th open on your calendar. If you're in Columbia, keep July 30th open. If you're in St. Louis, hopefully these couple things will go well and we'll hit your town soon. Until then, I'll be speaking at the Tiger Club luncheon on August 7th.
4. In case you missed it, Rock Bridge safety Martez Manuel announced his final three last night.
Before he cut the list, I was hearing Missouri was in good shape. After seeing his final three, I'm more confident Missouri is in good shape. Manuel will commit three weeks from today. The date is July 9th. Let's revisit the commitment list one month from today. I'm confident it's going to be quite a bit more full...and make you guys quite a bit happier.
5. On a far more somber note in local high school football, a 2016 graduate of Battle, and a starter on its state championship football team, was murdered on Saturday night. Rovon Blocker died from a gunshot wound over the weekend. Not sure yet what the exact circumstances surrounding his death are, but tragic whatever the story. Blocker suffered a neck injury in high school. He still had some junior college offers out of Battle, but I'm not sure what he did after high school. Rovon graduated the same year my son did and they know a lot of the same people. Keep his family and friends in your thoughts.
6. Jay Cutler has a reality show. I'm pretty sure it's going to be amazing.
7. A reminder that the media hates your team and likes all others.
It is popular on here to call Kansas City's paper the ku Star. Here you have a ku fan convinced it is biased in favor of Mizzou. Every fan thinks every media outlet hates his school. Also, I'm sure Erik's two followers enjoyed his rant.
8. James Franklin won his first start for the Toronto Argonauts this weekend. He went 16/24 for 217 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. He led the Argos to the game winning touchdown in the final four minutes. I maintain my long held belief that Franklin is the most underrated and underappreciated Mizzou football player I've covered in 15 years. He got a bad rap for not being tough (his teammates and his head coach furthered the narrative publicly. I've personally always believed it was Gary Pinkel's lowest moment as Missouri's head coach--at least between 2006 and 2015--and I believe he wrote in his book he wishes he hadn't said what he said during an ESPN sideline interview. Someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong). Franklin had a narrative of not being tough. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The story I always tell is after the loss to RGIII and Baylor in 2012. It was a night game, so it's like 10:30-11:00 and we're waiting outside the locker room to interview Franklin. He was one of the last guys out to talk, came over to us and bent over to pick up his boxed lunch the players took on the bus back to the airport. There was a moment I thought we might have to help him stand back up straight. He was a 21-year-old kid who was moving like he was 61. But he played. And he would play the next week too. The kid was tough...and he was also much better than most gave him credit for. Franklin went on a bit of a media boycott during his senior season at Mizzou and honestly I didn't blame him. I didn't think he was treated fairly then and I still don't think he was. As much as anyone (I put Danario Alexander, Henry Josey and Laurence Bowers in this category too), I was really happy for Franklin that he had the senior year he did, winning the SEC East.
9. To listen and to watch this week:
I'm excited to watch Sharp Objects on HBO. It's a new series in which Amy Adams plays a reporter who returns to her home town outside of St. Louis. I've heard really good things about it. Plan to watch the premier (which aired last night) this evening.
I'll give you a Mizzou listening recommendation. Full disclosure, I haven't listened, but with college football around the corner and you guys being junkies, give T.J. Moe's "Take No Offense" podcast a chance. I'm sure he'll talk a lot of Tigers and SEC football.
Also, this podcast from Jeff Passan might be worth it just for the teaser
10. We'll finish up with something to read:
We are all public figures by Ella Dawson. A look at how social media has changed every one of our lives.
Percy Harvin takes his battle with anxiety public from Sports Illustrated.
*A bonus thought, which is actually a question for you all. I'll be spending most of this week in Tulsa, watching my son in the Region VIII sectional swim meet (don't worry, I'm taking my laptop and I can still work). If any of you have any food/drink recommendations in the Tulsa area, I'm all ears. If you recommend a chain restaurant, I will ban you. It offends me when people go out of town and eat at a place they could eat at home. The best thing about traveling is the chance to try new things that are unique to that city. So don't tell me to go to Applebee's if you like being on here.
1. There's really only one place to start this week for me. Not sure how closely you guys have followed the story of the Thai soccer team. Thumbnail: 12 kids, ranging in age from 11 to 16, and their coach, ducked into a cave to escape a downpour in Thailand. They were then trapped there by floodwater, went ten days without being discovered and have been there for more than two weeks. The first boys were rescued on Saturday night. They've now gotten eight of them out. Here's a look at what the divers have to go through to extract the kids from the cave. One rescue diver died late last week when he was leaving oxygen tanks to provide more oxygen for the trapped team. Without him, they might not even be alive to rescue. Just a captivating story.
2. Speaking of heroes, I think Wendi Winters qualifies. She sacrificed herself to save multiple colleagues at the Capital Gazette in the shooting two weeks ago. Here is her story. Really, #1 and #2 on this list make everything else inconsequential. We hear a lot about the terrible stories. We don't hear enough about the people we should all strive to emulate.
3. Let's do a little bit of a tease for upcoming PowerMizzou.com content now. About a month ago, an NFL writer messaged me asking if I could point him to a good in-depth profile of Drew Lock because he was having trouble finding one. So I looked. And I couldn't find one either. Amazingly, nobody's ever really done it. Part of that is that Missouri hasn't been good enough to warrant much coverage outside of the local guys. Part of it is that nobody has really had the access to do it. Part of it is that Drew tends to be robotic in interviews. Well, a friend of mine contacted me wanting to write an in-depth profile of Drew. I've read some of it. He's got some great stuff. We'll have a five part series on the making of Mizzou's QB starting on Wednesday. I think you all will enjoy it.
Also on Wednesday, I hope to be able to give you guys some more details on something I've been working on with a friend of mine in the media. We're ironing out some details in the next couple of days, but if you live in the Kansas City area, keep July 25th open on your calendar. If you're in Columbia, keep July 30th open. If you're in St. Louis, hopefully these couple things will go well and we'll hit your town soon. Until then, I'll be speaking at the Tiger Club luncheon on August 7th.
4. In case you missed it, Rock Bridge safety Martez Manuel announced his final three last night.
Before he cut the list, I was hearing Missouri was in good shape. After seeing his final three, I'm more confident Missouri is in good shape. Manuel will commit three weeks from today. The date is July 9th. Let's revisit the commitment list one month from today. I'm confident it's going to be quite a bit more full...and make you guys quite a bit happier.
5. On a far more somber note in local high school football, a 2016 graduate of Battle, and a starter on its state championship football team, was murdered on Saturday night. Rovon Blocker died from a gunshot wound over the weekend. Not sure yet what the exact circumstances surrounding his death are, but tragic whatever the story. Blocker suffered a neck injury in high school. He still had some junior college offers out of Battle, but I'm not sure what he did after high school. Rovon graduated the same year my son did and they know a lot of the same people. Keep his family and friends in your thoughts.
6. Jay Cutler has a reality show. I'm pretty sure it's going to be amazing.
7. A reminder that the media hates your team and likes all others.
It is popular on here to call Kansas City's paper the ku Star. Here you have a ku fan convinced it is biased in favor of Mizzou. Every fan thinks every media outlet hates his school. Also, I'm sure Erik's two followers enjoyed his rant.
8. James Franklin won his first start for the Toronto Argonauts this weekend. He went 16/24 for 217 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. He led the Argos to the game winning touchdown in the final four minutes. I maintain my long held belief that Franklin is the most underrated and underappreciated Mizzou football player I've covered in 15 years. He got a bad rap for not being tough (his teammates and his head coach furthered the narrative publicly. I've personally always believed it was Gary Pinkel's lowest moment as Missouri's head coach--at least between 2006 and 2015--and I believe he wrote in his book he wishes he hadn't said what he said during an ESPN sideline interview. Someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong). Franklin had a narrative of not being tough. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The story I always tell is after the loss to RGIII and Baylor in 2012. It was a night game, so it's like 10:30-11:00 and we're waiting outside the locker room to interview Franklin. He was one of the last guys out to talk, came over to us and bent over to pick up his boxed lunch the players took on the bus back to the airport. There was a moment I thought we might have to help him stand back up straight. He was a 21-year-old kid who was moving like he was 61. But he played. And he would play the next week too. The kid was tough...and he was also much better than most gave him credit for. Franklin went on a bit of a media boycott during his senior season at Mizzou and honestly I didn't blame him. I didn't think he was treated fairly then and I still don't think he was. As much as anyone (I put Danario Alexander, Henry Josey and Laurence Bowers in this category too), I was really happy for Franklin that he had the senior year he did, winning the SEC East.
9. To listen and to watch this week:
I'm excited to watch Sharp Objects on HBO. It's a new series in which Amy Adams plays a reporter who returns to her home town outside of St. Louis. I've heard really good things about it. Plan to watch the premier (which aired last night) this evening.
I'll give you a Mizzou listening recommendation. Full disclosure, I haven't listened, but with college football around the corner and you guys being junkies, give T.J. Moe's "Take No Offense" podcast a chance. I'm sure he'll talk a lot of Tigers and SEC football.
Also, this podcast from Jeff Passan might be worth it just for the teaser
10. We'll finish up with something to read:
We are all public figures by Ella Dawson. A look at how social media has changed every one of our lives.
Percy Harvin takes his battle with anxiety public from Sports Illustrated.
*A bonus thought, which is actually a question for you all. I'll be spending most of this week in Tulsa, watching my son in the Region VIII sectional swim meet (don't worry, I'm taking my laptop and I can still work). If any of you have any food/drink recommendations in the Tulsa area, I'm all ears. If you recommend a chain restaurant, I will ban you. It offends me when people go out of town and eat at a place they could eat at home. The best thing about traveling is the chance to try new things that are unique to that city. So don't tell me to go to Applebee's if you like being on here.
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