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American Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- American Press
Scooter Hobbs column: Message behind coach's one-liners
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz gets it. I always suspected that, rare in his fraternity, he seems to have a life away from the film room. Maybe even a handful of outside interests. Drinkwitz tried to stay serious Thursday, but there's a flippant side to him that he can't hide. He opened his monologue by warning that he wasn't going to answer questions about 'the Epstein files, the Radiation Belt (or) whether or not it was possible for Lee Harvey Oswald to get three shots off in seven seconds.' Then he wandered off — shades of Les Miles' hey day — into a recap of a recent family vacation at Disney World, where the wife and the oldest of his four daughters conquered the challenging Guardians of the Galaxy ride. 'There is an epic picture of them after that ride where my wife is just like, holy cow, and my daughter looks like … she'd just been arrested. So it was worth it.' That, apparently, was just an excuse to remind everyone that 'Walt Disney was born in Marceline, Missouri.' Followed by, 'Y'all (media) remind me a little bit of Disney World: tired, ready to go home, tired of coaches whining up here.' Actually, Drinkwitz is a welcome breath of fresh air at an affair prone to getting bogged down in depth charts. Drinkwitz is the kind of guy you'd like to drink with. Make no mistake. He wants to win just as much as the next coach. But nothing he did with his turn on the podium Thursday was going to beat Kansas in the season's second game, a resumption of Mizzou's bitter 'Border War' that has been dormant since 2011. We did learn from him that Missouri's 'Tigers' nickname is based on the militia that was formed to protect the Mizzou campus and the Columbia townfolk from the people from Kansas. That's the kind of information you want from these festivities. We also learned that Drinkwitz is in hot water with his home owners' association back in Columbia after letting two of his players catch fish in the communal pond. Details at 10, hopefully with film. Yet in the midst of all this trivia — perhaps by accident — Drinkwitz might have had the strongest take yet on the state of college football. It began as an innocent trip down the scheduling rabbit hole after the obligatory question of whether the SEC should go to a nine-game conference slate instead of the current eight. 'Personally, I think eight games is probably great for the University of Missouri. It allows us to schedule what we need for the four (other) games.' He also seemed to think it'd be easier on coaches. But that's not important now. What is needed, he said, was 'to ask these questions: what's best for the players and what's best for the fans? And ultimately, I think what's best for both of those is going to be going to a nine-game schedule. 'The rest of us are really only important because of the players and the fans.' Nine games, eight games, that's not the point, and he kind of lost me when he mentioned a 30-team playoff. But it's encouraging to see some coach sticking up for the loyal fans. 'We need the fans now more than ever. If we continue to alienate the fans, or we put things in the way that (are) going to alienate the fans, we're not going to continue to be able to pay the players.' The real trick here is making the fans' wishes mesh with the players new-found freedoms. I'm not sure what more they can do for the players now that they're paid, can transfer at will and often seem to be running the asylum. Drinkwitz may have hit on the hidden truth. 'People don't come to watch the actual game,' he said. 'They come because they're connected to people. They're connected to something bigger than themselves. They're connected to the marching Mizzou band. They're connected to the spirit squads. They're connected to friends and family at the tailgates. 'The byproduct is the game … Saturdays are still a place where there's human connection, all right? And we can't lose sight of that.' Those fans are being asked to ante up more and more discretionary income, not only in ticket prices, parking spots, etc., but 'donations' to pay these new-found (for lack of a better word) salaries. It makes it easier to watch in comfort on hi-def TV. Still, the transfer portal might be the biggest threat to that team/fan alliance. It changes things. It just does. The fans' connection to their teams, even if it was always delusional, is that their heroes grew up dreaming of playing for good ol' State U. And many do. But it's hard to reconcile that when the players for any given year's roster look more and more like mercenaries, often as not going to the highest bidder. Somebody needs to pay attention to Drinkwitz. 'If you lose Saturday football, you're losing Sunday and Friday night football too, all right? Let's not forget that. We are the peanut butter and jelly behind the bread. If we don't have Saturdays, you can forget Sundays, and you can forget Friday night.' * Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics for the American Press. You can reach him at
The Citizen
29-06-2025
- General
- The Citizen
Bowling and potjie fun at Leases Bowling Club
Rand Leases Bowling Club and the South African Military Veterans Infantry Association hosted a fun bowls day on Youth Day to raise funds for the club and the various charities that the military veterans support. The South African Infantry Association (SAIA) was established in 1985 to provide a home for veterans to share their experiences and enjoy social interaction. The West Rand branch was formed in 2018. According to SAIA West Rand chairperson Mike Bopp, the association raises funds for military veterans who are scraping by on a SASSA pension. 'Pensions for military veterans, as promised by the government through the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), are non-existent to most Border War veterans,' he says. 'SAIA West Rand obtains donations and these are distributed to retirement homes, orphanages, homes for battered women and children and to the veterans themselves. 'Our mission is to ensure that no veteran ever feels alone or forgotten, and we strive to foster a sense of belonging and unity among those who have served our country. 'The SAIA West Rand branch committee holds several fundraisers throughout the year in pursuit of our goal to pay it forward and to help those in need.' The bowls day was well attended, and as a bonus, members of SAIA West Rand and Leases Bowling Club made a wide variety of delicious traditional – and not so traditional – potjies, the sale of which added to their fundraising efforts. There were more than 20 stalls where local small businesses sold a wide variety of goods. 'All in all, it was a good day,' says the bowling club's public relations officer, Ronny van Wyk. 'We hope to have many more in future.' For more information on the Leases Bowling Club, call Ronnie on 083 459 7851. To join SAIA, visit and click on Join SAIA and follow the prompts. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
USA Today
07-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
This college golf star made an albatross in winning the Missouri Amateur qualifier
This college golf star made an albatross in winning the Missouri Amateur qualifier As far as days on the course go, Missouri men's golfer Veikka Viskari's round on Thursday may be hard to beat. Not only did the Mizzou sophomore from Espoo, Finland, record the best score of the day in his Missouri Amateur Qualifier with a 7-under 64 at The Falls Golf Club in O'Fallon, Missouri, and book his place in the Missouri Amateur Championship field, but Viskari recorded one of the rarest scores in the sport in the process. Viskari made an albatross at the par-five sixth hole, which measures 524 yards from the back tees. An albatross is three strokes under the designated par for the hole, which means he holed his second shot. The feat is more rare than a hole-in-one on a par 3, according to an article from the PGA of America, which places the average player's odds of making an ace at approximately 12,500-1 and the odds of an albatross — a hole-in-one on a par 4 or a 2 on a par 5 — at 6 million-1. Viskari was even par for his round stepping onto the sixth tee after recording two birdies and two bogeys in his opening five holes. He closed his outward nine with a bogey at the eighth and birdie at the ninth to turn in 3-under 33 before firing a bogey-free, 4-under 31 on the back nine with four birdies to win the qualifier. His albatross helped him stave off Fenton's David Strickland, who posted 65 to finish one shot off the top spot. Viskari was one of 33 qualifiers from the O'Fallon site to book their spot in the Missouri Amateur Championship, which will take place at MU's home course, The Club at Old Hawthorne, from June 24-29. The Missouri Amateur Championship is a 144-player event that includes two rounds of stroke play with a 64-player cut. At that point, the advancing players compete in match play — one-on-one knockouts — until a winner is determined. Viskari is one of two Mizzou players currently qualified for the event, as sophomore Brock Snyder finished tied for third in his qualifier at Paradise Pointe Golf Course in Smithville, Missouri, with a 2-under 70. Tolton grad and Columbia local Andrew Fallis, a current Missouri State player, also qualified for the event, posting an even-par 72 to tie for fifth at a qualifier at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, Missouri. More: Border War date: Day announced for Missouri basketball vs Kansas in Kansas City More: Harrison Mevis set to play in UFL playoffs. How former Missouri football kicker has performed Viskari recently wrapped up his sophomore season, which was his first in Columbia after transferring from VCU. He had a 73.58 scoring average over 12 tournaments for head coach Glen Millican's team.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kansas vs Mizzou Rematch Set as KU Announces Non-Conference Hoops Schedule
Kansas vs Mizzou Rematch Set as KU Announces Non-Conference Hoops Schedule originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kansas basketball dropped its nonconference schedule headed into the 2025-26 season and Missouri made its fourth consecutive appearance, this time around, on a Sunday at T-Mobile Stadium in Kansas City. Advertisement The Tigers come into this contest after a historical victory over the Jayhawks on Dec. 8, 2024, when the team defeated No. 1 Kansas in Mizzou Arena for its first top-ranked victory since 1997. Tigers guard Aidan Shaw (23) celebrates with fans after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks at Mizzou Arena.© Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Tamar Bates exploded for Mizzou, dropping a season and career high 29 points; while Mark Mitchell and Anthony Robinson II added 17 and 11 points, respectively. Mitchell added three blocks and Robinson added five steals, pressing top-ranked Kansas every chance they got. The meeting marks the 273rd time the teams have faced off and the meeting marks the teams second-to-last matchup of its current agreement — an agreement that was renewed in 2019 for six years. The first and last matchups are hold at T-Mobile Center — which was Sprint Center at the time — while the four meetings in between alternated between Missouri and Kansas taking the home court. In 2026-27, the series is adding an extra game due to no matchup being played in 2020. Mizzou hadn't defeated Kansas since 2012 prior to its 2024 victory but with the rivalry running so deep, the Tigers have a 96-175 record against the Jayhawks dating back to the two teams first matchup on March 11, 1907. Advertisement The Tigers will take on the Jayhawks on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Center in a perfect 'meet me in the middle' location for the two schools. Missouri also has three other confirmed dates for non-conference games. Missouri begins its season in Washington D.C. facing off against Howard on Nov. 3. The team will host Virginia Military Institute on Nov. 9 and will host Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 14. The Tigers will also play Minnesota in early November, Illinois in late December — for the two teams annual Border War — and Mizzou will also face off against an Atlantic Coast Conference team in the annual ACC/SEC Challenge. With their historic upset still fresh and the teams nearing the final chapter of the current rivalry agreement set, Missouri will look to build momentum in its Dec. 7 showdown against Kansas. Advertisement Related: Early Ranking Signals High Hopes for Mizzou Basketball This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sportsbook sets win total at 7.5 for Mizzou Football in 2025
There are still three months before the Missouri Tigers open the season at Faurot Field against Central Arkansas, yet oddsmakers are always looking ahead. This week, FanDuel Sportsbook released its updated SEC win totals for the 2025 season. The Tigers' total was set at 7.5 wins, a two-win decrease from the consensus line for the Tigers in 2024, and 2.5 wins behind their final total of 10. Advertisement Mizzou's total is tied for seventh among SEC schools, with the Auburn Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies and South Carolina Gamecocks. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs were all tied for the highest win total at 9.5 wins. The Mississippi State Bulldogs had the lowest at just 3.5 wins. The drop in Vegas' expected win total was something that most Mizzou fans could see coming. The Tigers lost a lot of production from key players who helped them to the 2023 Cotton Bowl and produced two of their best seasons in over a decade. Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz speaks to a reporter© Denny Medley-Imagn Images Just a few of the key pieces lost by Missouri on the offensive side of the ball included quarterbacks Brady Cook and Drew Pyne, running back Nate Noel, wide receiver Luther Burden III and offensive tackle Armand Membou. Advertisement Missouri's 2025 schedule includes conference games against South Carolina, Alabama, Texas A&M and Mississippi State at home and matchups with Auburn, the Vanderbilt Commodores, Oklahoma Sooners and Arkansas Razorbacks on the road. The campaign also includes the highly anticipated rekindling of the Border War against the Kansas Jayhawks, which is set for Week 2 in Columbia. With brand new pieces in key spots, it will be interesting to see if the Tigers will fall short of their projected win total or burst through into the upper echelon of the SEC and college football as a whole. Related: Mizzou Football Omitted from Another Post-Spring Ranking
