Opposition

Kansas State and Missouri. One's a respectable, good-natured, in-state rival. The other is a low-down, mangy, despicable screw-up. I'm sure you'll figure out where I stand after reading the following opinions:

**Bill Snyder is retiring at the end of the season as Kansas State's head football coach. Though it seems like an appropriate time, it's still kind of a shocker. Snyder transformed the worst college football program in history into a national power. And while the team has slipped of late, he has left the program in a position to reclaim some of the glory he had once brought the school. Though it would be great fun to write about what how wooden he's been and so on, I'll prefer to just give the man his due. He accomplished a monumental task at K-State, sacrificing many years of family time that he can never recapture, in order to put that program on the map. And regardless of the fact that he coaches on of KU's main rivals, this is a time to put that aside and give him his much-deserved respect. Unlike the recipient of the next topic...

**Quin Snyder's Missouri Tigers lose (at home!) to SAM HOUSTON STATE. Blink a couple of times and read that again: SAM HOUSTON STATE. This gives Missouri losses three years in a row to teams that have absolutely no business beating them. Belmont, Davidson and now SAM HOUSTON STATE. In Missouri's home opener. A game they haven't lost in 32 years. If this doesn't begins Quin's death march, I don't know what it takes. Get a load of these quotes:

“Obviously,” Snyder said, “if we play like this, it’s going to be an awfully long season.”

“I think it’s reflective of us not accepting who we are,” Snyder said of the implication that Missouri took this opponent lightly. “And frankly I’m really surprised by that in light of what these guys have been through.

“I’m shocked that we don’t understand that. I thought that’s something that would be burned on our heart, the lessons about how much energy we have to play with.”

Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure the coach's main responsibility is to make sure he puts his charges in a position to do the best they can. That might entail having them run to achieve superior cardio-vascular fitness. That might also entail imploring to them to understand that each game is important and deserves maximum focus. Old Sam Houston managed to do that, defeating Santa Anna after Texas forces got whupped at the Alamo. Looks like Quin needs to take a page out of history if he wants to stay at Missouri much longer.

**I'm working up some thoughts for a take on pop culture. Stay tuned in the next day or two...