Big Ten Conference

University of Illinois Seeks New Mascot; Students Attempt to Provide

Since the forced departure of Chief Illiniwek in February 2007, the University of Illinois has been mascot-less. While their Big Ten rivals have fielded ancient Greek warriors, oversized and suspiciously cuddly hawks, badgers and wildcats, not to mention whatever the hell Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye ... More >>

The Tigers Get Two Big Wins...Sort Of

On a day when they narrowly escaped with a tight and oftentimes frustrating win over Bucknell by the score of 66-64, the Missouri Tigers got another big bump in their own personal standings, by dint of some brilliant Big Ten play and the flat-out byzantine machinations that is the college basketball ... More >>

Sweet Carolina: Carolina represents in Midwest regional, but can its teams knock off Ohio and Kansas?

March Madness Anthems From Around the Bracket

Ah, March Madness. It's the period of time when gamblers around the world have hopes and dreams crushed by random, random schools. Basketball sometimes gets lost in the pomp and circumstance of college sports. It's become increasingly commonplace, for instance, for fans of schools to go a little o ... More >>

Two to Tango: Mizzou and SLU are set to arrive at the Big Dance in style for the first time since the mid-'90s

Knock It Out the Park Like Albert Pujols: Top 25 Wale Sports References

​Wale is Grandmaster of the sports reference. No musical artist brings as much wit, depth and knowledge to the craft. For instance, in the recently released ode to the former St. Louis baseball hero, "Albert Pujols," Wale slangs this gem: "John Rocker, Atlanta Bravest knows that I'm awesome/ Bett ... More >>

Why Mizzou Should Stay Put in the Big 12

​The University of Missouri Board of Curators emerged from a four-hour, closed-door meeting last night to announce that they'd unanimously approved a decision to allow the school to shop around for a new athletic conference. Speculation is rife that the university will now leave the Big 12 for the ... More >>

The Opening Day Crystal Ball: 2011 MLB Predictions

I actually dressed up like this to write this post. I predict the itching of this beard will soon drive me to madness. ​Just a bare handful of hours, now, until the Cardinals' 2011 season gets underway. Plenty of ink and bytes have been spilled talking about what the season may bring, lots of it r ... More >>

Mizzou Hopes Painter Makes Its Masterpiece

Purdue coach Matt Painter could soon have two million reasons to smile.​University of Missouri's athletic director Mike Alden hopes to land a replacement for the departed Mike Anderson today during a meeting in Florida with Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter. Painter, the 40-year-old phenom who' ... More >>

The Mizzou Coaching Search Loses a Candidate: Cuonzo Martin to Tennessee

This is the man Cuonzo Martin will be replacing. One can only hope he'll be able to do better at least from a fashion perspective. ​You can check Cuonzo Martin off your list of potential coaching hires for the University of Missouri. The former Missouri State basketball coach has accepted a job wi ... More >>

Big 12 Commissioner Open to Changing Name; Suggests Calling it "Old-Fashioned Conference"

Here's betting tailgaters continue drinking beer even if the Big 12 does become the "Old-Fashioned Conference."​Dan Beebe, commissioner of the Big 12, held a conversation stand-up act yesterday at the conference's football media day in Irving, Texas. Asked whether the Big 12 (soon to have ten team ... More >>

So, What To Call the Big 12 Now?

​Of the legions of stories this month on the shake-up of the Big 12, I've yet to come across one article discussing what the athletic conference will be called now that it consists of just ten teams. Sure, I suppose the conference could keep the name Big 12. After all, the Big Ten kept its moniker ... More >>

Mizzou Curators Fuel More Big 12 Questions After Sunday Meeting Yields No Answers

Mike Alden the new face of Big 12 expansion.​The University of Missouri Board of Curators held another meeting last night to consider the future of the school's Big 12 athletic conference. The meeting was the the third in four days and like previous gatherings yielded no answers, though its beginn ... More >>

Nebraska Announces Move to Big 10 as Mizzou Tries to Save Face

Mizzou Tigers -- like this kitty -- are on the outside looking in.​The University of Nebraska board of regents voted 8-0 today to leave the Big 12 Conference for the Big Ten. The move will go into effect in time for the 2011 football season. Meanwhile, University of Missouri officials were holding ... More >>

Last Night: Deadspin Founder Will Leitch Talks Really Fast, Meets with Adoring Fans at Left Bank Books, Gets Beer with Sportswriters

Fast-talker Will Leitch last night at Left Bank Books.​It's just after after nine o'clock Thursday night at Left Bank Books downtown, and Will Leitch is still going strong. The writer-turned-blogger-turned-writer-again is seated at a desk in front of cookbooks and to the left of glossy-covere ... More >>

Big Ten Quashes Rumors of Adding Mizzou, and That's Too Bad

So the commissioner of the Big Ten came out yesterday to deny the rumors -- started this week by a Kansas City radio station -- that it plans to add University of Missouri (or University of Nebraska) to its conference. Whatever. That went away when the Big 8 became the Big 12.​Commissioner Jim Del ... More >>

Sweet! The Sixteen Best Player Names in the 2010 NCAA Tournament

​Let the Madness begin! Mizzou is dancing (despite their stumble in the Big 12 tournament) but unfortunately the slipper did not fit for the SLU Billikens, who were pummeled by Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 tournament and left out of even the lowly NIT, where they could have faced an Illinois te ... More >>

Five Reasons Rick Majerus and SLU Will Make the Big Dance

Image ViaNot even the mascot expected SLU to be this good.​Shhh! Don't tell anyone. We don't want to jinx it but the SLU Billikens are just a few wins away from an NCAA tournament berth.You may not have noticed since the Bills' games are rarely televised locally (and even when they are, they somet ... More >>

Show Review Setlist Photos: Aerosmith at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Wednesday, June 10

A spectacular lightning storm delayed the Aerosmith show by about 45 minutes, which likely explains why the quintet's tour kick off was somewhat shorter than it should have been. But did the wait kill the buzz of the crowd at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater? Hell no -- not even when most of the la ... More >>

Obama Predicts Early Exit for Mizzou, Illini in Tourney

Wikimedia CommonsIn perhaps the biggest sports media coup in history, the worldwide leader got the leader of the free world to post his March Madness bracket on ESPN.com rather than the site for NCAA tournament sponsor CBS.Obama agreed to the deal way back in October during an interview with ESPN's ... More >>

Unreal takes back the Big Red, talks to a Steeler, and dances the inaugural night away

What to Watch for Tonight as We Remember the Alamo

Tonight, our beloved Missouri Tigers will take on Northwestern University in the prestigious Alamo Bowl. Well, okay, not "prestigious" in the typical sense. But definitely prestigious in the way that, um, well, um, huh. Maybe prestigious isn't the best word in any sense of it. At any rate, they ... More >>

Tigers Attack!

But will they win?

Cleveland Rocks! Week on A to Z

Downtown Takedown

A Mathews-Dickey coach does all he can to take black kids out to the ballgame.

African-American ballplayers are getting rarer than a triple play.

Bench the Billiken

Unreal seeks divine inspiration at the Pulpit Masters audition and laments the pending prohibition of the SLU Billiken. Plus, our newest feature: Somebody Buy my Crap!

Unreal Fouls Out of the Final Four

The beer-drinking, the game-watching, the east-side partying: We took it all in so you wouldn't have to

The Look of a Winner

A panel of experts handicaps the Final Four the old-fashioned way: According to the coaches' fashion sense

My Sweet Lore

Oh, those wacky Final Four campuses!

The Year of the Izzo

Championship prediction: Big Ten dark horse gallops to victory

Schuss, Little Darling

Skiing in the dark

Lame Time

Q's Sports Bar & Grill commits some flagrant fouls

Gravy Train

The latest St. Louisan to hop aboard the reality-TV juggernaut sees nothing but green

The Rec-ing Crew

Week of April 16, 2003

Hoosiers

The stereotype is all about cheap beer, fast cars and fat girls. But there's a little bit of hoosier in all of us.

Penalty Kick

Faded soccer glory seen in a U.S. World Cup team without St. Louis talent

Champaign Tastes