Rock M Digest: Vol. 2, Issue 9

Nov 3, 2024 | Uncategorized

Written By

I’m no Photoshop wizard like Josh, but I think this looks pretty great | Karen Steger Designs

A weekly list of fantastic stories (and quotes) you may have missed this past week at Rock M Nation dot com

Welcome to Rock M Digest, a weekly column where I, Madame Editor, share with you my must-read picks for the Rock M Nation content of the week. These stories made me think (sometimes too much), laugh, smile, cry… you get the picture. We’ve got a talented bunch of writers at this site, and since I have the distinct pleasure of reading all of it — I love reading it all, I swear — I want you, the readers, to know what you should be checking out if you don’t have time to read all the content. After all, we did put out 50 stories this week alone. And that’s not including podcasts (which I’ve linked to below) and Rock M+ content, which isn’t found on the main RMN page.

At the bottom, I’ve gathered up my favorite quotes of the week and presented them with no context. There is a link to the story included, and I highly recommend reading the stories that go along with them.

A bye week hasn’t meant less content around here, so let’s dive in.

Rock M Recs

Pregamin’ the Bye Week, Part 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

I actually meant to participate in this one, as I took part in the last bye week Pregamin.’ Alas, I forgot, so you get to hear from Josh, Sammy and Chad, the self-proclaimed “Resident Old Man.” Why should you check this one out? Well, you can vote on your favorite unis thus far, learn to make a tasty Halloween flavored concoction, the Witches Brew, read some truly delightful trivia, like “Should the Tigers get to 10 wins, Eli Drinkwitz will become only the second coach in program history to lead the Tigers to more than one double-digit win season,” and get the gents’ opinions on if this season is a disappointment thus far— It is— and what the biggest game left on the schedule is— It’s Oklahoma and it’s not even close.

Landis Canada hides shy demeanor behind stellar play

That Dylan, man, he can write a soccer feature. His first one, which I will share again here, was about head coach Stefanie Golan as she prepared to visit her alma mater Duke. This time, it’s about freshman phenom Landis Canada, who has found a family 10 hours from home in Mizzou Soccer, and a place at Audrey J. Walton Stadium, where she started every game, playing 1,399 minutes, including a six-game stretch where she played every single available minute. Such a good read, especially if you’re anxious to get the semi-bad taste out of your mouth after the season’s unfortunate and ultimately preventable ending.

Mizzou Volleyball takes down defending champs Texas in Austin

For the first time since 2016, your Missouri Tigers volleyball team has defeated a top-10 opponent in no. 9 Texas, the two-time defending national champions who they defeated in five insane sets on Friday night, 21-25, 25-19, 17-25, 26-24 and 15-10). Despite being outhit in the match, .256 to .224 and having 28 attack errors, it didn’t matter. Dawn Sullivan was masterful and her team, Matthew tells us, is now tied for FIRST in the almighty SEC. This is a must read, and this match was a must-watch. Go find it on SEC.

The biggest storylines heading into the 2024-25 Mizzou men’s basketball season

I thought about putting Quentin’s piece in the Quotables section, but it was too full of juicy nuggets of information to just try and capture your attention with a single quote. I will share this one, however.

“As a result, they entered an exclusive club; rather, they tripped and fell into an exclusive club. But in the context of other teams who have gone 0-for in conference play, Mizzou’s donut wasn’t nearly as glum. Just because you’re part of a club doesn’t mean you’re like everyone in it.”

I have the distinct feeling that Mizzou will not be part of THAT club any longer; it’s impossible to imagine. With a basically a whole new roster, it figures to be a different season. I won’t go through all of them, but more of a greatest hits, if you will. Welcome to Jacob Crews, “whose range extended to the Music City,” Mark Mitchell, who could play a “Kobe-esque” role, and so many more. Just read the piece, y’all. It’s really good.

Missouri men race to fifth place at SEC Cross Country Championships

Our resident cross country expert, Abigail, prepared us for this— the SEC Cross Country Championships. Earlier this season, Ryder James said the goal of the men’s team was to place within the top five at SECs, which would mark their best finish since taking third in 2021, and THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID. Seven members of the men’s team earned 8k personal bests, and Drew Rogers, Blake Morris and Ryder James shaved a combined 57 points off their SEC results from 2023.

As for the women, they didn’t fare quite as well, but Rahel Broemmel shaved 70 seconds (!) off her time at this same course a year ago. Overall, a good day on the course for the Tigers, and you can read all about here in Abigail’s piece.

Bowl projections mashup

I love a bowl game projection, especially when projections are heavy for my adopted home state of Florida while I’ll be there visiting the fam.

Sammy’s piece, which published on Halloween, identifies: Las Vegas (3), Liberty (2), Gator (2), Music City (1), Citrus (1), Texas (1). That’s three for The Sunshine State, if you’re keeping track.

Quentin’s piece, meanwhile, identifies the Citrus, Gator, Texas, ReliaQuest, Las Vegas, Music City, Liberty, Birmingham, and Gasparilla as options. For Sunshine State trackers, that’s four, though two would be either before I arrive or after I’m gone (womp-womp).

Softball wraps up Fall Ball with a massive win over Central Methodist

Fall Ball is officially over, and now we wait… for what seems like forever. The waiting reminds me of that famous Roger Helmsley quote: “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball softball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” Mizzou met Central Methodist in their final matchup before February 7, and took a decisive victory, 17-1, that featured homeruns by: Julia Crenshaw, Abby Hay, Madison Walker, Stefania Abruscato, and Kadence Shepherd, and triples by Saniya Hill and Kadence Shepherd.

Of note, of the players mentioned above, only ONE is an upperclassman, and Shepherd/Hill are freshmen. Pretty, pretty cool, and makes me feel much better after the loss of three of the top four hitters in last year’s lineup in Jenna Laird, Alex Honnold, and Maddie Gallagher.

Friday Commute: We are days away from the start of basketball season and I couldn’t be more excited

Readers, I am so very ready for hoops season to start. While I have started to care about other sports immensely, men’s basketball, like Sam says in his Friday Morning Commute that I will borrow from liberally, is my true love. Hoops is why I am HERE at Rock M Nation, as I have poured over Sam’s study halls after every game, even after bad results, for years. So I’m happy for him to have this time of year, as it means I get to read my favorite content, and I’m happy for me that I have the privilege of going to Mizzou Arena to watch my favorite team (no offense, Gym, Softball, WBB, and VB).

When it comes to sports Basketball is my true love. Growing up it was something ingrained in my family, and while I loved baseball and football, basketball took over everything by the time I was in high school.

I miss coaching still to this day, and Rock M provides a necessary outlet of being in and around my favorite sport nearly constantly. The NBA is a fun outlet, but it’s like dessert to me. It’s sweet and sugary, it’s the best players in the world playing at the highest level. But college is imperfect, which makes it more interesting to me.

It is truly imperfect, and last year, there was a wholeeeeeeeee lot of imperfection from our dear Missouri Tigers, but man… I cannot wait. Bring it on.

@nba_paint on Twitter
I want this as a tattoo on my wrist. You think I’m kidding.

Quotables

“Most schools choosing to play multiple quarterbacks are going through it: Michigan (they can get over it, as defending champs. Oklahoma (hopefully we can make this worse). Auburn, although for Hugh Freeze it was about being punitive to Payton Thorne (has a coach ever hated his own QB as much as ol’ Hugh hates Thorne?) Purdue, Northwestern, Iowa, Kentucky have all dallied in backup options. The overarching theme here is: if you are trying out backup quarterbacks midseason, your offensive infrastructure probably already stinks and you are not gonna find much relief here.” —Dan Keegan, A Study on Backup Quarterbacks

Helllllllllo, Mizzou viral floor routine. Last season, it was Kennedy Griffin with her Destiny’s Child mash-up that wowed audiences and caused quite the stir amongst the gymternet, but she’s got competition this year because fellow sophomore Hannah Horton and the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, would like a word.” —Karen Steger, New look Tigers read to make some noise in the SEC, nationally

I’ll be fascinated to see how the Mizzou fan base handles itself the rest of the season. Will Tiger Nation stay engaged and fully invested, or will some people pull back a bit after seeing Mizzou outclassed twice this year in their biggest moments? I hope everyone stays on board, but ultimately there’s no wrong answer here – fans are the ones footing the bill for their team, so they can act any way they want.” —Chad Moller, Monday Musings: The Psychology of a football season

“You know what else I love? Mizzou Football. And even though I don’t love the circumstances of this game or this season, I still do love this team. I have to! It’s an extension of my fandom. I hope they win the rest of their games 1,000,000 to nothing, even if they have played some pretty breathtakingly disappointing football this year. I love this Mizzou Football team, even if watching them sometimes feels more like dental surgery.” —Josh Matejka, The Revue

“But since the expanded, how many times has the preseason pick, (the Alabama Crimson Tide, if you read Sam’s piece) actually claimed that hardware? Four. And since 2018, five champions were picked fifth or lower in the preseason. There’s no lack of challengers, either. Several analytic models rate the SEC as the top conference this year, and nine teams will start the year ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll. If the Tide stumbles, Auburn, Tennessee or Arkansas will pounce quickly.” *—Matthew J. Harris, SEC Basketball Conference Preview

“We can’t be sure whether it was his tight-knit relationship with Bates, who saw his game flourish at Mizzou, or something more rational, like seeing Dennis Gates turn Kobe Brown into a bona fide star. We do know that while this relationship could be good for Mark, it could be even better for Mizzou.” Matt Harris & Matt Watkins, Mizzou Hoops Player Preview: Mark Mitchell

“As soon as the clock hit zero Saturday in Tuscaloosa (or let’s be honest, as soon as Brady Cook headed to the locker room in the second quarter,) it was clear that the clock on Tigers’ chances to earn a birth in the inaugural 12-team playoff struck midnight. Not since 2008 had a Tiger football season began with so much hope for national championship relevance. Eight games in to the season, that team and this one are mirroring each other closely… and not in a good way.” —Nathan Hurst, No Playoffs, No Problem

Overall, the Tigers only turned the ball over six times, making high-quality passes while using all five players on the court. This included no turnovers from newly appointed point guard Nyah Wilson. The New Mexico transfer led the offense in transition with her speed and ability to knife to the basket in a Mama Dembele-esque way. She finished the game with 11 points on 5-7 shooting, 4 assists and a steal. —Dylan Heinrich, Thoughts & feelings from Mizzou WBB’s exhibition blowout win

Hot Shots

In this week’s Hot Shots, we’ve got shots from women’s hoops and softball from Cal and swimming from Mike.

Listen Up!

Here’s what you may have missed podcast-wise on the Olympic Sports and football fronts.

A Halloween spooktacular episode of my podcast Majority Rules dropped, and in it Matthew, Dylan and I chatted about costumes, candy and haunting, to go along with wrapping up softball and soccer, as well as volleyball’s recent wins.

Matthew recorded a new episode of Over the Net with Texas transfer and SEC Setter of the Week, Marina Crownover.

A new Mizzou Hoops show! Matt Watkins has taken his written version of The Verdict and swapped out it out for a video version. Up first, he is recapping Mizzou’s preseason win over Lincoln University!

On a new episode of Before the Box Score, the Nates chat about the Alabama massacre, in which Mizzou left T-Town bruised, battered and beaten down for their second loss of the season.

Mizzou Sports this Week:

Mon, Nov. 4: MBB AT Memphis, 7pm | WBB AT Vermont, 5pm

Wed, Nov. 6: VB vs. Georgia, 7pm

Thur, Nov. 7: WBB vs. Southern Univ., 6:30pm

Fri, Nov. 8: MBB vs. Howard, 7pm

Sat, Nov. 9: WR AT TigerStyle Invite (KCMO) | FB vs. Oklahoma, 6 or 6:45pm

Sun, Nov. 10: VB vs. South Carolina, 5:30pm | WBB vs. Norfolk St, 2pm

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