I’m on the road with Mizzou on my mind.
Right foot down, left arm out, my unassuming Honda Accord pushing myself and most of my belongings through the Newark smog, over Pennsylvania’s rolling hills and into Ohio, westward. With each state border speeding past, the windows further close and the air turns higher. I’m from the coast, from where there is water.
This is Big 10 territory. Before the end of the trip I’ll see signs for State College, Bloomington and Champaign. I’ll have driven right through Columbus. With the semester rapidly approaching, I think of how many cars just like mine will be pulling off this road and into residence halls, classes and eventually football stadiums. But not me, not yet. I have Mizzou on my mind.
Giant black billboards welcome me to the home stretch as I stumble into the “Show Me” state. “Proud to be SEC,” they read, bold white letters flanking a photo of the new Nike Pro Combat football uniform.
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Part of a $400,000 campaign that has placed billboards as deep in the South as Georgia and Florida, the signs are grand gestures that tread the line between school pride and outlandish arrogance, constructed by MU to welcome themselves to the grandest sports conference in the land.
Like they say, you’re proud.
You’re proud to be a part of the conference called home by the last six BCS national champions. You’re proud to be a part of the conference that produced last year’s NCAA men’s basketball champions and the country’s player of the year. You’re proud to be a part of the conference that had 62 players taken in the latest Major League Baseball draft, the one with the nation’s top women’s tennis and softball teams and the one that closes entire towns down for kickoff.
You’re proud, because now you’re part of the best.
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But are you ready?
Are you ready for defensive ends the size of boulders and shortstops as quick as thieves? Are you ready for your facilities to hold the largest crowds our school has ever seen? Are you ready for Razorbacks, Gators, Tide, Gamecocks and two more Tigers?
The $102 million in renovations going toward the football, baseball, softball, tennis and golf facilities will help. That money is what officials are calling stage one of a plan that could eventually total $200 million worth of facility upgrades on campus.
>The signs are grand gestures that tread the line between school pride and outlandish arrogance, constructed by MU to welcome themselves to the grandest sports conference in the land.
But even that kind of money only stretches so far.
MU’s $56.4 million athletic budget from a year ago will surely rise, but it’s not expected to match the likes of new rivals like Florida or Alabama, who spent $107.2 million and $105.1 million in 2011, respectively, according to USA Today.
Even after renovations, Memorial Stadium will still hold just 77,000 fans, good for ninth in the SEC in seating capacity. Places like Gainesville and Death Valley routinely host six-digit crowds on Saturdays.
In baseball, eight SEC schools averaged more than 3,000 fans per game last season. MU’s numbers toiled in the mid-hundreds and failed to crack the top 50 in the country. After renovations, Taylor Stadium will have a new sod surface and a larger capacity, but if interest remains lukewarm the changes will just result in more empty seats.
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In the end, it’ll all boil down to how the players perform on the field. There’s much to be excited about on that front too, and much to be proud of. Dorial Green-Beckham should shoot some downfield excitement into Gary Pinkel’s vertical offense. Baseball recruit Alec Rash was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Phillies, but will be bringing his 95 mph fastball to Columbia instead. All-American Chelsea Thomas is back on the hill for Missouri softball. Phil Pressey and company are returning, too.
So just remember when you’re passing one of those billboards, wherever you are, what they signify. Remember that they represent a new year, a new beginning and a new era in MU athletics.
Welcome to the SEC, Tiger fans. And welcome back.
