FanSpeak 5/30/04

SEMO not in MU's class

IWANT to write to FanSpeak to point out an absurd concept that your paper tried to push in several articles lately. You tried to make the claim that Mizzou and SEMO are rivals in baseball. Are you kidding? Yes, I am well aware of how close the head-to-head matchups between these two teams have ended the last two years, but Mizzou has still won nearly 80 percent of the games in this "rival" matchup. Not to mention, of course, when Mizzou plays SEMO they bench their aces and star players to keep them rested up for games that actually matter. Not only has Mizzou dominated this series, they have done so with their reserves. I hardly call that a "rivalry." Let's also keep in mind that Mizzou won two out of three in a series against then-No. 1 in the nation Texas and also took two out of three in a series against then-No. 12 Nebraska. Mizzou is a large step up from Southeast Missouri. What you guys were doing by calling this game a "rivalry" was a sad attempt to appeal to your clientel by making the local team appear to be better than they really are. This is not only poor journalism, it is an insult to the people you were trying to help because it shows that SEMO has little to show for themselves if they only way they can look good is for the local paper to lie about how they stack up against quality opponents.