RealClearSports
Advertisement

RealClearSports St. Louis

Missouri No Match for Kansas State

Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Pujols Gone, But Cards Still Optimistic

Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Missouri Has Power for Long NCAA Run

Sam Mellinger, Kansas City Star

So this is what the imperfect storm looks like. Shots clanking off the iron. Balls getting swatted away like flies. Thweeeeet ... thweeeet ... thweeet. Foul trouble? Big time. Tigh...(full article)

Kim English heard the question and responded quickly, with a solemn glare on his face and certain sternness in his voice. Did he see any similarities between Missouri’s 78-6...(full article)

The one thing we know for sure as we head into the newest era of the remade St. Louis Cardinals is just how much we really don't know. But isn't that what always makes baseball in ...(full article)

The St. Louis Rams say they'll listen to all inquiries for their first-round draft pick, the second overall, and they should. Then I suggest they take more step. Take...(full article)

In addition to undercoaching NBA talent, Baylor’s Scott Drew may be the world’s foremost expert on the basketball teams at Missouri and Kansas. Baylor’s last tw...(full article)

More Recent Articles

Cards Can Contend Without Pujols

The last World Series winner to undergo such a dramatic overhaul in the afterglow of its championship was the 2003 Florida Marlins, whose owners treated the ballclub like a forecl...

Show-Me State Hoops on the Rise

Dear Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and all those other allegedly superior hoop-crazed states that tend to believe a basketball rises in the East, sets in the West and in the me...

Missouri's Haith Proving Doubters Wrong

I remember the day Missouri hired Frank Haith. It was the night before last year's national title game. I was at an Irish bar near Rice University enjoying dinner and drinks...

KU-Mizzou More Than Big 12 Battle

The scene would be one of borderline hysteria merely with ESPN's "College GameDay" on-site, the tent city of students camping outside Mizzou Arena and Mizzou preparing to play supr...

Missouri Confident Facing Kansas

Kim English smiled, which is not unusual because the kid with the sweet jump shot and the megawatt grin always seems to smile. But this smirk had extra meaning. A television report...

How Mizzou Landed Top Recruit Green-Beckham

After four years of being recruited, Dorial Green-Beckham’s college decision was made in less than a minute. As he and his family drove home from his official visit to Missouri o...

In Springfield for Green-Beckham's Signing Day

8:30 AM CT -- I arrive at the Springfield Hillcrest gymnasium. Students have not been released to attend yet, so most of the crowd consists of adults from the community and, pri...

Ex-St. Louis Coach Spoonhour Dies

His college basketball teams won 373 games and, with high school and junior college, the total was just short of 700. But what Charlie Spoonhour really had wanted to do growing up ...

Could Kroenke Bring Rams Back to L.A.?

I had dinner with Georgia Frontiere, where the Rams' owner chose to tell me about each of her seven husbands — four too many for me to make a newspaper deadline and still expla...

Green-Beckham Avoids Drama, Not Hype

It's official: Dorial Green-Beckham is a Missouri Tiger. And …well, that just about sums it up. Mizzou beat out Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas for a 6-foot-6 freak of nature they...

NL Central Now Has an Identity Crisis

It isn't exactly true that every time Prince Fielder moves, the entire earth wobbles. But it's 100 percent true that when Fielder signed his monstrous nine-year, $214 million dea...

St. Louis Plans to Keep Rams

The public agency that manages the Edward Jones Dome today proposed a $124 million overhaul of the 16-year-old facility, while St. Louis city and county officials stressed that no ...

Will Cost Be Worth Keeping Rams?

With only five days to go before the first critical deadline approaches that could secure the Rams' future in St. Louis, a lot of people need to answer a few important questions. W...

Nash Breaks Through in Big Oklahoma St. Win

Shortly after he arrived on campus, Le'Bryan Nash was given a list of rules to follow as a member of the Oklahoma State basketball team. One stood out above the rest. Never say an...

Haith's Best Recruiting Done on Own Players

Frank Haith expected resistance when Missouri hired him last spring to coach its men's basketball team. He thought some players might initially give him the cold shoulder because ...

NFL to Europe? Decent Idea, But No Need

The St Louis Rams have agreed to play a home game in the United Kingdom for the next three seasons, beginning with a game on Oct. 28 against the New England Patriots at London&...

Point Guards on Display in Baylor-Mizzou

The story lines surrounding Missouri’s journey to Waco, Texas, for a showdown with Baylor this afternoon are dazzling. With the home-standing Bears ranked No. 3 in the natio...

Mizzou Latest in Haith's Unlikely Journey

The mutual reclamation project of a disrespected coach and his wounded program is only 10 months and 18 games old. That’s easy to forget sometimes, isn’t it? This is all so n...

Fisher Can End Rams' Revolving Door

Nobody does news conferences quite like the Rams. Man, if practice makes perfect, they could lead the NFL in giving news conferences. Hiring coaches. Firing coaches. Hiring general...

Fisher Restores Hope for Rams

Jeff Fisher didn't just pick the Rams over the Dolphins. He picked Stan Kroenke over Stephen Ross, preferring an owner whose style is a lot more like the Patriots' low-key Robert K...

Fisher Brings Credibility to Rams

The hiring of coach Jeff Fisher is a giant step forward for a Rams franchise that's been stuck in the landfill at Earth City for too long. One word immediately comes to mind with F...

Rams Lure Fisher With Assets, Influence

Former Titans coach Jeff Fisher spent much of this week torn between the defensive readiness of the Miami Dolphins to contend now and the better all-around shape of the Rams as a...

Fisher Chooses Rams Over Dolphins

Jeff Fisher has ended a week of drama in St. Louis and Miami by deciding to cast his lot with the Rams as head coach. "The process has been lengthy, but for good reasons," Fisher t...

Above All Rams Need More Talent

As the NFL waits for Jeff Fisher to make up his mind and decide whether he wants to be overpaid by the St. Louis Rams or the Miami Dolphins, let's call a brief timeout to state an ...

Special Night for Blues' Halak

Jaroslav Halak attempted to skate off the ice at the Bell Center and into the Blues' locker room. His teammates would have none of it. On a night when Montreal goalie Carey Price w...

Missouri Bulldozed From Unbeatens

It was 30 minutes after Kansas State’s overwhelming 75-59 victory over Missouri on Saturday afternoon, and Will Spradling and Rodney McGruder were walking and laughing. The...

Draft Pick May Help Rams Lure Fisher

The football gods must be smiling down on Stan Kroenke. While the Rams owner was putting on the full-court recruitment of Jeff Fisher on Thursday in Denver, Kroenke got a double sh...

Kroenke's Task: Sell Fisher on Rams

When I first saw the video of Jeff Fisher walking across the Miami Dolphins practice field and hopping into owner Stephen Ross' fancy private helicopter on Tuesday, I have to admit...

Bucs, Rams Not as Bad as They Appear

There was little surprise factor that the Rams' Steve Spagnuolo and the Bucs' Raheem Morris were the first two head coaches fired on the NFL's Black Monday, given that their fate ...

Rams Owner Targets Patriots Model

It's hard to know the exact moment when Stan Kroenke began to envision how much different things would be once he took control of the St. Louis Rams. Maybe it's been quietly percol...

Rams Set to Cut Loose Coach, GM

Just minutes after a Rams comeback fell short in a 34-27 loss to San Francisco, coach Steve Spagnuolo was asked if the thought crossed his mind that this could be his last game. "N...

How Long Will It Last for 4 Unbeatens?

The calendar has turned to 2012, and there are just four unbeaten teams remaining among the 345 that play Division I basketball. Three of them are from the “power leagues,” inc...

Mizzou Survives Scare, Stays Perfect

Marcus Denmon saw the opening on the fast break on a previous trip downcourt. With No. 8 Missouri getting all it could handle from Old Dominion and just over a minute left, he went...

Rams Should Keep Spagnuolo

As we watch the final days of the Rams' 2011 season wind down, Rams Park is suddenly like Paris under siege during the French Revolution. Outside the gates at Earth City is a figur...

Looking Ahead at NFL Coaching Carousel

The arithmetic is unrelenting. Since 1989, NFL teams have hired on average 6.5 new head coaches a year, and there have been a staggering 82 coaching changes made in the league fr...

Sometimes, Tanking in NFL Makes Sense

Consider the following situation that plays out several times each season: Your team leads by five points with a minute and a half to go. Your opponent has driven to your 1-yard l...

Cards, Wainwright Expect the Best

As he's advanced the past couple of weeks with his throwing program, Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright can no longer fight his nature. He'll get to one of his last pitches of a wor...

Rams Have Institutional Issues

We are now down to the final week of this decidedly disappointing Rams season, which has only been notable for producing almost as many losses as offensive touchdowns. With results...

Gruden Could Wind Up Coaching Rams

It will be a dizzying week atop the Chargers power structure, and the possibilities only keep getting more intriguing. The first order of business for team president Dean Spanos is...

NHL Coaching Changes Yielding Little

Bruce Boudreau was hired to coach the Ducks on Nov. 30, two days after he had been fired by the Washington Capitals. He wasn't last on the seniority list for long. "I think I'm ab...

Beltran Gives Cards Best Shot at Repeating

Once upon a time, Carlos Beltran did things that would take your breath away. The St. Louis Cardinals aren't getting that Beltran. They're getting one who'll celebrate his 35th bir...

No Replacing Pujols, But Beltran Solid

If you were searching for the ideal replacement for Albert Pujols, then move along, because you won't find it. There is only one Pujols, and he's gone. The Cardinals, however, did ...

Missouri Earns Bragging Rights

Even as ninth-ranked Mizzou clobbered each of its first 11 opponents by double digits, most of them by 25 or more, MU coach Frank Haith said last week he knew the true challenges w...

Balance Behind Missouri's Success

In multiple meanings of the word, balance has defined No. 9 Mizzou's surprising and exhilarating start and helps explain the Tigers' claim to being the top team in the area and per...

Without Pujols, Cards Can Reshape

Once the smog of disappointment and frustration cleared from the failed negotiations for Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals were left with one word that described the franchise...

La Russa Says Decision Pained Pujols

Despite keeping his distance during the final volley of talks between the Cardinals and free agent icon Albert Pujols, former Redbirds manager Tony La Russa believes the divorce of...

Rams Should Give Bradford a Rest

Once upon a time in St. Louis, the pro football conversations in December were about such weighty issues as the pursuit of "Max Q" perfection, the chase for NFL records, which team...

Firing Spagnuolo Could Be a Mistake

On the same dark Monday when two NFL owners were busy firing their head coaches, Rams owner Stan Kroenke watched from a distance as his team put on a rather unsightly nationally te...

Unfair, Inaccurate to Compare Pujols, LeBron

The word fan is of course short for fanatical. And in their fanatical state of mind, some sports fans lose sight of reality and allow emotion to rule the day. Though St Louis is a ...

Pujols Gets Payday But No Sympathy

Watching a nervous and clearly conflicted Albert Pujols on the stage in Anaheim, I kept thinking: Why wasn't he happy? Pujols already had a dream of a life, a fantasy, and it just ...

Best Free Agent Pitcher Getting No Buzz

Now that C.J. Wilson has signed a five-year, $77.5 million contract with the Angels, the way is clear for the best free-agent starting pitcher to get paid. Doesn't sound right? C...

Pujols Will Make Angels Resonate in Hollywood

They've always been the other team, the outsiders, for 50 years, their entire existence. They changed ballparks, changed logos, changed names. They played in Dodger Stadium, call...

Pujols Cashes In But Image Takes Costly Hit

Just call him Fat Contract Albert. Mr. Pujols is going to Anaheim, where he should officially change his name to Albert Pujol$. Sorry to be snide, but weren’t we all hoping thi...

Replacing Pujols Not as Hard as It Seems

Don't cry for the Cardinals. Yes they just lost one of the greatest players in baseball history to free agency, but there's life after Albert Pujols in St. Louis. In the long ter...

Market for Pujols: Cardinals, Marlins

Free agency has reached a critical time for Albert Pujols(notes), the three-time MVP whose market appears to have narrowed to the incumbent St. Louis Cardinals and upstart Miami Ma...

Blues' Stewart Suspended 3 Games

The NHL has suspended Blues forward Chris Stewart three games after his illegal hit on Niklas Kronwall in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Detroit. As you can see in the Youtube video c...

Manager Done After 33 Seasons

The Cardinals announced this morning that manager Tony La Russa has retired after 33 seasons in a major-league dugout, the last 16 seasons of which was spent with the Cardinals. "T...

Rangers' Pitchers Never Came Close

It ended not with a bang, nor the boom they had become accustomed to, but with a whimper. And when it was over and their heartbreak complete, the Texas Rangers filed back into th...

Cards Have Chance to Repeat

In the corner of the champagne-soaked clubhouse, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina -- half of the old guard of the Cardinals -- embraced. They pulled their heads together so their ...

Freese Named World Series MVP

David Freese had already become a household name after Game 6. After the Cardinals' third baseman doubled in a pair of runs in the first inning of Game 7 on Friday night, it was ...

Pujols Has No Reason to Leave

Ask Albert Pujols about his 445 home runs or his .328 career batting average and he looks bored. More times than I can remember, I have heard him say, "You know I'm not about the...

Rangers Can't Be Counted Out

Nolan Ryan walked down a long hallway deep inside Busch Stadium moments after Game 6 of the World Series. His head was down. He was wearing a long black overcoat. He looked like ...

No Shortage of MVP Candidates

Mike Napoli: The only flaw on his resume is the throwing error in Game 3 that contributed to the Cardinals' four-run fourth inning. But Napoli has sparkled defensively—throwi...

Is Recovery Possible for Rangers?

One pitch away in the ninth. One pitch away in the 10th. Both times, one pitch away from a World Championship, one pitch away from baseball's glory land after four decades of you...

Fan Returns Home Run Ball to Freese

Though the mad scramble for David Freese's(notes) home run ball looked like a spontaneous mess on Thursday night, the truth is that Dave Huyette (center) and his friend Jeremy Rei...

Game 6 Full of Heroes, Goats

History will say this is wrong. History always does. Tell yourself you've watched the greatest game in your life, maybe the greatest game in anyone's life, and histor...

Rainout Actually Helps Rangers

Will Chris Carpenter start for the Cardinals if the World Series goes to Game 7?I'm not sure about that, but I do know that Alexi Ogando, Mike Adams&n...

Managers Face Tough Decisions

A hand-shy Major League Baseball postponed Wednesday night’s Game 6 because of the threat of rain, which wasn’t a terrible idea, because there’s nothing more fu...

Postponement Alters Series

Nearly five hours before the scheduled first pitch and even before the tarp was placed across the Busch Stadium infield, Major League Baseball decided to postpone Game 6 of World...

Pujols' Future at Center of Series

Either one or two games remain in the 2011 baseball season, one or both of which will be played in St. Louis, one or both of which will carry the wrenching tensions that have def...

Rainout Would Benefit Cardinals

Tony La Russa didn't spend Tuesday getting unlimited talk and text for the bullpen phone. The Cardinals manager said he screwed up, that it was his failure to communicate that ma...

Was La Russa Providing Cover?

He looked to me like a man stepping gamely in front of a bullet. Hell, a hail of ‘em. Thing is, what if he were covering for someone he adores? His best friend, Dave Duncan?...

Cards Have Reason for Optimism

For the second time this World Series, there was no "happy flight" for the Cardinals. They had won 15 straight games on getaway day before blowing a ninth-inning lead in Game 2 a...

Washington Outmanages La Russa

Back to you, St. Loo. The Rangers are returning, hot, hopeful and all-Napped up. A wild child of a World Series has reached an elimination point, with the Rangers now on the swee...

Carpenter Gets Little Support

ARLINGTON -- For all the talk about resilience, spirit and togetherness, another trait has defined the 2011 Cardinals from start to finish: It's been one strange, eventful season. ...

Rangers Win Wacky Game 5

ARLINGTON, Texas -- There were about 51,000 Rangers fans in attendance for Game 5 of the World Series. Considering each lost 10 pounds in nervous sweat during this crazy, inexplica...

Wildness Catches Up to Cardinals

After Derek Holland's masterpiece, we know that there will be at least one more game at Busch Stadium this season. That's not all we learned from the Rangers' 4-0 Game 4 victory S...

Napoli Provides Cushion for Rangers

If your plumber played baseball, he’d probably be Mike Napoli(notes). You know, built bottom heavy, a little on the round side, an enduring three-day scruff, rakishly unappl...

Cardinals Self-Destruct in Defeat

The deeper things traveled into this warm Texas night, the more the vibe in Rangers Ballpark kept changing. The night began with 51,459 Texas Rangers fans feeling like nervous wrec...

Carpenter Can Tilt Series Back

From Chris Carpenter's perspective, it would have been nice to pitch a potential clinching World Series Game 5 at Rangers Ballpark. From his team's perspective, the alternative i...

Big Opportunity for Cards' Craig

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Allen Craig grew up in Temecula, Calif., the same town that produced Chicago Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson, former Denver Broncos running back Terrel...

Series About to Take About-Face

As the St. Louis Cardinals arrived deep in the heart of Texas on Friday afternoon lugging their bruised competitive psyches and anemic offense around like so much dead weight, it d...

Rangers Rediscover Run Game

Finally, at the very last moment, when they were three outs away from falling behind two games to none in their second straight World Series, the Rangers started to play their br...

La Russa Loses Magic Touch

Late in World Series Game 2, as the Cardinals were trying to win a 1-0 game for the first time in their 107-game World Series history, and every pitch and managerial move carried...

Cards Squander Golden Opportunity

The Cardinals were on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead in the World Series. They were moments away, really. Inches from having the World Series in their grip, never to let go. I...

Series Not for Faint of Heart

ST. LOUIS -- In the absence of hitting, the Texas Rangers turned their bag of tricks upside down Thursday night and let their World Series chips fall where they may. Up came Elvi...

Second-Guessing Washington

You know how people talk about some players being such good batters they could step up to the plate in the middle of January and get a hit? Esteban German is not one of those guys...

Carpenter Sets Tone for Series

The baseball postseason was degenerating into sloppy slugfests in which relief pitchers were getting more outs than starting pitchers. What in the name of Bob Gibson had happened...

Cards Capitalize on Opportunities

We came here expecting the sound track to Game 1 of the 2011 World Series to be crashing cymbals, exploding sky rockets and the constant knee knocking of bewildered starting pitche...

Craig Could Continue to Make Impact

It’s not Craig Allen. Maybe in a phone book somewhere it’s Craig, Allen. The name is Allen Craig(notes), and after he drove in the winning run with a clutch pinch hit t...

Coaches on the Hot Seat

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the biggest move teams looking for a change can make is to fire the head coach. There are obvious names on the hot seat -- Tony Spa...

Carpenter's Elbow Troubles Cards

Carpenter has lost nearly three full seasons to elbow and shoulder injuries since joining the Cardinals prior to the 2003 season, but he has remained healthy over the past two ye...

Brewers Losing Grip on Series

During the course of baseball's 162-game regular season, the concept of momentum has limited relevance. But in the playoffs, momentum seemingly shifts from inning to inning, and m...

Bullpen Gives Cardinals Upper Hand

The fifth hitter of the fifth inning of the fifth game brought the Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers to the pivot point of a close-as-kin series. Two teams that had evenly divided 22...

Cards Take Series Lead in Rout

A bullpen that cost them so many wins early in the season has put the Cardinals one win away from the National League pennant. Pressed into early duty for the fifth consecutive gam...

St. Louis Sports News

Daily performances

Girls Basketball Best Performances from 02/21/2012 SCORING LEADERS (Min. 1 ...

Daily performances

Boys Basketball Best Performances from 02/21/2012 SCORING LEADERS (Min. 1 G...

Report: Pujols objects to "El Hombr

JUPITER, Fla. • It has been a story that manager Tony La Russa likes to ...