When stopping for a “treat” at an ice cream shop, there was different levels. If it was a special day, it was a 2 scoop day. Normal days were just 1 scoop. If things hadn’t gone well, in some way or the other.. it was a 0 scoop day (no stop at all). Let’s buy some ice cream for the sports world right now.

…Mizzou football gets a 2 scoop award. I was actually encouraged, very encouraged last week, by their play against LSU. Mizzou matched up physically with the always talented LSU roster. No…Mizzou doesn’t have a QB like Jayden Daniels. I don’t think there are many, if any, teams that do matchup with him. LSU’s QB Soph Jayden Daniels  is clearly close to the top of every Heisman Trophy projection. His throwing & unbelievable speed probably make this his last year in college football. MU moved the ball consistently on the ground with Cory Schrader, who’s #2 in rushing in SEC with 577 yards. I chuckle every time announcers describe him. They don’t know how to do it…he’s not REAL BIG, REAL FAST, or REAL QUICK and didn’t have ANY PRESS about transferring to Mizzou. But, he knows how to set up blocks, follow blocks, has good vision for seeing the field, keep his legs moving while running low to the ground. His background playing @ Lutheran South (not really a “football” school), then going to D-II Truman State probably “short changed” his evaluation. Schrader is #2 in rushing in SEC!! Mizzou football gets a 1++ scoop for finding him AND Schrader gets a 2 scoop for his play!!

… This week the Tigers handled a strong Kentucky team 38-21. MU fell behind 14-0 Coach Drink used a fake punt pass to ignite his team. It was a daring play to call but it turned the tide for the Tigers. As the game unfolded, Mizzou seemed to take better control of the line of scrimmage. The increased usage of WR Theo Wease was necessary as Luther Burden Jr was a marked man for the Kentucky defense. In this NCAA era, wide receivers & QB are the stars of the team. Brady Cook isn’t flashy, doesn’t possess tremendous speed or a real strong arm, but he’s quick mentally. He adapts quickly and is a real leader. He may never take a snap in the NFL but he’s a strong collegiate QB. Can you believe it—Mizzou is Bowl Eligible (6 wins) on Oct 14th!!! Let’s give Mizzou ANOTHER 2 scoop weekend win!

….There is only 1 unbeaten team in the SEC-Georgia 7-0. Mizzou & Alabama are 6-1. Bama was rated #10 this week. From my view, its strictly due to their name. Bama’s current record shows wins over Middle Tennessee, S. Florida, Mississippi, Miss St, Texas A&M by 6 points, and yesterday Arkansas by 3 points. They lost to Texas 34-24. I wish that voters would actually vote for teams on the quality of their wins (forget their name, reputation and Head Coach). In 1 poll, LSU was rated ahead of Mizzou!!! How can that be?  Mizzou beat them on the field! I bet if it was done by a computer, the rankings would be radically different. Too many current voters seem to have an allegiance to “their” team and vote blindly to keep THAT team high in the rankings. No… Mizzou is NOT my alma mater. My college didn’t have football! They deserve it…those were 2 good wins.

…Mizzou basketball came out of nowhere last year under HC Dennis Gates. They were good, fun to watch and pushed MU way up the ladder in the SEC. Their “run & gun from distance” was effective & run to watch. Predicted @ #8 this year (which I think is far too low), Gates has  Noah Carter, Nick Honor, Sean East II and Aidan Shaw returning from 22-23 roster Using the portal, they’ve added John Tonje (Colorado State), Tamar Bates (Indiana), Caleb Grill (Iowa State), Jesus Carralero (Campbell) and Connor Vanover (Oral Roberts). And… a 7-5 center Connor Vanover is a 7-foot-5 presence who should provide quite the anchor support on the interior after producing 3.2 ppg this past season in the Summit League. He’s already been @ Arkansas & Oral Roberts. Sooo… I’m not expecting him to score much. MU has those type of players already. He’s here to add to the boards in a substantial way. Considering the their need for rebounding…it’s a 1+ scoop day for MU.

…A couple MLB teams have long-standing tradition of good baseball. Namely…the Yankees, Dodgers & Cardinals. However in recent vintage, things have changed. Earning a 2 Scoop rating is the Houston Astroes. They are the ONLY team ever to win a post-season game in 6 straight years. It’s actually  7 straight years but I refuse to acknowledge the “trash can banging” Asstroes year of 2017. Nonetheless they have earned a respect for adding & developing younger stars to their roster WHILE still reaching the post-season win column. The Astros mgmt team has manufactured a very strong team– good hitters with average & power, strong bullpen, speed & power. Astros get 2 SCOOPS for their consistency!

…Seemingly off the radar (at least my radar) are the Arizona D-Backs. AZ swept the Dodgers in 3 games in NLDS. But…it wasn’t a fluke…it was DOMINATION over LA by a team that finished 16 games behind LA in the regular season. Take a look..in the 27 innings of the series, the Dodgers NEVER had the lead at any point! This isn’t anything new for the Dodgers, in 4 of the past 5 years, LA has been eliminated by teams that were more than a dozen games behind them at the end of the regular season. The owners have to be looking @ their management team. In 2023, LA paid the 5^th highest team salary scale. Arizona was 21^st on the salary scale…just slightly above ½ of the LA salary base. Yet, LA NEVER HAD THE LEAD at any point of the series!!! It’s a ZERO scoop for the Dodgers!!

…The Biggest Surprise to me in the post-season was the Atlanta Braves. In the regular season, they were shutout only twice all season! Atlanta led the majors in runs scored, batting average, on-base %, slugging % and several other categories. Atlanta out-homered its closest competition in that department (the Los Angeles Dodgers) by a 307-249 margin. But in the post-season, their bats went silent. In the ’23 post season, Atlanta batted .186 as a team, scored 8 runs total in 4 games, with a team OPS of .519 (pitiful). Clearly Atlanta is another ZERO scoop award winner for the playoffs.

….Instead of me “guessing” about which organizations had a strong minor league system, I used some sports experts. Over the past several years the research that they’ve formed  has found that the top teams that place near the top in MLB Pipeline’s biannual rankings almost always parlay their prospects into big league success in the very near future. Going back to when they first started evaluating organizational talent before the 2015 season, four of the first five No. 1 rated systems (Cubs pre-2015, Red Sox mid-2015, Dodgers pre-2016, Braves pre-2017) won World Series titles in four years or less. They listed Baltimore @ #1 this  year. This isn’t anything new for the O’s in their rankings. They were2023 preseason- rank# 1; 2022 midseason rank-# 1;2022 preseason rank# 1 & 2021 midseason rank# 1.The O’s made the playoffs this year and got bounced quickly by a loaded Texas team. But…they should be contenders for the next couple years. The O’s do get a “2 scoop” rating for their  system. But…sadly, the Cards received a #22 ranking of the 30 MLB teams. We’ve already seen most of these “prospects”–only  Walker & Wynn are our “studs”. Still one has to wonder.…can Wynn hit?? There are only 1 or 2 others with high promise that we haven’t seen yet. Namely, Tink Hence & other prospects that were obtained in trades.  Sooooo….I’m, unfortunately, giving the Cards a ZERO scoop award. With that tiny number of “real” prospects, it doesn’t appear that Cards really seem to have “star” depth “coming up” except for the 2 guys that we’ve seen already.   Get ready for more of the same as ’23.

….Well….I’m out of SCOOPS!  Thanks for taking your time to read it!  Let’s hear from you with some of your “scoop” rankings—2, or 1, or maybe NONE! If you enjoyed it, please pass the word to your friends/family. Have a “2 Scoop” week!!