Francis Quadrangle, including Jesse Hall,
the University administration building
Last Saturday, the University of Missouri opened their 2021 football season by defeating Central Michigan University, 34-24 at Faurot Field.
Tonight, they play away to the University of Kentucky. Next Saturday, they play host to Southeast Missouri State University.
Before You Go. Check the Kansas City Star website for the weather forecast before you go. (The rival Kansas City Times stopped publishing in 1990.) Missouri can get really hot in the summer, and this time will be no exception. It should be in the low 90s by day, and the high 60s at night. No rain is predicted, though.
Kansas City is in the Central Time Zone, an hour behind New York and New Jersey. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.
Tickets. Missouri averaged 52,000 fans at 65,000-seat Faurot Field in 2019, the last season with attendance figures. The availability of tickets shouldn't be a problem. Tickets are $65 at midfield, $45 toward the end zones, and $25 in the north end zone, "The Hill."
Getting There. It's 1,073 miles from Midtown Manhattan to Faurot Field. Knowing this, your first reaction is going to be to fly out there. But Columbia only has a regional airport. You might have to fly to St. Louis (Lambert International Airport is 112 miles to the east) or Kansas City (their International Airport is 147 miles tot he west), and drive the rest of the way. So it doesn't make sense to list airfares.
Bus? Greyhound goes to Columbia. The total time is about 28 hours, and costs $458 round-trip, although it can drop to as little as $307 with advanced purchase. But here's why that's not a good idea, either: The Greyhound terminal is at 6401 U.S. Route 40, about 7 miles west of downtown, with no public transit connector.
Train? Allegedly, Amtrak goes to Columbia. But while I was able to get a train schedule and fare for another upcoming game, their website wasn't giving me any information about Columbia. So I'm forced to say that Amtrak is not an option on this occasion.
sends the Lake Shore Limited out of Penn Station at 3:40 PM Eastern Time, to Union Station in Chicago at 9:50 AM Central Time. Then you have to switch to the Southwest Chief – the modern version of the Santa Fe Railroad's Chicago-to-Los Angeles Super Chief, the train that, along with his Cherokee heritage, gave 1950s Yankee pitcher Allie Reynolds his nickname.
The Southwest Chief leaves Chicago at 2:50 PM, and arrives at Union Station in K.C. at 10:00 PM, meaning you would need to leave New York on Wednesday afternoon to get there Thursday night, about 21 hours ahead of the Friday game, in order to attend the entire series. Round trip fare is $524. K.C.'s Union Station is at Pershing Road and Main Street. Take the MAX bus to get downtown.
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If you decide to drive, it's far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. You'll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike, and take Interstate 78 West across New Jersey, and at Harrisburg get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which at this point will be both I-70 and I-76. When the two Interstates split outside Pittsburgh, stay on I-70 west.
You'll cross the northern tip of West Virginia, and go all the way across Ohio (through Columbus), Indiana (through Indianapolis), Illinois and very nearly Missouri (through the northern suburbs of St. Louis). You'll begin the Missouri section in St. Louis, on the Stan Musial Memorial Bridge. (The St. Louis portion of I-70 had been the Mark McGwire Highway, but after the steroid revelations, it was renamed the Mark Twain Highway.) In Missouri, Exit 126 will be for Columbia.
The Southwest Chief leaves Chicago at 2:50 PM, and arrives at Union Station in K.C. at 10:00 PM, meaning you would need to leave New York on Wednesday afternoon to get there Thursday night, about 21 hours ahead of the Friday game, in order to attend the entire series. Round trip fare is $524. K.C.'s Union Station is at Pershing Road and Main Street. Take the MAX bus to get downtown.
Union Station in Kansas City. This city has a fountain fetish.
You'll cross the northern tip of West Virginia, and go all the way across Ohio (through Columbus), Indiana (through Indianapolis), Illinois and very nearly Missouri (through the northern suburbs of St. Louis). You'll begin the Missouri section in St. Louis, on the Stan Musial Memorial Bridge. (The St. Louis portion of I-70 had been the Mark McGwire Highway, but after the steroid revelations, it was renamed the Mark Twain Highway.) In Missouri, Exit 126 will be for Columbia.
If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, 3 hours and 45 minutes in Ohio, 2 hours and 30 minutes in Indiana, 2 hours and 30 minutes in Illinois, and 2 hours and 15 minutes in Missouri before you reach the exit for your hotel. That's going to be nearly 17 and a half hours. Counting rest stops, preferably 7 of them, it should be about 27 hours.
Once In the City. Missouri was admitted to the Union as the 24th State on August 10, 1821, as a result of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. So the State is celebrating its Bicentennial this year.
Once In the City. Missouri was admitted to the Union as the 24th State on August 10, 1821, as a result of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. So the State is celebrating its Bicentennial this year.
"Columbia" is an old name used to describe America, derived from the alleged discoverer, Christopher Columbus. The city was incorporated in 1826, and is home to about 125,000 people, not counting UM students. They're about 81 percent white, 11 percent black, 5 percent Asian, and 3 percent Hispanic. In other words, this is not St. Louis or Kansas City.
But it's a fairly liberal college town. Of Missouri's 115 Counties, only 4 voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020: St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (whose seat is Columbia). This matched 2016: Hillary Clinton only got the same 4 Counties, too.
Overall, Trump got 56.8 percent of the vote in Missouri, to Biden's 41.4. Missouri never seceded from the Union, but it was a slave State before the American Civil War, and the Confederate States of America put 13 stars on its flag, counting Missouri and Kentucky even though they didn't secede. It was the home State of Jesse James and his gang, who had been Confederate guerrillas. It's the home State of Branson, "the Redneck Vegas." And it was the home State of Rush Limbaugh, the most damaging radio show host in American history, a man who made Father Coughlin of 1930s Detroit look like an honest moderate.
Examine the case of Cameron Tucker, the character played by Eric Stonestreet on the recent ABC sitcom Modern Family. Cam grew up in rural Missouri, and loved being a farmboy. And he was a high school football star. And as long as he was just the affable farmboy football star in the Tucker family, the rural local yokels loved him. But he was gay, and they rejected him.
So he got a scholarship, and played major-college football -- at the University of Illinois. (In real life, Stonestreet is from Kansas City, Kansas, not a farm town, played football at Kansas State, and is straight.) And he moved to Los Angeles, where he could be himself as a public school teacher, and was eventually accepted as a head football coach who happened to be gay. In the show's last season, a fictional NCAA Division II school in rural Missouri, aware that he was gay, hired him as their head coach.
The Columbia Daily Tribune is the daily newspaper. It does not have a highway "beltway." Broadway is the city's north-side address divider, and Grant Avenue its east-west divider.
Columbia, Missouri is nicknamed "COMO," and COMO Transit runs the buses. Fares are currently suspended, so rides are free. The Columbia Water & Light Department runs the water and electricity. ZIP Codes start with 652. The Area Code is 573. The State sales tax is 4.225 percent. The State Capitol is in Jefferson City, 30 miles south of the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
The Missouri State House,
on the Missouri River in Jefferson City
Most people pronounce the State's name as "Mih-ZOOR-ee." But natives tend to pronounce it "Mih-ZOOR-ah."
Once On Campus. The University of Missouri, or "Mizzou," was founded in 1839, making it the 1st public university west of the Mississippi River. During the Civil War, Columbia residents formed a militia that became known as "The Fighting Tigers of Columbia," and this led to Mizzou's sports teams being named the Tigers.
The main building, Academic Hall, burned down in 1892. So nearly every building on campus has been built since then. In 1908, Mizzou founded the world's 1st journalism school. Mizzou was director John Landis' 1st choice of a campus on which to film National Lampoon's Animal House, but he was turned down. He eventually got permission from the University of Oregon to stand in for the fictional Faber College.
Notable Mizzou alumni from outside sports include:
* Entertainment: Actors George C. Scott, Robert Loggia, Tom Berenger, Kate Capshaw, Jon Hamm, Chris Cooper and David Koechner; screenwriters Richard Matheson and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason; singer Sheryl Crow. Brad Pitt attended, and remains one credit short of graduation.
* Literature: Tennessee Williams, William Least Heat-Moon, Jeffrey Deaver, and cartoonist Mort Walker.
* Business: Sam Walton, founder of Walmart; Edward D. "Ted" Jones, founder of Edward Jones Investments, whose name used to be on the dome that was home to the St. Louis Rams; Ken Lay, Enron crook; Stan Kroenke, real-estate mogul, Walmart in-law, and owner of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, MLS' Colorado Rapids, and the Premier League's Arsenal of London.
* Journalism: Conservative newspaper columnist James J. Kilpatrick, PBS News anchor Jim Lehrer, USA Today editor Ken Paulson, NBC News reporter Lisa Myers, ABC News reporter Elizabeth Vargas, CBS weekend news anchor Russ Mitchell, CNN host Chuck Roberts, and Fox News hosts Major Garrett and Jon Scott.\
* Government, representing the State of Missouri unless otherwise stated: Governors Guy Park '33, Forrest Donnel '45, James T. Blair Jr. '57, John M. Dalton '61, Warren Hearnes '65, Mel Carnahan '93, Roger Wilson '00, Jay Nixon '09, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Ted Kulongoski of Oregon; Senators Kaine, Claire McCaskill and Martin Heinrich (in his case, of New Mexico), Congressman Ike Skelton, and corrupt Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California.
* Military: Enoch Crowder, Provost Marshal of the U.S. Army during World War I, who issued the famous "work or fight" order.
* Also, Dr. Debbye Turner, veterinarian and Miss America 1990.
From sports other than football, Mizzou has produced baseball players Mike Shannon, Sonny Siebert, Art Shamsky, Tim Laudner, Kyle Gibson, Ian Kinsler, David Freese, Max Scherzer, and broadcaster Skip Caray; and basketball players Norm Stewart, Larry Drew, Phil Pressey, Steve Stipanovich and Kareem Rush.
Going In. Like so many college football stadiums built in the 1920s, right after World War I, Mizzou named its facility that opened in 1926 "Memorial Stadium." The 90-feet-wide-by-95-feet-high rock "M" in the north end zone was added in 1927. In 1972, the playing surface was named Faurot Field, for Don Faurot (1902-1995), a 3-sport Mizzou athlete who served as the school's head coach from 1935 to 1956, and its athletic director from 1935 to 1967 (in each case, except during World War II).
The stadium is nicknamed "The Zou," short for "Mizzou" but also a play on "The Zoo." The official address is 600 E. Stadium Blvd., about a mile south of downtown Columbia. There is no bus service from downtown to the stadium. If you drive in, parking is $7.00.
It had 25,000 seats upon its opening, was expanded to 44,000 in 1961, 51,000 in 1971, 62,000 in 1978, 68,000 in 1998, and 71,000 in 2014, before a renovation brought it back down to 61,620 in 2019. The field, which runs north-to-south (slightly northeast-to-southwest) was switched from real grass to OmniTurf in 1985, back to grass in 1995, to FieldTurf in 2003, and they just decided to risk debilitating injury and even death by switching to AstroTurf this season. Boo.
- Cash-free checkout throughout the stadium. All major credit cards will be accepted.
- Concessions menus have been streamlined to feature fan favorite and top-selling dishes, in order to maximize speed-of-service.
- Specialty menu items have been distributed evenly across concourse concession stands, giving fans access to more variety closer to their seats, and reducing foot traffic around the concourse.
- Dining locations will use fully-enclosed packaging, pre-wrapped items, disposable utensils, plates, and single use condiments
- Floor decals, signage, stanchions, and Plexiglas barriers at concourse dining locations will ensure proper social distance
- All dining areas will be disinfected during and after each event. All direct surface contact areas are wiped down frequently.
Team History Displays. Mizzou began playing football in 1890. From 1892 to 1897, they belonged to the Western Interstate University Football Association, winning its title in 1893, 1894 and 1895. They became an independent again, and then, in 1907, joined the league that would evolve into today's Big 12 Conference.
As the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1907 to 1927, they won its title in 1909, 1913, 1919, 1924, 1925 and 1927. As the Big Six Conference from 1928 to 1947, they won it in 1939, 1941, 1942 and 1945. As the Big Seven Conference from 1947 to 1957, they never won it. As the Big Eight Conference from 1957 to 1995, they won it in 1960 and 1969. But they haven't won it since.
In 1996, the Big 8 picked up half of the dissolved Southwest Conference, and became the Big 12, and Mizzou won the North Division in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In 2012, Mizzou joined the Southeastern Conference, winning the East Division in 2013 and 2014.
Mizzou have been to 33 bowl games (and were selected for the 2020 Music City Bowl in Nashville, but it was canceled due to COVID restrictions), winning 15. The won the Orange Bowl in 1960, losing it in 1939, 1959 and 1969. They won the Sugar Bowl in 1965, losing it in 1941. They won the Cotton Bowl in 2007 and 2013, losing it in 1945.
In addition, they've won the 1962 Bluebonnet Bowl, the 1968 Gator Bowl, the 1973 Sun Bowl, the 1978 Liberty Bowl, the 1979 Hall of Fame Classic, the 1981 Tangerine Bowl, the 1998 Insight.com Bowl, the 2005 and 2011 Independence Bowls, the 2008 Alamo Bowl, and the 2014 Citrus Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl).
They've retired 6 numbers for 7 players: 23 for 1960s running back Johnny Roland and 1960s cornerback Roger Wehrli; 27 for 1990s running back Brock Olivo; 37 for 1940s end Bob Steuber; 42 for 1940s center Darold Jenkins; 44 for 1939s halfback Paul Christman; and 83 for 1970s tight end Kellen Winslow Sr.
None of these achievements is on display in the fan-viewable areas of the stadium.
Christman, Steuber, Roland, Winslow and Wehrli are in the College Football Hall of Fame. So are 1910s tackle Ed Travis and 1940s center Darold Jenkins. So are 5 Mizzou head coaches, although only Faurot is there based on what he did at Missouri: The others are Bill Roper (better known for what he did at Princeton), Jim Phelan (the University of Washington), Frank Broyles (University of Arkansas) and Dan Devine (Notre Dame). Wehrli and Winslow are also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A statue of Faurot stands outside the stadium's north entrance.
Despite the longstanding rivalries between Chicago and St. Louis in baseball and hockey, Missouri does not have a big rivalry with the University of Illinois, mainly because their conference commitments prevent them from playing each other every season.
At least they have the right name for it, playing on the Gateway Arch separating St. Louis from Illinois: The Arch Rivalry. Missouri leads 17-7, last playing in 2010. Illinois' last win was in 1994. That was the last time it was played on either school's campus (in Champaign): The 2002, '03, '07, '08, '09 and '10 games were played at the Dome in St. Louis, on "neutral ground" (despite it being on Missouri soil -- or plastic).
Because Missouri never seceded from the Union, and Arkansas did, the rivalry between the Tigers and the Razorbacks is called the Battle Line Rivalry. Conference alignments kept them apart: They only played in 1906, 1944, 1963, 2003 (in the Independence Bowl, Arkansaas won) and 2008 (in the Cotton Bowl, Mizzou won) before Mizzou joined Arkansas in the SEC. Mizzou leads, 9-3. They play for the Battle Line Trophy, a steel outline of the States' borders.
But Missouri's real rivals are the University of Kansas. This was the 1st college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River, and there is real history behind it, not just sports history. Real history. Really bloody history. They didn't call the Jayhawk State "Bleeding Kansas" for nothing.
In the years immediately before, during, and even for a little while after the American Civil War, there was some deadly serious fighting. Kansas was a free State, Missouri a slave State, although it never joined the Confederacy. Confederate sympathizers from Missouri would cross over and wreak havoc in Kansas, including in Lawrence.
On May 21, 1856, "the Sacking of Lawrence" occurred. On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led Quantrill's Raiders (including a young pair of brothers named Frank and Jesse James) in a massacre, killing 164 people, all civilians. The football rivalry between Kansas and Missouri became known as the Border War, and, perhaps appropriately, was first played on October 31, 1891 -- Halloween.
An agreement was reached to resume the series in 2025 at Missouri and 2026 at Kanss, and again in 2031 at Missouri and 2032 at Kansas.
Stuff. There is a Tiger Team Store under the north end of Faurot Field. The Mizzou Store, including the University Bookstore, is on campus at 901 Rollins Street.
Books about the team include Mizzourah! Memorable Moments in Missouri Tiger Football History, by Dan Donoho and Todd O'Brien, published in 2004, before things got really good for the Tigers. In 2013, Mark Godich published Tigers versus Jayhawks: From the Civil War to the Battle for #1. And in 2006, the DVD The Legends of the Missouri Tigers was released.
During the Game. Unless you walk in wearing Kansas Jayhawks gear, you need not fear for your safety at a Missouri Tigers game. Like the cities at either end, St. Louis and Kansas City, they prefer a "family atmosphere," and are not antagonistic by nature.
The band is known as the Marching Mizzou, and The Big M of the Midwest. Like Purdue and Iowa, they are led by a Golden Girl baton twirler -- in their case, two, and sometimes more.
That's three. I've seen another photo with four.
Since the 1920s, the band has made a Block M formation, like Michigan does. When they play the school's alma mater, "Old Missouri," they form the State's outline. And when they play the fight song, "Fight Tiger,"they form the word "MIZZOU," then do an 8-count transition into "TIGERS." This move, created for the 1960 Orange Bowl, is named "Flip Tigers." It is particularly popular in the student section, the Tiger's Lair, on the stadium's east side.
As I said, the Tigers name is traced back to a Civil War militia unit, and Mizzou have been using it since the 1890s. In 1986, the costumed mascot, previously just "The Tiger," was renamed for the only President from Missouri, ol' Harry S: "Truman the Tiger." He rides onto the field in a 1950s fire truck known as Truman's Taxi, does push-ups after Tiger scores, and does as "tail-spin" when the band plays "The Missouri Waltz."
The "M-I-Z,""Z-O-U," chant started in 1976, after Missouri went to Columbus and beat Ohio State in spite of the "O! H! I! O!" chant. During the long bus-ride home, Missouri's cheerleaders were determined to come up with a signature chant equally awe-inspiring for home. Half the stadium will shout, "MIZ!" Then the other half will shout "ZOU!" After a 1st down, the public address announcer says, "First down, MIZ..." and the crowd finishes with "ZOU!"
After the Game. This is a college town, not an inner city. You should be safe after a game, day or night. As I said, leave the home fans alone, and they'll probably leave you alone.
Faurot Field has university buildings to the north, and other athletic facilities on the other 3 sides. Your best bet for a postgame meal is to either walk nearly a mile to the east, to the Stadium Grille, in the Hampton Inn at 1219 Fellows Place; or head back to downtown Columbia.
If you visit Columbia during the European soccer season, which is now underway, you can probably find your favorite club on TV at McNally's, at 7 N. 6th Street.
If you visit Columbia during the European soccer season, which is now underway, you can probably find your favorite club on TV at McNally's, at 7 N. 6th Street.
Sidelights. Just to the east of Faurot Field is the Hearnes Center, named for Warren Hearnes, the UM graduate and Governor who got it built. From 1972 to 2004, it was home to Mizzou basketball. It is still home to the Tigers' wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics teams. To the south, across Champions Drive, is the new 15,061-seat Mizzou Arena, which opened in 2004. To the west, across Providence Road, are the baseball, softball and track & field facilities.
Hearnes Center
In basketball, Mizzou has won its conference's regular-season title in 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1930, 1939, 1940, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1990 and 1994; and its conference's tournament in 1978, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2009 and 2012. In other words, they did the double in 1982 and 1987. They've never made the NCAA Final Four, but they got to the Elite Eight in 1944, 1976, 1994, 2002 and 2009.
Mizzou Arena
Kansas City, and thus the closest Major League Baseball team, the closest National Football League team, and the closest Major League Soccer team, is 120 miles to the west. St. Louis, and thus the closest National Hockey League team, the 2nd-closest MLB team, and, starting in 2023, the 2nd-closest MLS team, is 125 miles to the east. Despite the distances, and despite the Royals having won a World Series and a Pennant 4 years more recently, Boone County has more Cardinal fans than Royal fans.
The National Basketball Association is considerably further away: The Indiana Pacers are 359 miles to the east, the Chicago Bulls are 384 miles to the northeast, the Memphis Grizzlies are 396 miles to the southeast, and the Oklahoma City Thunder are 445 miles to the southwest.
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Missouri is Midwestern, and it is also Southern. Midwesterners and Southerners both love their football. They'd love for you to come and love a Missouri Tigers football game.
Missouri is Midwestern, and it is also Southern. Midwesterners and Southerners both love their football. They'd love for you to come and love a Missouri Tigers football game.