Recreational Spectacles — A New Way to Look at Sports in the Ozarks

For the past three months of RecSpecsOnline.com, I’ve been trying to highlight aspects of the local sports scene that either don’t receive enough of the spotlight or didn’t exist at all, and I want to thank you for becoming part of that movement.

Now, the movement is moving, so to speak.

As many of you know from my style of writing, I love things other than sports. I love music. I love the arts. I love movies. I love food. In other words, while this is a sports Web site, it’s always been about much more than sports. It’s your life. It’s my life. It’s our lives.

That’s why as of Jan. 4, RecSpecsOnline.com is merging with TheFourFour, the area’s most dominant local music site and S.A.U.C.E. Magazine, the most energetic and unique community site in the Ozarks. The collective effort is called Tag Magazine and can be found/viewed/consumed at TagSGF.com. (It exists now, if you want to try it out.)

I understand most sports fans like to identify themselves within the sports category. It carries a certain comfort level and an image, a membership to a sometimes-gregarious, sometimes locked-lips club that elevates us above “non-sports” people. And that’s fine, identify away. But if it makes you feel better, while Chris DeRosier and Scott Perket are driven by music and Brett Johnston’s sweet spot is the arts, the community, etc., when we have meetings at our secret Tag headquarters, we all discuss business with SportsCenter on in the background. We have the same conversations I have with you about both Missouri State programs, the high schools and talk Spring Vegas hilarity.

As Chris said, “Knowing people who work as tirelessly to cover those specialties as we do ours, we thought, why not put it all in one place?”

Exactly. So brace for the change by heading over to TagSGF.com and start being a complete SGFer. Or, simply read the sports section until you’re comfortable with branching out to our Top 5 lists, the Daily Show Report or our Foodie Reviews. We are still posting on our individual sites until Jan. 4, and after that, they will no longer be active. Change your browser bookmarks and get ready for the next step.

Also, if you follow RecSpecsOnline on Twitter or Facebook, go ahead and make the change to TAG, as well. Click here for the new Twitter page and here for the Facebook page.

It’s an exciting time for Springfield and every SGFer out there. If you’re at the Blue and Gold Tournament next week, be sure to stop by our booth and say hi. You’ll want to be on the ground floor for this one.

Not that this means the Bears are going to make the NCAA Tournament, but the Missouri State men’s basketball team, which extended its record to 10-0 after a 73-63 victory over Saint Louis, has been included in the latest Bracketology at ESPN.com.

If you’re not familiar with Bracketology, ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi gives a real-time look at what teams would be in and out of the NCAA Tournament. As of now, the Bears would be a No. 10 seed in the Midwest against No. 7 seed Butler.

MSU’s next game is Tuesday at Arkansas.

Yes, I understand the Thanksgiving holiday and its extended weekend are all about family. It’s a time to reflect on what we have been given, what we have earned and what we have to look forward to.

It’s also a time to drown ourselves in live television, DVDs, PlayStation 3 and conversation. Oh yeah, and sports.

Now, I’m the nerdy type that likes to know what’s going on, so I don’t miss anything. Now, I might have to miss something because of “family obligations,” but at least, I know what I’m missing. So, without further ado and for public consumption for the first time outside of my household, is the RecSpecs Thanksgiving watching guide. Enjoy, and pass it on to someone who might be interested.

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As the high school football season winds down, this is semifinal weekend. With some games in the books, the majority of games pop off today. Be sure to check back later for updates and tomorrow morning for all the game story links.
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The News-Leader’s Michael Stacy has a fantastic roundup of local high school athletes signing with big-time universities today. Check the story here.

Republic pitcher Tyler King isn't worried about the draft right now. He signed with Nebraska baseball Wednesday.

Tyler King, Republic — Nebraska baseball
Preston Guiot, Bolivar — Utah basketball
Courtney McCarter, Kickapoo — Missouri State volleyball
Olivia Harrell, Glendale — Boise State swimming
Sara Snow, Glendale — Kansas swimming
Samantha Seaman, Branson — Arizona State gymnastics.

If you have any other big-time signings, please  post them below. If I excluded any others, it’s because they weren’t Division I.

When is not winning the same as not losing? When you’re in Las Vegas (or Spring Vegas) and you come out even on your picks. As my father once told me at a blackjack table, “Playing for free is winning.”

He’s right. Even though Uncle Rob and I went 7-7-1 in our picks last week, we continued our streak of non-losing game choosing. Our overall record is now 36-22-1.

With some of the Vegas lines looking a little funny, I called up Uncle Rob for some more advice. Click more for the picks, but click on the podcast below to get our uncanny analysis, plus another Sun Belt Conference special!

Spring Vegas podcast with Uncle Rob — 10/29/09

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I’m working on my Mark McGwire piece, but I’m curious as to your reaction to his role as St. Louis Cardinal hitting coach. E-mail them to Allen@RecSpecsOnline, pronto.

Two orders of business as I put the finishing touches on a couple of pieces for later in the week:

1. I’m going to start a correspondent piece here at RecSpecs that is based solely on you, the reader. If you see something that bears repeating, whether an observation during a game, TV broadcast, etc., something you need to get off your chest, or something downright hilarious you want to share with the rest of the readership, e-mail any or all to allen@recspecsonline.com. I think this could be a lot of fun.

2. If you enjoy the social networking, you can get instant RecSpecsOnline.com updates by becoming a fan at Facebook or by following us on Twitter. But if you choose to stay away from the social network, I am going to start a completely confidential e-mail blast to let readers know of new material. Send your address to allen@RecSpecsOnline.com and I promise not to sell it to annoying people.

Be on the lookout for another Spring Vegas podcast/story, a Q&A with SPS AD Mark Fisher and a tale from LSU tailgating, plus a few other surprises.

Enjoy your day and tell a friend about this site.

Back in my single days, I loved to flirt. I love all the semantics – the stupid jokes, dressing up to try to catch someone’s attention, paying for drinks, etc. All of it was almost like a game.

I'm pretty sure Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter and Shannon Elizabeth have never had to pay for a drink.

(BTW, has a woman ever bought a drink? Do we need to expand this further? If you have, e-mail me at allen@recspecsonline.com. I don’t believe you)

But it never was the game.

The date was the game. The after bars “hanging out” was the game. The Walk of Shame was the post-game. During game time, flirting seemed as tedious as putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle – how much time was it going to take and is any of it really worth it?

That’s how I feel about sports weeks during the Fall. The important stuff doesn’t happen until the weekends. Think about it. High school football owns communities on Fridays. College football hypnotizes alumni bases and beyond on Saturday and 12-plus hour NFL Sundays are more popular than guns, cigarettes and the Beatles combined.

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