Graham Watson: Chat was supposed to be at 11, it's noon, and I'm late. I apologize. I'm still going to field the questions in the queue.

tgraves707: hey graham, how come this castine bridges guy isnt getting any recognition?

ive watched a couple of old games where quarter backs would hesitate to throw to his side because of his coverage...and he completely shut down malcolm kelly during the ou game,is it me or have anyone else besides myself noticed him? How do you feel about him?

Graham Watson: I think Castine Bridges is a great player. I said that toward the middle of last season when he started to get increased playing time. This spring he's been great. He reminds me of William Moore because of his ability to read the game and his jump on the ball. That's no surprise since they're good friends. He will be a key player for the secondary this season and I have no doubt he'll be getting more recognition.

jim: Graham,


One I would like to say that you are doing a great job and I hope to see you at the Post for a long time. Now on to my issue I keep reading and hearing how Mike Anderson didn’t do the right thing and how he unlike Coach Pinkle (since he kicked Brown off the team) doesn’t know what a Zero Tolerance policy means. Well it is easy to say that and think it but we all need to remember that there’s a big difference between the two teams where Coach Pinkle has what 100 players and had more leeway then Coach Anderson who has maybe 15 tops and only 12-13 this year do to losing few scholarships because of the former coaching staff. I may be wrong but the Basketball team was already close to the APR minimum this year as it was. What if Coach Anderson had kicked Butterfield and Horton of the team also and then lost 2 more scholarships I wonder how people would have felt then. I didn’t like what happened either but when you are “between a rock and a hard place” as the old saying goes you have to do what is best for the team and players. I don’t think losing more scholarships and having to call up two kids and tell them sorry so sad but those scholarships we told you had for next year well I did what the people wanted and then because I let the team drop below the 926 APR you just lost your scholarships. Not a good way to keep doors open at high schools for our coaches to come in and talk to future tigers. And other schools would use that against MU for years. Yes I know it might not have happened but it could have and I believe coaches now days some times can’t do what they want to do to NCAA rules and we also know that coaches who can’t keep scholarships don’t keep their jobs. We might not like what happen but we need to understand that there was more on the line then what we all think about. It sure is easy to stand around talk about complain that Coach didn’t do what he said he would but he has more to think about when he punishes a player then we do. If this has been addressed already sorry for bringing it up again. But it is something I have been thinking about for a few weeks now and I maybe wrong about this but I would like to get your opinion about it. Thanks and once again great work.

Graham Watson: I totally agree with you on this one. Marquis Booker was not a starter and he probably would not have played. Stefhon Hannah was Missouri's best defender. I think it takes more guts to kick the starter off the team than a backup. And that kind of decision takes some thought. CMA essentially putting his season in the hands of a couple unseasoned sophomores. They did a good job, but who knows what the team would have been like with Hannah down the stretch. It could have been better, could have been worse. No telling. But I guarantee you it would have been worse had he kicked Butterfield and Horton off, too.

I hope Pinkel never has a starter do something stupid off the field, but it would be interesting to see what kind of move he makes when that happens.

MizzouMarv: Graham, do you think moving the 3 pt. line back will help M-Law next year? Do we have anyone coming in who is a marksman from that range? What effect will that have on the college game?

Graham Watson: I don't know if that will help or hurt MLaw. I think his biggest problem is getting squared up to the basket and reading his screens. He did a much better job of it toward the end of the season, which gives me hope for next year.

Mizzou does have a corps of scorers coming in next season, but I don't think there's a 3-point specialist in the bunch. Mostly a core of guys who can hit jumpers anywhere on the floor.

I think moving the 3-point line back will keep scores down, but like anything else, guys will adjust. I do think it's good because that's where the NBA has it and if guys want to play at the next level, they should probably learn to shoot with the big boys.

Mike: Graham, thank you for the year round in depth coverage of the Tigers football team. Just like the rest of the country I find this team immensely entertaining. However, I also see an opportunity for you and other reporters to build on this attention to garner more coverage for other sports and athletes as well. You mentioned more than once how much you like baseball and the Tigers team in particular, yet it seems almost impossible to find any regularity in the coverage unless someone throws a shutout. This team is ranked at or higher than the football team. Also, with the problems experienced by the basketball team you would think other winter sports, such as wrestling, would get some regular coverage. How many wrestlers were arrested and/or kicked off the team this past season? Graham, I know football and basketball are the "big 2" when it comes to revenue for the school from attendance and tv, but I just feel other sports would benefit from increased coverage or any coverage for that matter. Many fans might prefer to read about a Mizzou win in wrestling rather than a Mizzou loss in basketball, at least once in a while.

Graham Watson: I beg to differ on baseball. We have a story - sometimes a small summary - after each baseball game, home and away. I'll be at the Oklahoma State series this weekend, and probably won't miss many Big 12 series this year. Baseball plays a lot of games and combined with spring football, it's hard to get it all in the paper, but we're trying and I think we're doing a better job than past years.

And wrestling? Did you see our coverage of the wrestling championships? It was awesome and very heavy on local guys. Yes, it was the national championships, but again, more coverage than we've given in the past.

The "Big 2" as you call it, not only make money for the school, they also make money for us. We don't get nearly as many calls for not covering softball as we would if we didn't cover football. That's just the way it works for almost all major papers in this country. We just don't have the resources to devote to every sport on campus.