Red Cross officials are putting out an urgent call for blood donations. Supplies of blood are down to only a days worth in many parts of the state. Jim Williams with the American Red Cross’ Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region says the blood supply has been devastated at a time of year when it’s already tough to get people to roll up their sleeves and donate. Williams admits along with the flu keeping people from donating blood, there are restrictions on those individuals who lived in Europe because of fears of the human form of Mad Cow Disease, as well as screeningsfor other blood-borne diseases. But he says even with those restrictions, only a tiny minority of people don’t. And, Williams points out blood is a perishable resource that only has shelf of 42 days. So, the need is always there, especially at the holidays.
Attorney General Pleased With FDA Ban On Ephedra
Attorney General Jay Nixon is welcoming news of the Food and Drug Administration’s ban of ephedra-based products. The FDA ban marks the first time U.S. officials have blocked the sale of an over-the-counter nutritional supplement. Nixon says it’s a good move because ephedra is not proven to aid in weight loss, even though makers of ephedra-based products claim it does. Nixon has already acted on his concern over ephedra. Earlier this year, his office sued MuscleTech Research and Development, the manufacturer of the ephedra-based product, Hydroxycut. Nixon says consumers must be protected from harmful products and deceptive advertising.
Mizzou Falls To Tiny Belmont
Belmont University is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Not many Missouri fans knew that until recently—if at all. They’re ready for the Bruins to head back. Belmont, which is in its seventh year as an NCAA Division I school, earned its first win over a ranked team by beating #22/#23Mizzou 71-67 at the Hearnes Center. Tiger head coach Quin Snyder called the Tigers’ performance “abysmal”. Mizzou led 31-21 with 3:25 to go in the first half, but saw that lead get whittled down to 34-33 at the break. In the second half, Belmont took over, going on a 12-0 run and building a 57-47 lead with 8:49 to go in the game. Mizzou bounced back to tie it at 59-59, but never re-gained the lead. The Hearnes Center, which is known for its undying support of the Tigers, echoed with boo’s aimed directly at the Tiger bench. Snyder said, “They’re entitled to express their opinions. I felt like we should boo ourselves tonight.” Missouri senior Travon Bryant had just two points. He also agreed with the fans’ displeasure, calling it, “Well deserved”. Fellow senior, Rickey Paulding put in 21 points and 10 rebounds, but admits that the Bruins were the better team saying “I think overall they definitely out-hustled us as far as getting to loose balls and just playing harder than we did.” Belmont took advantage of 14 Missouri turnovers and scoring 22 points off of them. Steve Drabyn led the charge for Belmont, hitting 4 of 7 three pointers—the Bruins hit 13 on the night—and scoring 16 points. Mizzou drops to 4-4 and has lost four of their last five games.
Tigers Go Bowling Tonight Against Arkansas
Five years of frustration will come to an end on Thursday, as the Missouri Tigers take on Arkansas in the Independence Bowl. Mizzou hasn’t been to a bowl game since their 1998 win over West Virginia in the Insight.com Bowl. Since then, the Tigers have been anywhere from bad to mediocre. Now at 8-4 MU finds itself on the way up. Brad Smith’s exploits as a running quarterback are well known, but the Tiger defense will have its hands full as well as they take on Razorback quarterback Matt Jones, who has 1,868 yards passing and 633 on the ground. Running back Cedric Cobbs is a handful as well, with 1,179 yards rushing. Arkansas certainly has the edge in bowl experience—while Mizzou has missed the post season in each of the last five seasons, the Razorbacks have gone to five straight bowl games. However, that doesn’t mean they’ve performed well. Arkansas is 1-4 in those five bowl games. Thursday’s game will mark just the fourth meeting between the two teams, with the last game coming in 1963. The Tigers are 2-1 against the Razorbacks.
Blues Throttled By Flyers
Blues called goaltender Rheinhard Divis up from Worcester after Chris Osgood was hit with a puck Monday and suffered a knee contusion. Little did Divis know that he would play on Tuesday. He replaced Brent Johnson who gave up three goals on 13 shots in a 7-2 loss to the Flyers. Mark Recchi and Jeremy Roenick scored two goals apiece in the dismantling of the Blues’ net-minders. The Flyers scored three power play goals in the third period to make it 4-1 and scored three more times in the third. Scott Mellanby and Keith Tkachuk scored for St. Louis.
