Mike Anderson to Get Key to St. Louis

Mike Anderson, the 2009 NABC coach of the year who led Missouri to a Big 12 tournament championship, the Elite Eight, and a school-record 31 wins, is being rewarded again this Friday.

St. Louis, a town rich with current, former, and surely future Mizzou students, will be welcoming Anderson with open arms this Friday.

He’ll start the day with a visit to the Family Court-Juvenile Division at 11:30 a.m., then he’ll meet with Mayor Francis Slay for lunch and be given a key to the city at 1:00 in front of City Hall.

What does this mean exactly? Will he be able to enter every building in the city? It’s unclear to me why this is chosen as one of the most prestigious symbolic gestures a person can receive. But I digress.

Anderson will end his day at the Cardinals-Royals baseball game that starts at 7:15 Friday night. He’ll throw out the first pitch, then he’ll head to the Fox Sports Midwest booth with the Cardinals announcers, Dan McLaughlin and Al Hrabosky, in the top of the third inning.

Of course, in order to not upset his fanbase in Missouri’s other big city four hours west on I-70, Anderson will join Royals announcers Ryan LeFebvre and Frank White in the other Fox Sports booth. That raises the question: Will the Royals and Kansas City return the favor to Coach Anderson when the Cards visit June 19-21?

Incidentally, I’m in St. Louis for the summer. Stay tuned.