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Mike Dixon's departure is just typical for Mizzou

Of course the most anticipated Mizzou basketball season in a decade is ruined before it even gets started.

Jamie Squire

We were all just waiting for it. There wasn't going to be any way this Mizzou team could get over predictions of them going to the Final Four, winning the SEC and being led by the best guard combo in the nation and shed the demons on Murphy's Law that has haunted Mizzou's program since Bert Coan illegally played for Kansas in the 1960 Border War, scoring a touchdown in the game and costing Mizzou the 1960 Football National Championship.

It's all just so damn predictable.

Mike Dixon had been suspended since before the 2012-13 season began. No one knew what it was for until the hammer of truth was brought down over the forehead of Mizzou fans everywhere. The first rape allegation against him was definitely trivial. I openly questioned the accuser's motives and wasn't entirely sure if Dixon was being improperly punished. Then on Thursday, our worst fears were realized. A second accusation came out and poof, Mike Dixon...gone. Announcing he will transfer out of the program, Dixon left behind what was sure to be a legendary career at Missouri, flushed down the toilet because the guy simply didn't know when to stop when it came to women.

Dixon was a top 25 player in the country. An outstanding piece to what was sure to be a National Title contender. Now, it seems to be on Negus Webster-Chan and Oregon transfer Jabari Brown. There's still hope for the Tigers to rally around this and become a closer knit unit, but I really see the thing coming apart at the seams.

Now, Dixon is viewed as a serial rapist and a player who possibly screwed his team, university and loyal fans out of the only moment of glory they've ever seen. As a Missouri fan, I've gotten used to these things.

And for the folks saying Dixon is innocent because this was never proven in court, I'm not buying it. Dixon sent a girl to the hospital in 2010. Now he's been accused of multiple sexual assaults and more may come out in the future. But for now, Dixon is gone and we should all be happy. I wouldn't care if Dixon hit a game winning shot in the National Championship. Sexual deviants should not be accepted or praised in society for any reason. He let his university down. A gigantic creep that couldn't take a hint from women and acted like an animal in heat when alone with women who were not as strong as him, has screwed a passionate, proud university community out of a season of potential glory.

So now, Frank Haith is tasked with picking up the pieces of a team shattered by extreme disappointment from a senior leader and try to scrap together a run in the tournament.

Final Four dreams have been interrupted by a nightmare. Not due to academic troubles, a DUI or some other trivial reason. This is a disgusting, dirty, humiliating story. Dixon was allowed to represent the University of Missouri as an accused rapist and took a university sponsored trip to the Bahamas while being investigated for sexual assault.

It's embarrassing, predictable and I'm just not sure what to think anymore. It's easy to point fingers at girls and say that maybe they were making this up, but your average, normal, functioning male, (let alone, a high profile college athlete) is never accused of rape or sexual assault.

This Missouri Tiger basketball season will be tainted. It will be hard to enjoy. Mike Dixon is gone for reasons that could have easily been prevented. Somewhere along the lines, he was taught that it was okay to force yourself upon women and treat them like lesser citizens.

And here's where the onus is put back on the fans. These women should not be unfairly criticized. Despite one of the allegations having several holes in it, there is now no reason to doubt these stories. There was a predator in our midst who we treated as a hero.

I've never been more disappointed.