I wasn't even aware that schools do this -- you learn something new every blog post, I suppose -- but apparently, Missouri's athletics department planned on getting rid of some old department cell phones. Hey, it's a new era. Gotta keep up with the Joneses. I get it.

The problem is that when you get rid of your cell phone, you're supposed to delete all your information. That means calls. Text messages. Emails. Contact info. "I Am T-Pain." Etc. Missouri, in throwing out their sports types' old phones, managed not to do that, and now some lucky phone collector has a bunch of Mike Anderson's outgoing call logs. Whoops!

Bellman bought the cell phones earlier this year at a university surplus sale with the intent of reselling them for parts. He paid $190 for 25 old cell phones, figuring he'd sell the parts for around $1,000. Turned out the information on the phones might be worth more than the hardware. No one at the university had deleted the text messages, e-mails and contact numbers from the phones.

The Tribune reported last week that among other things, one Sprint Treo previously used by basketball coach Mike Anderson still had text messages between Anderson, football coach Gary Pinkel and Athletics Director Mike Alden. It was nothing controversial — well wishes for upcoming games and congratulations after wins. Still, the university has caught some flak from several online sites for not being more careful with information that could fall into the wrong hands — someone affiliated with Kansas, Nebraska or some other Big 12 rival, for example.

The "sports site" the AP is referring to is Deadspin, who merely made the point that when a college basketball coach's cell phone records get released to the public, bad things happen. Which, you know, duh. (Also, I'm a big fan of the term "online sports sites" in an Associated Press report that will be distributed primarily on the Internet. What is this, 1995?)

Missouri could have made a major hash of this. What if Anderson made one call too many and violated a Kelvin Sampson-esque NCAA rule? What if his log showed an illegal three-way call? What if he just put something really, really embarrassing in a text message to his wife? What if he has some really emasculating nickname for his dog? What if he uses a lot of smiley faces in emails? I would never be able to respect "40 Minutes of Hell" again. This was a close call.

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Related: Peculiarity, Big 12 Basketball