The Pac-10, the Big 12, the SEC, and the Blame Game . . . Plus a Bit of Apparently Good Baseball News

by T Kyle King on Jun 14, 2010 12:05 PM EDT in Football

These days, information about intercollegiate athletics is about as reliable as the value of German currency during the Weimar Republic, so this posting almost certainly will be out of date by the time you read it, if any of it ever was true at all, but here’s the latest:

Dan Beebe has a plan to keep the Big 12 viable. This plan hinges upon the imperiled conference commissioner’s ability to renegotiate the league’s television deal to generate more revenue without the North Division’s marquee program, the Denver television market, or a conference championship game. Describe this plan out loud and watch as your words collapse under the weight of their own crushing implausibility, at which point you will realize that the odds of this plan being adopted are between slim and none, and slim ain’t looking too good.

The more credible scenario is that Texas is making a show of considering this plan to hold the Big 12 together solely because Texas doesn’t want to come out of this looking like the bad guy. This facile public relations effort on the Longhorns’ part is such self-evident crap that it doesn’t even fool notorious dufus Stewart Mandel:

So to recap, if Big 12 crumbles, it has been/will be Neb/Mizzou/A&M's fault. NOT the school at center of Pac-16 plan. (Eye roll)

100 out of 100 mythical Montanans agree. More to the point, so do folks in College Station.

Meanwhile, A Bulldog in Exile noticed an interesting job listing that suggests strongly that David Perno may be making a move to replace Brady Wiederhold as the Diamond Dogs’ pitching coach. If true, that’s the best news I’ve heard all week . . . and the week ain’t over yet.

Go ‘Dawgs!

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For what it's worth . . .

. . . great minds think alike:

In Brown’s latest scenario, Texas’ backing out of the exit plan would conveniently thrust the next crucial decision about the fate of the league’s immediate future off of Texas and onto Texas A&M. One of the keys in Beebe’s survival plan is the commitment to a 10-member conference, which will only happen if A&M rebuffs overtures to the SEC for a commitment to a reduced Big 12; otherwise, the Longhorns will simply be left with no choice, you see, just as they were left with no choice after Nebraska responded to an ultimatum to save the conference by defecting to the Big Ten. That way, the most powerful team in the conference – the only one that could have put an end to all movement by declaring its firm commitment from the beginning – can pin its disintegration onto the ’Huskers and Aggies. Their hand was forced, see?

If Texas wants out of the Big 12, it could be out today. If it wanted to hold the conference together, it could have made sure it remained entirely intact (give or take Colorado) months ago. If it wants to get out without the death of the conference on its hands, the plan isn’t going very well.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Jun 14, 2010 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

I don't see any scenario in which the SEC isn't the most powerful conference

The Big XII stays together in it’s current form and the Pac-10 picks up… Utah? Okay. The Big Ten picked up a rising program in Nebraska, but they’re just too top heavy and not strong throughout the conference. The SEC, in my opinion, is still superior if this scenario shakes out.

But if the Big 12 dissolves and we end up with aTm and VaTech, I think the SEC is still the nation’s premier conference.

Inhale deep, like the words of my breath—I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death

MMA For Real

by Anthony Pace on Jun 14, 2010 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions