17 replies to this topic

[OctoberLady]

Big 12 bounces back, lives to play again
By JIM VERTUNO, AP Sports Writer 57 minutes ago



AUSTIN, Texas (AP)—Staring at extinction, the Big 12 is once again in play.

The beleaguered conference made a rousing comeback Monday, when Texas declined an invitation to join the Pac-10 and decided to stay in the Big 12.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M quickly followed the Longhorns by recommitting to the conference after commissioner Dan Beebe convinced his members they would make more money in television and media deals in a 10-team Big 12 then in a 16-team Pac-10.



A person with direct knowledge of discussions among the Big 12’s remaining members said Texas is clear to set up its own TV network and keep all proceeds in exchange for remaining in the Big 12. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because final details had not been worked out.

“Everybody is feeling much more confident the Big 12 is going to survive,” the person said. “Everybody’s going to be making more money.”

All that talk about the Pac-16, the first super conference that would span from Seattle to the Lone Star state? Done.

“University of Texas president Bill Powers has informed us that the 10 remaining schools in the Big 12 Conference intend to stay together,” Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “We are excited about the future of the Pac-10 Conference and we will continue to evaluate future expansion opportunities under the guidelines previously set forth by our presidents and chancellors.”

Powers declined comment when asked by the AP about details of the deal that kept Big 12 together.

The conference, born in 1996 when the Big 8 merged with members of the Southwestern Conference, seemed to be falling apart last week when Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-10) decided to leave over the next two years. Now the Big 12 its back, though there are still questions about how it will conduct its business.

Among those that still need to be answered by Beebe is how and why the Big 12 will be more lucrative now, especially when it cannot hold a conference title game with only 10 members.

Beebe did not return phone messages Monday, but plans to hold a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

Last year, Big 12 schools divided between $7 million and $10 million each depending on how many appearances they made on regional and national TV. At Big 12 meetings earlier this month, Beebe said he expected huge increases in rights fees from both Fox and ESPN.

The more lucrative contract with ESPN runs through the 2015-16 academic year, while the Fox deal is reportedly in its final two years.

The Big 12 has increased the financial reward for every one of its members since it began play in 1996. The Big 12 distributed $139 million to its members this past fiscal year, more than ever.

The news about the Longhorns, Sooners and the rest of the Big 12 South powers staying put was especially good for Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State and Missouri—the five schools in danger of being left homeless if the conference dissolved.

Baylor football coach Art Briles, a Texas native who has spent his entire career in the Long Star state, put it this way: “I got resuscitated. You can take your hands off my chest. … I’m extremely excited, it’s like being given new life.”

As for the Pac-10 and Scott, who was trying pull off a bold move that would have dramatically changed the landscape of college sports, they are left looking for at least one more member to get to 12 by 2012 when Colorado is set to join.

Scott’s next target? Utah from the Mountain West Conference would seem a likely candidate.

Scott’s plan was to add Texas (with Notre Dame the big prize in the conference expansion game) along with its main Big 12 South rivals—Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

Because Texas is the richest and most powerful of the Big 12 schools, the Longhorns were seen as the lynchpin to the deal. Wherever Texas decided to place its cash cow football program, the rest of the schools would seemingly fall in line.

But Texas A&M had represented a wild card, with school officials meeting with Pac-10 and SEC officials in recent days. If the Aggies were serious about leaving for the Southeastern Conference, no matter what Texas did, it was unclear whether that would have prompted the Longhorns, Sooners and the rest to decide the Big 12 was not worth saving with only nine members.

But that SEC flirtation turned out to be nothing more.

“Texas A&M is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference and will continue to be affiliated with the conference in the future,” school president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement.

Officials at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma issued similar statements, with OSU president Burns Hargis singling out Beebe for his “bold moves and intense efforts.”

The news that the Big 12 survived spread quickly.

“That’s great news,” said Scott Drew, whose Baylor men’s basketball team advanced to the South regional final in the NCAA tournament a few months ago. “Obviously, we’re very excited and pleased about the 10 schools staying together. It will be great to continue the rivalries and traditions.”

AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo in New York, AP Sports Writers Doug Tucker in Kansas City, Mo., Josh Dubow in San Franciso and Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed to this report.

[AssKickingBoots]

I feel alot better for now, but I won't feel entirely better until this is announced officially. Schools like A&M can give the good guy line of 'being a proud member', but in the world of sports that really is no indicator.

I'm hoping for the best, and honestly with 2 less critters taking a chunk of the overall pie, there might actually be more in it for Kansas and Missouri, even without equal revenue sharing.

[Coach]

AssKickingBoots, on 14 June 2010 - 09:23 PM, said:

I feel alot better for now, but I won't feel entirely better until this is announced officially. Schools like A&M can give the good guy line of 'being a proud member', but in the world of sports that really is no indicator.

I'm hoping for the best, and honestly with 2 less critters taking a chunk of the overall pie, there might actually be more in it for Kansas and Missouri, even without equal revenue sharing.

There is. KU, KSU, and MU will have their revenue doubled. Plus, they could also have a option of having their own TV networks, which would rake in more revenue, if done correctly. I think that is one of the big factors why Texas decided to stay in the Big XII. Texas wouldn't be allowed to have that if they joined in the Big 10 or the Pac 10.

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=5286672

Texas stands to earn between $20 million and $25 million annually in television revenue in the reworked deal, including money from its own network, according to Orangebloods.com.

The other seven schools in the Big 12 would make between $14 million and $17 million, doubling what they currently receive in TV revenue.


So if Texas is allowed to keep money from their own TV network, then KU, KSU, and MU should also have the same rule applied as well.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

But, realistically, how much money could be made from a K-State TV Network? Not much, if any.

[Coach]

DallasChief, on 15 June 2010 - 09:20 AM, said:

But, realistically, how much money could be made from a K-State TV Network? Not much, if any.

You're probably right, but I think it's something worth a try. If it doesn't work out early, then pull the plug, or find alternative solutions.

[Dom]

It sucks they want to stay at 10 and not have a championship game

[HG]

They should grab Arkansas. It would actually make sense. I think they should make one network of KU, K-State, and Missouri. It would certainly be big in the KC area

[AssKickingBoots]

Dom, on 17 June 2010 - 09:27 AM, said:

It sucks they want to stay at 10 and not have a championship game

Actually, I've heard something about the NCAA allowing 10 team leagues to have a championship game. That's just rumor at this point though.

[ChiefInAdel]

Big 12 will never be relevent or taken seriously as long as schools like Baylor and ISU are part of it, lol.

ISU...pft.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

ChiefInAdel, on 17 June 2010 - 04:20 PM, said:

Big 12 will never be relevent or taken seriously as long as schools like Baylor and ISU are part of it, lol.

ISU...pft.

I'll see your Baylor and Iowa State and raise you a Northwestern, Indiana and Illinois.

[ChiefInAdel]

DallasChief, on 17 June 2010 - 04:55 PM, said:

I'll see your Baylor and Iowa State and raise you a Northwestern, Indiana and Illinois.

The three of them combined cannot equal the level of sucktatude that Baylor and ISU exhibit on an annual basis.

At least they attempt to play football.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

ChiefInAdel, on 18 June 2010 - 10:34 AM, said:

The three of them combined cannot equal the level of sucktatude that Baylor and ISU exhibit on an annual basis.

At least they attempt to play football.

I'm not sure Indiana even has a football program. There's no evidence of such.

[Coach]

DallasChief, on 18 June 2010 - 10:58 AM, said:

I'm not sure Indiana even has a football program. There's no evidence of such.

Yeah, they do. They're just awful.

[OctoberLady]

Someone just sent this to me:

Written by a K-State fan.

Texas is like the USA - Wealthy, talented, and with seemingly endless resources. They have a big ego, but are deserving of it because they win at almost everything they do. Others often despise them out of jealousy. Their money and wealth make the world go round, and everyone wants a piece.

While we're at it, let's take a look at the rest of the Big 12:

Texas A&M is like China - Big, powerful, and rival of Texas (USA). They live in a male dominated society, and thus their women are not allowed to be cheerleaders. Their money and power also make the world go round.

Oklahoma is like Mexico - Having no resources of their own, they have to invade the border of Texas (USA) in order to survive.

Oklahoma State is like Guatemala - Oklahoma's poorer neighbor.

Baylor is like Israel - A feisty little religious enclave that could not survive without Texas (USA). However, if provoked, they WILL kill you.

Colorado is like Canada - A small, unimportant bastion of liberals who are not very good at anything. Like Canada, they are bad at all sports other than hockey. Like Canada, they produce no GDP. They went to the Pac 10. enough said.

Nebraska is like Russia - A former super power who frequently stirs up trouble because they still think they are a super power. Nebraska (Russia) thinks it is the equal of Texas (USA), and pouts in public when it doesn't get its baby way. When they do not get their way, they take their ball and go home. Go big RED!
If they think the Big 12 was a tough football conference wait'll they get their asses kicked by the Big 10 schools.

Missouri is like Iran and North Korea - a definite member of the axis of evil. Conniving and loyal to no one, you cannot believe anything they say (you can only watch in amazement at what they do). Like Iran and North Korea, they are hated and despised by everyone--even the Swiss.

Iowa State is like Switzerland - Boring, unimportant, not good at much of anything, but neutral and without enemies. Even the Hawkeyes like the Swiss.

Texas Tech is like Australia - Big, dusty, and a Texas version of "down under". Cowboys like Aussie's drink a lot of beer and carry weapons.

KU is like France - KU is full of socialists and they think they are better than everyone else. This high opinion of themselves is not shared by anyone else in the world. Like France, KU cannot be trusted or counted on during a time of need.

K-State is like Ireland - A gritty, feisty, over-achieving little country with a large inferiority complex. What we lack in resources, we make up by determination and people. Others can't find us on a map, but they like us because we are fun, friendly, and like to drink beer. (oh, please!)

[HG]

That was pretty good.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

Somebody in Texas sent me this one. I think it's funnier. Well, except the part about K-State.

Texas is the hottest, richest chick around. She can have anybody she wants. If you land Texas, all of your dreams come true. What you don’t realize is that at the end of the day, you are going to be sitting outside of the dressing room at Nordstrom’s with your thumb up your ass holding her purse while she tries on a bunch of really expensive shit. If you can live with her wearing the pants in the family, then fine. But you’d better learn to like working for her daddy and having her tell you what to wear when you go to the club for dinner on Sunday nights.

OU is a hot chick with big fake tits who spends lots of time in the gym, but she’s a huge whore. The bad news is that OU will cheat on you. The good news is that OU doesn’t care if you cheat on her. It’s all fun and games until someone doesn’t practice safe sex or your neighbors are snickering at you behind your back because your girl got double teamed by a couple of conventioneers at the Anatole the week of the Cottonbowl.

A&M is somewhat good looking and intelligent, but completely bat shit crazy. You can’t tell if A&M is bipolar or just having really bad PMS. But either way, she is going to say and do a whole bunch of shit that is just going to leave you scratching your head or ducking for cover. A&M also has two really huge problems: 1) A&M thinks she is much hotter and much smarter than she really is; and 2) She’s got all sorts of issues with Texas. Both of those feed into her mania. You don’t know what you are getting with this nut job, but it wouldn’t surprise you if she cut off all of her hair and joined the SEC, and then 10 minutes later realized how bad she f**ked up and came back to you in hysterics.

Colorado is the hippy chick who spends all day on Pearl Street dropping empty gas tank lines on the tourists until her father comes to pick her up in his Benz on the way home from his law practice. Colorado is desirable as long as you can duck batteries, put up with poor hygiene and don’t mind the smell of patchouli.

Tech is cute but has poor self esteem. If you pay any attention to her whatsoever, she will love you forever. She’s the type who gives you a smoker on the way to dinner and would be just as content to be your f**k buddy. The worse you treat Tech, the more she loves you.

Oklahoma State is a less attractive and sluttier version of OU. She might look pretty good if you’ve had a few drinks, and she’ll let you do anything you want to her in bed. You also might think that she’s rich, but then you find out that all of her credit cards are maxed out and she can’t afford the car she’s driving.

Baylor is overweight, homely and manipulative, and is always sticking her nose into your business where it doesn’t belong. Baylor will try every trick in the world to land the right guy. Baylor will lie, cheat, steal, backstab, blackmail, etc… and then justify it all by going to church on Sunday and asking Jesus for forgiveness. The worst part about Baylor is that she won’t give it up, but will try to cockblock you every chance that she gets.

Nebraska is a cougar who has lost her fastball and is jealous of the other hotter chicks (i.e., Texas). She just spent $2500 on botox and lip injections, and she now looks like the joker when she smiles. It’s sad to see such a former hottie act so desperately and what’s worse, she can’t decide whether she should try to hook up with an aging sugar daddy or go have a series of one-nighters with the drunk twenty-somethings she picks up at Midnight Rodeo.

Kansas is your classic butterface. Great body, but she looks like she fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. At the end of the day, the bad grill outweighs the nice tight ass, because you never want to take her out in public. The last thing you want is to wake up the next morning and have Kansas staring you in the face.

Missouri is cute, but not hot. She’s a nice girl and has a great personality, but needs to drop about 15 lbs. You can see how she could be more attractive, but she’s not ever going to be very sexy, no matter what she does. Missouri is the girl you feel guilty cheating on, but you do it anyway.

Kansas State is overweight and stupid. A few years ago when she lost a ton of weight and looked pretty good, you hooked up with her. Now, you look back and can’t even imagine that it is the same human being. You ignore her Facebook friend request and pretend you don’t recognize or remember her when you run into her in public.

Iowa State is the drunken fat chick at the end of the bar that is just happy to be out of the house. The other girls are nice to Iowa State, mostly because they all look better standing next to her. Iowa State is the type who gets stuck with the huge bar tab at the end of the night and goes home alone unless some really wasted chubby chaser ends up tagging her.

[OctoberLady]

DallasChief, on 30 June 2010 - 02:20 PM, said:

Somebody in Texas sent me this one. I think it's funnier. Well, except the part about K-State.

Texas is the hottest, richest chick around. She can have anybody she wants. If you land Texas, all of your dreams come true. What you don't realize is that at the end of the day, you are going to be sitting outside of the dressing room at Nordstrom's with your thumb up your ass holding her purse while she tries on a bunch of really expensive shit. If you can live with her wearing the pants in the family, then fine. But you'd better learn to like working for her daddy and having her tell you what to wear when you go to the club for dinner on Sunday nights.

OU is a hot chick with big fake tits who spends lots of time in the gym, but she's a huge whore. The bad news is that OU will cheat on you. The good news is that OU doesn't care if you cheat on her. It's all fun and games until someone doesn't practice safe sex or your neighbors are snickering at you behind your back because your girl got double teamed by a couple of conventioneers at the Anatole the week of the Cottonbowl.

A&M is somewhat good looking and intelligent, but completely bat shit crazy. You can't tell if A&M is bipolar or just having really bad PMS. But either way, she is going to say and do a whole bunch of shit that is just going to leave you scratching your head or ducking for cover. A&M also has two really huge problems: 1) A&M thinks she is much hotter and much smarter than she really is; and 2) She's got all sorts of issues with Texas. Both of those feed into her mania. You don't know what you are getting with this nut job, but it wouldn't surprise you if she cut off all of her hair and joined the SEC, and then 10 minutes later realized how bad she f**ked up and came back to you in hysterics.

Colorado is the hippy chick who spends all day on Pearl Street dropping empty gas tank lines on the tourists until her father comes to pick her up in his Benz on the way home from his law practice. Colorado is desirable as long as you can duck batteries, put up with poor hygiene and don't mind the smell of patchouli.

Tech is cute but has poor self esteem. If you pay any attention to her whatsoever, she will love you forever. She's the type who gives you a smoker on the way to dinner and would be just as content to be your f**k buddy. The worse you treat Tech, the more she loves you.

Oklahoma State is a less attractive and sluttier version of OU. She might look pretty good if you've had a few drinks, and she'll let you do anything you want to her in bed. You also might think that she's rich, but then you find out that all of her credit cards are maxed out and she can't afford the car she's driving.

Baylor is overweight, homely and manipulative, and is always sticking her nose into your business where it doesn't belong. Baylor will try every trick in the world to land the right guy. Baylor will lie, cheat, steal, backstab, blackmail, etc… and then justify it all by going to church on Sunday and asking Jesus for forgiveness. The worst part about Baylor is that she won't give it up, but will try to cockblock you every chance that she gets.

Nebraska is a cougar who has lost her fastball and is jealous of the other hotter chicks (i.e., Texas). She just spent $2500 on botox and lip injections, and she now looks like the joker when she smiles. It's sad to see such a former hottie act so desperately and what's worse, she can't decide whether she should try to hook up with an aging sugar daddy or go have a series of one-nighters with the drunk twenty-somethings she picks up at Midnight Rodeo.

Kansas is your classic butterface. Great body, but she looks like she fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. At the end of the day, the bad grill outweighs the nice tight ass, because you never want to take her out in public. The last thing you want is to wake up the next morning and have Kansas staring you in the face.

Missouri is cute, but not hot. She's a nice girl and has a great personality, but needs to drop about 15 lbs. You can see how she could be more attractive, but she's not ever going to be very sexy, no matter what she does. Missouri is the girl you feel guilty cheating on, but you do it anyway.

Kansas State is overweight and stupid. A few years ago when she lost a ton of weight and looked pretty good, you hooked up with her. Now, you look back and can't even imagine that it is the same human being. You ignore her Facebook friend request and pretend you don't recognize or remember her when you run into her in public.

Iowa State is the drunken fat chick at the end of the bar that is just happy to be out of the house. The other girls are nice to Iowa State, mostly because they all look better standing next to her. Iowa State is the type who gets stuck with the huge bar tab at the end of the night and goes home alone unless some really wasted chubby chaser ends up tagging her.

OK, now that's funny!

[AssKickingBoots]

DallasChief, on 30 June 2010 - 02:20 PM, said:

Missouri is cute, but not hot. She's a nice girl and has a great personality, but needs to drop about 15 lbs. You can see how she could be more attractive, but she's not ever going to be very sexy, no matter what she does. Missouri is the girl you feel guilty cheating on, but you do it anyway.

The funny thing is that's almost exactly what I figured they'd say about Missouri when I started reading the article, and it's pretty much true.

I think the natural perception of Missouri fans is that they're pro-sports fans first and college fans second. They only pay attention to Missouri when they're doing good. They aren't that sexy very often though.