If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
If you are having difficulty logging in, please REFRESH the page and clear your browser cache and try again.
If you still can't get logged in, please try using Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari to login. Also be sure you are using the latest version of your browser. Internet Explorer has not been updated in over seven years and will no longer work with the Forum software. Thanks
This is what Texas A.D. DeLoss Dodds said on Wednesday about Texas' refusal to compromise on the Longhorn Network: "We are who we are. People say what they say. The outcome is the outcome. We're proud of ourselves."
This was posted on another board..
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.
Richard Justice column (Houston Chronicle) yesterday:
Order is restored to the Big 12. In other words, OU has no choice but to remain one of Texas’ toadies
You’ve got to admire DeLoss Dodds. He’s not giving an inch. Nor a nickle. This man is John Wayne. Or at least Bob Haldeman. The Longhorn Network—and its $300 million—belongs to Texas, and someone doesn’t like it, they’re free to get rejected by the Pac 12.
Dodds sees the Longhorn Network as historic and unique. As mainstream media vaporizes, as press boxes empty out, teams are taking it upon themselves to tell their own story. As a Texas booster told me, “You’re going to owe me an apology in three years.” At Texas, they’ve been blown away by the quality of the network. ESPN had poured its latest technology into the project, and as good as good as Texas believed the network would be, it has been better. Distribution is a problem, but that’s the case with many similar start-up ventures.
On Wednesday, Dodds pointed out that any school could form its own network. He said Texas would share other media revenues, but not those from the Longhorn Network. So to be a member of the Big 12 is to fall in line behind Texas. If you want a friend—or a partnership—get a dog.
Baylor has no choice. Neither does Texas Tech. Iowa State? Do you really have to ask? Kansas and Kansas State will speak when spoken too.
None of this is a surprise. They have no choice. Much of their credibility comes from being in a conference with the University of Texas.
Oklahoma is another matter. Oklahoma has a great brand name. Oklahoma gets television ratings and wins championships. And for a few days, it looked like OU was sick enough of Texas running the Big 12 to go out on its own.
Unfortunately, OU couldn’t find a home without Texas. Turns out, the Pac 12 wanted OU only if it brought Texas along. When the Pac 12 found out it couldn’t have Texas, it decided it didn’t want OU either.
So after leaking all kinds of demands about sharing revenues, OU on Wednesday was forced to issue a bunch of statements saying how excited it was to still be a member of the Big 12. OU had sent different signals the last few days, but things change.
OU President David Boren should have kept his mouth shut until he knew for sure the Sooners would be invited into the Pac 12. To paraphrase Sun Tzu, “The battle is won before the battle is fought.” (I stole the line from Jeff Van Gundy.) Now he has zero leverage to negotiate a better deal with Texas. Unless he’s going to take the Sooners to the SEC—and that doesn’t appear to be an optioni—OU is stuck in a conference with a ringleader who isn’t exactly the best partner.
Dodds likely will allow one new school into the Big 12, and there’s almost no chance it’s going to be TCU, Houston or SMU. Dodds will make some noise about extending the footprint of the conference and capturing that lucrative Provo, Utah, television network.
You and I know better. SMU, TCU and Houston aren’t getting in the Big 12 because they’re threats to Texas. They’ve all got credible programs, and in the case of SMU and UH, they play an exciting brand of football.
If Texas even recognizes any of the three exist, he’d potentially be cutting into Texas’ recruiting dominance in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. BYU and Texas have almost no overlap in their recruiting, so BYU almost certainly will be invited to the Big 12.
If you don’t like it, tough. Texas A&M had a chance to punch its ticket out of town, and did just that. As for the remaining eight schools, they’re stuck with Texas and will have to play by Texas’ rules.
Remember what Pedro Martinez said when the Yankees kept kicking his tail? That’s how it is with Texas and OU today. Daddy, is that you?
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.
Shatel: Conference realignment never fails to entertain
By Tom Shatel
WORLD-HERALD COLUMNIST ? Big Red Today
Share
Hello. My name is Tom. And I'm addicted to conference realignment. Here are some thoughts:
• I'm really glad the Big 12 is staying together. You usually have to pay for this kind of entertainment. Call it "Modern Conference."
• It's been a madcap week on the realignment front. But man, the best part was reading about "high ranking sources" in Oklahoma lamenting the loss of Nebraska. And rip Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe for letting Nebraska go.
Where was all of this concern a year ago? Where were the calls for "major reform" then? Actually, where were they last week?
The Nebraska reference was nothing less than disingenuous. But that's par for the course in this league.
• Yes, NU is in the Big Ten now. But many Nebraskans still follow this Big 12 train wreck. And, really, who can turn away and not look?
• The Longhorn Network is now the 800-pound gorilla in college sports. Texas can't go anywhere else because of it. The other schools in the Big 12 want to minimize it, cut it down to size.
But herein lies the rub: If the Big 12 lessens the LHN, or it goes away, then Texas is free to leave for the Pac-10, SEC or ACC. So, the best way to keep Texas in the Big 12 is to keep the LHN intact.
These Longhorns are really good, aren't they?
• "High-ranking sources" in Oklahoma say OU wants Dan Beebe to be removed. Really? Now?
I feel for Beebe here. I mean, he's made his bed. The damage is done. But OU and the rest of the Big 12 enabled him all the while. They supported him and praised him in public. And now all of a sudden Oklahoma President David Boren needs a scapegoat, so Beebe has to go? I wonder if Texas will stand by Beebe. He is their wing man.
• Beebe's biggest gaffe, and that's saying something, was letting Texas start the LHN — and not being aware that ESPN could come in and control it. That never should have been allowed to happen. Or, there should have been a revenue-sharing rule in place for third-tier TV rights.
Now, it's too late. Reportedly, one of Oklahoma's "major reforms" for OU coming back was that Texas share some of its LHN money with the rest of the league. On Wednesday, Texas A.D. DeLoss Dodds said the LHN was off the table for negotiation.
So much for concessions.
• Here's what I don't get: The Pac-12 can tell Texas to take its network and get lost, but the Big 12 can't. Maybe they should try it. Again, where would Texas go with that huge piece of luggage?
• There's actually talk around Missouri that the school wants to stay in the Big 12. If the SEC is offering Mizzou a spot, MU is crazy if it doesn't jump on it. Crazy. We're talking stability in a great conference forever vs. a dysfunctional family that may or may not be here in five years. This is not even a decision. Just ask Nebraska. If Mizzou turns down the SEC, it deserves whatever it gets down the road.
• This is what Dodds said on Wednesday: "We are who we are. People say what they say. The outcome is the outcome. We're proud of ourselves."
Loathe him or loathe him, Dodds is a classic bad guy, a modern-day J.R. Ewing. But Texas might be the only one in the bunch who is not a phony.
• What I can't figure out is why Boren sounded like a man with two feet out the door and headed west on Monday. Did the Pac-12 change its mind? Did the Pac-12 tell OU that it was interested even if Texas wasn't coming, then change its mind? Don't know, but Oklahoma got embarrassed. No wonder the Sooners were spinning a story in the media that they were actually working on saving the Big 12 and using the Pac-12 as leverage to get reforms.
That story has such great spin on it I think they used square grooves. If OU was a double agent, it was likely more of the Austin Powers variety.
• Is conference realignment dead? No. But it's taking a break. The Pac-12 has nowhere to go. The Big Ten just wants Notre Dame. The Big East may add Navy and Air Force. The ACC didn't have to move on Syracuse and Pitt, but it's still a nice play.
• Will there be 16-team super-conferences? Not anytime soon. I think that 14 is a nice round number. The ACC is there. The SEC will add a 14th and stop. Again, the Pac-12 has no candidates, unless it thinks that Boise State is worth a look.
• Don't look for a Big East "all hoops" league just yet. UConn is staying put for now. Navy and Air Force won't rock the hoopsters' boat. But if that happened, Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen has his cell phone ready. I think Creighton would be down the list, behind Xavier, Butler and possibly St. Joe's.
• The Big 12 should add BYU, Boise State and TCU. Put the B's in the north and TCU in the south, go back to a championship game and let the fireworks begin. But Commissioner Dodds said on Wednesday he prefers 10 teams. So there you go.
• Creighton's Rasmussen should be the commissioner of college football. Ras has an idea: Create four 16-team "divisions," which are run like conferences by the commissioners of the Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and SEC. That's for football only. Those schools' would keep their basketball and non-revenue teams in conferences similar to what they have now, for travel proximity and rivalries. The four divisions would run by their own rules and have a playoff.
Great idea, Ras. You want to be Big 12 commissioner?
If I were the other members of the Big 12, I would be less concerned about Tejas sharing the money from the LHN. Instead, I would sell out to stop any conference or high school games from ever showing up on that network. That should be the #1 priority for programs like Tejas Tech, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Forget about the money. That network has to be squashed before it ever achieves critical mass with its subscriber base. Nobody is going to call their TV provider demanding to see women's volleyball.
Just out of curiosity, where can you actually get the Longhorn Network now? Is it on Dish or DirecTV? How many people got to see that game against Rice?
Last edited by Hannibal; September 23, 2011, 08:16 AM.
Tweet
Comment