Conference re-alignment - expansion, contraction or deception?

It is becoming apparent that Texas wants their cake and wants a network to air them shopping for the ingredients, cooking and ultimately eating it as well. The much talked about move of 5 Big 12 South teams (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St.) to the PAC 10 has been public knowledge for some time now. As this would insure certainly double the TV revenue for each institution as well as a spot in a BCS automatic qualifier conference. But more so this would give Texas the status as match-maker and savior from the perspective of the PAC 10 and the remora-esque mid-tier Big 12 teams (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State). These teams have to be at the hip/beckon call of a Texas type to even be on the radar of a perceived super conference. But that leaves A&M and OU, two teams that when looking at all of their assets, across the board, can really stand on their own two feet. What one brings in gridiron prowess (OU) the other brings in Former Student base (A&M) and ultimately TV sets tuned in every Saturday. Enough can’t be said about the tactics implored by the A&M brass at the moment, if and a big if, all the media leaks and internet speculation is true, it appears that the Aggie big cigars are eyeing a possible invite to join the countries primer football/athletic conference, the SEC. This idea creates a cascade of scenarios. First it would break up 100+ years of Aggie/Longhorn conference affiliation. Texas has always looked down on Aggie and Aggie has always scoffed at soft Longhorn. It would also bring the SEC into the state of Texas; this could have huge recruiting implications, giving the likes of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Mark Richt inroads to a high school football breeding ground. Texas no likey this one bit. It could also help A&M’s recruiting, no offence to anyone but playing Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Auburn etc. is much more attractive than Baylor, Iowa State and the Kansas’s. All of the SEC talk has suddenly got the Longhorns doing the Texas two-step, backwards. And for this the A&M decision makers have done half their job. As quickly as Texas was ready to abandon the sinking Big 12, it has been “leaked” now that Texas will do whatever is necessary to keep the Big 12 sans 2 intact. This would do a lot of things. First, if A&M were to depart, it would make A&M look the villain for bolting and deliver the proverbial knock out blow to the Big 12. Second, if A&M were to stay, it would pave the way for Texas to once again get unequal TV revenue rights and the potential creation of that shopping/cooking/cake eating channel that was referenced above. The Texas Longhorn Network, which would be great for the Texas Longhorns and that’s it. This network is/was not an option in the expanded PAC 10. On a side note, the concessions that were made to Texas during the forming of the Big 12 back in the mid-90’s was a major player in Nebraska bailing out at the first opportunity. And finally if A&M decides to stand ground and stay in the Big 12 sans 2, this would keep most of the SEC at bay from Texas’s recruiting bed, sure there would be some snipping but nothing near the level if an in-state team were a member of the conference. It must also be mentioned that Texas to the SEC was never an option, the Longhorns site cultural and academic disparity as their rationale. No doubt they are a better fit with the green liberal intellects of the West Coast, however many believe having to stare down the likes of Bama, LSU, Auburn, Tenn, Florida every year versus Baylor, Texas Tech, Arizona, ASU plays a large part in this. Seriously though not many people look down on Vandy grads just because of the company they keep. Now as for the SEC and their need/desire to expand; first off they don’t need to unless it is apparent that this shift toward 4-5 super conferences is inevitable. They seem to have the football national championship thing figured out. However, they know that they have a great TV deal, but adding some top flight, large and attractive institutions would do nothing but sweeten their bargaining power at the negotiating table. And what better market than the Texas market? The SEC has never been caught watching the paint dry under the guidance of Commissioner Slive, the SEC has always been prepared to attack and counter attack as necessary. Slive was in College Station this weekend, whether an invitation was extended is not officially known, but based on the assumption of Texas and the Pac 10+, it is assumed that the SEC would invite the Aggies and even possibly the Sooners. Now with Texas backtracking and rediscovering their love for Baylor, Iowa State and the Kansas’s, the SEC offer might not be on the table for A&M, due to the simple lack of need for expansion from the SEC. There were reports that Texas threatened A&M to never play them again in any sport if they didn’t hitch on to the Texas train and blindly follow (a la Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) to the Pac 10+. This is analogous to the youngster taking his ball and leaving. Come on, You’re Texas remember, must you be so benign? As it stands at the moment, you have the Big 10 with 12 members, the Pac 10 with 12 members and the Big 12 with 10 members, sounds like the Government is running this, but we digress. If the Big 12 sans 2 can hold on to its BCS automatic qualifier status, Texas should want everything to stand pat, all they would have to do is beat OU and manage the rest of their schedule and they would be BCS bowling annually. But they need A&M to agree to stay as mentioned, it would just be hard to think that the given the chance the Aggies wouldn’t join the SEC, enhance their spotlight (or create their spotlight) all the while leaving the Horn brass fuming. A&M should accept the invite and deal with any fall out that might accompany it from Texas, or whomever. This is an opportunity that will pay in cash form from the get go and in the long term on all fields of play. In the short term, some beat downs should be expected, but hey you still get the Mississippi schools annually and Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt occasionally.

Is this worthy of a BP claim? It had to be cuased by oil stress syndrome.

To the SOB or DOB or collective group of either that broke into the vehicle of some cash paying tourists to your economic collapsing gulf coast this past week, here are some hopes for you.

May you go blind so that the two pair of sunglasses you stole will never be needed.

May you go blind and deaf so the Magellan GPS you stole will be of no use regardless of audio instructions being enabled.

My you go blind, deaf and then have a terrible allergic reaction to the prescription pills you stole. One so bad that death would be a welcomed relief.

If you are in any way associated with a legitimate line of work that is being or will be affected by the oil spill, may you drown in that oil. Not the rest of your community, just you, you lowest form of scum. You make a tar ball turn in shame.

On the other hand boy genius, it is appreciated that while you were snatching sunglasses and GPS devices, that you refrained from lifting the laptop computer, digital camera, multiple fishing rods and equipment and the full set of golf clubs and shoes that were in the same vehicle, or the cooler and numerous other things of pawn shop value that you had to step over to get to the car. That is all, carry on with that miserable thing you call your life.

Considering the economic death that is occurring because of the BP oil disaster, one would think that the good folks of Gulf Shores/Ft. Morgan Alabama, or anyone relying on tourist dollars along the Gulf Coast, might not spend their evenings looking for cars that are parked at rental beach houses to break into. Or maybe that’s why these people will never make it out of LA.