Still in Phoenix, taking advantage of a couple more days of the Mrs. WBE’s vacation. So not much today or tomorrow, sorry. Just a couple quick thoughts about the weekend news cycle:
— So, Texas is committed to a new Southwest Conference, huh? Or, as they’ll more likely call it, the Longhorn Conference featuring Texas and Nine Other Schools. Which is why that since the SEC appears to be serious about bringing Texas A&M on board (sigh), I’m betting the Aggies decide they don’t need the ‘Horns shadow and bolt. But we’ll see.
— I’ve already made it clear where I stand on Slive’s decision to preemptively strike at the Pac-10/11/12/16 and Big Telweven’s by snagging A&M, but once more, with feeling: I don’t know why dividing a relatively static amount of revenue by 13 and eventually 14 teams is better than dividing it by 12, especially when it also means diluting the conference’s brand, the conference’s traditions, the conference’s identity. But no one at Slive’s office is asking me, obviously.
— I had a conversation with my friend Brian last week in which I said that no coach caused me a greater level of simultaneous frustration and joy than U.S. Soccer’s Bob Bradley, and the England draw was yet another perfect example. I hated Bradley’s decision to start Robbie Findley, disagreed with the decision to start Ricardo Clark, and was tearing my hair out at the hour-mark of the match when he still hadn’t used one of his three substitutions. All of these decisions proved to be mistakes: Findley provided nothing going forward; Clark was burned for the English goal and was a major culprit in the U.S.’s inability to keep even a modicum of possession; the lateness of the substitutions meant that none of them was able to make any sort of impact on the game.
And at the end of the day, thanks to Tim Howard’s heroics, a remarkable marking job by the back line on Wayne Rooney, and Clint Dempsey’s continued ability to go one-on-many and yield something positive, the U.S. came away with a massive point. (I guess Robert Green had something to do with it, too. Thanks, Robert.) And if Jozy Altidore’s shot had bounced off the inside of the post instead, it’s three points instead of one. Again: weird decisions, phenomenal results. I love Bob Bradley. I hate him so much.
— All for now. Will chime in if there’s any breaking conference developments. Otherwise, see you Wednesday.
http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2010/6/14/1516807/how-texas-a-m-and-oklahoma-can
I know adding Oklahoma is pretty much not going to happen, but I find myself strangely liking this scenario. It would give us back the Florida and Tennessee rivalries.
Walt –
It would also put us in a mega-division with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky. That would be the toughest division in all of football, easily.
Yes, it definitely would. But the West wouldn’t be a pushover, either. With Oklahoma, LSU, Arkansas (assuming Petrino sticks around and gets them to where Louisville was), possibly Mississippi State if Dan Mullen gets things off the ground, and maybe aTm could benefit in Texas recruiting by being a part of the SEC and could hire a great coach that would bring them back to prominence. And we all know that the Right Reverend Houston Nutt is capable of at least producing competitive teams, so Ole Miss won’t be an automatic win, either. The East would definitely be stronger, but the West would still be tough.
Altidore so deserved to score that goal, much more so that Dempsey…but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth!
Go Yanks!
You know, the more I think about all of this, the happier I am that no vast expansion has happened, and I get more and more disgusted with the university presidents and conference officials who all have used the excuse that a playoff would cheapen the regular season. One of their key arguments has always been that it would make the regular season less important and dilute the meaning behind rivalry games. These are the same rivalry games that conference directors and university presidents have all been willing to toss out over the past few weeks simply due to their worship of the Almighty Dollar. So, in reality, the truth is exactly what we’ve known it to be: they don’t care about the importance of the rivalry games for the traditions and rabid importance that fans place on them. They care about the rivalry games just from the revenue standpoints. We can’t still play them and have them weakened by a playoff system’s affect on the regular season, but we can potentially toss them out completely if it means we can make just as much (or more) money by doing something different!
I’m a bit disgusted right now. I think I’m going to drink a Shiner Bock beer in honor of Texas holding off the Confrapocalypse, and just because I need the alcohol to get over this sad feeling of knowing that tradition doesn’t matter a damn. It’s all about the money.
Aaaaaaaannnd Texas will stay in the Big 12, now their captive audience. Making TAMU’s move to the SEC even less likely and thank goodness. TAMU is the last thing our conference needs: a recruit drain, a ridiculous roadtrip, a division-stretching southwestern school in a conference built on Dixie. I really hope we’ve dodged this bullet good.
A Haiku:
Texas owns Big 12
You cannot escape their grasp
DeLoss will kick ass
I can see where adding aTm would generate more money than it cost by spitting the pot 13 ways. You have to consider the size of the aTm TV market, the interesting rivalries (Arkansas & LSU), and the bargaining power with ESPN. I am sure ESPN would be willing to shell out the bucks to get other big name schools into their television contract.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any way that aTm can leave the Big12 if Texas doesn’t. Actually, I think the reason Texas couldn’t leave has a lot to do with the powers that be not wanting the rivalry with aTm screwed up.
A lot of this has to do with the bucks the TV networks are willing to pay.