Facilities: OSU not messing around (Dax, cover your eyes!!)...

[The Manhatter]

Hello!!

http://www.osuconstruction.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5&pos=0

[chum1]

That looks pretty nice.  I'd rather have a tower.

[cireksu]

That's pretty awesome.

[cireksu]

We've got to have 1 freeking ultra rich alumni, don't we?

[pissclams]

Oklahoma State Athletics:  Showing the world how many different ways can you polish a turd.

[ksu_FAN]

I bet aTm is thinking "what might have been".... (not that they are hurting for dollars)

Pickens attended Texas A&M and Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University), joining Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated from Oklahoma A&M with a degree in geology in 1951.

His total contributions to OSU come to over $290 million dollars. Over $265 million, or 92%, of his donations have been towards athletics.

There are ultra rich alumni, then there is Pickens.  He is #103 on Forbes list of richest Americans with a net worth of 2.7 billion, I doubt if we have anyone close to being on the Forbes 400.

[sonofdaxjones]

There aren't any KSU Sports Boosters near the Forbes 400.   We've got some folks with some big money but not like Pickens.    I think Jack Vanier is worth $4-500 Million or so.

What OSU is doing is going to be really nice, but what I ask is, at what point does it become "we want a university the athletic department can be proud of".?? 

[catzacker]

I hope that by some miracle the oil market declines and that derivative hedge fund ran by Pickens that is backing the money OSU used to finance that expansion absolutely collapses. 

[sonofdaxjones]

Well, while I'd like to see oil prices come down, keep in mind that several petro related entities are pretty big sponsors of KSU athletics.   

I'd also add that KSU is working on some nice stuff as well.  Not as elaborate as OSU, but still some nice stuff is being proposed (don't ask me for details because I can't share).

[ksu_FAN]

I hope that by some miracle the oil market declines and that derivative hedge fund ran by Pickens that is backing the money OSU used to finance that expansion absolutely collapses. 

Pickens has actually moved on from oil (granted he still has great interest there) and is trying to find the next big commodity.  He believes it will be water and he is buying/has bought the water rights to a couple counties in Texas so he can pump water there out of the Ogallala auquifer and sell it to Dallas or some other metroplex in Texas. 

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Featured/mayer111306.html

[pissclams]

I hope that by some miracle the oil market declines and that derivative hedge fund ran by Pickens that is backing the money OSU used to finance that expansion absolutely collapses. 

What are the details behind his donation, I really don't know but was under the impression he gave them a check.

[cireksu]

What does Jack Vanier do?  He's from Salina isn't he?

Cattle?

Land?

[catzacker]

I hope that by some miracle the oil market declines and that derivative hedge fund ran by Pickens that is backing the money OSU used to finance that expansion absolutely collapses. 

What are the details behind his donation, I really don't know but was under the impression he gave them a check.

Basically, yes, then the charitable trust that took that money turned around and invested it right back into Pickens' hedge fund.  There's really nothing illegal in how it was structured.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/24/news/newsmakers/pickens_donation/index.htm?section=money_latest

[pissclams]

I hope that by some miracle the oil market declines and that derivative hedge fund ran by Pickens that is backing the money OSU used to finance that expansion absolutely collapses. 

What are the details behind his donation, I really don't know but was under the impression he gave them a check.

Basically, yes, then the charitable trust that took that money turned around and invested it right back into Pickens' hedge fund.  There's really nothing illegal in how it was structured.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/24/news/newsmakers/pickens_donation/index.htm?section=money_latest

I wasn't implying that anything shady took place.  What I had heard though was that he didn't handle the transaction in the smartest of ways.  Not sure if that's true or not but I'll check out that link you posted.

[Andy]

should be a loud stadium when its done

now all they need to do is actually accomplish something on the field.

[waks]

What does Jack Vanier do?  He's from Salina isn't he?

Cattle?

Land?

His father (I think it's his father, maybe it was a grandfather) was at one time the richest farmer in America. So yeah, land and ag..

[CatsNShocks]

Nice drawings and all, but man that's an awful lot of orange.

[FBWillie]

So catsnshocks.... how does the joke end in your sig?