Smoke your cigars and enjoy the band while you can....

[Deez Nutz]

Poor Old Sad Sack Mizzou.   

Of all the analogies that have been offered to describe the University of Missouri’s role in the current reordering of the college sports universe, the one that rings truest is that of the rejected sorority queen.

Hoping that the studliest duck on campus would ask her to the the spring formal, Ms. Mizzou bought a dress and had her hair done, sniffing to the other young women in the sorority that it was too bad they were so fat.

But then the stud duck asked the corn-fed Nebraska girl instead, and the mountain girl from Boulder got a date with the surfer dude. Now Ms. Mizzou is standing along the wall with her sisters, hoping the Texans don’t decide to leave the dance.

Why is it that Ms. Mizzou can’t ever get the break she very clearly thinks she deserves?

Any analysis of the college sports brouhaha should be prefaced by the statement that the whole frenzy has very little to do with the proper significance of sports in higher education.

But that cat left the bag a long time ago. Since the 1952 Rose Bowl became the first nationally televised college game, TV has called the shots. Things really heated up when Notre Dame cut its own TV deal in 1991, and major college conferences all began making big deals for TV loot.

They had to: Football TV rights money subsidizes every other sport on campus; a National Collegiate Athletic Association study found that only 25 out of 119 major college athletic programs made money in 2007-2008.

Successful athletic programs, particularly football and men’s basketball, engage the alumni and drive giving to the rest of the university.

So in the ’90s, smaller conferences disappeared — Missouri and the rest of the old Big Eight were absorbed into the new Big 12 with four Texas teams in 1994. The conferences formed a Bowl Championship Series alliance to milk more TV money out of post-season play.

Unfortunately for the University of Missouri-Columbia, during the years that television rights money was exploding, its football program was enduring a long fallow period.

The 5th Down Game: Does God hate Mizzou?

Even when the team did something right, the gods seemingly intervened. With Mizzou on the verge of upsetting the eventual national champion Colorado Buffaloes in 1990, game officials inadvertently awarded the Buffs a fifth down that allowed them to score the winning touchdown.

Beginning in 2001, Mizzou painstakingly rebuilt its program under Coach Gary Pinkel. The culmination came in 2007, when the Tigers actually were ranked No. 1 in the nation for a week and knocked off arch-rival Kansas for a chance to play its way into the national championship.

But when Mizzou lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship, the Tigers not only lost that chance, but they also saw the hated Jayhawks get their BCS bowl bid.

The alumni’s noses have been out of joint ever since, wondering why the Big 12 doesn’t get as much TV money as the Big Ten, wondering why the University of Texas is allowed to scoop up so much of the Big 12 money, wondering why the Tigers don’t get no respect.

(Few people at Mizzou or anywhere else are wondering why the student athletes who produce a lot of revenue for their universities aren’t being paid for their extracurricular efforts. Then it wouldn’t be an amateur sport, you see?)

So when the Big Ten announced late last year that it was considering expanding — it added Penn State in 1990 as an 11th member — Mizzou decided to blow its own horn.

The Tigers, including their No. 1 alumnus, Gov. Jay Nixon, made it known that they were available. Mizzou boasted of the size of its two large TV markets — never mind that half of Kansas City roots for Kansas and a big chunk of St. Louis roots for Illinois.

Tiger boosters said Mizzou’s membership in the Association of American Universities — made up of the nation’s 62 largest research institutions — made it a better fit with the more academically prestigious Big Ten schools. This argument was overstated — nine of the 11 Big Ten schools were on that list, but so were six Big 12 schools besides Missouri.

Proud alum Jay Nixon announces tuition freeze one year before brain freeze. (Photo by Beth Suda/Columbia Missourian)

“I’m not going to say anything bad about the Big 12, but when you compare Oklahoma State to Northwestern, when you compare Texas Tech to Wisconsin, I mean, you begin looking at educational possibilities that are worth looking at,” Mr. Nixon said in an interview in December with The Associated Press.

Much of the rest of the Big 12 wondered why Mizzou — ranked only 102nd in the highly regarded U.S. News & World Report rankings of national universities — suddenly was pretending to be Harvard on Hinkson Creek.

Last week the Big Ten punctured Mizzou’s balloon by selecting the University of Nebraska (an AAU member ranked 96th by U.S. News) as its 12th team. Meanwhile, the University of Colorado (an AAU member ranked 77th by U.S. News) accepted a bid to join the Pacific-10 conference.

Now Mizzou and the 10 remaining members of the not-so-Big 12 stand along the wall, waiting for the University of Texas Board of Regents to decide today whether the Longhorns will keep dancing with them. Texas (an AAU member ranked 47th by U.S. News) could flee to the Pac-10, probably taking arch-rival Texas A&M (an AAU member ranked 61st by U.S. News) with it.

Ms. Mizzou could be left staring at her feet. It’s hard to dance once you’ve shot yourself in the foot.

http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/uncategorized/2010/06/old-mizzou-proud-mizzou-lonely-mizzou/

[The42Yardstick]

Poor Old Sad Sack Mizzou.   

Of all the analogies that have been offered to describe the University of Missouri’s role in the current reordering of the college sports universe, the one that rings truest is that of the rejected sorority queen.

Hoping that the studliest duck on campus would ask her to the the spring formal, Ms. Mizzou bought a dress and had her hair done, sniffing to the other young women in the sorority that it was too bad they were so fat.

But then the stud duck asked the corn-fed Nebraska girl instead, and the mountain girl from Boulder got a date with the surfer dude. Now Ms. Mizzou is standing along the wall with her sisters, hoping the Texans don’t decide to leave the dance.

Why is it that Ms. Mizzou can’t ever get the break she very clearly thinks she deserves?

Any analysis of the college sports brouhaha should be prefaced by the statement that the whole frenzy has very little to do with the proper significance of sports in higher education.

But that cat left the bag a long time ago. Since the 1952 Rose Bowl became the first nationally televised college game, TV has called the shots. Things really heated up when Notre Dame cut its own TV deal in 1991, and major college conferences all began making big deals for TV loot.

They had to: Football TV rights money subsidizes every other sport on campus; a National Collegiate Athletic Association study found that only 25 out of 119 major college athletic programs made money in 2007-2008.

Successful athletic programs, particularly football and men’s basketball, engage the alumni and drive giving to the rest of the university.

So in the ’90s, smaller conferences disappeared — Missouri and the rest of the old Big Eight were absorbed into the new Big 12 with four Texas teams in 1994. The conferences formed a Bowl Championship Series alliance to milk more TV money out of post-season play.

Unfortunately for the University of Missouri-Columbia, during the years that television rights money was exploding, its football program was enduring a long fallow period.

The 5th Down Game: Does God hate Mizzou?

Even when the team did something right, the gods seemingly intervened. With Mizzou on the verge of upsetting the eventual national champion Colorado Buffaloes in 1990, game officials inadvertently awarded the Buffs a fifth down that allowed them to score the winning touchdown.

Beginning in 2001, Mizzou painstakingly rebuilt its program under Coach Gary Pinkel. The culmination came in 2007, when the Tigers actually were ranked No. 1 in the nation for a week and knocked off arch-rival Kansas for a chance to play its way into the national championship.

But when Mizzou lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship, the Tigers not only lost that chance, but they also saw the hated Jayhawks get their BCS bowl bid.

The alumni’s noses have been out of joint ever since, wondering why the Big 12 doesn’t get as much TV money as the Big Ten, wondering why the University of Texas is allowed to scoop up so much of the Big 12 money, wondering why the Tigers don’t get no respect.

(Few people at Mizzou or anywhere else are wondering why the student athletes who produce a lot of revenue for their universities aren’t being paid for their extracurricular efforts. Then it wouldn’t be an amateur sport, you see?)

So when the Big Ten announced late last year that it was considering expanding — it added Penn State in 1990 as an 11th member — Mizzou decided to blow its own horn.

The Tigers, including their No. 1 alumnus, Gov. Jay Nixon, made it known that they were available. Mizzou boasted of the size of its two large TV markets — never mind that half of Kansas City roots for Kansas and a big chunk of St. Louis roots for Illinois.

Tiger boosters said Mizzou’s membership in the Association of American Universities — made up of the nation’s 62 largest research institutions — made it a better fit with the more academically prestigious Big Ten schools. This argument was overstated — nine of the 11 Big Ten schools were on that list, but so were six Big 12 schools besides Missouri.

Proud alum Jay Nixon announces tuition freeze one year before brain freeze. (Photo by Beth Suda/Columbia Missourian)

“I’m not going to say anything bad about the Big 12, but when you compare Oklahoma State to Northwestern, when you compare Texas Tech to Wisconsin, I mean, you begin looking at educational possibilities that are worth looking at,” Mr. Nixon said in an interview in December with The Associated Press.

Much of the rest of the Big 12 wondered why Mizzou — ranked only 102nd in the highly regarded U.S. News & World Report rankings of national universities — suddenly was pretending to be Harvard on Hinkson Creek.

Last week the Big Ten punctured Mizzou’s balloon by selecting the University of Nebraska (an AAU member ranked 96th by U.S. News) as its 12th team. Meanwhile, the University of Colorado (an AAU member ranked 77th by U.S. News) accepted a bid to join the Pacific-10 conference.

Now Mizzou and the 10 remaining members of the not-so-Big 12 stand along the wall, waiting for the University of Texas Board of Regents to decide today whether the Longhorns will keep dancing with them. Texas (an AAU member ranked 47th by U.S. News) could flee to the Pac-10, probably taking arch-rival Texas A&M (an AAU member ranked 61st by U.S. News) with it.

Ms. Mizzou could be left staring at her feet. It’s hard to dance once you’ve shot yourself in the foot.

http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/uncategorized/2010/06/old-mizzou-proud-mizzou-lonely-mizzou/

I just came



































....to the realization that this is the greatest article of all time (GAOAT)

[bradleigh]

Don't Nebraska and Colorado play Thanksgiving week as some kind of anachronism from the 90s.
They should have a check signing ceremony at half time so that the rest of the Big 12-2 will watch.

LOLLERS!  That football game is going to be hilarious.  I'd like to go to that game, actually. 

IN.   I will dress as a $1,000,000 bill and give myself to a KSU girl.

This has amazing potential for a pregame Willie skit.

[theKSU]

Don't Nebraska and Colorado play Thanksgiving week as some kind of anachronism from the 90s.
They should have a check signing ceremony at half time so that the rest of the Big 12-2 will watch.

LOLLERS!  That football game is going to be hilarious.  I'd like to go to that game, actually.  

I just realized I went to the final one played in Boulder (bucket list).  Their final matchup will be in Lincoln this year.  

[Deez Nutz]

The Buff fans don't want to pay the exit penalty.  What a shocker.  Go figure.

Look, I understand the BIG XII contract says that if you leave the
conference, you pay this penalty. Fine. And if it was just CU
deciding to leave and joining the PAC, then we have to pay up.

But this was much, much messier, and sleazier than that. There was a
lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of promises made and broken,
hidden agendas, and, I would guess, money changing hands that caused
us to end up where we did. Texas and the Big XII has no interest in
having that all made public, or gone over in court. Under the
circumstances, we should not be paying a full buy out. This was an
ugly, messy situation. Our attorneys and NU's attorneys need to get
together and figure out how we exit at a deep, deep discount. I don't
know about legal theories, but my instincts tell me that UT and
company would want this behind them as quickly and cleanly as possible
without a "thorough" court review of who said what when, and how
things happened the way they happened.

[goldenticket]

 

[EMAWzified]

Look, I understand the BIG XII contract says that if you leave the
conference, you pay this penalty. Fine. And if it was just CU
deciding to leave and joining the PAC, then we have to pay up.

But this was much, much messier, and sleazier than that. There was a
lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of promises made and broken,
hidden agendas, and, I would guess, money changing hands that caused
us to end up where we did. Texas and the Big XII has no interest in
having that all made public, or gone over in court. Under the
circumstances, we should not be paying a full buy out. This was an
ugly, messy situation. Our attorneys and NU's attorneys need to get
together and figure out how we exit at a deep, deep discount. I don't
know about legal theories, but my instincts tell me that UT and
company would want this behind them as quickly and cleanly as possible
without a "thorough" court review of who said what when, and how
things happened the way they happened.

So he's admitting that broke ass Colorado heedlessly charged ahead when nothing was in writing. Dumbasses.

[Stevesie60]

LSIQ here. Especially all the politics of it. Should I be nice to Dan Lykins the next time he comes into the place I work? What about Prez Shultz?

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

Don't Nebraska and Colorado play Thanksgiving week as some kind of anachronism from the 90s.
They should have a check signing ceremony at half time so that the rest of the Big 12-2 will watch.

LOLLERS!  That football game is going to be hilarious.  I'd like to go to that game, actually. 

IN.   I will dress as a $1,000,000 bill and give myself to a KSU girl.

This has amazing potential for a pregame Willie skit.

Are we going to be able to change the pump-up music from Crazy Train to Money-Pink Floyd? If we can manage to do that... I'm on board.

[BigCat]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but this interview shows what it's like to have F.U. money. 

http://www.statesman.com/news/t-boone-pickens-take-on-the-big-12-747411.html

Wow.

I love Boone.   

Loves Farmaggedon and Sunflower Showdown...does not like the Border whatever.

"i don't care about missouri"

 

I gotta back TCU here for a bit.  They have a stadium that is 40,000+ and I believe drew nearly 47,000 for their game against Utah last season.  The stadium has recently been approved for a $100 million+ renovation that is supposed to take capacity to 50,000.  Play some better competition and fans would show up.  Guarantee they fill their stadium for games against Texas, A&M, Tech, OU, etc.  Hell I would go to more of their games if they played better teams.  They are a much better draw than Colorado.

I assume you mean TCU is a much better draw besides the fact that CU has gone 5-340 the past few years and is still drawing 50,000+ per game? kthanx

[mcmwcat]

[goldenticket]

awesome

[Trim]

... nothing is different that what I have been telling you all along. The Big 12 was never dead as others were swearing and it appears it is closer than ever to coming out the other side of this storm.

Negotiations are ongoing with the 10 schools to enter a new contract. They have signed confidentiality agreements so there should be no more leaks (explaining why a post was taken down per request). We will update as we know more, but hopefully the next news will an official release from the conference announcing its survival.


it's patterson...

What was this about over there?

[Lynch]

First time I've woken up in like a week and not had 6 pages to read through.

[Trim]

From mid-day yesterday, so not really applicable to us anymore but seems like a goEMAW'r should win this thing.

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5284009

["storm"nut]

... nothing is different that what I have been telling you all along. The Big 12 was never dead as others were swearing and it appears it is closer than ever to coming out the other side of this storm.

Negotiations are ongoing with the 10 schools to enter a new contract. They have signed confidentiality agreements so there should be no more leaks (explaining why a post was taken down per request). We will update as we know more, but hopefully the next news will an official release from the conference announcing its survival.


it's patterson...

What was this about over there?

KK (BITB) posted what he said during his morning show about his conversation with Shultz.

[WillieWatanabe]

 

[Trim]

... nothing is different that what I have been telling you all along. The Big 12 was never dead as others were swearing and it appears it is closer than ever to coming out the other side of this storm.

Negotiations are ongoing with the 10 schools to enter a new contract. They have signed confidentiality agreements so there should be no more leaks (explaining why a post was taken down per request). We will update as we know more, but hopefully the next news will an official release from the conference announcing its survival.


it's patterson...

What was this about over there?

KK (BITB) posted what he said during his morning show about his conversation with Shultz.

I missed all daytime events yesterday.  What was it?  Who requested it be taken down?

["storm"nut]

... nothing is different that what I have been telling you all along. The Big 12 was never dead as others were swearing and it appears it is closer than ever to coming out the other side of this storm.

Negotiations are ongoing with the 10 schools to enter a new contract. They have signed confidentiality agreements so there should be no more leaks (explaining why a post was taken down per request). We will update as we know more, but hopefully the next news will an official release from the conference announcing its survival.


it's patterson...

What was this about over there?

KK (BITB) posted what he said during his morning show about his conversation with Shultz.

I missed all daytime events yesterday.  What was it?  Who requested it be taken down?

I believe KK, on his radio show he said that Shultz said they were close to a deal and that the "FAB 5" were giving up money to keep Texas

[steve dave]

ChipBrownOB    No name change planned for the Big 12. Although, we at Orangebloods.com prefer "Big 12-Lite."
15 minutes ago via TweetDeck

Reply Retweet  ChipBrownOB    Sources think Colorado panicked and now will have to pay between $6 mil and $8 mil to leave B12 when it couldn't afford Hawkins' $3m buyout.

[wes mantooth]

Can we bring the fist pump song from Bram to BSFS this year?   

[sonofdaxjones]

According to Chip Brown . . . ESPN/ABC has already stepped up with the cash, because if there was all kinds of upheaval they stood to have multiple existing TV contracts torn up and we have to start all over again.   

According to sources, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M will be guaranteed $20 million per year, while the seven remaining schools will collect between $14 million and $17 million in TV revenue in combined deals with ABC/ESPN and Fox.

Both networks stepped forward and averted what could have been complete chaos in college realignment by putting forth a combined package that will push the Big 12 from a $78 million take in annual TV revenue to just less than $200 million, sources say.

And while this deal will be remembered for holding rivals like Texas, Texas A&M and OU together. It will also be remembered for two TV networks stepping up and paying a premium dollar to ward off expansion.

Both networks, but especially ESPN, faced having freshly minted contracts in other leagues (ACC and SEC) torn up if those leagues came apart or began adding significant teams.


Chip Brown, Orangebloods.com

[steve dave]

According to Chip Brown . . . ESPN/ABC has already stepped up with the cash, because if there was all kinds of upheaval they stood to have multiple existing TV contracts torn up and we have to start all over again.   

According to sources, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M will be guaranteed $20 million per year, while the seven remaining schools will collect between $14 million and $17 million in TV revenue in combined deals with ABC/ESPN and Fox.

Both networks stepped forward and averted what could have been complete chaos in college realignment by putting forth a combined package that will push the Big 12 from a $78 million take in annual TV revenue to just less than $200 million, sources say.

And while this deal will be remembered for holding rivals like Texas, Texas A&M and OU together. It will also be remembered for two TV networks stepping up and paying a premium dollar to ward off expansion.

Both networks, but especially ESPN, faced having freshly minted contracts in other leagues (ACC and SEC) torn up if those leagues came apart or began adding significant teams.


Chip Brown, Orangebloods.com

Sounds fair to me

[mcmwcat]

Sounds fair to me

texas, i'll do your laundry for the next 3 months too

[deputy dawg]

Very good news. 
1.  shazbot! the "deep discount" that CU and Nubbs wants for exiting the conference.  They should have to pay full price just for being puSSies.
2.  When this all started, there was talk of $800 million to $900 million in unrealized TV revenues from conference alignment and playoff imperfections.  It looks like the Big 12 were the first to capitalize on this by getting an additional $80 million or so.  Where will the rest come from, and more importantly, where will it go?  Is some of that the conference networks (not all implemented), and playoffs (not implemented at all)?

TIA