Pettiness, paranoia and pollyannas

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Not sure if this has been posted yet or not so if it has, I apologize. But I thought this was a pretty interesting read by Sam McKewon

 

Pettiness, Paranoia and Pollyannas

 

Pettiness, Paranoia and Pollyannas

 

Will immaturity and greed sink the league now that the Pac-10 creeps into the picture?

by Samuel McKewon

 

June 04, 2010

 

 

 

Heidi Klum landed in Kansas City Thursday night. Wore a red mini and talked a German blue streak all the way to the Intercontinental Hotel. Hosting a special episode of “Project Runway” wasn’t in her contract.

 

But it’s the Big 12. It’s Division I football. One day you’re in. The next day you’re out.

 

What. A. Mess. The Big 12 meetings have devolved into a scene from Cannes, with rumors, innuendo, cryptic comments and canceled press conferences becoming the order of the day. Naomi Watts didn’t crash the party Thursday - if only! - but Chip Brown did, and he turned the joint upside down with his Orangebloods.com report that the Pac-10 appeared “prepared” to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Colorado.

 

Why? Because the league is a disorganized nightmare of rogue actors, loose lips and malcontents that couldn’t stay on the same page to save their life. While the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-10 glide along with relative calm, hatching their plans behind several sets of closed doors, the Big 12 administrators shoot off their mouths, panic like ninnies or allow the media, clever as it is, to coax them into answering questions they’re apparently not smart enough to answer. Consider Colorado AD Mike Bohn’s bewildering confirmation of Brown’s story to the Boulder Daily Camera:

 

"We're led to believe that that may be the case, but, again, there are so many different reports and different dialogues and different developments within our league and outside our league that prevents me from being able to predict what will happen.”

 

Huh? Who? Wha? Next time, Mike? Try a “no comment.”

 

You’d think he’d know that. You’d think that the Big 12 brass could emerge from these meetings with enough ego and confidence to walk briskly by a hedge of reporters. The Big Ten brass did that. The Pac-10 brass probably will, too.

 

But in KC, a strange insecurity appears to reign. It’s boffo business for the assembled media, which, like Bruce Willis in “Unbreakable,” can just feel dissension emanating from the walls. They read facial expressions, weigh vocal intonations and parse phrases with a scalpel. That’s what journalists do for your reading, listening and viewing pleasure. Analysis paralysis. Definition perdition.

 

Big 12 commish Dan Beebe got blasted for canceling his Thursday presser, but it was the right move - for Beebe. He spent most Tuesday and Wednesday expanding on his gifts as a negotiator and the thriving state of the league. Since, on Thursday, he knew he couldn’t peddle that BS, he chose not to serve anything. Wise play. Not only is Beebe not in charge, he could be the last guy to know the league future.

 

Such is the firestorm one tiny report can begin.

 

Sure, Brown’s story has elements of truth in it. The Pac-10 could be prepared to do any number of things. I’m prepared to find the nearest low-lying area on the side of the road in case of a tornado. That doesn’t mean I’m listening to Jay Cardosi, or whoever runs weather TV in Omaha these days, 24/7.

 

Who cares what the Pac-10 does - or what it’s prepared to do? Brown made the rounds, sold a few subscriptions, and bully to him. That’s the game these days: Quote multiple sources “close to the situation,” speculate on the back end, and spend the rest of the shooting the bull on radio and TV interviews.

 

But think, Husker fan, as you calm your nerves over runny eggs and toast this morning. Why does Texas want to run its Bevo to Pac-10, and forfeit every last ounce of control it has - plus every cent of money it ever put into creating its own Longhorn Sports Network - for the sake of having a place to land? UT will always have a place to land. It’s the John Mayer of college football. There isn’t a girl in Division I who wouldn’t invite Texas to bed.

 

Would UT, all of the sudden, decide a mega-conference is its best play? Of course not.

 

So what’s the report really about? Leverage. Texas has an out plan that reduces travel and maximizes fan interest - there’s probably a half-million Longhorn fans living in Arizona - and if the Pac-10 is sincerely so dumb as to start a 16-team league - where there’s scant evidence it would work - then the Horns are promising to deliver the Big 12 South, so to speak. Because if UT goes, A&M does too, and OU and OSU don’t have much choice.

 

But that’s not what Texas wants. It wants the Big 12. And Nebraska in it. Again and again and again it’s said this. And if UT doesn’t go to the Pac-10, OU isn’t going. No way. A&M neither. Their presence in the deal only exists to satiate UT’s travel concerns. They have no chess piece to move. Not yet.

 

Texas does. Nebraska does. I’d be damn surprised if Missouri still did, but we can argue about that some other day. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The Tigers aren’t the TV draw its 7 million sets! would have you believe. Mizzou - and its eight whole Big 12 titles in 14 years - can be replaced. The Huskers’ reputation, winning, overall revenue and national fan base cannot.

 

So - what does NU demand? What does UT concede? If the two schools really are aligned as UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said they were two weeks ago, they’ll hash out a solution.

 

If not, we’ll see.

 

Don’t assume Texas automatically flees to the Pac-10, and don’t think the Pac-10, after screwing up the UT courtship 15 years ago, is going to employ some drop-dead date, either. The Pac-10 doesn’t hold any cards. Texas does.

 

And the Longhorns will wait. Perhaps not long. But they’ll wait to see if Nebraska sticks in the Big 12, or makes inroads with the Big Ten.

 

Maybe NU wants the Big Ten. And until this week, I would have questioned the move. The Big Ten isn’t as rosy as you’d like to think. We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.

 

But the Big 12 is plum immature. Colorado is perfectly indifferent to the concept of success. Missouri has an entitlement complex. Hell if I [don't] know all the sordid details at Kansas, but it sorely needs a come-to-Jesus moment. A&M is swimming in the red. Iowa State chugs along like a Yugo. Texas has a ton of irons in the fire; one day, UT will get burned.

 

There’s too many interests, too many old grudges - happily fueled by the media - about how the league formed and an unhealthy obsession, if you ask me, with money. A wad of cash hasn’t done squat for most of the programs in the Big Ten. There’s still one good way to build a football program from ground up, and it’s not with venture capital and fancy facilities alone. Too many Big 12 programs bought into the money myth, and it has their heads spinning. The media’s too. Consider that Mizzou’s whole position on conference realignment is built on something completely unrelated to its program success: Television sets. Is that how we measure athletic departments now?

 

Yes and no. Marketing matters. Exposure matters. Media matters. But the basic fundamentals of loyalty, common sense, steadiness and toughness occasionally elude this young league of impressive-but-impertinent administrators.

 

The Big 12 really should work. Heck, it has worked. So why are a couple “sources close to the situation” threatening to rip it apart?

 

[HuskerBruin]

What's funny is that McKewon is the guy who was so skeptical that any conference expansion would happen, to the point of mocking all of the attention it was getting (comparing it to Geraldo opening Capone's vault). He also said nothing of interest will happen at the Big 12 meetings. Oops!

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

What's funny is that McKewon is the guy who was so skeptical that any conference expansion would happen, to the point of mocking all of the attention it was getting (comparing it to Geraldo opening Capone's vault). He also said nothing of interest will happen at the Big 12 meetings. Oops!

Yep I remember that. Guess someone finally pulled out a fork and knife to eat that crow

[HuskerBruin]

What's funny is that McKewon is the guy who was so skeptical that any conference expansion would happen, to the point of mocking all of the attention it was getting (comparing it to Geraldo opening Capone's vault). He also said nothing of interest will happen at the Big 12 meetings. Oops!

Yep I remember that. Guess someone finally pulled out a fork and knife to eat that crow

 

I should state that I really like McKewon. Really enjoy his perspective on things. I just thought it was amusing how much he was off on this one.

[Ringer02]

He's just mad that his predictions were wrong, maybe him and Herbstreit are related

[whateveritis1224]

It sounds like McKewon is a guy who likes the Big XII and is wondering wth happened to make it practically obsolete in less than 2 weeks. I'd say up until this commit to the Big XII or die thing that Beebee produced, there would've probably been a really good chance that Nebraska would've stayed in the Big XII. Now Nebraska isn't necessarily pushing back, but they know that they are in a position of power. But I think he's right, a few snippets from the media, and suddenly it seems no one wants anything to do with the Big XII outside of schools that have no where to go (the Kansas schools and Iowa State along with either Baylor or Colorado).