wilfred update: holy crap that kid is FAST!!! i had no idea. he was beating the crap out of all the kids on his football team yesterday and looking back at them while doing it. i was shocked. i'll stop bragging now. don't wanna be that dad.
I just don't see it this way. UT got its ass handed to it by the Big 12 last football season. Let's see how their network looks to ESPN if that happens a few more seasons in a row. I don't see A&M doing anything about it but getting out. Retreating. But I don't think there's any grave injustice because ESPN wants to throw a bunch of money at UT to showcase the most boring programming I've ever heard of.
I'm just going on what I hear UT fans saying. I do know the older fans and players respect the rivalry.
that's why i went on to talk about the implications of that off the field. remember, UT went through a football drought that absolutely tarnished their brand.
Every other major conference has checks and balances built in. Right now UT is running the show. Which is why I don't understand why so many people are supporting the Big 12. Again, this kind of behavior (building a manageable path to the BCS) is exactly what's wrong with college football. Did y'all know when TAMU lost to UT a few years back TAMU WAS REWARDED with a Cotton Bowl?! Had TAMU beat UT, UT would have gotten that game. I wanna watch this thing burn.
yo clutch: what's the character limit for usernames? DonnyHornFanHookEmForeverBevoRulesMost is starting to appeal to me.
As a Missouri guy, I can somewhat understand UT's position, because every other team in the conference, including A&M, said just one year ago that they were OK with it! I don't disagree that one team leveraging so much power over a conference creates instability, and individual networks can pose problems. But this was the very foundation of the Big 12's revival last summer! The same revival that A&M agreed to, and allowed themselves to be placed into that "top tier" of revenue distribution (along with UT/OU). If A&M doesn't want UT to have that much power and wants equal distribution throughout the league, then why agree to it in the first place? They had an offer from the SEC last summer. The college football landscape was ready for superconferences. Everyone was ready to act. Then, for some bizarre reason, they let this drama play out for 14 more months. If A&M wants to leave, that's fine. I have no issues with that. I just have a problem with Aggies pointing the finger at UT's ego, when they're the ones that fed that ego by agreeing to the new conference structure in June 2010. As a Mizzou guy, I'm not thrilled with UT leveraging that much power. But I'm not frothing at the mouth and blaming UT, because my school was and is an enabler. Aggies need to better take responsibility.
I'm not sure why TAMU agreed last year, but I don't think anyone had the impression that this issue was over. TAMU was just biding its time, seeing what would happen. There was no need to act right then and there. I'm an Aggie, I'm not pointing any fingers at UT. Like I've been saying, UT is doing what's best for UT. TAMU needs to do what's best for TAMU. Simple as that. In the end, the Big 12 (which is already weakened and has been reactionary instead of proactive throughout all of this) takes the hit. As it should. From everything I've seen, its been poorly run. It has no network, its never been aggressive in expansion and its getting poached like its an inferior conference. Which... it now is.
From my understanding, not everything that was promised/implied to TAMU by the Big 12 during last years negotiations has actually occurred. Perhaps they were naive but it is driving this current conference realignment talk.
I hear ya...the issue wasn't over. But the issue that A&M seems to be most bent out of shape over (LHN) was absolutely over. Yeah, there have been some disagreements about what can be shown on LHN, but that's an NCAA issue, anyway. And the NCAA has slapped UT back over that. But to sign the agreement and then not even get into year 1 of playing under it when you're getting out? That's why I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for A&M in the whole LHN - SEC linked discussion.
Inferior in what way? Even without A&M in its fold, it would boast 2 top 10 football programs this season...including the preseason #1 pick. It would hold its own in any of the other sports, and still be a damn good basketball conference. And all of that is assuming they don't add someone else to the mix, which I'm reasonably certain they will. If you mean off the field, explain that too...because the media money they were able to get FOX to commit to last offseason wasn't exactly chump change.
I'm not sure how much TAMU really cares about the network. For all I know they were using it as a smokescreen to make UT look like the bad guys when they exited the conference. Lets face it, these SEC talks have been going on all along... but I don't care who the bad guy is that destroys the Big 12. I don't care about the Big 12 and I'm not sure why anyone would, aside from UT fans.
This is why I feel the Big 12 has become inferior: * no title game * teams being poached * not aggressively seeking expansion * late on implementing a network * entire conference anchored by a single team * allowing indie-networks in conference The Big 10 and SEC go after schools like Nebraska and TAMU. The Big 12 might go after UH (no offense)? C'mon... I'll believe ND when I see it.
That's awesome that you aren't interested...but every single other Aggie fan I know says at every turn: "this is UT's fault that we're leaving." You are the lone exception to that.
Typical Aggie fan is dumb. Actually, typical any college sports fan... TAMU just wants whats best. And don't think they don't realize they might struggle in the SEC.
