Mississippi Sooner
6/9/2010, 04:43 PM
The first sure sign of some imminent fire behind the billowing smoke of conference realignment: Fast and furious leaks to various media beginning around last Thursday. But the surest sign that this is really going down right now as we speak is the sudden presence of politicians, beginning with lobbyists and legislators working to strong-arm Baylor into the lineup of Big 12 schools reportedly packing their bags for the Pac-10.
Naturally, then, Kansas pols have enthusiastically taken up the the university's plea to Nebraska to save the Big 12 by rebuffing overtures from the Big Ten. By Tuesday, the Jayhawks' case had already made way into the halls of the U.S. Senate, where Kansas Republican Pat Roberts was reportedly overheard lobbying Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson to prevent the Cornhuskers from becoming "the domino that blows college football into four major conferences and gets rid of the NCAA." (Of legendary 'Husker coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne, Roberts said, "He doesn't want on his tombstone 'He ruined the Big 12,'" though it's possible that would suit Osborne just fine.) Roberts and fellow Kansas senator Sam Brownback issued a joint press release to "encourage our friends at the University of Nebraska to remain a strong and vibrant member of the Big XII Conference."
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Kansas-senators-lobby-Huskers-threaten-legal-fi;_ylt=Am4r9llj4ndQ8Annbb0BpQYcvrYF?urn=ncaaf,246 925
Naturally, then, Kansas pols have enthusiastically taken up the the university's plea to Nebraska to save the Big 12 by rebuffing overtures from the Big Ten. By Tuesday, the Jayhawks' case had already made way into the halls of the U.S. Senate, where Kansas Republican Pat Roberts was reportedly overheard lobbying Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson to prevent the Cornhuskers from becoming "the domino that blows college football into four major conferences and gets rid of the NCAA." (Of legendary 'Husker coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne, Roberts said, "He doesn't want on his tombstone 'He ruined the Big 12,'" though it's possible that would suit Osborne just fine.) Roberts and fellow Kansas senator Sam Brownback issued a joint press release to "encourage our friends at the University of Nebraska to remain a strong and vibrant member of the Big XII Conference."
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Kansas-senators-lobby-Huskers-threaten-legal-fi;_ylt=Am4r9llj4ndQ8Annbb0BpQYcvrYF?urn=ncaaf,246 925