Whorn will NEVER go to the PAC...article

[Lott's Bandana]

Makes some interesting points:


Texas and the Pac-12: It’s not really about The Longhorn Network

Posted by Jon Wilner (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/author/jwilner/) on September 7th, 2011 at 6:51 am | Categorized as Big 12 football (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/category/big-12-football/), Pac-12 football (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/category/pac-12-football/), Texas football (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/category/texas-football/)

I’ve talked to two sources in the past 36 hours who have a keen understanding of the realignment puzzle in general and the University of Texas culture in particular … and neither believes UT will join the Pac-12. Ever.

Yes, football pride and power are part of the equation:

Texas is used to being the big boy on the block. In the Pac-16, it would have the same revenue cut and the same voting power as Texas Tech (and Washington State, for that matter).

If anything, the Longhorns would be in the minority, an outsider — the power center of the league being … as it has always been … in California.
And UT would have to fold The Longhorn Network (four years of work) into the Pac-12′s regional network structure, allowing plenty of Texas Tech programming on the airwaves.
None of that seems desirable for the Longhorns.

But sources believe there are larger issues at play that will keep Texas out of the Pac.
“It has a different culture,” one source said.
Another suggested UT’s future conference affiliation is more about state political aims than football revenue. And the Lone Star State’s true power-brokers have always looked east — to the halls of Washington in particular.
This is the state that produced LBJ and the Bushes … and now has another presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry.

The university, which has one of the nation’s finest law schools, considers itself the academic equal of the Ivies, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins.
(Not that Stanford and Cal aren’t academic powerhouses, the source added. It’s just that they aren’t east coast academic powerhouses.)
Would the state’s power brokers — and that includes Perry — really allow the state university to move its center of gravity to the west coast?
That, not The Longhorn Network, could be what keeps Texas out of the Pac-12.

One source believes UT will do whatever it takes to keep the Big 12 breathing, even if that means making fiscal and Longhorn Network concessions to Oklahoma.
And in the event of departures by Texas A&M and Missouri and the Oklahoma schools?
The Longhorns — with the aid of ESPN, which wants the Big 12 to survive — would attempt to reconstitute the conference with Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State, Iowa State and a handful of newcomers (Houston? SMU? Pittsburgh? Louisville?) before throwing in the towel.
And then? Then they’d pack up their bags and head down the road to football independence, perhaps placing their Olympic sports in the ACC, and maneuver to gain the same Bowl Championship Series access as Notre Dame.
They’d do all that, the sources believe, before they’d cast their athletic, academic, cultural and political lot with a conference on the “other” coast …
… Anyhow, just something to consider as we watch the future of college football unfold over these next few weeks.

[MountainOkie]

Does ut seriously believe it is "the academic equal of the ivies..."?

[brainpimp]

I hope they do. It will mean the destruction of UT as a sports competitor.

[King Fuzzy]

Reads like an article that quotes drinking buddies as sources.

[MountainOkie]

Reads like an article that quotes drinking buddies as sources.

Good point.

[R@bidred]

UT has a big stick to swing but not sure it's big enough to keep the OU's of college football under it's foot. In the end the money will dry up if UT goes independent. ESPN doesn't want another NBC/ND contract that pays UT amounts close to the National Debt. No conference wants the LHN and UT problems unless they want to be dominated. I still think they want OU on their schedule and will do what they can to accomplish that. Even if it means joining the PAC 16.

[SoonerMom2]

Some one just posted this on Texas Ags:

Dallas radio is reporting that t.u. is meeting today to discuss going indy in football and Big East in all other sports. Said they will NOT give up their network meaning PAC-12 is not an option for them.
****

Now you know why Stoops made those comments -- TX is really going Indy.

[bluedogok]

Does ut seriously believe it is "the academic equal of the ivies..."?
Some there really do believe that.....

[R@bidred]

Some one just posted this on Texas Ags:

Dallas radio is reporting that t.u. is meeting today to discuss going indy in football and Big East in all other sports. Said they will NOT give up their network meaning PAC-12 is not an option for them.
****

Now you know why Stoops made those comments -- TX is really going Indy.

They best have ESPN in that meeting.

[saucysoonergal]

They are such big bullies. The Pac 12 probably doesn't want them. Oh, well.

[MeMyself&Me]

Some one just posted this on Texas Ags:

Dallas radio is reporting that t.u. is meeting today to discuss going indy in football and Big East in all other sports. Said they will NOT give up their network meaning PAC-12 is not an option for them.
****

Now you know why Stoops made those comments -- TX is really going Indy.

I'll believe that they are going indy when they make a formal announcement. If they do go indy, I'll be in the camp that the RRR should end. At that point, they have more to gain from it than we do. aTm should refuse to play them too. Good luck getting a good worthwhile schedule Tejas.

[R@bidred]

I'll believe that they are going indy when they make a formal announcement. If they do go indy, I'll be in the camp that the RRR should end. At that point, they have more to gain from it than we do. aTm should refuse to play them too. Good luck getting a good worthwhile schedule Tejas.

Would OSU be willing to take the place of OU in the RRR?

[MeMyself&Me]

Would OSU be willing to take the place of OU in the RRR?

Would aTm be willing to take the place of aTm in the RRR?

[MeMyself&Me]

Better question would be, would it be the same?

[saucysoonergal]

Baylor is better than Texas this year, maybe they could take their place?

[Neath a Western Sky]

Pride goeth before the fall is an ancient truism. If Texas goes indy, they are seeing only the potential upside to it. No way they are adequately considering the pitfalls. Texas fans on one of their major message boards evidence more sense; they are scared to death of going indy. They want Big 12 or PAC. As Sooners, we should probably hope they do go indy, but I hate utter freaking stupidity, no matter who commits it.

[Lott's Bandana]

Better question would be, would it be the same?

It was discernibly better when we were in the Big8 and not in the same conference...so, the answer is, it would probably be better.



Interesting about the Big East comment. That means they would be Independent in football and therefore not have to play TCU every year, except in other sports.

[cherokeebrewer]

UT has a big stick to swing but not sure it's big enough to keep the OU's of college football under it's foot.

There is only one OU...

[MeMyself&Me]

It was discernibly better when we were in the Big8 and not in the same conference...so, the answer is, it would probably be better.



Interesting about the Big East comment. That means they would be Independent in football and therefore not have to play TCU every year, except in other sports.

The comment you quoted from me was in regards to would it be the same if OSU replaced OU in RRR or if aTm replaced Texas in RRR, not about keeping the game if not in conference, the concept being brought up by someone else. Of course it wouldn't.

If Tejas decides to go to another conference, I'm all for keeping the game if we can make it happen within our OOC limitations. I do not want to see that game end. However, I see it much differently if Texas goes indy.

[OUMallen]

Some there really do believe that.....

Their law school flirts with the top ten from time to time. They are the academic equal, in some regards.

[Lott's Bandana]

The comment you quoted from me was in regards to would it be the same if OSU replaced OU in RRR or if aTm replaced Texas in RRR, not about keeping the game if not in conference, the concept being brought up by someone else. Of course it wouldn't.

If Tejas decides to go to another conference, I'm all for keeping the game if we can make it happen within our OOC limitations. I do not want to see that game end. However, I see it much differently if Texas goes indy.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying.

[Veritas]

One way or another, Texas is on the way to an embarassing come-uppance. The modern CFB landscape is moving toward parity and away from one team being able to bully an entire cconference.

[badger]

The old era had state funding to get college kickstarted and in-state kids educated. In this era, it's an arms race to build bigger and better, but with declining state support, it's about milking donors, and what do donors care about? ATHLETICS! There's too much money for the academic side at stake to not make sports a priority... to not think of sports as a cash cow... to not get bitter and angry over perceived sports-related slights.

[LASooner]

“It has a different culture,” one source said.

Horse ****, Austin is not all that different thinking from LA or San Francisco. It's the rest of the state that is not.

[SoonerMarkVA]

Horse ****, Austin is not all that different thinking from LA or San Francisco. It's the rest of the state that is not.

Yup. I lived in LA for 18 months, and Hollywood for 6 of those. The first time I visited Austin, I felt like someone had tossed me back into Hollywood. I had never believed the chatter about how similar Austin was to the Cali cities, but it was dead on. Heck, I can recall reading editorials from other Texas cities about how Austin just didn't belong in the state.

[badger]

keep austin weird!

[Sooner Cal]

A Big XII with OU, OSU and A&M replaced by Houston. Rice and TCU wouldn't be good enough for BCS status. It's not the league that matters, it's the schools in the league.

I think UT goes independent. Then they can play 12 nobodies.

[LosAngelesSooner]

Funny...Texass has the belief that they should be the big dick in charge of the whole conference and be able to bully everyone around?

Who'd a thunk?

[LASooner]

If OU leaves with OSU or Missouri or Kansas or Texas Tech or some combination of those teams, Texas is going to have a real hard time finding a conference willing to acquiesce to Texas' every whim. They don't want to leave the Big XII because there is no conferences left for them as they are. If they go independent, they're going to have a hard time scheduling, so I expect, they'll approach all the teams from the Big 12 and SWC for games. ESPN has a hard time negotiating carriage rights for national channels, I wish UT luck in trying to sell their little channel to anyone outside the state. Just because they have ESPN backing them doesn't mean they'll get it on Comcast, Time Warner, Dish Network or Direct. ESPN can't even negotiate ESPN-U HD on Dish Network, what do you think the chances of them picking up LHN are?

[jkjsooner]

Their law school flirts with the top ten from time to time. They are the academic equal, in some regards.

Texas is a very good university but what you quote hardly makes them the academic equal of an Ivy League school.

Try flirting with the top 10 in the majority of academic disciplines then you can say you're an academic equal of an Ivy League school.

[ashley]

Why should we not play them? They have the money to do anything they want. So, lets get over it and just beat them.

[SoonerMom2]

Yup. I lived in LA for 18 months, and Hollywood for 6 of those. The first time I visited Austin, I felt like someone had tossed me back into Hollywood. I had never believed the chatter about how similar Austin was to the Cali cities, but it was dead on. Heck, I can recall reading editorials from other Texas cities about how Austin just didn't belong in the state.

There is a reason a lot of the rest of the state calls the Austin newspaper the birdcage because of their extreme liberal slant. First time I heard that years ago on San Antonio radio I burst out laughing. Back in the mid-90's we took our band to UT to view the 6A competition for bands to win the State. We kept having to refocus our kids on the field as there gay guys making out right behind the bands -- not one pair but a whole group and they were loving the stares coming from the students. I thought I was visiting SF again and hadn't been there in years instead of still being in Texas.

[bluedogok]

Austin would be considered a "conservative" city in California, Austin "appears" liberal because most of Texas is so far to the right. These days there are pockets of liberalism instead of a liberal majority, that has changed greatly as the city has grown and people from inside and outside the state have moved here. The suburbs around Austin make many counties in Oklahoma look a little blue. They are VERY conservative and as many have moved in here the "old Austin" people have lamented the changes that the city has gone through and miss the liberal slant that it used to have. In many cases an "Austin liberal" would be considered a "moderate" on the coasts, I have been told that by some from California who moved here. Just like a conservative out there would be considered a moderate here. Most of the people that I know who live in the Austin area are way more conservative than I consider myself to be conservative....and most of them are Whorn fans. Cox Media (the paper arm of the Cox Cable in Oklahoma) owns the Austin American Statesman, while it is more liberal than The Oklahoman, that really isn't saying much, 98% of major newspapers in this country are more liberal than The Oklahoman.

The only ones who have the public displays of affection to that extent are usually student aged and are doing it for shock value, that is all. Even the "gay pride parade" here is pretty tame compared to many cities. I also have never seen "gay groups" around here either, one thing about Austin is gay and lesbians are pretty much integrated into "normal" society here. We don't really have a "gayborhood" like Dallas, Houston (both of which have much larger gay/lesbian populations) or even OKC has. Some gay students may not like that fact because there just isn't the "gay scene" here like in other places to pick up people. Most of the gay people that I have known really like it because they don't have the need to lock themselves into one area, most of Austin is just more accepting of their lifestyle, most of them were also in committed relationship. I work in architecture/interiors, there are plenty in those fields around here.

[trwxxa]

Some one just posted this on Texas Ags:

Dallas radio is reporting that t.u. is meeting today to discuss going indy in football and Big East in all other sports. Said they will NOT give up their network meaning PAC-12 is not an option for them.
****

Now you know why Stoops made those comments -- TX is really going Indy.

I believe this was the original plan with a small exception. Once the LHN became established (3 years or so), UT would go Indy in football only and expect the Big XII to keep them for the rest of the sports. If the other schools said no, they would go to the highest bidder.

[MyT Oklahoma]

I honestly don't care what happens any more regarding conference realignment because I cannot affect it one way or another.

It's all about money but then it's (college football) always been about money.

OU will go wherever it decides to go for whatever reasons and I just don't care about the rest. Especially * and their self centered network.

I'll still watch and support my Sooners irregardless. After 40 years I am too set in my ways to change now.

P.S. I still miss the old Big 8 but then life goes on.

[Sooners78]

keep austin GAY!

FIFY

[Scott D]

actually it makes more sense for Texas to bully it's way into the Big East. It satisfies their east coast desires, with their desire to dominate a weak football conference.