Monday, June 04, 2012

Monday Lunch: Big XII Points Blame towards Mizzou

An interesting aside from Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman about college realignment:
When all the turmoil over realignment the previous two years was brought up, one Big 12 school official piped up, "Well, Missouri was the first to throw their panties on the field." 
Certainly Missouri started it when Governor Jay Nixon practically seceded from the Big XII in 2009, but let's make something clear.  Big XII instability started - and ended - in Austin. Not Columbia.  Not Jefferson City. Not Lincoln.  Not College Station.  And absolutely not Boulder.  (That idea is just plain ridiculous.)  When Texas started flirting with the Big Ten, it drew Nebraska's concern.  When Texas started flirting with the Pac-10, it was every school for themselves. And when Texas started pushing their way with the Longhorn Network, it sent Texas A&M off to the SEC and created an opening for Missouri to escape as well.

So while it might be good to point the blame at the outgoing schools, the remaining Big XII schools are well suited to worry about the danger that still remains. Glad to see revisionist thinking continues in the Big XII.  Last year, it was "blame Nebraska"...this year, it's "blame Missouri."  (And where the panty fetish came from, I don't want to know.)

Maybe Bob Bowlsby can get the Big XII to public admit what the rest of the world knows:  Blame Austin for the Big XII's problems.

I was watching the Cubs/Giants game on Friday night as Melky Cabrera was pounding the Cubs, and I had to wonder just what the Royals got in exchange for the National League's leading hitter. So I looked it up...and they got squat. The Royals got what they could get:  a broken down left-handed pitcher (who was in rehab in Sarpy County) and a minor leaguer.  And the Giants get an MVP candidate.  Why did the Royals make the trade, and why do baseball minds still think it was the right trade for the Royals?  It comes down to money.  When Cabrera's contract expires, he'll be up for a big contract ... and the Royals aren't going to play that game.

So while the Royals may have lots of up-and-coming players that give Kansas City fans reasons for optimism, let's not forget that, in the end, nothing has changed in Kansas City.  Those players, if they prove to be as talented as people think they are, will spend the best years of there careers elsewhere.  The Wal-Mart philosophy continues unchanged.  Don't get your hopes up...you know where this story ends, Royals fans, until someone else buys the team.

(And yes, before anyone mentions it, the Cubs are putrid this season.  It's clear that Theo Epstein was more focused last winter on building his organization than trying to salvage the 2012 season for Chicago.)

Nice to see another sports radio station in town on KOIL-1180 AM.  In recent weeks, I had started to wonder why KOZN-1620 AM chose Fox Sports Radio instead of Rivals/Yahoo Radio as their affiliation.  I guess it was to get Jim Rome...but that's an awfully high price to pay. Especially since Jim Rome has been running his tired schtick pretty much unchanged since the last century. So now Omaha gets both.  That's a win-win.  Though I guess a handful of right-wing politicos will miss Neal Boortz, Dennis Miller, or Bill Bennett.

The rumor mill is warming up to suggest that St. Cloud State assistant coach Steve Johnson will be named as an assistant coach for UNO hockey as soon as today.  We'll see.  This rumor comes with the same "head-coach-in-waiting" designation that Mike Hastings had.  We'll see about that.  I still maintain that when it comes time for Dean Blais to retire, that's a decision that should be made at that time.  Johnson (or Hastings) for that matter might be candidates, but in no way should that decision be made now.  These "head coach in waiting" designations don't seem to work out well anyway.  Remember Will Muschamp at Texas?  Well, he's now at Florida.

So some will speculate on that; I'll ignore it.  Yeah, yeah, sure sure.  Go away, please.

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