The Big XII Dilemma

Issue: What is going on in the heartland?

Short Answer: The Big XII is falling apart, thanks to ESPN.

Reasoning: The first weekend of college football is in the books, and, although there were some great games (and some blowouts), what I will remember most about the weekend is the national coverage Texas A&M received for wanting to leave the Big XII.  The SEC was their destination, but the SEC decided they do not want to expand.  Yet.  For those of you who watch (or read) ESPN for your sports news, I expect that you have no idea why Texas A&M was attempting to bolt the Big XII, mere hours before the college football season started.  That is because when you have a monopoly on sports news and reporting, like ESPN does, you need not report negative stories about yourself.  Must be nice.

Let's play make-believe.  You are the Athletic Director at Texas A&M, a middle-of-the-road Big XII school.  Sure, you have a good athletic program, but competing with Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri is quite difficult.  Then ESPN comes along and makes it nearly impossible to compete.  How is ESPN responsible for the (soon-to-be) ultimate collapse of the Big XII?  Well, "[s]ince the joint partnership between ESPN and the University of Texas was announced, many have cried foul. Texas' bitter rival, Texas A&M, has even made plans to leave the conference, a decision that was propelled by the announcement of the Longhorn Network."  In my opinion, a great move by Texas A&M.  So, shouldn't schools like Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Kansas State be right on the Aggies heals, attempting to find a newer, fairer conference than the Big XII?  I sure as heck would be.

Some of you out there may be wondering why a network televising all things UT all the time, is a problem for other schools in the Big XII.  Let's play make-believe again.  You are an 18-year old, stud football player from the state of Texas (this is truly make-believe!).  You are being recruited by Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State.  If you go to any school, besides Texas, you may play a few games on TV every year.  If you go to Texas, every single play you ever play on a football field, will be on television.  Think of a baseball player, or tennis player, being recruited by Texas, being told all of their games will be on TV too!  Isn't that an easy decision for a kid to make?  Why wouldn't you go to Texas?  Exactly.

The ultimate question is this: Is there any University out there that needs its own network?  The answer is simple: Hell no.  The University of Texas is good in almost every sport, from women's volleyball to men's football, they compete in the upper echelon of every single one.  But still, is there enough drama and excitement, 24/7/365, to fill a network with compelling television?  Those of us who have the Big 10 (or is it the Big 100?  Beats me.) Network know there isn't.  And that is a network dedicated to an entire conference, not just one school.  Ever watched Minnesota vs. Northwestern in women's volleyball?  Yeah, me either.  I'd rather watch re-runs of Pawn Stars that I have already seen three times.  I am rooting for the Longhorn Network to fail miserably, partly because I don't think one University supplies enough substance to fill up and entire network, and partly because I hate ESPN.  See, "[w]ith [ESPN] investing such a large sum of money into a single university, there is a chance, for good reason, that ESPN will lose a great deal of its credibility when reporting Texas-related stories. And credibility is not something that can be bought back."  Funny, I didn't know ESPN still had any credibility left.