statsman

I guess I’m fascinated by the game theory aspect of all this. In an Economics class, the prof said that the assumption most Economics is based on is “people make decisions in their own interest”. This conference realignment highlights flaws in that assumption- administrators that have a lot of power, but will only govern for a few years, make short term decisions that have negative long term implications. So, fans enjoy storming the field and giving shit to players. Coaches enjoy voting Texas down in a poll. ADs pressure a conference to limit promotion of the biggest brand. All decisions that have a near term benefit. Then, when Texas leaves (and it was hard- a lot of time to wait out the political situation, a lot of money), it hears, “you selfish asshole! And, hey- what about the tradition? Didn’t we have some good times?” All of these TV ratings highlight just how much free riding was going on.

If you’re Matt Campbell, taking the ISU job in 2016, you look at a big name like Texas that went 6-7 and 5-7 the prior two years, and you see vulnerability. There are deep flaws in the Texas program, so of course you draw a bullseye on them. For whatever reasons (there were many), the UT program wasn’t performing, so you take advantage of it. The problem for Texas was that every pissant program in the B12 saw the same thing, the same opportunity.

I’m talking about when he said that Texas and Iowa were the two big games. If he doesn’t get that from the coach, where does he get that from?

Honestly, none of us suspected that we were such a big deal to the Cyclones program until Jarrod revealed it.

I’m sorry, but I’m going to keep replying to this thread. I’m enjoying the result of the Big 12 standing up to Texas and its underperforming self.

I think there has been resentment in the league office, for a while. A dozen years ago, or so, the Oklahoma Thunder lost a playoff game, and the OKC newspaper had a big photo of KD, calling him out as non-clutch. LeBron James commented, “It’s like they don’t realize he can be a free agent.” What could the Big 12 do in 2021? Nothing. There sure were things they could have done in 2008, though. Of course, that was three commissioners ago, and every university has probably gone through the same number of presidents and ADs. All these programs are locked into paths that they were put on years ago, by people that are long gone.

A lot of the B12 resentment of Texas (which has been very real for years, in the Irving office) resulted from the LHN. They couldn’t stand that we weren’t rolling our tier 3 into a conference network and sharing the loot. What could they have done differently? They could have realized that if a down Texas makes them a lot of money, a resurgent Texas makes them even more. They could have not freaked out about the initial plans for the LHN, which were to weaponize it to support UT recruiting.

I am fascinated by it. Just like, 60 years later, Georgia Tech fans wonder, “Now, why in the hell did we ever leave the SEC?”, future fans of Big XII schools will wonder, “How in the hell did we let them get away?”

It’s really funny seeing the article from the Lubbock newspaper calling for a continuation of games with Texas. (My memory is that the Lubbock state rep did not participate in the Austin bitchfest at the Capitol, because they thought there was a deal in the works to continue the TT series. That deal was contingent upon TT helping UT exit the Big XII at a reduced cost, and Tech was unable or unwilling to come through). The disconnect is two-fold: 1. Myopia to the reality that Baylor, TCU, UH, ISU (this shocked me) and others all want to continue playing these games. Baylor had a sold out stadium and night time ABC broadcast when they hosted Texas; they have had streaming for at least five of their other games. 2. The way they (TT) treat Longhorn fans- the cussing out, the harassment. It’s like they’re satisfied that it doesn’t matter how shitty of hosts they are when the conference requires Texas to play there, and they never worried about what would happen if Texas weren’t required to play there. Here are the TV ratings so far- https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/ It’s clear what they will be looking at, ratings-wise, going forward, except- it will be worse. ESPN paid the Big XII twice what Fox did, to get first choice on a few games, and to pick up the championship games. It looks to me like ESPN paid a premium to help Texas and OU get into the SEC earlier, and is ready to start broadcasting those Texas SEC games, and they will be scheduled to suit ESPN, not the Big XII.

My guess is that he won’t be introduced to the crowd, and the TV crew will interview him and he will say all the right things (the lying son of a bitch)

This is awesome, and the IR8 in a nutshell. There is no recognition that TCU, BU, UH all think that they have a “special” series with Texas, too. (Not to mention, we just learned that we were one of ISU’s main rivals just last week) There is no recognition that Texas will be renewing stronger rivalries with Arkansas and TAMU. And, of course, calling out a school about to add SEC blue bloods to the schedule, a school that has already been scheduling too SeC, PAC and B10 teams, as chicken. I swear- the IR8 have the self awareness of my 13 year old daughter.

It really is impossible for us to show less respect for the tragedy than the Ags do.

Thats the gross impact, but I don’t think each crew is equally bad. None of the crews did us any favors, but some are worse than others. Here is what I have: Rice-Salaam Wyoming-Mar (bad, but didn’t matter) BU-Anderson KU-Boitmann OU-Alvarez (bad) UH-VanderVelde (bad, until a decent spot at the end convinced everyone they were for us) BYU-Anderson KSU-Mar (bad) TCU-Salaam ISU-Boitmann (bad) Johns did the OU-OSU game. Id like to see Salaam or Anderson again, but I fear we’ll get Alvarez or VanderVelde. Those two, and Mar, put the biggest screw to us over the last three years.

Nope. NCAA hired basketball and baseball officials. Conference only hires football officials.

Not much UT can do. The objective stats showing the disconnect between calls in UT games and no -UT games would absolutely carry weight in a court discrimination case (that’s how discrimination is proven), but there is no way the media can understand them. However, they do understand, “Texas is a whiny titty baby”, which is how the B12 office would explain it. Plus, that’s a juicier story. I think Texas is doing the right thing, with Sark’s subtle post game jabs and in game yelling. It’s all we can do.

Crazy idea, but… ISU OL talking about how “Texas doesn’t know what it’s walking into…” He got that from his coaches. They had some offensive and defensive wrinkles; did Texas just handle them all? Yormark at the game, out of all the games he could have attended, the officials’ thumbs on the scale… Was this game set up as some kind of trap, between the league and ISU? Not a real collusion, but maybe ISU let Yormark know they had special packages ready for us, and he may want to be there?

Granted, that’s easier than a graphic of every time a favored Horns team destroyed a plucky underdog’s dream

For me, the worst was the intentional grounding. You never see it on a long pass into the end zone, when there is a receiver in the end zone. Every other time, everyone shakes their head and says, “they must have been in the wrong page”. Last night, if they could call it on Texas, even if a little unreasonable, they called it on Texas.

I think it would help if Iran were kept from using the Palestinians as part of their own game board.

I don’t know- this conference does what its members want. $6m divided by 12 to each school for UT making the playoffs? Or the satisfaction of sending Texas packing without having to watch Ewers hoist a trophy, smoking a cigar? I’m not sure they’ll be rational about this.

Are Palestinians in Gaza and the WB citizens of Israel? I thought Israel did not recognize them as citizens, nor did the Gazans and WB residents consider themselves Israelis?

Well, I don’t see how any reasonable person could argue with broseph Stalin

What do you mean “against the law”? Which law? Whose law? This is not a police action. It is a war. ICC laws may apply. Geneva convention may apply. You may have a political disagreement with US aid, but I don’t see it as illegal, nor do I see any of Israel’s actions as illegal. How many Palestinian civilian deaths are acceptable? None. Nor were the deaths of the innocents acceptable. Nor the killings of the hostages. Nor the captivity of the hostages. T is all horrible and none can be celebrated by a right thinking person. Hamas has a lot of Israeli and Palestinian deaths to be held accountable for. I blame them for all of this.

It certainly takes a brave Gazan to criticize Hamas and argue for new leadership. That should be noted at the top of their obituary. Im sure a lot of Gazans are antisemites. Ever hear of “Hitler’s Willing Executioners”? It’s a 30 years old history book that put the lie to the idea that the Holocaust was all done by the Nazis and average Germans weren’t ok with it. The average German was ok with it. Antisemitism was in the air that they breathed, the water they swam in. Years later, Germany has come a long way. It turns out that if you stop feeding hate to people, they can lose it. That is my hope in the ME.

There is an old joke about a debate club, that was so experienced in their arguments that the points and counterpoints of the argument were replaced by defined “code” letters, to save time. This debate is kind of like that- the parameters and reasons are well known and well worn. It is a very tired game that needs something to change for it to end. I propose a change- get Iran out of it. Iran gives missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah; if that ended, Israel could ease blockades of Gaza’s port. Iran supports the more militant Palestinian factions; ending their support would provide room for other, calmer and more peaceful voices.