re: Thank You Mike Slive... The Texas Trainwreck.

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There is one real big fact that you're leaving out.

Missouri was up front with everybody.

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To be fair so was Dodds:

"We didn't start this, but if we need to finish it, we'll finish it."

And boy did they finish it, if "it" was the hope for a prosperous Big 12.

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Did mizz bend knee?

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Pretty much. No other schools would stand with us. So, the administration and the AD tried to make the best of a bad situation. We tried to get along as best we could until it just became untenable.

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When did Texas guy said "Don't get into a pissing match with texas, you'd lose." ?

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Basketball season 2010, I believe.

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Finally now that you guys traveled both to and away for your games to the SEC schools.

How is it? What is it like looking down and no longer seeing your regular opponent on the field?

To Mizz fans what was it like going to an sec championship game and the atmosphere there or at each se stadium about the same?

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The SEC is awesome. This is how it's supposed to be. The venues are awesome, the fans are knowledgeable and (for the most part, excluding some rantards) very welcoming. Much more enthusiasm and excitement. Getting to go to the SECCG was fantastic.

Maybe it was a little strange playing all new teams, and that's a steep learning curve in the SEC, but it's much more fun. And I don't expect to ever sit at a game in the sleet again.

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As far as the long horns network. Is it a success?

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They can't get good distribution in their own state, even in the urban areas! I think ESPN wasted $300MM.

Texas fails to understand that people love competition as much as they love their own team. Their scorched earth policy toward their conference mates has really diluted their competition level. No one not a big Texas homer would pay to watch them play crappy competition. In any sport. The SEC network success will make them look like the short-sighted, foolish, greedy sips they are.

The guy who started the Big 10 network used to work for the Big 12 conference. He proposed a similar deal to the conference, and guess who killed it? Yeah. Greedy.

Lets start from the beginning. The Big 8 was a great conference. Everybody was happy there.

We naively thought the entire Big 8 merging with half of the SWC was an expansion of the Big 8. WRONG.

First, the conference HQ moved to Dallas from KC.

Next, with division alignments, OU jumps in bed with Texas, and not answering NU phone calls.

Basically over 15yrs the conference gradual Texification of the Conference. Teams not in Texhoma were not apart of the conference power structure.

You talk to any Texas fan, and they'll tell you that they had no problem with Colorado leaving because they didn't really belong. Really? They belonged to the Big 8 just fine.

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To be fair so was Dodds:

"We didn't start this, but if we need to finish it, we'll finish it."

And boy did they finish it, if "it" was the hope for a prosperous Big 12.

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That is not accurate. Accurate would be Dodds sitting down with NU/MU/CU and work out the issues.

What you're alluding to is the Hammer he was holding behind his back, while demanding CU/MU/NU to shut up and get back in line

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Did Deloss really say that? Good fricking lord

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I was told by someone in the AD. It didn't go over too well. Alden is a politician, and tries to get along. That pissed him off

And yet when talk of conference expansion comes back around half the dumbasses on here will say they want Texas to come into the league. That's like begging for AIDS

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The Big Ten started the conference realignment craze. Period.

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Actually the PAC was right there with them:

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And even then it was speculated they would take from the Big 12:

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Bringing in Utah and Colorado might be a winner (Salt Lake City and Denver markets), and at least one Pac-10 athletic director said that's the most likely scenario. Of course, prying Colorado away from the Big 12 might not be easy.

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In fact I would argue that it was the hiring of Larry Scott and the expiring of the PAC's Tier 1 TV deal that drove the expansion train. He was very upfront about that:

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Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott said the "biggest strategic thing" he will do in the next few years is look at the conference's TV deals and "figure out how to get more national exposure, not just for football and basketball, but for the Olympic sports as well."

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Rumors came out that the PAC might be looking at $20 million a team (which was crazy numbers back in that era) and realignment took off.

PAC expansion was a real topic in that conference as early as May 2009:

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That beats your December 2009. Blame Colorado for being such a good PAC target. They killed the Big 12!

How's it feel Texas? You thought you were pretty great. "We're the King," they said. "No one can undermine us," they said. "The buck stops in Austin."

Then along comes some tiny little school from the plains of Missouri. "Oh, the Big 10 will pass on Mizzou," said Texas. Turns out the Big 10 wasn't knocking. But, the SEC was.

Mizzou answered the door. The Big 12 came crumbling down.

Here, Texas thought they ran the Big 12. But, Missouri was the school that brought it down. Keep on thinking Texas is the power broker in the Big 12. The truth is, the power broker already left. And they're enjoying their new digs.

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Bottom line - they started talking to the PAC about blowing up the Big 12, so the schools with options started exploring them. And it was our fault?

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Yes, yes it is our fault.

How DARE we not suckle at the teat of bevo? Did we really think us lowly serfs had the right to look out for ourselves when Massa Dodds had everything under control?