GerryDiNardo

One thing that wasn't clear to me was if this language is common in NFL contracts or not? If it is not, I can understand why he is sitting out, especially if their other picks did not have this language as has been reported.

You guys seem to have your talking points down, but are leaving out a few key points in your narrative.

Around 2010, Texas actively and unilaterally began exploring a move to the then-Pac-10. The pac-10 reportedly wanted Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, A&M and Colorado to join with Texas creating a new Pac-16. Texas A&M was reluctant to follow and started conversations with the SEC. The death blow to the deal, however, was that Texas wanted Baylor over Colorado to form a voting block of Texas and Oklahoma schools. Baylor—though politically connected in Texas and having wormed into the Big XII over TCU and SMU—was never going to be acceptable as a replacement school due to their athletic/academic brand and their status as a private Baptist university. The Pac-10, unwilling to make major concessions or accept politically mandated tagalongs, like Baylor, ultimately passed and the deal fell through.

During that period, DeLoss Dodds talked openly about the Big Ten and Pac-10 as options for the UT. Texas and Dodds ultimately overplayed their hand, believing they could dictate terms to conferences that had different priorities beyond what Texas offered.

In the aftermath of the first failed realignment gambit, Texas returned to a deeply fractured Big XII. Colorado gave them the finger and ran to the Pac 10 before Baylor could worm them out of any new conference. Mostly to appease the Longhorns, the rest of the conference essentially bent over backward for the big schools and introduced an even more heavily skewed rev-sharing model. This agreement also allowed teams to maintain third-tier rights.

Texas’ decision to monetize the third tier rights with ESPN—rather than exploring a Big XII-wide network similar to the Big Ten Network or SEC Network—was a blatant act of self-interest. Eventually, the LHN became both a financial asset and an albatross. Texas initially planned to show Texas high school sports on the LHN. This was shot down by the NCAA when multiple schools, prominently A&M, voiced concern. A&M announced their move to the SEC and Nebraska to the Big 10 shortly afterwards. In retrospect, the LHN drove away FAR more than it attracted, weakening the Big XII's brand and cohesion at a critical time.

Texas was given a lifeboat by the SEC. They were becoming irrelevant in a watered down Big XII. NIL/pay-for-play coincided almost perfectly with the move to the SEC and they've been able to compete when they would have struggled mightily only a few years ago.

When Arkansas left the SWC in 1991, they were driven away by similar dynamics as the teams that left the Big XII: a desire for stability, television revenue, and clearer/cleaner conference governance. The SWC had become toxic, with a culture of intra-conference betrayal around cheating scandals. Throughout the '70s and '80s, SWC schools regularly reported one another to the NCAA. Ironically, the head of the NCAA infractions committee during much of this time was a professor from Texas Law School. Ultimately, the SWC’s failure to unite spelled its demise, ironically the same problems the Big XII faced with Texas leading it, too.

The common argument above that “any school would’ve taken the same deal” does hold water. Texas did what was best for itself, not necessarily what was best for the Big XII to keep it together long term. The problem lies in Texas’ historic inability to lead collaboratively. Time and again, it has opted for control over coalition, and in doing so, helped destabilize every conference it has been part of—first the SWC, then the Big XII.

ESPN got them and OU into the SEC but it remains to be seen if it will ultimately be profitable for the other 14 members. We've seen a dramatic shift in the landscape of college sports in a very short time. I am skeptical that the rest of the conference really has gained anything by this addition. It will be doubly true if Texas starts trying to lead and call the shots.

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JUDGE finishes one dong short of 80!

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I doubt that will happen. But I am certain you are one dong short of being a man.

And in rehab starts, pitchers are often working on specific things and they're not too concerned with the "outcome" of their performance.

I don't think there's an understanding of the monumental difference between the off speed pitches and the ability to disguise those pitches of MLB pitchers and MiLB pitchers, much less college pitchers. No way a college all star team is consistently making solid contact against a healthy diet of MLB sliders and curve balls using wooden bats.

Good thing the Red Sox decided to build around Devers and not Mookie or Xander. Really looking like the right decision.

"I was told.." :snoozer:

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they are out of minor league options

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Most of the time it's this.

Stroman is a pitcher with a million dollar arm and a ten cent head who has never gotten out of his own way. His outspoken nature is fine, but his actions underscore a me-first attitude that rubs a lot of fans the wrong way. He displays once or twice every season a period of why teams continue to put up with his attitude, but he eventually comes up craps and pitches like crap for the remainder of the year.

Honestly, I don't give a frick if a sports team visits the white house. These publicity stunts should be a thing of the past. As a taxpayer, we shouldn't waste any money, no matter how little, on celebrating sports teams in the fricking white house.

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There is not a single Texas fan that doesn't think our basketball team is good. We don't even belong in the NIT let alone the NCAA tournament.

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Not 100% sure this is what you mean, but it's likely he cannot legally comment on it publicly.