General Sports Water Cooler

McMurphyCBS

Way all these politicians reacting to UL/WVU exactly why Big East would remain BCS w/Navy & AF. Won't slight 2 military schools

LennRobbins

Big East commish John Marinatto and his college football capt Nick Carparelli Jr are in Boise today, trying to close on the Broncos

HOF T. Boone Pickens

Conference realignment is bubbling up again. You liked the addition of TCU to the Big 12. What about the possibility of West Virginia?

Well, I've got to be convinced on West Virginia. I haven't seen anything on the school. But TCU was easy. That was like coming home.

What are your concerns about West Virginia?

Morgantown … as I remember, you've got to fly into Pittsburgh and then drive a couple hours. That's pretty isolated.

ClayTravisBGID Clay Travis
Big 12 trying to add Big East school is like two drunkest people at bar trying to hook up. It's never pretty.

lollers...

Everyone turn to ESPN to check out the packed house at Heinz Field tonight!

Wonder why teams are trying to get the f out of your conference? It's Wednesday night and two teams that tied for the conference championship last year are playing.

I'm thinking Hatfields-McCoys part deux.

LOL @ Pitt

Sorry, I've been swamped the past few days. Someone bullet point this shit for me. This WVU/Louisville death match title I assume has spurned numerous LOL at academics comments, no?

You're forgetting *Nola makes a fool of himself

Simple choice for me. L'ville to Big 12 and WVU in the BOD conference.

Wait, there's more...

[Oklahoma] Athletic director Joe Castiglione said he, too, was caught off-guard when the Big 12 announced Monday that there were discussions by the league's board of directors about creating a "conference dedicated TV network."

"I really don't have the information to support why they made that statement," Castiglione said, noting that athletic directors weren't part of the board meeting. "It has not been broached, or at least not recently."

"Maybe they're trying to build a consensus or excitement and anticipation," he added. "I don't know."

If recent developments in the Big 12 have shown anything, it's that the conference -- which has had its membership in flux for the past year and a half -- still seems to be in a state of confusion.

A U.S. senator from West Virginia issued a statement Wednesday suggesting an investigation might be necessary after the Mountaineers believed they had been extended an invitation to join the Big 12, only to find out that wasn't the case and Louisville might instead be targeted.

Even internally, there seem to be some mixed signals in the league.

"My understanding is that schools that have their own network, such as the Longhorn Network, that would continue to exist and that the other schools would just bundle their third-tier rights collectively and form their own channel representing multiple institutions," league spokesman Bob Burda said.

Many of the league's schools, including Oklahoma, already air their third-tier programming on the Internet or on television -- just not on a network dedicated solely to one school. That includes games from football, men's basketball and other sports that aren't picked up through the league's contracts with ABC/ESPN or Fox Sports.

"Well, a conference network is to offset the Longhorn Network. But I saw the Sooners, I saw where they said they'd do their own network," Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens said.

"I don't know how this thing is going to turn out."

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So the league announced it was discussing the creation of a Big XII network, but Oklahoma didn't know anything about it, and apparently Oklahoma State didn't either.

Oh, more from T. Boone Pickens, who is seeming incapable of keeping his mouth shut, which is great for just about everyone outside the Big XII:

Pickens said he had a "long conversation" with [Mitch] McConnell [U.S. senator from Kentucky] on Wednesday morning, discussing his natural gas-oriented energy plan. He also said he'd have to "be convinced on West Virginia" as a potential new member of the conference.

"To me, you go out of here to West Virginia, you're going to go a long way," Pickens said. "I didn't like the Pac-10 for that reason. That's the only reason. I feel like the Pac-10 you were going to end up in the east division and play the same schools you played before, so why not just hold the 12 together?

"I still believe we can save the Big 12, but I still say that Texas is going to have to look like the rest of us in the Big 12 instead of looking like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I don't like that."

Pickens said the key is equal revenue sharing.

"Just get the same contract for everybody. Everybody's equal," Pickens said. "If you'd have had that, you wouldn't have lost the [Texas A&M] Aggies, you wouldn't have lost Nebraska and Colorado and it looks like Missouri's going. But it's because things are not equal is what it is."

I really hope they take both. I have a morbid fascination in seeing the Big East completely fall apart and how that would go down.