Aggies notify Big 12 they intend to ‘explore options’ on league front

[Saniflush]

Here hear

Hu-rumf

[Saniflush]

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/07/3345246/sooners-finally-lower-the-boom.html

Sooners finally lower the boom

When do the Longhorn jokes start?

Got a $300 million network, except there's one thing missing.

TV stations.

As a college power broker, Bevo has the biggest biceps in the land.

Except a Sooner stepped up and flexed up this week, asking the Longhorn, "your guns or mine?"

The Longhorn quickly changed into a long-sleeve shirt.

The unraveling of what once was a rather proud Big 12 Conference is not a happy time, yet, I've got to admit, with each breaking news day, comes a chuckle.

When Texas A&M made the decision it no longer wanted to be tied to Bevo's tail, without a doubt there was an orchestrated Aggie joke campaign coming from the vicinity of Austin.

The cry-baby Aggies have cut-and-run. Run right into the busy SEC intersection, where they will die a slow 5-and-7 death for ever more in football.

Nobody leaves Mother Bevo, not in this state, and lives to tell about it.

And, oh, by the way, sniffed Bevo. We just won't play the Aggies anymore, either.

Then on Wednesday, the biggest conference houseboy for the Longhorns, those Baylor Bears, was among several Bevo Nine schools (Iowa State also admitted it) that refused to sign a legal waiver with the SEC over A&M leaving, meaning a delay for now in the Aggies and the SEC making it official.

Hmmm. Nearly 20 years ago, when the Bears were waving bye-bye, did TCU sue Baylor? Did SMU? Rice? Houston?

Baylor, playing the weasel here after coming off its finest football hour in like 40 years, has constantly cried out to daddy, Daddy DeLoss in Austin, to save it from an uncertain fate should the staggering Big 12 finally crumble. But this latest move is real sad and real cheap, although if you dust for fingerprints it'd be interesting to see who is spurring on poor Baylor.

It was just last Friday when there was no problem from Baylor or any other Bevo Nine school over the Aggies leaving. In fact, those schools told us the Bevo boys would soldier on, better than ever, without the dirty Aggies.

What changed all of a sudden? Easy answer. The University of Oklahoma finally spoke up, that's what changed.

No one can blame the University of Texas for having power and using power. That's what people with power do. They use it.

Except be careful who you continue to push around.

Or as the "owner" of Oklahoma State, Mr. T. Boone Pickens, said the other day, and I paraphrase, it's hard to keep saying "aaaaah" when it's constantly being shoved down your throat.

Right or wrong, the Aggies see leaving for the SEC as a great alternative to being used as another of the Longhorns many patsies in the remnants of the conference that was ruled by Daddy DeLoss in Austin.

Still, the Aggies couldn't bring Texas to its knees.

No one around here could, with the exception of ...

Hello, Norman.

I'll be darn, after 15 months of me constantly asking, "where are the Sooners in all this?" the Boomers suddenly spoke up and dropped a boom heard 'round the land.

Is that you, Mr. Dodds, now down there on bended knee?

Since the first go-around a summer ago, when the Big 12 appeared to be dead, Oklahoma had remained strangely quiet, seemingly tied to the Longhorns in an unmanly kind of way.

Don't know if the Sooners had a plan all along, or suddenly had just had enough, but when the Okie words started flying over the weekend, it was a direct hit right to the Bevo gut. It panicked everybody, especially Baylor.

The big dagger came Tuesday from coach Bob Stoops, and I don't think for a second that he meant it, but he did say that if Oklahoma moves along to the Pac-12, and if Texas isn't involved in the move, then the annual Red River crossing may not happen again in Dallas.

If not, Stoops countered-punched, then it's no big deal. Boom, boom go the Sooners. (But watch it, Bob. Baylor may sue you next.)

Oklahoma, the message implied, is going, Oklahoma State is coming along, and, good luck, Longhorns with whatever you decide to do.

Texas, of course, would go to the Pac-12 in a hurry, and were going that way a year ago until Texas A&M balked at the move, destroying the exit, but the Longhorns now have an additional problem.

The Pac-12 won't accept the Longhorn Network under its current programming of all UT stuff all the time. Bring in Texas Tech and call it a regional network, or even include Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the regional concept, and that's acceptable to the Pac-12 by-laws. Except ...

Not so sure ESPN had Lubbock or Norman or Stillwater in mind when it agreed to the $300 mil deal with DeLoss.

But what Oklahoma has pulled is the ultimate power play. They have out-bicep-ed the Longhorn muscle.

Your choice, Bevo. You can stay with OU, or stay with your network? DeLoss Dodds, the Horns' AD, no longer drives the bus. Bob Stoops does. As the Sooners talk tough, DeLoss hasn't even been heard from lately. The dying conference is no longer the Bevo Nine. It's the Boomer Nine. Only Oklahoma can save it. Does Oklahoma want to save it?

Longhorn bluster once centered on a third option -- going independent, a la Notre Dame.

Two words on that bluster: No way. Way too many headaches involved.

The Sooners, meanwhile, waited and waited to flex up, waited so long I was wondering if they had gone toothless up there.

But then they dropped the boomer over the weekend, and did it again this week. Well played, Oklahoma.

Except for the fact Texas A&M is long gone to the SEC, and Baylor can't stop that with a frivolous legal play, no one knows how this eventually ends.

But this we do know at the moment:

The joke's on you, Bevo.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/07/3345246/sooners-finally-lower-the-boom.html#ixzz1XN6L2wu1

[Buzz Killington]

Welcome to C-USA, Bears.

[Snaggletiger]

Welcome to C-USA, Bears.

Let's see....Baylor, Rice, TCU, SMU...all schools with a religious affiliation.  Add in Houston, maybe Southern Miss, La. Tech and oohh say, Arkansas St.  Damn, the thought of a super conference like that gives me chills. 

[Vandy Vol]

I'd say that the SEC has a pretty strong "apparent authority" defense.  One would be reasonably justified in relying upon the statement of the commissioner of the conference.  Estoppel FTW!

The commissioner should know what's what before he opens his dirty whore mouth.

All that said: keep the fAggies in Texas.  I like my conference just the way it is.

Sure, but you have to rely upon the apparent authority, which means the SEC would need to actually act and uphold its end of the "contract."

However, I think it's too late for that.  How are you going to claim apparent authority when the commissioner has retracted his previous offer and has informed the SEC that he doesn't have the authority to speak on behalf of the universities?

Sure, if the SEC had accepted A&M and this was a done deal, and then Beebe, Baylor, and whoever else came back and said, "Sorry guys, we screwed up.  We'll need A&M back now,"  then yeah, in that case you would have had actual reliance upon apparent authority.

But because the SEC did not actually rely upon Beebe's letter before he cleared things up, then I don't think that apparent authority would hold up as a defense.

[JR4AU]

Well, it's not clear that the SEC would win in such a lawsuit.  Sure, they had a letter from Beebe which indicated that they were free to accept A&M.  But, the question is whether Beebe has the authority to speak or act on behalf of the universities.

Based upon the fact that he is now stating that the SEC needs waivers from each individual school, then I'm assuming each university's contractual relationship with the Big 12 and Beebe does not allow the Big 12 or Beebe to speak for the universities on some issues, such as whether they will waive their right to legal action.

So, essentially, the SEC would have a letter from Beebe, and the SEC would argue that this was a contractual agreement.   However, without the authority to act as an agent on behalf of each university, Beebe's "agreement" with the SEC can not be enforced by a court of law.

Of course, all of this is conjecture about the actual terms of the Big 12's agreement with its member universities.  Beebe may very well be able to waive the universities' right to sue under their contractual relationship, but I doubt it given Baylor's actions and Beebe's response.

The SEC isn't in a position to be successfully sued for anything here.  The contract dispute is between aTm and Baylor/Big 12.  And Baylor originally gave it's consent to aTm, then withdrew it.  The SEC's offer was contingent on there not being any legal action, so I would assume it's been withdrawn until it's all worked out. 

[Vandy Vol]

The SEC isn't in a position to be successfully sued for anything here.  The contract dispute is between aTm and Baylor/Big 12.  And Baylor originally gave it's consent to aTm, then withdrew it.  The SEC's offer was contingent on there not being any legal action, so I would assume it's been withdrawn until it's all worked out.

As of right now, no, the SEC can't be sued, because they haven't actually acted.  My understanding is that they took a vote, but before they could make any agreements or even contact Beebe regarding their vote, Beebe contacted them and retracted his previous offer.

However, the posts to which I was responding implied that the Big 12 can go to hell, they already said we can accept A&M, so we should accept them and let them sue us.  Should the SEC try to rely upon Beebe's previous offer and sign a contract with A&M, then the SEC could be sued for interference with contractual relations.  If such a suit were to occur, then I don't think the apparent authority defense is going to work, as Beebe cleared up any confusion as to his ability to act as an agent for the universities before the SEC actually relied on his initial offer.

[Saniflush]

My understanding is that having more than one lawyer fucks everything up.

[AU_Tiger_2000]

My understanding is that having more than one a lawyer fudges everything up.

[Vandy Vol]

My understanding is that having more than one lawyer fucks everything up.

O.J. disagrees.

[Vandy Vol]

My understanding is that having more than one a lawyer fucks everything up.

Casey Anthony disagrees.

[JR4AU]

O.J. disagrees.

Damn, beat me to it!

[Saniflush]

Message to Baylor.

[JR4AU]

Message to Baylor.

If God is taking out billboards, then he's probably serious.

[Snaggletiger]

Watched a good bit of the Okie State/Arizona game last night.  BTW, OState might be pretty damn good.  They had an interview with Okie States owner, T. Pickett Boone's Farm Pickens Tickle Pink, or whatever his name is.  Old dude was all over the place but basically said A&M to the SEC may not happen and he thinks the Big 12 will stay together.  But then he said OSU and Oklahoma are together and would be a package deal whatever happens. 

I felt dumber for listening

[Saniflush]

While going through some other boards I found these from the turmoil of last year.

Good shit and still pretty topical.

Here's the one where they're all cheerleaders:

http://www.maizenbrew.com/2010/6/4/1500646/the-rumormill-the-big-xii-to-pac

Every Day Should Be Saturday has a new funny one, Behind the Music-style, about the breakup of the Big 12:

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2011/9/8/2412677/when-the-band-broke-up-the-oral-history-of-the-big-12