The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Connect the dots

May 10, 2016 by Mike Casazza

As someone trying to simply follow the topic of Big 12 expansion, I think the hardest thing to do is discern sources. Or Sources. Take this as an example. The Dallas Morning News attempted to recap the Big 12 meetings, and this is a necessity for a paper that’s so big and has so many professional rooting interests in the sports section. Not everyone following the Cowboys, Rangers and Stars is attuned to the Big 12, and even the Texas, TCU or Oklahoma fans who are keeping tabs on things could use some help.

So there was this review, by the capable Chuck Carlton, and it’s your synopsis of record. One paragraph got plucked again and again.

Since any expansion dovetails with a TV network, look to the markets of possible candidates. For now, the top four are believed to be Connecticut, BYU (which has a national following), Cincinnati and possibly Colorado State (Denver market), although the situation is fluid.

It’s the 19th paragraph, and it’s in the third subhead. This is, in now way, the news. If it were the news, it would be much higher. I won’t speak for Mr. Carlton, but the phrase “are believed to be” is merely the collection of common opinions, and he was in Phoenix to collect a lot of opinions.

But now, these are the top four candidates. I guess? And Colorado State? Or should that be Possibly Colorado State. I understand what “reportedly” means, and I trust the people posting stories and Tweets do, too, but the report itself can be misconstrued and people will misinterpret this, which is how we spin out of control.

Now let me attempt to not speak for Dennis Dodd, because it’s probably not fair to assume the reaction was a mere coincidence, but those four names were followed by a delicious round if intrasquad bickering at Oklahoma. The chairperson of Oklahoma’s board of regents, which runs the university, said “I don’t know what we have to gain.” And let’s assume he knows who’s in the conversation.

Weitzenhoffer explained why the Big 12 stands to gain little in expanding to schools most commonly mentioned — Boise State, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Connecticut,Houston, Memphis and South Florida, among others.

“Those are the ones I keep hearing,” Weitzenhoffer said. “They have no seating capacities in their stadiums. They really don’t build them up. They really don’t have any TV. I really don’t know what we have to gain by that.”

“The problem with Cincinnati is … then they start getting all this money,” Weitzenhoffer said. “Then what do we do? We build up somebody we don’t want to build up.”

But, hey, the chair is a whale of a source, a real person with real influence to exert, and he does have some say with what happens and how university President David Boren, who is on the committee that deals with expansion with WVU’s Gordon Gee and Baylor’s Ken Starr, ultimately acts.

Naturally, Weitzenhoffer and Boren handled this in the only manner available in 2016.