Shatel: Turns out Longhorns have plenty to keep them in the Big 12

Of course Texas should stay in the Big 12. Texas Network. Stranglehold on the other nine members. One hurdle (Oklahoma) to an undefeated season every year. What's not to like?

The Pac-10 thing was a bad idea for Texas and the other Texas wannabes. If the mesh of cultures in the Big 12 has been awkward, it would have been a disaster in the Pac-16. The Texans and Okies would not have felt at home on the west coast.

Mostly, Texas would have found out what Nebraska discovered when the Big Eight grew into the Big 12: power doesn't always transfer in realignments. Texas would have lost its identity as king in the Pac-16. Now the Horns have saved the world. Congratulations to Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas, Baylor and Missouri. Please pick up DeLoss Dodds' laundry tomorrow afternoon after 4.

• Question about this new “Big 12 money.'' Actually, two questions. Where was it two weeks ago at the Big 12 meetings? Last week? And what are the projections based on?

The Big 12 loses a major piece of inventory (Nebraska), can't have a conference title game without adding two more members and has one major TV game (OU-Texas) in mid-October, often at 11 a.m. What exactly are the networks buying? How do you get to $17 million per school? And doesn't the Big 12's deal with ESPN extend to 2015?

The only thing that makes sense is that Big 12 Commish Dan Beebe needed a hail mary pass. He got willing buyers in Texas, which has always wanted to stay, and the fab five (ISU, KU, KSU, BU and MU) who needed a place to live. I'm not sure it matters to them if the money is right. But do Texas A&M and Oklahoma really buy that number? Why were they so eager to sign up for a Texas league?

• Texas may have saved the day, but remember, Texas also brokered the six-team deal to the Pac-10. Was it a bluff? The Denver Post quoted a Pac-10 source as saying Texas “pulled a fast one,'' telling the Pac-10 for months it understood that there would be equal sharing of TV revenue, then saying at the 11th hour that it needed its own TV network, which was a deal breaker. Texas and the Pac-10 talking for months? Did Texas set this up to chase Nebraska away?

Quite possibly. If so, who cares? Not Nebraska. The Huskers are big winners here. For one, you get away from the Texas ego and drama and control — all of which will now only increase on the poor saps clinging to what's left of the Big 12. Second, the Big Ten is still the Big Ten. Finally, the Big 12 is stable only until the next round of expansion, which will be coming in the next year or two. The Big Ten and Pac-10 aren't done. Interesting that the SEC was looking into Texas, too.

All of the jealousies and bad blood came out during the past month. That stuff isn't going away. This league is still built on sand. Sure, for some, it's better than the alternative — quicksand.

• Speaking of the fab five, you have to be happy for them, especially Iowa State, which would have been living in a tent. But a wise man recently reminded me of four schools that don't feel sorry for them: SMU, Houston, Rice and TCU. Good point. Fifteen years ago, Iowa State and Co. had no problem ending decades of Southwest Conference tradition and putting them out into the street.

• Here's one difference about the Big Ten I already like: Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema saying he wants to play Nebraska the last game of the season and start a traveling trophy. The gesture was made in the spirit of sportsmanship. Contrast that to Bill McCartney's red paint and mean-spirited campaign in the mid-1980s. Nebraskans are going to like the Big Ten just fine.

• No Augie Garrido for last call at Rosenblatt? Somehow, I think the recent mayor of Rosenblatt will make it back for a game or two. Not to mention a bowl of pasta at Lo Sole Mio.

• Same goes for the LSU Tigers. Their team will be missed, but, again, I'm expecting Tiger fans in RVs with attached tiger tails to show up in droves. They are most welcome to this special-edition CWS. In fact, we insist.

• The flip side to not having old standbys is the appeal of having a first-timer like TCU make last call. The Horned Frogs saved Omahans from facing a slight dilemma: how to treat Texas if the Horns had made the CWS. My guess, or hope, is that CWS fans would have checked their football politics at the door and shown UT the class the kids and the event deserve.

• Kevin McKenna to Oregon? Surprising, although Valley hoop sources have been saying that Indiana State was squeezing McKenna's recruiting budget and asking him to stay closer to home. I hope that it works out. Kevin McK is a rising star as a head coach. Now he's joining Dana Altman at a place with no athletic director and where the real boss, Nike CEO Phil Knight, expects the Ducks to make power moves in the NCAA tourney. Can Dana, Kevin and Brian Fish deliver? That job gets somewhat easier if Kansas, Texas and the Big 12 South stay out of the Pac-10.

• Here's another thumbs-up for the Henry Doorly Zoo's plans to memorialize Rosenblatt Stadium with home plate and a kids' park. I especially love having the two foul poles intact. I suspect that old CWS fans, including those of the LSU persuasion, will enjoy coming back to see the right-field foul pole, closing their eyes and hearing the ping of Warren Morris' bat. Well done.

• Best names I've heard for the new Big 12: “Tentative Ten.'' The “Big Texas Conference.'' And my personal favorite: “Texas and the Pips.''

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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