8:30 p.m.: Things stuck in my brain after wrapping up Big 12 media days:

1. Overall, the event was the dullest I can remember, and I've been to all of them. Maybe everybody is still too shellshocked by the realignment tumult from early June to speak with much fire. But the place had this funeral pall over it, like,"OK, I guess this is what's left, we'll move on for now.''

2. The last time I saw Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops this relaxed, confident and feisty at media days, the Sooners played for a national title.

3. The more I hear Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman talk, the more I hear the voice and plan of Bill Callahan, right down to the NFL lingo. To Aggies everywhere, that should sent a major shiver down your spines.

4. Credit Missouri for a great game plan against Kansas State last year. According to K-State tailback Daniel Thomas, MU linebacker Sean Weatherspoon "called out our plays at the line of scrimmage before we ran them. We couldn't do anything.''

5. Both the new coaches -- Tommy Tuberville at Texas Tech and Turner Gill at Kansas -- made strong first impressions. After listening to Tuberville, I was ready to suit up. He is a normal man with a wonderfully sensible plan. With the talent and facilities in Lubbock, the Red Raiders might soon become a big winner regularly.

Gill was his usual relentlessly positive self. His players gushed about his style, his substance and his care factor for them. And nobody needed a hug worse than the Jayhawks, who lost their final seven games last year under the fired Mark Mangino.

6. The long and the short of it from the trip: Seeing 6-foot-9 Colorado lineman Nate Solder interviewed by 5-foot-not-very-much espn.com blogger David Ubben. Hope you could hear him, David.

7. Colorado coach Dan Hawkins convinced no one that he can turn around his 16-33 record from the past four seasons. He was as interested in talking about attending the Texas Rangers baseball game than his own team.

8. Worst news for any fan base: Hawkins proclaiming that the Colorado quarterback race between his son, Cody, and Tyler Hansen as "razor-thin.'' This father-son deal has nearly derailed the program.

9. It was sad walking out Wednesday from a fraternity of sportswriters I've sweat and bled with for three decades. But change can be good, which I'll find out next Monday at Big Ten Media Days.

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