Huzzah for inaugural posts. Given the frequency of AD’s posting thus far, I’m a bit intimidated by the prospect of making any sort of regular contribution to ALDLAND. I sat out the first week so that I might get a feel for the Bard of Battle Rapid’s voice and the character of the blog. Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen so far, it would seem that my forte – sweeping, overwrought pieces that capture the zeitgeist and bring readers to a greater knowledge of self and a higher plane of being – will be completely out of place among fake interviews of hockey players. Further, my commentary on sports usually doesn’t progress beyond cursing from the sidelines or the occasional essay on why Lane Kiffin is an idiot. If you really want my opinion on sports – and by sports, I mean college football – just go read Spencer Hall at Everyday Should Be Saturday. If I could write, or knew anything about sports, I suspect that’s what I would say. At any rate, for now, any contributions I make to ALDLAND will likely be focused on music.
That said, this Texas A & M rumor means I’ll be commenting on sports sooner than I expected. I’ll admit I was a little surprised to read that A & M was looking at the SEC again. Not that the idea is inconceivable, but the timing caught me off guard. We went through all this last year, with Texas flirting with the PAC10+ (What would they have called that, by the way? Is Texas Pacific Group up for grabs now that the PE shop is officially TPG?) It seemed clear at the time that A & M was pretty content to stick around so long as the Longhorns continued to anchor the conference.
It also suggests that A & M got a look at the details of the Longhorn Network deal about the same time we did. That’s been covered extensively, and I won’t try to add my own thoughts (because, frankly, I haven’t read the thing. I haven’t even read the coverage at Midnight Yell that AD linked). But my understanding is that it certainly doesn’t provide any long term security for the Aggies.
As an SEC man, I’m all for A & M joining the conference. Their strategy, though, suggests that there isn’t strong leadership inside the administration in College Station. I don’t know how strong their bargaining position with Slive and Co. was last year, but it certainly had to be better than right now. If they are in talks this time around, it means they are desperate for an exit, so I’d expect to see the SEC get them on good terms (whatever that means).
As for Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe’s comment that moving away from your geographic base and tradition rivals can “create a lot of problems”, I understand he has to say that kind of stuff, but get real man. You can see why A & M doesn’t want to stuck in the University of Texas with a dash of Oklahoma conference. If UT decides to go their own way someday (And don’t say they won’t. As literally every Texan will tell you, it’s the only state that can secede from the union), the whole house of cards falls. Granted, a move by A & M might help accelerate the collapse.
The last question is a matter of balance in the SEC. If Slive puts the Aggies in the West, who do we steal for the East? My pick during this whole debate last year was Va. Tech, and I still think it’s the best move in terms of increasing market share (as well as getting another high quality program). That said, with all that’s happened in the past few months, I bet we could get Ohio State for ten cents on the dollar right now. It’s not a cultural fit by any means, but having a crippled OSU in the East for the Gators to beat up on would make me a happy man. One can dream.
ALDLAND 