Texas Is No Hero

By Seth Herrold
By now, everyone has heard how the great and generous Texas Longhorns saved the Big 12 Conference. They picked up an imploding conference and pulled it from its precarious perch on death row. Yes, we are all deeply in debt to the Longhorns – literally.

I have a problem with Texas stepping in and playing the savior role. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy with the fact that the Missouri Tigers are still in a major conference and were not left out in the cold, as are all the Missouri fans here in the office as well as our resident Jayhawk. When you have an office party to celebrate your conference staying together, you know it’s a pretty big deal.
The thing that bothers me about all of this, though, is the way Texas is riding off into the sunset as the hero. If the Longhorns had left the conference, there would have been no chance of the Big 12 surviving. The Longhorns’ dogs (who claim to be rivals), Oklahoma and Texas A&M, would not have stuck around in the Big 12 without the Burnt Orange banner flying above it. But why did Texas really declare their loyalty to the Big 12? Why did they come back when Nebraska and Colorado bailed? Why did they push the Pac 10’s offer back across the table? The answer, my friends, is money.
Money was the sole reason behind all of this conference shake-up and, when money threatened to tear college football’s second-best football conference apart, money saved it. The reason Texas stayed was because of a mad plan hastily thrown together by Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe and the would-be Big 12 leftovers, Missouri, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Kansas. Through the new deal, these five schools basically agreed to pay Texas to stay. So the fact that Texas is playing the savior card is a little upsetting to me.
First of all, no team in any major conference should have the weight Texas has. Texas owns the Big 12 outright. They make the league rules and everyone does what they say. If Texas leaves, then everyone leaves; if they stay, then everyone stays. The reason behind all the 11-1 votes when the conference was formed? Texas. The Longhorns made the rules and told everyone to vote for them. Nebraska was the only school to stand up and say no and in the end I think that had a lot more weight in the Huskers leaving the Big 12 than most people think. Nebraska didn’t like playing by Texas’ rules and to be in the Big 12 you have to do that. So, they left.
For the rest of the Big 12 North schools and Baylor, leaving was not an option, though one school claimed it was (don’t mind the blushing Truman the Tiger over in the corner). That’s how they ended up forfeiting their share of Colorado and Nebraska’s penalty fees for leaving the conference to Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. They are also taking a hit in the new TV deal Dan Beebe drew up, which gives the ’Horns and company about $5 million a year more than the “leftovers.”
But the money plan worked; of course it would. One way to get Texas to do what you want in a league where they make the rules is to pay them. You put American greenbacks in front of Bevo, the Longhorns’ beloved mascot, and he will follow you wherever you lead, even right up to the gates of Lawrence.
So if you look at it like I do, Texas is a hero because it took money when it was handed to them. Yep, I have seen Batman and Superman do that on a number of occasions, but don’t expect to see Bevo in a cape anytime soon. Texas is no hero.