Yeah I've Got To: Conference Alignment

So you're sitting at home, reading sports news, you see all these schools desperate to join all these conference, but you don't see the Big Ten mentioned at all. Instantly, you panic. What the hell is going on? Why are we sitting back and doing nothing? Why aren't we going after these schools?

Well, do we really need to?

From a Big Ten and Michigan standpoint, not really:

The Big Ten has the three most popular teams in college football, so they can afford to wait as far as conference realignment goes. It doesn't make sense for them to go after schools left and right, when they already have a good base. Everyone says to go after Notre Dame and Texas, but if you're going to expand, it's going to be an even number of schools. Additionally, it's going to lead to more of a split if you do bring in more schools in terms of TV revenue. I don't think it makes sense for Notre Dame or Texas to come to the Big Ten at the moment, nor does it make sense for us to take them on.

If you really do want to expand, it's all about strategy. The crown jewel of college sports, despite the fact that it's not as big a college football market as one thinks is New York. Everyone wants into New York. So what about New York?

The Big Ten already has 3 of the top 10 most popular teams in New York. I really think they'll only benefit if they bring in a Notre Dame or a Rutgers if they want to expand. Rutgers might not be worth it because the increase in subscriptions might be offset by the fact that there is another mouth to feed. Notre Dame really is the only one that makes sense from a competitive and financial perspective. The problem is that they won't want to come to the Big Ten if they come in because of their current deal with NBC.

They're not Michigan, they're not Ohio State, and they're not Penn State.

I don't think I want the Big Ten to expand otherwise. Brian Bennett of ESPN spells it out. It doesn't make sense for the Big Ten to take on Missouri or Kansas for the sake of expansion. They don't bring anything to the table in terms of competition or financial benefits, but they're AAU schools which fit in if there is expansion.

Honestly, the Big Ten is in good shape. They got a good school in Nebraska that actually brings something to the table. They might miss out on Texas and Notre Dame, but neither schools would want to fit into the Big Ten when you look at the Big Ten Network. With all the expansion, everyone wants the Big Ten to get in on it too, but I believe staying true and keeping things the way they are might be the best thing to do.

Right now, the Big Ten has a great TV deal and a great network that does well to give exposure to all the schools. They already have some great brand names under their moniker. There is no need to try and bring more mouths under their roof at the moment. Even with all of this expansion, the Big Ten will continue to thrive in its current state.

Rick Perry and the Aggie Complex

Is Rick Perry just another mediocre Aggie?

Stay with me here.

Rick Perry succeeded George W. Bush as Governor of Texas. Bush ended up serving two terms as President of the United States, while Perry is in the middle of his third term as Governor. Part of me wonders whether the Aggie complex, a constant jealousy of Texas, is the primary driver of Perry's Presidential hopes.

You probably want to stop me there. By some miracle, President Bush went to Yale. Yes, but his brother, Jed, went to Texas and so did his daughter, Jenna. The family has strong ties to the University.

So what's this Aggie complex about? Well, the University of Texas at Austin is the flagship university of the state of Texas. They were the big player in the Big XII and they've always watched out for Texas A&M. They've been more of a little brother to Texas than Michigan State has to Michigan, although the jealousy is very similar.

Recently, Texas announced that they're going to start their own television network.

This has further sparked A&M's envy so much so that they are trying to join the SEC:

In the eyes of most Aggies, moving to the SEC means they'll no longer have to operate in Texas' vast shadow.

Aggies fans overcome with excitement over a move to the SEC. There's also a pretty good explanation for the Aggie Complex in there:

"It’s really hard to watch a bigger school kind of bully their way around the conference and make the money they want to," Turner said. "So you have to do something, but I think a lot of fans are kind of uneasy about, 'Is this what we really want?'"

And more:

"We want to carve our own niche, and we don’t want to be the little brother, but you almost don’t want to leave big brother," Turner said.

They want out of Texas's shadow just as Perry seems to want to get out of Bush's shadow. What's more is the Aggies are trying to move to the SEC to be in a conference of schools in constituencies that Perry will appeal to in his own campaign.

However, the SEC appears to have rejected A&M's bid to join them, at least for the moment:

Southeastern Conference presidents and chancellors committee didn't reject Texas A&M in their meeting Sunday, they simply “reaffirmed (their) satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment.”

If Texas A&M joined the SEC, they would be amongst company that has attracted suspicion over the last few years. The SEC has been under scrutiny for a number of reasons, but amongst these is their lowered standards:

The SEC will push for the rest of the nation to adopt its oversigning rules. Thankfully, the SEC will not push its ban on the grad-student exception to the rest of the country. Hopefully, the SEC will remain the only league dumb enough to wipe from the books the only rule in the NCAA that actually provides a positive incentive for athletes.

The fact of the matter is that A&M is trading one problem for another. They have to prove to the rest of the country that they are hellbent on having rules that both preserve academic and NCAA integrity. If Perry is successful in his bid for Republican nomination, he too will be trading one problem for another. He will go from living in Bush's shadow in Texas to being plagued by his shadow on the national stage. Although the conservative southeast helped President Bush get in both 2004 and 2000:

There were cracks in that foundation for McCain because of Bush in 2008:

The question is whether Rick Perry can continue his strong start and consolidate the conservative base while appealing to skeptical northerners who might not take to another brash cowboy from Texas. At the end of Bush's term, he did not have a high approval rating:
The similarities will clearly be highlighted in the media and don't think 2.5 years of Obama has made people forget:

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Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Rick Perry Announces His Candidacy
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Perry will have to shake Bush's shadow in order to win the presidency. The problem is that he might not be able to do it. He has similar beliefs and ideologies, and he might not be able to get away from that. If he does, he might lose the bases that he needs to win. In the end though, I see him as being another failed Aggie with an Aggie Complex.