Good morning, Gator Nation:
Thanks to University of Oklahoma President David Boren, we may now know how close the Southeastern Conference came to adding not only Texas A&M but also Boren’s own school to the family.
“There was a time when A&M thought they were going to the SEC and they very much wanted us to go with them,” Boren told reporters Wednesday following a meeting of Oklahoma’s regents in Ardmore, Okla., to hear what had transpired in the recent conference reshuffling that sent Big 12 schools Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-10 and threatened to make it open season for more.
“Oklahoma, in the whole thing, we were positioned in a way where virtually we could not have lost,” continued Boren, who would not reveal the identity of the person who made the invitation but said it was someone who had the authority to do so.
The fact that somebody showed his cards is amazing, and there is reason to believe Boren, who is as respected in his present position as he was when he was in the U.S. Senate.
Oklahoma was one of five Big 12 schools (along with Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M) that had been invited to join the Pac-10 by commissioner Larry Scott.
But Texas A&M had other ideas, according to Boren, and when it comes to Texas and Texas A&M, the Aggies weren’t about to follow the Longhorns.
“One school doesn’t like the other one to tell them what to do,” Boren said.
Which, if someone had that information and passed it along to the SEC, probably helped the SEC torpedo the Pac-10’s end-around. Offer Texas A&M and Oklahoma a seat at the SEC bountiful table, and the SEC juggernaut gets that much bigger. That wouldn’t play well deep in the heart of Texas.
That A&M was interested and Boren said Oklahoma listened when the SEC knocked on the door tells you they had options – and used them – to keep Texas in its place and to end all this expansion silliness before it got out of hand.
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT, I’VE GOT LAND IN GREENLAND: The talk is that the Big 12 (or the new Big 10, as I call it) doesn’t plan to expand by two schools so that it can maintain its conference championship game (which was scheduled for Jerry Jones’ Taj Mahal, Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington). Horse feathers. It wouldn’t surprise me if Texas Christian of the Mountain West and Southern Methodist of Conference USA seek to rejoin their former Southwest Conference homeboys.
WHY SCHOOLS DON’T LIKE TEXAS: Check out this video for the answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k71PPz_BK1g&feature=related
PAYING THEIR DUES: I’m like most everyone else – I think Florida will get back to Omaha sooner (probably next year) rather than later under Kevin O’Sullivan. The man can flat-out recruit. The Gators should be even better with a year’s experience. I sure wouldn’t mind it, however, if Florida got someone who can bring the heat at the top of the rotation – somebody who can average better than a strikeout an inning. Most college teams have one. UCLA has three – sophomore right-handers Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole each are 11-3 and have 152 and 151 strikeouts, respectively, while junior left-hander Rob Rasmussen (the No. 3 starter) is 11-2 with 117 Ks. Maybe Tommy Toledo, who will be two years off shoulder surgery, can be the guy. Pitching, pitching, pitching. That’s why I think the Bruins will pull off the diamond double – add the College World Series title to the Women’s World Series title. John Wooden, who loved baseball and was a fan of women’s sports, is smiling on his teams.
INDOOR PRACTICE FACILITY: I saw the thread the other day about the chance that Florida should build an indoor football practice facility and chimed in my thoughts that one would be great to have and could be put to a lot of good use. Not only for football and other sports practices during inclement weather but also indoor track meets (NCAA Indoors?), band practice, intramurals and student/faculty use. Something with about 5,000 seats. I’d say it would cost about $30-40 million, but where to put it?
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE … STEPHEN STILLS? Gator Nation turns its lonely eyes to you … I can’t believe this album is about 38 years old. Whoa! One of my favorite Gators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz4WDVHItbc
U-S-A, U-S-A: I must admit the World Cup has captured my attention. And somehow, while the clock ticked down in the extra time, I just had a calm feeling that Team USA would get the goal. Fittingly, it was Landon Donovan who got it in the 1-0 victory over Algeria. Was looking up something about Donovan and came across this nugget: In 1999, the California native attended the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton and while he was playing a round of golf one day almost had his feet bitten off by an alligator. Celebrate, Gator Nation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeVhSMUSlnQ
SIGN THEM UP, URBAN: So what that he’s 31. You’ve got to love the distance USA goalie Tim Howard gets on his kicks. Heck, he’s pretty good throwing the soccer ball, too – it was his clearing throw that led to the U.S. goal. He’d make a great double-threat punter. And why not sign forward Jozy Altidore? He’s 20, he’s from Boca Raton (Boca Prep), and even though he missed what was an empty net in the first half by booting the ball over the crossbar, he kicked it with some pretty good authority. Then again, punter Chas Henry and placekicker Caleb Sturgis handle Florida’s kicking chores just fine.
TENNIS ANYONE? John Isner of Tampa and Nicolas Mahut of France have played more tennis in two days – heck, one day – than many of us have played in our lives. For the second straight day, the 6-foot-9 Isner, who played collegiately at Georgia, and Mahut had their match suspended by darkness at Wimbledon, this time with the fifth set tied at 59-59. That’s right 59 games to 59 games. Isner won the first set 6-4; Mahut won the next two, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7); and Isner won the third 7-6 (6-3). It is the longest tennis match in history at 10 hours. Heck, the fifth set alone is at 7 hours and 6 minutes and broke the old mark for the longest match in history itself (6 hours, 33 minutes at the 2004 French Open). Hard to believe that no one could win back-to-back games after the match was tied at 6-6. Check out these stats: Isner has 98 aces, Mahut 95. There have been 881 points, 612 in the fifth set. Surprisingly, Isner has just 44 unforced errors, Mahut 37. They’re both tired and so is the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani. “This is one of the few times where I feel bad for the umpire,” said commentator John McEnroe.
GOOD SPORTS WEEK: Let’s see, the U.S. Open was won by a guy from Northern Ireland and Team USA won its World Cup group. That offsets Florida’s elimination by Florida State in the College World Series and Tampa Bay dropping out of first place, having lost six of its last seven games. So why has it been a good sports week, you ask? Because France was eliminated from the World Cup.
30 YEARS OF DAVE: David Letterman celebrated his 30th anniversary as a talk-show host last night. He wondered if it was a good idea that BP clean up the mess it made in the Gulf of Mexico when it can’t even keep its bathrooms clean. Good point!
GATOR PLAY OF THE DAY: Move over Landon and watch a real cult hero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtfQgGqYHqw&NR=1
Now you know why Oklahoma decided to stay in the Big 12.
Have a great Thursday.
Later, Gators