BIG12

The Eyes of Texas Are Wandering

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Deep in the heart of Texas hearts have been broken.  Now more are about to be broken.

Last season the Houston Rockets and James Harden broke off an eight-plus-year relationship.  It had its ups and downs and ended without an NBA Championship. The decision was mutual to part.   Weeks later, J.J. Watt and the Houston Texans ended a ten-year relationship.  Together they had more down seasons, but J.J. could hold his head up high walking out of the door.

Fast forward to the now, and wow!

DeShaun Watson, the face of an otherwise faceless Houston Texans franchise wants out long term, but wants in short term.  Fall camp opens tomorrow and Watson’s headed there.  He won’t be there for long as the Texans will send him home to avoid more and more questions about their plans after the tumultuous offseason that Watson has had.

Failure to report would cost Watson a smooth 50k a day in fines.  Reporting, then being told you are no longer loved here saves him that same 50k a day.  Divorces can be messy and expensive you know.  It’ll get worse too.

Persona non-Grata Watson is untradable until his off-field civil and possibly criminal proceedings gain clarity.  But that hasn’t stopped the Texans from asking for all of the jewelry in the split.  The NFL rumor mill whispers that the Texans have floated that they want 5 high draft picks in exchange for Watson.  Marijuana isn’t legal in Texas yet, but the front office might be a bit high with this ask.

We’ll call Watson and the Texans situation a permanent split, final divorce settlement pending.  In these inflationary times, those massages have gotten more and more costly by the hour.

And these dysfunctional relationships are even happening at a younger age.  Colleges suddenly are breaking up, or at least they are about to.   It’s fully expected that the U of Texas and the U of Oklahoma will announce to the Big 12 league offices today that they plan to leave the Big 12 to join the SEC when their contract runs out after the 2024-5 season.

The schools were flirting with the SEC for six months behind closed doors prior to the affairs becoming public knowledge late last week.

Texas A&M liked joining the SEC ten years back. It had the State of Texas’ SEC dance floor all to itself.   Now UT wants to break in right in the middle of the slow song.  A&M doesn’t like to share the dance floor with Texas.  So the SEC and A&M have some hurt feelings to smooth over as well.

The buyout on the UT and Okla Big 12 deals is about 70mil a piece to exit prior to 2025.  But, the extra SEC money will soothe some of that pain and ESPN already jumped in to say they can help a bit as well.  Friends take sides in divorces.

A story broke this AM that the Big 12 is willing to look past this indiscretion and will offer each of the two schools an additional 1/2 of a tv share.  That would turn 37mil a year into 53mil or so for Texas and Oklahoma.

So, for the scorned(Baylor, Texas Tech, Okie St., etc.) the choices at the moment are 1) give up about 3mil a year a school to keep the two tv moneymakers, or 2) look for other suitors.  Relationships are built on compromise (read as lack of leverage).

Will it move the needle?  Follow the money.

The eyes of America are upon them as the eyes of Texas have been wandering.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 3, Week 2

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Week one predicting isn’t for everyone.

Abby isn’t everyone.  She pawed her way to four bones while giving back two.  Her record was 2-2-1 (Louisville pushed the bet) and her hunch didn’t punch the ticket.  That’s plenty good enough in a week that LSU and Oklahoma went down in flames while others played flat (Texas A&M) and others barely escaped (Texas).

“Enough already, on to week two,” Abby barks.

  1.  Boston College +14 1/2 v. North Carolina- Old Mack Brown has the Tarheels on the right path.  But we’ll take a determined BC at home to cover late.  One bone.
  2. Duke +12 v Virginia Tech- Ditto the above.  One bone.
  3. Baylor at West Virginia +3 –  Dave Aranda’s D will hold WVA down below their usual point production.  But, but we expect the Mountaineers to cover and in fact win outright at home.  One bone.
  4. Ole Miss @ Kentucky -6 – The Rebels defense is offensive.  Kentucky is clearly the better team and angry coming home from a road spanking at Auburn.  Three bones.
  5. Auburn @ Georgia -7 – Abby loves Bulldogs.  Auburn will give it their all and keep it close for three quarters, but Georgia covers late.  Two bones.
  6.  Arkansas @ Mississippi St. -16.5 – Abby loves Bulldogs.  We could see a letdown after the LSU beatdown.  But Arkansas can’t score enough to keep it inside of three scores.  One bone.

The world awakens this AM to the news that President Trump has the coronavirus.  He’s 74.  He’ll beat it like a drum.  He’s nothing if not a fighter.  Take over 74 as the hunch bet lock of the year.  Get well soon, Mr. President.

There it is.  Abby has four home teams, three underdogs, two bulldogs, and one president while chasing nine bones.

Woof!

 

Blowing Smoke Following the Science?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Follow the science.  That’s been an often-used narrative since mid-March in the year of COVID-19.  It’s been the “go-to” when you are told to not go to bars for example.  It’s also been the barometer to gauge success in reopening America to the degree that it has in the regions that have.

It’s taken the place of ” we don’t have enough ventilators.”  Or, ” we don’t have enough ICU beds.”  Or, “we don’t have enough tests.”

Which brings us to the restart of the sports world.  In general MLB and the NBA have restarted with few problems save a rogue Miami Marlin who broke from protocol and infected a dozen or so Marlin teammates.

The NFL teams are in week two-plus of a delayed fall camp.  As of this AM, the NFL has administered 58,397 COVID-19 tests to 8,573 players between August 12 and August 20.  How many tests were positive?  Zero.

Remember, follow the science.  And, it seems if you do you will find that humans who test negative will continue to test negative while in close proximity.  And,  if they follow mask, social distance, and good hygiene practices when they are elsewhere they will continue to test negative.  The NBA even eliminated the “elsewhere” except for Lou Williams who went elsewhere for a brief gentlemen’s club social (not distance) gathering, but we digress.

So, “following the science” of the above seems to bellow “play ball.”  Except the BIG 10 and PAC 12 pouted, took the ball, and went home at least until Spring.

No one in the PAC 12 has been heard from and it seems that few care.  But, in the BIG 10, they care.  And, they’re mad.  Actually this long ESPN expose’ on how the BIG 10 came to an abrupt U-turn on the road back to football and all fall sports states that players, coaches, parents, some presidents, and administrators aren’t just mad, they’re furious.

So what brought them to this cancellation?  The new commissioner, Kevin Warren, has been nearly silent since the announcement but admitted that he should have been more communicative.  Supposedly the school presidents voted to shut down.  Those same presidents have been quite reluctant to speak on the record about the vote, if one actually took place, and how they individually voted if there was a vote.

The league went from an Aug 5 schedule announcement to an Aug 11 cancellation.  Pancakes don’t flip that fast.

As one Big 10 coach told ESPN, “We’re just left in the dark. Why wouldn’t you communicate? Why wouldn’t you respond? I don’t get it. Something’s just off.”  So much for transparency.

“Been in this league for 20-plus years,” a league source told ESPN. “This has been embarrassing.”

More directly from the article- “Warren on Wednesday sent an open letter providing more details about what the league considered, including troubling trends of COVID-19 spread, contact tracing difficulties and concerns about having reliable rapid tests.”

He went on to reiterate that the decision to postpone “will not be revisited.”   You’ll get no football and you will like it.

The father of one player called the open letter “just a bunch of regurgitation and smoke-blowing.”

All of this makes the state of Iowa the state of confusion.   BIG 10 member Iowa isn’t playing.  Big 12 member Iowa St is.  Make sense?

In a week or two, or in a month or two, the SEC, ACC, and the BIG 12 might regret their attempts to put on the proverbial shoulder pads.  Ask them now and they will tell you that they are following the science.

Does the “follow the science” argument in the passionate BIG 10 and in the dispassionate PAC 12 seem like, well, just a bunch of regurgitation and smoke blowing?

A short time will tell.