"Horns down": Mack Brown's latest crisis

Just when University of Texas football coach Mack Brown could not sound like a bigger whiner he nearly out-did himself on Monday. Almost.

A few weeks after Brown openly complained about the many problems created by The Longhorn Network now he is talking about the rude "Horns down" so openly displayed by fans who don't care about the University of Texas-Austin, including some fans in Lubbock over the weekend.

Since when is "horns down" the equivalent to the middle finger?

According to a Twitter message from longtime Austin-American Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls, Brown said: "The horns down is disrespectful. We ought to talk about that as a league."

A league? Like hell. This needs to be talked about as a country. Some sort of legislation should be on the national ballot for the Nov. 6 election. This is much bigger than anything the Big 12 has to deal with.

1. Job creation/economy
2. Peace in Middle East
3. Education
4. Horns Down 
5. Health care (if time allows)

Budget shortfalls? Not a problem, provided the Longhorn Network funnels you and your school that cash. Then complain about the responsibilities that come with $300 million over 20 years.
Horns down? My God ... do something!

The way the University of Texas and de facto commissioner DeLoss Dodds act do not be surprised if a measure is passed by the Big 12 that states no cheering for schools other than Texas.

 

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Big 12 is case study of parity (mediocrity?), and entertainment

If Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein's mysterious upperbody/lowerbody/left side/right side injury is actually serious enough to prevent him from playing the Big 12 is suddenly just experiencing a down season.

Assuming Klein is healthy and the Wildcats win their next three games - at TCU, at Baylor and home vs. Texas - to finish the regular season 12-0 and 9-0 in conference call it a great season for the Big 12. The Cats will either be in the Fake National Title game, or be the poor little team that gets screwed in this "very fair" process.

The No. 3 (AP poll) Wildcats will play TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday at 6 p.m.

What we have here in this first season of this revamped conference is little like originally projected. Here is the 2012 poll as selected by the media that covers the league, and the current standings:

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH ...... ACTUAL STANDINGS
1. Oklahoma (32) ...............       Kansas State (9-0, 6-0)
2. West Virginia (7) ................. Oklahoma (6-2, 4-1)
3. Texas .............................  Texas (7-2, 4-2)
4. Oklahoma State .................. Oklahoma State (5-3, 3-2)
5. TCU (1) ............................ Texas Tech (6-3, 3-3)
6. Kansas State (1) .................. TCU (6-3, 3-3)
7. Baylor ............................. West Virginia (5-3, 2-3)
8. Iowa State ........................ Iowa State (5-4, 2-4)
9. Texas Tech ....................... Baylor (4-4, 1-4)
10. Kansas  ........................... Kansas (1-8, 0-6)

Kansas State has been dramatically better than every other opponent. Oklahoma has been just good enough to be second while the rest are eating each other alive.

Just when Texas Tech looked as if it would secure itself as the third-best team, the Red Raiders pooped down their pants and lose at home against a Texas team that once again is disappointing.

Only Kansas, which somehow is going to win fewer games under first-year coach Charlie Weis than it did last season under Turner Gil, was the only predcitable variable with its consistent suckage.

By season's end the Big 12's third place finisher is not going to look that much different than seventh, or eighth.

Outsiders will say the league is down. Big 12 proponents, and coaches, will say this reflects parity. 

Whatever the case, it is highly, highly entertaining.

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Aggies representin the state of Texas very well in SEC

Regardless of what happens next week in Alabama, in its first season in the SEC Texas A&M proved it can hang. At least. It has done the entire state of Texas proud against the "best conference in football, including the AFC".

The decision to go behind former A&M director of athletics Bill Byrne to fire Mike Sherman to bring in Kevin Sumlin looks like a good move. The Aggies' spread offense with Johhny Manziel running all over town can indeed work against the SEC.

The Aggies are 7-2 and 4-2 in the SEC after a 38-13 whuppin' of Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville.

Figuring A&M loses next week in Alabama, the Aggies are going to finish out the regular season 9-3 and 5-3. That should put them in third place in the SEC West. They should be in a position to win 10 games for the first time since 1998 when they won 11.

I never thought this transition would go so well. Call it good timing, a softer SEC West than expected, a better roster than expected, the Aggies are doing it.

Cynics are going to say this is a tainted SEC record because Arkansas and Auburn were both. Phooey. A&M destroyed both of the Hogs and Tigers, and defeated a better-than-expected Ole Miss team on the road. Should A&M have defeated LSU and Florida? Considering the way those respective games flowed, at least one of them.

Unless A&M completely collapses in its final three games, the Aggies' first football season in the SEC has to be considered a success.

(This still doesn't mean I like A&M's decision to leave the Big 12 for the SEC.)

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Texas Rangers should expect the 2012 Mike Napoli, not the '11 version

From the Things I Was Not Expecting File, Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels said today on a conference call with reporters the team has made an offer to free agent outfielder Josh Hamilton but none of other of the club's free agents, including catcher Mike Napoli.

Daniels said this offer allows them to continue to talk to him, but the plan is still let Hamilton to test the market.

Now that months have passed since the season ended, and cooler heads are prevailing, it still sounds like Josh is gone. The team will not go stupid on a Hamilton contract.

I asked him if they have a 2013 plan that does include Josh, and one that does not.

"We have a whole bunch of scnearios drawn up. There are a couple of areas - mainly catching and the bullpen - as areas we have to address," Daniels said. "Josh is a big variable for us this winter because how big of a part he's played on the club but also where he fits in the contractual spectrum because he's going to get a lot of money."

So will Napoli, even if his history says it's an enormous risk for a totally different reason. To plan on him ever having the type of year he had in 2011 is a major gamble. But some team/GM will do it.

Daniels said Napoli is a player the team wants back, but that he "fell somewhere in the middle."

Napoli is going to want X, and 

If the Rangers are going to re-sign Napoli they need to do so expecting he will be closer to the 2012 player than the 2011 player. Here are his major career statistics for the 31-year-old catcher.

'06 Angels - .228, 16 HR, 42 RBI
'07 Angels - .247, 10 HR, 34 RBI
'08 Angels - .273, 20 HR, 49 RBI
'09 Angels - .272, 20 HR, 56 RBI
'10 Angels - .238, 26 HR, 68 RBI
'11 Rangers - .320, 30 HR, 75 RBI
'12 Rangers - .227, 24 HR, 56 RBI

Solid numbers for a catcher, but as you can see in six of his seven major league seasons the type of production he enjoyed in 2011 looks to be a one-time thing.

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TCU fans - couch burning in West Virginia is not some myth

Part of TCU's first season in the Big 12 is learning the particulars of its new member schools, from the many empty seats in Lawrence, Kansas, hitting Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater and getting the hell out of Norman as fast as possible.

This also includes the sacred and time-honored tradition of setting a couch on fire in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is a joke.

The Frogs play in Morgantown on Saturday where the weather forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 44 degrees.

Some call that "football weather".
In West Virginia, it's also called "couch burning weather". 

Earlier this season, WVU put out this PSA urging fans NOT to burn couches:

 

A nice effort, but it didn't really take. 

After West Virginia defeated Texas in Austin last month the cops had to be called in an effort to stop rioting.

As someone who spent more time in West Virginia than I can count (it is an asbolutely gorgeous state), and has ample family from there (which allows me the latitude to bag on my own), I can say with some certainty there is no way this tradition ends.

 

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What the stupid??!! Plenty of good seats available for Texas Tech vs. Texas

Remember the day when playing Texas meant something, and the Longhorns were not the University of Kansas at Austin?

Even in this wonderful season that is Texas Tech football, Red Raider nation doesn't even give a poop about the potential of kicking Bevo when he is really down. 

'Tis a sad day when at 9 p.m. on Thursday evening - two days before No. 20 Texas Tech hosts No. 22 Texas in a game of amateur football in Lubbock - the Red Raiders can't even sellout this game.

On the Texas Tech website, I applied to buy a pair of $95 "best available" tickets for the game. Nooooo problem. Level T, section 121, row 51, seats 20 and 21.

Then I put in to buy six tickets - together. Noooo problem. Level T, section 121, row 51, seats 35 - 40.

This likely means the Univesity of Texas did not buy the amount of tickets alloted to the school, or the good people in Lubbock simply do not care about the prospect of beating up Mack Brown and that vaunted Manny Diaz defense.

BTW: Vegas has the Red Raiders as 7-point favorites.

 

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A great story about a former Texas Longhorn's long road back to the NBA

The Phoenix Suns lost their regular-season opener on Wednesday night, 87-85, against the Golden State Warriors but one member of the Suns is a giant winner. Well, we're all winners but former Texas Longhorns forward P.J. Tucker was the biggest winner for the Suns.

UT fans probably forgot that in 2006 Tucker was the Big 12 player of the year. He was a second round pick by the Raptors but didn't stick; he played just 17 NBA games before he began the international circuit.

Before Wednesday night, the last time Tucker played an NBA regular season game was March 3, 2007 in a loss against the Cavaliers.

After that Tucker played in Puerto Rico, Italy, Greece, Ukraine, Isreal and in Germany. He was an MVP in Isreal and for his German team in the German League Finals.

He was a member of the Suns summer league team, and actually stuck.

In 23 minutes against the Warriors on Thursdaynight, Tucker was 5-of-9 for 10 points with two rebounds.

 

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Gary Patterson to his quarterback - "You're not Dan Marino"

FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU football coach Gary Patterson said that he thinks freshman quarterback Trevone Boykin will play against West Virginia on Saturday in Morgantown. Boykin left TCU's game at Oklahoma State late after he suffered what appeared to be a knee injury.

Assuming Boykin does play, Patterson wants to see more of his quarterback running the ball. This is not the NFL. In college, running quarterbacks don't suffer a quick death, and can win big (see Kansas State & QB Collin Klein).

"One of his assets is he can run," Patterson said. "When it's not there, you're not ... Dan Marino. You are a redshirt freshman quarterback."

Boykin is completing 61.1 percent of his passes for 1,122 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has rushed for 334 yards, an average of 3.8 yards per carry. Hardly horrid.

If there is any advantage to Trevone Boykin over Casey Pachall - and this is a reach - it is Boykin's ability to run. Pachall really couldn't. Alas, there is no advantage if Boykin does not actually run.

Patterson wants to see Boykin out of the pocket a bit more, passing, or running. 

"Don't do anything fantastic; don't be bad. Manage the game," Patterson said. "What you want is a junior Trevone Boykin not a freshman Trevone Boykin.

Boykin is listed at 6-foot-2, which may be generous, and he does not have the classic over-the-top motion. He has had a few passes knocked down, which Patterson said he does not think is as a result of a sometimes three-quarters angle Boykin uses. Patterson said the teams that have given Boykin trouble have height in their front seven.

"People have been on (SD Chargers QB) Philip Rivers' butt since he started; I think he's been in the Pro Bowl," Patterson said. "Everybody is different. His motion was OK against Texas Tech.  When you have a wall of people coming at you, you can't put the ball ... you have to know your own strengths and weaknesses. You have to be able to change things and do things differently."

 

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It's official: The North finally caught the South in Big 12 football

As a Kansas Jayhawk undergrad grad, this aggrivates me no end but massive kudos to the Kansas State Wildcat football program for daring to be better than Nebraska.

Perhaps because they never had the chance, but the Wildcats never played the victim card as members of the Big 12 and ran east to play its equally slow-footed members of the Big 10 like the University of Nebraska did.

Instead, Kansas State just got better and now have officially become the best team in the Big 12 conference. The Big 12 is  no longer split by North/South regions, but the Wildcats are proof you don't have to live in Texas, or be bordered by Texas, to win this league.

Since the league was formed in 1996, the North won the conference title game a total of four times, and not once since 2003. (The league dropped the title game last year).

The conference that was born out of football and all but catered to its members in the south - Texas, Oklahoma - now is officially looking up at Kansas State.

Texas Tech got run out of the state by Kansas State over the weekend.
Had Texas played any other team but Kansas on Saturday the Horns would have lost.
Oklahoma is in denial.
Iowa State is Iowa State.
Baylor and Oklahoma State are both rebuilding.
TCU is too young, and not nearly deep enough.
West Virginia has to at least fake defense before it can become a serious threat.

The Wildcats host No. 24 Oklahoma State on Nov. 3 before traveling to TCU and Baylor and finishing the season on Dec. 1 at home against No. 23 Texas.

The Wildcats should have the Coach of the Year in Bill Snyder and the Heisman winner in QB Collin Klein. If all continues to go according to plan, the Wildcats will be the team to reach the BCS title game for the right to get crushed by Alabama.

The Wildcats may be boring led by their boring head coach, but they do deserve credit.

 

 

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The detail in the AP men's college hoops poll that will surprise you about the state of game in Texas

Even with Perry Jones III gone to an NBA bench, the Baylor men's basketball team is the class of the great state a Texas. 

The preseason AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll is out, and Scott Drew's Baylor Bears are the only ranked team from this entire great state - the Bears are No. 19. The Big 12 features two ranked teams: Baylor and No. 7 Kansas.

The good thing for Texas coach Rick Barnes is that nobody cares enough in Austin to complain.

The state of the game has been in better shape than it is now in Texas. Not only is there but one Top 25 team from Texas, but the rosters of the other top 24 teams are not littered with Texans; it's not as if other teams are raiding Texas of its best players. 

Looking at all 25 rosters of the Top 25 teams viw ESPN.com, below are the players who list Texas as their hometown.

1. Indiana
2. Louisville
3. Kentucky
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. NC State
7. Kansas - Justin Wesley (Fort Worth); Zach Peters (Plano)
8. Duke - Rasheed Sulaimon (Houston)
9. Syracuse
10. Florida
11. North Carolina
12. Arizona
13. UCLA
14. Michigan State
15. Missouri -  Phil Pressey (Dallas)
16. Creighton -  Austin Chatman (The Colony); Nevin Johnson (Houston)
17. Memphis -  Anthony Cole (Arlington); D.J. Stephens (Killeen)
18. UNLV
19. Baylor. 8 players.
20. San Diego State -  Winston Shepard (Houston)
21. Gonzaga
23. Wisconsin
24. Cincinnati. Titus Rubles (Dallas)
25. Florida State 

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