Governor Nixon disses Big 12 and proves he doesn't get it.

First, I've been a little crazy at my real work that people pay me to do (you know besides being an activist, writer, and statesman) so I apologize for being a little AWOL. It has been driving me crazy because there have been so many topics I wanted to write about but just no time to do them right.........and as you know I'm not a "throw up a picture and a clever comment" kinda blogger. You might even say I'm a bit wordy.....I'm working on that.

I don't do it on purpose but sometimes I hit on something early and then a few weeks later it becomes a bigger story. It falls under the "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then" category. I've linked to it in case you missed it.

So anyway a little while back I wrote about a throw away line in the KC Star from a writer about Missouri moving to the Big 10. I recall some of the comments where like...."who cares" which is usually right when pondering Missouri but since then the story has evolved.

If you are following it there were some other stories about it including a big one about the Big 10 themselves moving the topic of adding another school back onto their agenda which of course caused all kinds of interest from Missouri folk.

Fast forward to the Gov and his comments that fall right into line with exactly what I was saying all along.......that people from Missouri are stupidly disconnected and don't understand the issue.....beginning with their dumbass governor.

So while the Big Ten has some higher ranked schools it make him look like a total idiot when he says he'd rather be in a conference with Northwestern than Oklahoma State. This is about money.

And then this morning the story was picked up locally.

To wit......dear Governor. That was my point exactly in my previous post. You don't get it. The Big 10 is more like Oklahoma State than Northwestern. Northwestern is a great school with an enrollment about one third to one quarter, okay even one fifth that of their Big 10 (or Big 12) counterparts. The truth is Northwestern doesn't really fit in with the Big 10 but they like beating up on the smart kids on the North side of Chicago every now and again. Northwestern is little more than our Baylor. Each conference is full of huge state schools and one private school.

Oh and a big by the way......Oklahoma State is a world respected college for Mechanical Engineering (Jay, that's where the oil guys go) and Architecture as well as a top center for Information Assurance for the National Security Agency (that basically means military intelligence....ironic eh Jay?) They also boast one of the highest numbers of Truman Scholars in the nation with 15 and 6 out of the last 7 years.

Missouri, on the other hand according to Wikipedia, is known for having the country's first school of Journalism (which means they train the biased assholes we see on MSNBC) and for being one of only 6 schools to have a law, veterinary, agriculture, engineering, and medical schools...no mention of how they rank? I understand most rankings put Missouri ahead of good ole Oklahoma State but if you want to play US News & World Report Ranking game well......the Big Ten would be better off considering that Kansas AND Iowa State both outrank Mizzou.

Besides pointing out the stupidity of Jay Nixon the bigger question is (I guess) will they or won't they go if asked? Really, I don't care but be clear about this, Governor Nixon, that the decision isn't about academics......almost any 4 year state school with a huge enrollment will do......but rather about the television market share they can grab and hence the money they can extract. Period.

I'm horrible at predictions (other than Dennis Moore not running again) but I'd have to say IF they expand they will quietly ask Notre Dame first and after they stupidly say no they will pick between Rutgers and Missouri. And if I were them with all bias aside....I'd try for Rutgers. Huge New Jersey/New York TV audience from a school that is athletically on the upswing right, has a huge enrollment AND is better ranked academically that Mizzou. We'll see.

This isn't to say I don't think Missouri has a gripe about Bowls they haven't been selected to play in the past 3 years. They do.

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Here is just a little background if you are bored this week.

If you are interested here is a little history on the Big Ten. You'll see Northwestern is the only private school and has an enrollment of about 8,000. Do you think they are going offer reciprocal agreements with Missouri? Please.

Here is info on the Big 12. Again, if you look at the schools, the enrollments they look remarkably similar to the Big 10 except the Big 12 was smart enough to understand that 11 is a prime number and kept the number of schools even. Score one point for the Big 12.

Here a history of the Southwest Conference. Do you think there was a reason Houston, Rice or SMU weren't offered spots in the new Big 12? Think about it Jay.

Just a quick program note. I don't check my jocoeveryman@hotmail.com account even close to daily so please understand if I don't get back to you right away. Especially to a certain someone out there: if you don't want me to send you email then you might stop sending them to me.....after all I'm only hitting the "reply button".

Thanks for reading.

Breaking News! Breaking News!

Don’t you just love all the amazingly good advice you see on the local news?

Like:

When driving in slick conditions you need to leave more room between you and car in front of you and slow down. Brillant.

And other stuff like health stuff:

You can keep your immune system up and be generally more healthy if you make sure you eat fruits and vegetables……and if you can’t do that maybe try a multivitamin. I think I even caught Harry Smith rolling his eyes at that report this morning. Duh.

And excellent reporting from hardware stores:

I’m standing at XYZ Hardware store and they are telling us they are getting a run on shovels and rock salt. Back to you.

With all that great help what is my mother going to do with all her free time???

I will say that the weather people pretty much got it right this time so that was impressive. Katie Horner has changed her look a little but I can’t figure out quite what she did. All I know is she looks better. Hair, weight, makeup……can’t put my finger on it.

How about Frank and Buck?

I can’t be happy about Whitey Herzog getting elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame because it only continues to remind me that two other people who were more important to baseball are still on the outside.

Whitey was a fine baseball man in his day with some really good years in Kansas City and some great ones in St. Louis. Fine. Not greatness in my mind. I don’t even want to debate if he should be in or not.

All it does however is sadly remind me that two people I absolutely think should be in and aren’t are Frank White and Buck O’Neil.

Frank White was the best defensive second baseman of his era. 8 Gold Gloves and 1 more stolen from him. He was a 5 time all star and won the Silver Slugger in 1986 for being the best offensive player at his position that year. It isn’t without debate among baseball people who will say he didn’t hit well enough to be in the HOF. I say it is a shame if the HOF is so much about offense and if we can induct great hitters who weren’t great with the leather then why shouldn’t it be the other way around? Clearly, defense doesn’t get any respect at the HOF. How is Frank White all that different than let’s say Ozzie Smith? First, I understand Ozzie played a different position but I would have preferred to have Frank White at the plate any day to Ozzie. It is a crime Frank White is not in the Hall of Fame. I’m not a stat geek so maybe I’m missing something. He is within the range of total hits of other second basemen already in the HOF but his batting average would be the lowest. Of course, Tigers fans have a similar and credible beef about Sweet Lou Whitaker as well. Second base just doesn’t get much respect. Maybe they can put them in the HOF fame together.

Buck O’Neil, while not displaying the kind of numbers as a player that would merit entry, should have been enshrined simply for his magnificent contributions to the game. He was the first black coach in the major leagues for the Cubs. More importantly to me, he kept the historical flame of the Negro leagues alive when nobody else cared. He graciously and patiently kept the faith for decades until public interest and Ken Burns found him. Without him, the sad but rich history would have been lost forever and it has made the game richer for all who play it and watch it. I say sad but really when you talked to Buck it was never sad or about being the voice of victim. I’m proud to say I met him several times.

Today’s KC Star article also reports that Ewing Kauffman came up short. I love the Kauffman family for what they brought to Kansas City but I can’t in good faith say that as an owner of a baseball team he did anything that merits entry into the Hall of Fame. Funny but firing Whitey only to see him go over to St. Louis and succeed should be enough to keep Mr. K out. It seems silly to me to put people like this in the Hall when people like Frank White and Buck O’Neil aren’t.

Many of us have kicked and screamed over Buck’s not getting in but I rarely hear the outrage over Frank White’s not being in the HOF. While now it is much more difficult because he has fallen off the ballot perhaps people, the Veteran's Committee, can make it happen before Frank dies too.