UConn does not validate the Big East

Dickie V told us this morning that UConn's trip to the Final Four validated the Big East about how tough it was, since they were 9-9 in the Big East.

On that same logic, how tough must the Colonial Athletic Association be, as VCU was 12-6 in league play (4th in the league) with losses to Northeastern, Old Dominion, George Mason, Drexel and Georgia State? The Hofstra Pride finished ahead of VCU in conference play, and were rewarded with an invitation to play at Evansville in the first round of the College Basketball Insider tournament. While Hofstra lost that game, ODU and GMU represented the CAA well in the NCAA tourney.

Or the Horizon League, where Butler was in a three way tie for the regular season title with Cleveland State and Milwaukee. The Bulldogs went 13-5 with losses to Milwaukee (twice), Valpo, Yougstown State and Wright State.

Of course, Cleveland State's 26-8 regular season record and Horizon League shared title, with a record of 1-1 against the vaunted Big East teams, got them a bid to the NIT. They would have helped my argument further had they not lost to the College of Charleston in the 2nd round of the NIT.

Milwaukee was hampered by a 6-9 non-conference record and lost in the first round of the NIT at Northwestern.

I guess it would have helped them if they had a) more Italian coaches in their leagues, or b) had ESPN based closer to their leagues.

Longhorn Network Programming Suggestions

During the WTF Media Days, I was very busy. However, I was able to sit down with Mack Brown and DeLoss Dodd's and discuss some programming content for the often rumored Longhorn TV network. I haven't had a chance to post since, but here are some suggestions that they didn't care for that much:

• Failure to Launch: WTF correspondents debate whether the title is a Matthew McCaughnahey film or the title of Greg Davis' playbook.
• Dazed and Confused: 24/7 reality show featuring Vince Young and a playbook.
• A Time to Kill: an inside look on the negotiations that led to the demise of the big 12 as we know it.
• Boys on the Side: the story of Longhorn women's basketball team.
• Fools Gold: the pro basketball prospects of PJ Tucker.
• Austin's dumbest criminals, presented by The Smoking Gun. Follow the hijinks of the Longhorn football team through voluntary workouts.
• Dude, where's my clothes? An epic documentary in search of Edwin Simmons' belongings.
• Great Expectations: interviews with Longhorn gridiron stars who explain what it's like to to be a perpetual favorites to win the conference but only have three conference titles in 14 years.
• Replay, sponsored by Gatorade. Reuniting the Chris Simms-Roy Williams connection to see if they can ever score a TD against the Sooner D.
• NCIS: Austin. Abby joins the Longhorn network with her lab gear. She goes in search of untainted urine samples from Lance Armstrong and Roger Clemens.
• Extreme Makeover. Cosmetic dentists try to remove the coffee stains from Mack Brown's teeth.
• Draft redux. Joint programming with the NFL Network where experts debate which round Longhorn first round draft picks would be selected in hindsight.

Got other ideas? Let's see them in the comments.

Top 10 OTL Segments You'll never See

As I followed ESPN's "coverage" of the Leach firing, I decided to create a list of Outside the Line Segments You'll never see...

1. Craig James' parenting methods: revolutionary or revolting
2. What ESPN's former jock personalities say about Erin Andrews when the mic's are off
3. Trent Dilfer - the ultimate game manager
4. John Clayton biopic: How espn transformed me from stuffed inside a locker to an ESPNInsider
5. The Lou Holtz Effect: how do his teams keep getting probation after he leaves
6. Media-ocrity: How we take failed QBs like Jesse Palmer, Tim Hasselback and Sean Salisbury and make them experts on the position when their playing time is over
7. Holly Rowe: the hottest girl in Salt Lake City
8. Matt Millen: how did he land a job in sports again?
9. Todd McShay: ESPN NFL Draft Expert or Mel Kiper Jr's coffee runner?
10. Tim Legler: how playing for one of the worst teams in NBA history allows me to tell you what it takes to be an NBA champion

If you have additions, put them in the comments.

I would expect this from the Big 10

The LandThieves Investigative Team was unsuccessful today in the search for the truth. You see, here are the preseason poll results for the North

Bugeaters 172
Phog U 164
Mizzou 124
CU Later 100
Willie and Friends 81
Iowa State 33

This totals 674. Problem is, it should tally 672 (32*[6+5+4+3+2+1]). I sent a message to a spokesperson at the Big 12, but they apparently are getting ready for a media conference or something, and completely blew me off.

Same problem, except different, in the South:

Texas 174
Sooners 174
Boone State 130
Dust Pirates 89
Baylor 75
Cash Machine U 33

This totals 675. Again, we should get to 672, but we're three points off here. Where are the three extra points? Well, we can presume they are NOT in the Texas Aggies total, unless someone else voted them seventh in the division.

If the conference responds, you'll be the second to know.

Big 12 Media Poll 2009

Last year, I broke down the pre-season media poll for your. This year, it's a little tougher, as the math doesn't work, but the LandThieves Investigative Team is on the case. Here are some quick highlights from the release:

• Only 32 votes this year, as opposed to 51 last year.
• 31 of 32 voters picked Texas A&M last in the South.
• Baylor has several fourth place selections as well, my guess is around 12 writers selected Baylor 4th, with Tech 5th.
• OU and Texas were picked tied for first. I don't know what the tie-breaker format is for the Preseason poll. Mack Brown will be politicking to be declared the champion on College Football Live later today, I'm sure.
• Four voters picked someone other than OU and Texas to be in second place. These votes appear to be split between Boone State and the Dust Pirates.

In the North:

• Three voters selected Missouri for first. These voters must have mistakenly mailed in last year's ballot.
• Iowa State was the nearly unanimous pick for last in the division, with the Wildcats presumably garnering the other last place vote.
• While Nebraska and Kansas were selected the top 2 teams in the North, there were at least ten writers that has someone else in the 2 slot.
• Second place in the Big 12 North is a crapshoot to figure out without the detail of number of votes for each team for each slot. However, from the information I could back into, it looks like Colorado had the most second place votes, and the most fifth place votes.

With the handing chads/math mistake, it's tough to break down with more certainty.

As the LandThieves Investigate Team finds out more on this story, we'll keep you advised.

The Heart of a Champion

Yesterday morning I was driving to the office listening to Mike and Mike on espn radio. In for Golic was Cris Carter, and they were discussing the once-in-a-lifetime run of Tom Watson at last week's British Open. Carter's comments surrounded the topic of, to paraphrase "there's no joy in being second", or as Ricky Bobby put it in Talladega Nights, "if you're not first, you're last". I have heard similar statements by Golic when the topic came up around last year's US open, as Golic blasted Rocco Mediate for having a blast while finishing second.

First, let's take a look at Golic's resume. He played from 1986 - 1993 for the Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. The Oilers and Dolphins did not make the playoffs in Golic's years there, and the Eagles went 1-4 in the playoffs from 1987-92, when Golic played on the D-line there. They never even made it to the NFC Championship game.

Now, Cris Carter. Carter was a great WR and played for the Eagles from 87-89, Vikings from 90-2001, and finished his career in 2002 with the Dolphins. We know from research on Golic that the Eagles didn't win any playoff games from 87-89, so let's look at the Vikes. The Vikings were 4-8 in the playoffs during Carter's tenure, with two appearances in the NFC championship game. In 2000, Carter's experience and knowledge of what it takes to be a champion helped the Vikings get beat 41-0 in the NFC title game. Cris Carter never played in a Super Bowl.

But he's going to criticize Tom Watson, a man who won eight major championships during his career.

Even worse is ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler, who is constantly telling us what it takes to win championships. Legler played 10 years in the NBA, which is an impressive feat. However, his playoff experience? 3 games, 19 minutes. Total.

I'm not sitting here saying I only want to listen to players who have won championships (Joe Montana in the booth was a nightmare), but please don't talk like you know what it takes to win, when all your experience is finding out what you don't have to win. I realize failure is part of the road to success, but these gents never finished the road, but talk like they can't lift their hands because of the championship rings.

4th and Long

Watched the Spike TV show 4th and Long this evening. Not sure what I expected, but I found the show kept my interest for the hour. I would have been okay with seeing fewer people vomit.

The show has a Sooner tie-in, as it has Moses Washington, a former Sooner track and field man who allegedly was on the Sooners 2000 National Championship team. The crack LandThieves research team could not find mention of Washington as a letterwinner, per the OU Media 2001 Football media guide. He's also not listed as a roster player on Soonerstats.com. The Daily Ok website says he walked onto the 2000 team as a DB. Washington was a track All-American, in the 800 meters indoors.

A press release by SoonerSports.com does mention Washington, during August practices prior to the 2000 season.

Moses appears to be quite the thespian now, per a brief review of his myspace page.

Another tie-in is former Texas Longhorn Erick Jackson, whose claim to fame is knocking the snot out of Sooner Reggie Smith on a punt return during the 2006 OU-Texas game, and returning it for a touchdown*.

Googling Erick, you also find Erick followed Malcolm Kelly into the end zone for the decisive score in the Sooners 28-21 victory in 2007.

*Sooners recovered, but TD claim was made on behalf of Longhorns who wanted Erick to feel good about himself.

Top 5 Ugly Incidents in Allen Fieldhouse

Chuck Woodling is allegedly a columnist for the Lawrence Journal-World & News. Saturday's musing by Chuck presented this thought on the late Wayman Tisdale..."Tisdale will always be remembered as a bit player in one of the ugliest incidents in the history of ...Allen Fieldhouse."

First of all, Chuck is getting absolutely blasted in the comments section of the paper. Second, many of the commenters are Jayhawk fans expressing embarrassment over this individual's writings of the day. For that, I tip my cap to the Jayhawks.

On the other hand, my research has indiciated at least five other ugly incidents in Kansas University's Allen Fieldhouse..

5. Anytime these tats show up at Allen Fieldhouse, it's an ugly incident.

4. Kansas student travels back in time to see Wilt Chamberlain's first "do-it" room while a student at the University of Kansas.

3. Jim Harrick propositions Paul Pierce in a scene that if not ugly, is at least uncomfortable.

2. The Mannings recruiting visit to Lawrence. I was not able to find a photo to document this, but did find a artist depiction of the scene.

1. And finally, the ugliest incident at Allen Fieldhouse? Mark Mangino displays a stool sample to Jayhawk fans after eating a football whole.

Why The Newspapers are Losing

Yesterday's column by Berry Trammel should have been titled, "Holy Crap, can you believe they pay me to write?"

Last summer, Trammel was on the "get rid of Jarboe" bandwagon, as was I.

Chaisson copped a plea to four "gross misdemeanors" that are in lie with the code of conduct for an OU student. Reading that sentence just seems weird. Chaisson is labeled as a sociopath by Trammel, in the same piece that Adarius Bowman's marijuana arrest is inexplicably brought up.

I'll agree that Chaisson is a risk, but the column just doesn't make sense.

"...That’s not delinquent behavior. That’s sociopath behavior, and that moves out of even Father Flanagan’s domain, much less a football coach’s. Take Chaisson to sack quarterbacks, fine. But don’t take him thinking you’re going to fix him."

So, we're okay with taking a player for his football ability, but Stoops shouldn't consider planning to set the individual up for success with more accountability, more structure, perhaps expanding his horizons a bit and guiding him in making better life choices. Let's just treat him like a rented mule and turn him loose on society in four years.

Seemed Berry is taking writing tips from David Feherty, and working on offending everyone reading. Feherty is known for his irreverent humor. Perhaps Trammel can move his writing to the Comics section. Except it's not funny.

Tebow applies for TRO

by Legal Correspondent Cedric Benson

Miami (LTP) - Florida QB Tim Tebow appeared in a South Florida courtroom yesterday seeking a temporary restraining order against Fox Sports Play-by-play man Thom Brennaman yesterday.

Tebow pleaded with Judge Galen Hall, “This man just creeps me out…first he says on national television that ‘if you’re fortunate to spend five minutes or twenty minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it’…Someone told me after the game about that, and I thought that was kinda creepy. Then, after the game, he follows me into the shower – which is off limits to media – and wants to spend his five minutes with me in there. Fortunately, Brandon Spikes removed him.”

“Later, I returned from the shower to my locker and Brennaman was still standing there. He said he’d read where I’d done circumcisions before He said he thought the doctor had done his circumcision improperly, dropped his pants and asked me to take a look at the doctor’s work. At that point I ran screaming from the locker room.”
Judge Galen Hall issued an order requiring Brennaman to stick to working baseball games and banned him from being within 100 yards of Tebow.

Upon learning that Brennaman was a MLB broadcaster for the Reds, he has chosen to stay in school for his senior year to decrease his chances of playing for the Cincinnati Bengals.

When asked to comment on the situation, Peter King, a friend of Brennaman’s said, “I’ve never seen such obsessions with an athlete before in my life. And I’m never talking to Brett Favre again.

Style Points

While watching the UT rout of Cash Machine U today, and the guys in the booth (Fowler, Palmer, James) kept talking about how Mack doesn't run the score up, and that he's not seeking style points. The Longhorns then proceed to score 21 points in the fourth quarter.

I did a little research today to see how the teams fared in scoring by quarter. I ignored the UT-TT game, the UT-OU game to only get games that were victories by both of the teams. So here are the figures:

4th quarter points:
UT - 86 - 44
OU - 41 - 48

2nd Half Scoring:
UT - 198 - 86
OU - 168 - 102

So, in spite of outscoring opponents 251-53 in the first half, UT still needed to outscore their opponents by 112 points in the second half. Maybe talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. Oklahoma's "style points" have been obtained in the first half. Don't know of anyone pulling starters in the first half.

Hypocrisy in the media

Austin American Statesman writer Kirk Bohls makes the brilliant argument that Texas should be ahead of OU because they beat them on the field, and that it shouldn't matter that it was several weeks ago. He's being quite hypocritical. Courtesy of the analysis at www.pollspeak.com one can analyze his votes. With this logic, I point out the following discrepancies.

• Oregon State defeated USC on Sep 25. Kirk voted the Beavers 17th and the Trojans 5th.
• Oregon State lost to Stanford to open the season. Stanford received no votes from Mr. Bohls.
• Ole Miss beat Florida 31-30 in Gainesville on Sep 27th. Florida was voted 4th by Mr. Bohls, and the Rebels did not receive a vote. Kirk even mentions this game in his pitch for Texas over the Sooners. To expand further on Ole Miss, they've lost by 2 at Wake Forest, by 4 at Tuscaloosa, by 6 at home to Vanderbilt and by 7 at home to South Carolina. That's a pretty solid 7-4 team he's ignoring.
• Georgia Tech was voted 19th, yet none of the three teams that beat the Yellowjackets are rated ahead of them.
• Boston College is ranked 20th per Kirk, but he gave no votes to North Carolina or Clemson, who both beat the Eagles.
• Cincinnati, who lost to Connecticut, was voted 15th, while the Huskies did not receive a vote.
• Penn State lost to Iowa two weeks ago, yet Penn State is voted 9th and Mr. Bohls did not cast a vote for the Hawkeyes.

Middle Linebacker

I really think this is funny. Today, mainstream media types (msm) are touting how the Sooners have moved Nic Harris back to safety and that Austin Box will start for the Sooners Saturday. Do you really believe that? Throughout last week, the coaches at OU talked about getting Robinson, Box or Crow ready for the MLB position, and how it didn't make sense for Harris to play LB.

During warmups, Harris was at safety. When the defensive starting lineup was announced, Austin Box was announced as starting middle linebacker. He didn't make a mistake all day, unless he drank too much water. Box never got on the field. Why isn't this just considered more misinformation? I will believe the Sooners are going back to the normal 4-3 alignment when I see it on Saturday, if I see it on Saturday.

Brian Bosworth is not walking through that door. Torrance Marshall is not walking through that door.

Cupcakes for the Pac-10

Here we have espn blogger and Pac-10 apologist Ted Miller suggesting that the Pac 10 schedule more cupcake foes like the Big 12, so they'll get more wins.

• First of all, as a Sooner, I'd like to apologize. We didn't know that Eastern Washington was a tougher draw than Washington in 2008. Plus, Texas Tech already had booked EWU.
• According to the Sagarin rankings, UMass would have been a more formidable foe than Washington. Maybe TT was prophetic in that regard.
• Baylor and Oklahoma State didn't realize that Washington State would suck when the series was booked.
• I just reviewed Arizona's schedule. I didn't know the 1-AA Idaho Vandals were such a formidable foe. Or Toledo. Michigan may believe otherwise, but most BCS schools are figuring on Ws when they play the Rockets.
• Oregon played Utah State. They haven't been good since John L Smith parlayed a 6-6 record in 1997 into a job at Louisville. The Ags have been near the cellar of the WAC ever since, so this isn't a surprise that they are awful.
• Cal played Mountain West cellar dweller Colorado State.
• Stanford played WAC juggernaut San Jose State.
• Arizona State played Big Sky superpower Northern Arizona. And UNLV. And lost.
• Washington State played Northern Arizona rival Portland State for their sole win.

Admittedly, the Pac-10 didn't eat as many cupcakes as the Big 12 teams. Notably, USC, Washington and Oregon State didn't go that route at all. Texas Tech and K-State were the market leaders in scheduling cupcakes, but it's not like there's no plank in the eye of the Pac 10.

Practice Coverage

This week is the first week of practice for the Sooners, and also a busy work week. As a customer service message to you, the faithful reader, I present this daily practice report. The names may change, but the stories likely won't.

• ______ showed why he's a starter today.
• Reserve _______ showed some promise in drills today. "We expect big things from ___ this year", said position coach _____.
• ______ looked good in practice today. If he keeps this up, he will challenge _____ for playing time.
• ______ is injured and will be out for ___ days. This will give _____ an opportunity to get more reps with the first and second team.
• ______ is tending to an academic matter and will not be at practice for the first two weeks. This really hurts his development (so does flunking out of school). This will give _____ an opportunity to get more reps with the first and second team.

Even if you're not a Sooner fan, this should also work for Baylor, TCU, Texas A&M, Illinois State, and others.

OverAnalyzing the Big 12 Media Picks

Media picks Mizzou as #1 North team, unanimously. I went ahead and did some assumptions on trying to back into how many people picked each team for each slot. Here are my assumptions:

a) Kansas was not picked lower than 3.
b) Mathematically, it's evident not everyone picked Iowa State last. I presumed the 8 voters that chose Iowa State 5th chose Kansas State last.

This means 21 voters picked KU third. Also means they had to pick Nebraska or Colorado as that third team. My estimates say...

• Nebraska was picked 2 (11 times); 3 (15); 4 (20) and 5 (4). If Nebraska finishes the season in 2nd place in the North, they should write a book about Bo Pelini.
• Colorado was slated as follows: 2nd (10); 3rd (15); 4th (17) and 5th (10).
• K-State got 14 4th place votes and 29 5th place votes to go along with 8 last place votes.

Now, for the South. I'm assuming Texas was never picked lower than third.

• The Sooners were picked 1st 49 times and must have received 2nd place votes from the other two voters.
• Texas received the following votes, 1 (2); 2 (22); 3(27).
• Texas Tech received 2 (27); 3 (20) and 4 (4).
• Four voters rated the Pokes as the third place team; the 47 voters who were not under the influence awarded 30 fourth place votes and 17 5th place votes to Boone State.
• Texas A&M was picked 17 times as fourth, 33 times as 5th and once as last.

While I can't confirm this at this time, I have to believe someone gave President Red Andrews a ballot, and that he voted the Bears 5th and the Aggies 6th. If not, let's keep in mind that this same voting bloc chose TE Brody Eldridge as an All-Conference fullback last year.

Trotter Regains Focus, Plays Video Games

Daily Oklahoman writer Jake Trotter showed remarkable focus and determination yesterday - on a par with Pete Rose putting his legal troubles behind him to manage the Cincinnati Reds, or Barry Bonds pursuing the HR record while the size of this head and the allegations of his drug use both increase - and was able to resume writing duties after the tragedy invoked by James W. Conradt, aka Darth Husker. Trotter and the Daily Oklahoman filed suit on Monday as a result of the "harm to the journalistic reputation" (see page 7) of said reporter and the Daily Oklahoman.

Trotter published an article on the newsok.com web site yesterday where a simulated season was played out om EA Sports NCAA 09 college football game and OU was proclaimed champion. He also participated in a video game against the Boone State beat reporter for the paper.

There is some debate as to what causes more "harm to the journalistic reputation" a) internet satire, mean spirited as it may be; b) or playing video game contests between beat writers and publishing the results. I would even argue that Berry Tramel's video tirade, proclaiming message boards the equivalent of porn sites, to be a greater harm to the journalistic reputation of the newspaper.

Trotter, presumably exhausted from these events, was unable to cover Jenna Plumlee's arrest for allegedly stealing cosmetics from Wal-Mart. Why wouldn't Jenna just join Carol Stoop's Mary Kay pyramid. Surely she could get some free product in the starter kit?

Finally, if you link to the documents filed in the lawsuit, the entire article that Conradt allegedly posted is there. The fake story also states Manuel Johnson was arrested in June after taking a handgun to an elementary school, and d lineman Alan Davis and Cory Bennett were arrested after "an alleged carjacking incident". I have yet to hear any complaints from Johnson, Davis or Bennett, their families or their lawyers.

I'm done. I have work to do.

Lawsuit Filed Against Darth Husker

Yesterday the Oklahoma Publishing Co filed a lawsuit against James W. Conradt regarding his fake story implicating Sam Bradford and Landry Jones in a drug bust.

I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Conradt appears to have went too far in using Jake Trotter's name, and allegedly using several copyrighted images off of the newsok.com web site. I thought the whole thing was mildly amusing, but am admitting that I am not related to Bradford or Jones. Conradt poked the turtle, as one of my good friends would say, of a widely read state newspaper that has the Gaylord Family as significant shareholders. Being as their name is on the football stadium and I believe the School of Journalism bears the family name - or the building, let's now slow down this post for me to check my facts - Conradt picked the wrong paper lampoon.

Conversely, the due diligence done by the radio stations that "broke" the story is appalling. Was anyone really getting their news off of www.darthhusker.com?

newsok.com writer Berry Tramel has an embarrassing video comparing internet message boards to porn sites. Still don't get that analogy. Plus, the newsok.com site allows readers to comment online at their site, where you get insightful reader comments like this one by Justin, posted recently on the article referred to above "Todd, you sir, are an idiot." The next one will probably be, "Jane, you ignorant slut."

With newspapers struggling, I could see this as the newspapers using what muscle they have left to attempt to narrow the landscape of blogging and message boarding via incidents like this one. While I'm not a media expert, I do believe that using the courts to inflict pain on foes that threaten your monopoly is not a good way to stem the tide of decreasing readership and ad revenue. The lawyers, however, will make out like bandits.

As a history professor told me in college, after I told him I was an accounting major, "In the battle of Armageddon, they'll need lawyers and accountants to bayonet the wounded." Come to think of it, Bayonet the Wounded would be a great blog name.

Hope for Baylor Fans

Earlier this week, we here at LandTheives unearthed this photo of ESPN internet sensation Erin Andrews doing her version of the Sic Em Bears cheer. So what if she's using the wrong hand.

This is just another example of the Baylor Bear program is getting national attention.

LandThieves contacted Ms. Andrews to see if she would elaborate on how she became familiar with the Sic Em Bears cheer. Erin seemed very personable as she said, "Who? What?", then she hung up.

Brent Musberger then called me back and threatened to beat me with the bags under his eyes.

Why Erin Andrews Covers Big 10 Basketball

Earlier today, I got to thinking. After a few weeks of watching some hoops, I found that Big 12 men's hoops viewers get Ron Franklin and Fran Fraschilla (just to remind Sooners of that upset by the Manhattan Jaspars in the mid 90s) or the pleasant tones of Bob Carpenter and Paul Splittorf. The Big 10 gets play-by-play icon Brent Musberger alongside Steve Lavin, and the bonus of Erin Andrews as sideline reporter. I’ve decided this is unfair, and decided to examine why…

My top 5 reasons Erin Andrews covers Big 10 Basketball.

1. Allows Florida fans to demonstrate continued dominance of SEC over Big 10.
2. In Big 10 country, any girl with all her teeth and weighing in at less than a buck- fifty is a looker.
3. It's ESPN’s way of differentiating itself from the Big 10 Network. Check the “talent” at the Big 10 Network. You've never flipped over to the Big 10 Network wanting to get a glimpse of Vera Jones.
4. Duke fans only have eyes for Dick Vitale
5. It’s the only way to make a 53-51 game interesting
   
   Got additional reasons? Add ‘em in the comments.