Non-Key Tweets

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

It does and it doesn't.

We simply cannot exist being a member of the AAC and trying to sell tickets to events that involve things like Tulsa and East Carolina.

The longer you stay in a situation like the one we're in, the more it drags and the worse it gets.

Right now, you have a front row seat to the destruction of one of the most successful athletic departments over the past twenty years.

Exactly

 

[Exit 4]

I completely understand your frustration and I'm not saying your concerns are unfounded. However, is the Big 12 really a lifeboat if they want UConn or others to take barely more than they're making no in order to be members? That doesn't really help, does it?

We are on a tiny raft that does not float very well. We'll gladly hop about that Carnival Cruise line of a conf even if it has the norovirus on board rather than wait for the QEII. Our raft maybe sunk by then.

 

[kyleslamb]

This tells me that BTM is a hoax. If he was plugged in, he would have known about Fox/ESPN balking because Fox/ESPN would not have gone public with out even broaching it privately with the Big 12.

I could have sworn that he mentioned ESPN/Fox being unhappy the other day. Re-check his old tweets. I'm almost certain he said it.

 

[upstater]

B12 will help recruiting and fan interest, and if you can make $5-10m more a year, it's not going to hurt either.

 

[BlueMAB]

Always weird that Navy is "west" in this conference somehow.

I could be off, but I think they asked to be, so that they can play in Texas every year.

 

[businesslawyer]

I completely understand your frustration and I'm not saying your concerns are unfounded. However, is the Big 12 really a lifeboat if they want UConn or others to take barely more than they're making no in order to be members? That doesn't really help, does it?

How many people do you think turn down a lifeboat when their ship is sinking because they're aware of the lifeboat's flaws?

 

[jostar1]

BYU & UTAH ‏@BYUandUTAH · 4h4 hours ago
#byu is in. It was done a week ago. TV wants a bigger say in which other teams big12 adds . #byu awaiting #big12 permission to announce.

 

[kyleslamb]

How many people do you think turn down a lifeboat when their ship is sinking because they're aware of the lifeboat's flaws?

To me, it just seems like jumping off a ship half submerged to one that's sprung a leak and also starting to take significant water.

I'm not saying you don't stay afloat as long as you can, but I'm saying if I know the other boat is going down too, I just rather hope a full on rescue is on the way and it gets there in time. I don't think this leaky raft is the rescue UConn is looking for....especially if it's true about the Big 12 looking for these schools to accept at or barely above what they're earning now.

It seems OU/UT, etc. are just using these schools for a short term payday until they go on to greener pastures.

 

[Santini35]

I completely understand your frustration and I'm not saying your concerns are unfounded. However, is the Big 12 really a lifeboat if they want UConn or others to take barely more than they're making no in order to be members? That doesn't really help, does it?

It's not just the money, its the image. Somehow the "top" conferences got the media to buy in on this gigantic imaginary line in the sand between P5 and the G5 et al. If you're on the wrong side of the line by circumstances mostly out of your control there's little to none you can do to convince people you belong based on objective data. All the while teams that were on the right side of the line because of things that happened in the 30s can be rewarded greatly despite languishing in the real world according to that same data.

And if the Big12 sinks while we're in it, at least we are on the right side of the line now

 

[amory]

BYU & UTAH ‏@BYUandUTAH · 4h4 hours ago
#byu is in. It was done a week ago. TV wants a bigger say in which other teams big12 adds . #byu awaiting #big12 permission to announce.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

Can you guys imagine if we could just get back to worrying about what's going on on the court/field? God, that would be incredible.

 

[kyleslamb]

It's not just the money, its the image. Somehow the "top" conferences got the media to buy in on this gigantic imaginary line in the sand between P5 and G5 and the rest. If you're on the wrong side of the line by circumstances mostly out of your control there's little to none you can do to convince people you belong based on objective data. All the while teams that were on the right side of the line because of things that happened in the 30s can be rewarded greatly despite languishing in the real world according to that same data.

I would completely agree with you if not for the idea that the Big 12 might be asking you to take paycuts in order to join. If the Big 12 allows these new members to become whole in a few years and make the same amount as everyone else, I agree with that entirely. However, if they are planning to use these teams so that a select few can bolt for the Big Ten/Pac-12/SEC/ACC in a few years, it will just make these American schools look like G5 who were 'fortunate' enough to sit at the kids' table for a short time.

I think UConn belongs in the ACC, personally. I think they'd be a great fit for the Big Ten. I see this expansion by the Big 12 as a short term money grab by a select few schools who are going to bolt when the Grant of Rights expires, and these contrived relationships from all over the country won't ever make it seem or feel like a real power conference to the general public. It won't feel like it to me. All the other conferences expanded organically. This won't feel natural IMHO.

 

[NYUConn]

To me, it just seems like jumping off a ship half submerged to one that's sprung a leak and also starting to take significant water.

I'm not saying you don't stay afloat as long as you can, but I'm saying if I know the other boat is going down too, I just rather hope a full on rescue is on the way and it gets there in time. I don't think this leaky raft is the rescue UConn is looking for....especially if it's true about the Big 12 looking for these schools to accept at or barely above what they're earning now.

It seems OU/UT, etc. are just using these schools for a short term payday until they go on to greener pastures.

I really hope you are not responsible for anyone else's life but your own.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I would completely agree with you if not for the idea that the Big 12 might be asking you to take paycuts in order to join. If the Big 12 allows these new members to become whole in a few years and make the same amount as everyone else, I agree with that entirely. However, if they are planning to use these teams so that a select few can bolt for the Big Ten/Pac-12/SEC/ACC in a few years, it will just make these American schools look like G5 who were 'fortunate' enough to sit at the kids' table for a short time.

I think UConn belongs in the ACC, personally. I think they'd be a great fit for the Big Ten. I see this expansion by the Big 12 as a short term money grab by a select few schools who are going to bolt when the Grant of Rights expires, and these contrived relationships from all over the country won't ever make it seem or feel like a real power conference to the general public. It won't feel like it to me. All the other conferences expanded organically. This won't feel natural IMHO.

I can't decide which part of this is the wrongest.

 

[UConn Dan]

Always weird that Navy is "west" in this conference somehow.

it was their preference

 

[ScottVib]

To me, it just seems like jumping off a ship half submerged to one that's sprung a leak and also starting to take significant water.

I'm not saying you don't stay afloat as long as you can, but I'm saying if I know the other boat is going down too, I just rather hope a full on rescue is on the way and it gets there in time. I don't think this leaky raft is the rescue UConn is looking for....especially if it's true about the Big 12 looking for these schools to accept at or barely above what they're earning now.

It seems OU/UT, etc. are just using these schools for a short term payday until they go on to greener pastures.

You still jump to the leaky raft ASAP to buy yourself more time. That's where UConn is.. looking to buy as much time as possible, hoping for the best. You take whatever better option is available. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better.

 

[CL82]

Except the Big 12 isn't just slightly better than the AAC. It is a quantum leap of a difference.

It's a lot like taking a Director position for a moderate bump in salary from your Manager position. It seems like it is a modest improvement, but experience as a "Director" will open the door for more lucrative positions down the road.

We're G5 until we're P5. Once we're P5 we'll have opportunities that weren't previously available.

[on edit - congrats we're on page 500 of Non Key tweets.... 500 pages of pain.]

 

[jostar1]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

Can you guys imagine if we could just get back to worrying about what's going on on the court/field? God, that would be incredible.

Plus story I posted in the key tweets thread said that BYU's entire athletic department was called to a meeting this morning and several top-level leaders from The Church of of Latter-day Saints visited the athletic department offices and met with high-level department heads the past week.

 

[History Geek]

Since I've read the posts on this thread pretty much daily since its inception (and recently for hours each day), I wanted to take a moment to recognize the 500th page. Now the terms "Dood", "Flug", "Car Wash", and many others set off a nervous tick in my right eyelid. That is ok though. Yes, it reads like a generally bad and disjointed novel, but I've loved (almost) every word.

I now return you to the regularly scheduled angst-fest.

 

[businesslawyer]

To me, it just seems like jumping off a ship half submerged to one that's sprung a leak and also starting to take significant water.

I'm not saying you don't stay afloat as long as you can, but I'm saying if I know the other boat is going down too, I just rather hope a full on rescue is on the way and it gets there in time. I don't think this leaky raft is the rescue UConn is looking for....especially if it's true about the Big 12 looking for these schools to accept at or barely above what they're earning now.

It seems OU/UT, etc. are just using these schools for a short term payday until they go on to greener pastures.

We will be much better off in 2024 if we spend the last six years in the XII than the AAC. And if the ACC wants us prior to 2024, they know where to reach UConn before we sign something.

 

[CL82]

Plus story I posted in the key tweets thread said that BYU's entire athletic department was called to a meeting this morning and several top-level leaders from The Church of of Latter-day Saints visited the athletic department offices and met with high-level department heads the past week.

So maybe the LDS elders decides that the Big 12 is too wicked and sinful (cough, cough, looking at you Baylor) and turns down the invite?

C'mon seven!

 

[Marty Jackson]

It does and it doesn't.

We simply cannot exist being a member of the AAC and trying to sell tickets to events that involve things like Tulsa and East Carolina.

The longer you stay in a situation like the one we're in, the more it drags and the worse it gets.

Right now, you have a front row seat to the destruction of one of the most successful athletic departments over the past twenty years.

that and changing the patch on your uniform from G5 to P5 is worth about $25M/year or so.

Nobody asks whether Wake Forest, BC, Syracuse, TCU or even Baylor are worth $30M year. It's assumed because of that patch.
once uconn get's in that club (again), it's like the G5 taint is gone.

Kind of like Andy Dufresne crawling through 5 football fields of the smelliest filth you can imagine and coming out smelling like a rose.

 

[Sea Goat]

We will be much better off in 2024 if we spend the last six years in the XII than the AAC. And if the ACC wants us prior to 2024, they know where to reach UConn before we sign something.

Things may re-set then and we have to be in the game when they do.

 

[Marty Jackson]

I would completely agree with you if not for the idea that the Big 12 might be asking you to take paycuts in order to join. If the Big 12 allows these new members to become whole in a few years and make the same amount as everyone else, I agree with that entirely. However, if they are planning to use these teams so that a select few can bolt for the Big Ten/Pac-12/SEC/ACC in a few years, it will just make these American schools look like G5 who were 'fortunate' enough to sit at the kids' table for a short time.

I think UConn belongs in the ACC, personally. I think they'd be a great fit for the Big Ten. I see this expansion by the Big 12 as a short term money grab by a select few schools who are going to bolt when the Grant of Rights expires, and these contrived relationships from all over the country won't ever make it seem or feel like a real power conference to the general public. It won't feel like it to me. All the other conferences expanded organically. This won't feel natural IMHO.

so UofL, Syracuse and Pitt (and Miami, BC, and VT) are so vastly different? you're preaching what the media wants you to think. That there is some tangible difference between a top G5 school and the typical P5 school (excluding the top program or two from every conference)...

 

[kyleslamb]

Guys you all seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying here.

As an athletic director or president of UConn, I'm not saying the safe choice isn't to accept a Big 12 invite. Again I'm not saying don't do it...

What I am saying is that you guys, as fans, should honestly not lose as much sleep over getting left out if that in fact happens because the Big 12 probably won't survive in its current form anyhow, and you're not going to go belly up in the next 5-6 years. This is me, as someone who's not thinking emotionally, saying I think you guys are going to be fine. I'm not saying that in such a way I'm expecting you to take my word for it nor is it like I'm guaranteeing that. I'm just saying the Big 12 is in a desperate situation as it is. They're not the answer. They're not really much of an answer at it. It might be a short term stopgap, which I understand what you all are saying. However, I don't think 5-6 years of the AAC is going to inflict much damage if my hunch about the ACC or Big Ten calling is correct and the Big 12 is looking to pay you about what you're already making.

We're talking about a dysfunctional league looking to go cheap on any prospective members so its elites can make as much money as possible in the short term then bail for a better situation. That doesn't sound like something that's really all that advantageous for UConn. Not as much as you guys think.

 

[CL82]

Guys you all seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying here.

As an athletic director or president of UConn, I'm not saying the safe choice isn't to accept a Big 12 invite. Again I'm not saying don't do it...

What I am saying is that you guys, as fans, should honestly not lose as much sleep over getting left out if that in fact happens because the Big 12 probably won't survive in its current form anyhow, and you're not going to go belly up in the next 5-6 years. This is me, as someone who's not thinking emotionally, saying I think you guys are going to be fine. I'm not saying that in such a way I'm expecting you to take my word for it nor is it like I'm guaranteeing that. I'm just saying the Big 12 is in a desperate situation as it is. They're not the answer. They're not really much of an answer at it. It might be a short term stopgap, which I understand what you all are saying. However, I don't think 5-6 years of the AAC is going to inflict much damage if my hunch about the ACC or Big Ten calling is correct and the Big 12 is looking to pay you about what you're already making.

We're talking about a dysfunctional league looking to go cheap on any prospective members so its elites can make as much money as possible in the short term then bail for a better situation. That doesn't sound like something that's really all that advantageous for UConn. Not as much as you guys think.

I think it is safe to assume, that we understand your point but disagree.

 

[kyleslamb]

I think it is safe to assume, that we understand your point but disagree.

Clearly some people didn't understand because they were responding with why UConn should move to the Big 12. I know the reasons. I'm not arguing against them. I just believe they're being overstated and I believe that there's not a reason to panic (yet) if it doesn't happen. We all know the Big 12 is not going to last in its current form beyond 2024. There will be another round where the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 go hunting. The world wouldn't drastically change in the next five years based on the Big 12 poaching other G5 members for personal gain.

Just as a neutral observer following this as you guys are, I don't think the sky is falling if this doesn't happen. I get folks disagree with that, but it's not irrational.

If I can be of any consolation to you, I will offer to jump off the bridges with you all if it doesn't materialize? I'll drink the Kool Aid.

 

[CL82]

Clearly some people didn't understand because they were responding with why UConn should move to the Big 12. I know the reasons. I'm not arguing against them. I just believe they're being overstated and I believe that there's not a reason to panic (yet) if it doesn't happen. We all know the Big 12 is not going to last in its current form beyond 2024. There will be another round where the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 go hunting. The world wouldn't drastically change in the next five years based on the Big 12 poaching other G5 members for personal gain.

Just as a neutral observer following this as you guys are, I don't think the sky is falling if this doesn't happen. I get folks disagree with that, but it's not irrational.

If I can be of any consolation to you, I will offer to jump off the bridges with you all if it doesn't materialize? I'll drink the Kool Aid.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I know the reasons. I'm not arguing against them. I just believe they're being overstated

I think it's your approach to 'not arguing' that is hanging this conversation up...

 

[noeynox]

Clearly some people didn't understand because they were responding with why UConn should move to the Big 12. I know the reasons. I'm not arguing against them. I just believe they're being overstated and I believe that there's not a reason to panic (yet) if it doesn't happen. We all know the Big 12 is not going to last in its current form beyond 2024. There will be another round where the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 go hunting. The world wouldn't drastically change in the next five years based on the Big 12 poaching other G5 members for personal gain.

Just as a neutral observer following this as you guys are, I don't think the sky is falling if this doesn't happen. I get folks disagree with that, but it's not irrational.

If I can be of any consolation to you, I will offer to jump off the bridges with you all if it doesn't materialize? I'll drink the Kool Aid.

No one knows what is going to happen this week let alone 2024, but I get what your saying. We can't sustain a P5 level lifestyle of G5 TV money till 2024. Exit fees be drying up.

 

[UConnfan8]

Clearly some people didn't understand because they were responding with why UConn should move to the Big 12. I know the reasons. I'm not arguing against them. I just believe they're being overstated and I believe that there's not a reason to panic (yet) if it doesn't happen. We all know the Big 12 is not going to last in its current form beyond 2024. There will be another round where the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 go hunting. The world wouldn't drastically change in the next five years based on the Big 12 poaching other G5 members for personal gain.

Just as a neutral observer following this as you guys are, I don't think the sky is falling if this doesn't happen. I get folks disagree with that, but it's not irrational.

If I can be of any consolation to you, I will offer to jump off the bridges with you all if it doesn't materialize? I'll drink the Kool Aid.

No. The sky would absolutely be collapsing.