A&M/UT to Big 10, OU to SEC?

[Sawyer]

This is so freaking stupid. This whole debacle just shows what a TOILET the "journalism" profession has become. Where are these people getting this information?? Prior to this I have seen absolutely NOTHING to indicate Texas had any thoughts whatsoever of joining the Big 10. Nor had I seen anything to indicate the Big 10 had Texas on their radar.

Agree wholeheartedly regarding journalism. Chip Brown has been all over the place on this and is seemingly the ONLY guy who has any contacts at all. No way I buy that no one else knows anyone who is talking. He's being fed info by people who want certain things public. He runs with it, then everyone else picks it up. No confirming of the reports, no actual reporting at all by anyone else. Just rehashing of unconfirmed rumors. Twitter feeds have become as important as actual interviews. It's ridiculous.

Disagree about Texas and the Big 10. I've seen the rumors pop up occasionally over the past several months.

 

[seniorsooner]

I just don't understand how it would be feasible for Texas to be in the Big 10. I mean just look at a map of the United States! Nebraska would be the closest conference foe and it is over 800 miles from Austin to Lincoln. The rest of the conference schools would be over 1,000 miles away. That just seems absurd to me.

 

[calisooner]

Wake me up when this is all over and let me know how it turns out..... I am gettng a headache from all of this conference realignment talk....

 

[Darwin]

Wow, now this is just getting crazy.

yes it's crazy and I call SHENANIGANS

 

[Cleavon Little]

Agree wholeheartedly regarding journalism. Chip Brown has been all over the place on this and is seemingly the ONLY guy who has any contacts at all. No way I buy that no one else knows anyone who is talking. He's being fed info by people who want certain things public. He runs with it, then everyone else picks it up. No confirming of the reports, no actual reporting at all by anyone else. Just rehashing of unconfirmed rumors. Twitter feeds have become as important as actual interviews. It's ridiculous.

Driving back from Dallas the other night they kept saying on the radio "orangebloods.com is reporting that NU is leaving..." As an old journalism student who isn't using the degree except to armchair quarterback, I must say that attributing anything to a fan website is irresponsible at best.

"OUhoops.com is reporting that Capel should be fired, and that he's the best coach ever. They also report that OU isn't recruiting McD's AA's, and that NickZepp has a pancake on his head." Even if it's something like the NU thing that is probably going to happen, wait for a reliable attribution before running the story. That's kind of basic. They are risking getting something wrong and looking stupid for reporting from messageboards in the quest to scoop everyone else.

Heck, if you go around reporting what the Internet says, you can come up with a lot of crazy stuff.

 

[sybarite]

The problem with excluding the internet sources is that it is now obvious that there has been discussion by various schools and conferences for some time now. The conferences and schools have denied it. Then, after years of denial, we watch this unravel within a couple of weeks. The mainstream journalism outlets have simply accepted the traditional sources that have denied everything.

So, who do you believe? You know that the traditional sources aren't revealing everything, but that the internet rumors are mostly just that.

 

[Max Power]

So if this thing is constantly evolving as you said, do you think Texas and OU will be willing to split up now? Or are UT and A&M also thinking of heading to the SEC? There are so many mixed reports right now with a lot of unnamed sources.

What I think really doesn't matter, apparently last night Josh Heupel leaked that we are joining the SEC. And since he is a member of the coaching staff Its kinda hard not to listen to him

 

[Cleavon Little]

The problem with excluding the internet sources is that it is now obvious that there has been discussion by various schools and conferences for some time now. The conferences and schools have denied it. Then, after years of denial, we watch this unravel within a couple of weeks. The mainstream journalism outlets have simply accepted the traditional sources that have denied everything.

So, who do you believe? You know that the traditional sources aren't revealing everything, but that the internet rumors are mostly just that.

I think it's more about being sure everybody knows which information comes from official people and which information comes from the land of rumor and speculation. There's nothing wrong with rumors, and often, they have a basis of truth, but more often then not they are about a topic that is at best a possibility and usually about something that is subject to change by the minute.

Maybe it should have been reported as "Unofficial internet reports are claiming that NU has already jumped ship..." It's just when they say "orangebloods.com is reporting" it sounds to people who might not know like we message board folks are a bunch of intrepid journalists working on the truth. The actual journalists that steal these rumors and report them would love that we were so credible, but we're not.

It makes me think of the LSU Miles to Michigan stuff. Sometimes reporting the rumors as a done deal actually makes the story change. I think rumors on stuff like this are usually snapshots of negotiations that aren't finalized enough to be official announcements, or intentional leaks meant to influence the situation. Anyone reporting them should be careful to state that the information is actually coming from a big group of fans online, some of whom have ties to people who know what's going on.