Depending On Viewpoint, Mack Brown's ESPN Monday Was A Stroke Of Genius, Or An Example Of Everything That Is Wrong With The Big 12

For those of you who may have missed it, Mack Brown spent all day Monday at ESPN's studios in Bristol, CT. The Nebraska blog Big Red Network and the folks over at the texas blog Barking Carnival cover the all-Mack, all-the-time exposure on ESPN on Monday. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either a brilliant move by Mack and texas, or another example of everything that is wrong with the Big 12. 

As a texas fan, you have to love this move. On the opening day of Big 12 Media Days, Mack made sure texas was front and center all day on ESPN, even though texas wasn't due at the podium in Irving until Wednesday. When the WWL talked about college football during the day on Sportscenter, they didn't mention Big 12 media days, but Mack Brown and texas certainly received plenty of coverage. Consider it mission accomplished for texas.

If you're a fan of Iowa State or Baylor, you probably hate this, and if you're a Nebraska fan, you're probably nodding your head with a knowing smirk on your face right now. On a day that the Big 12 was supposed to shine as a conference, texas had to go out and make sure the attention was on them. On a day where Baylor and Iowa State should have been receiving attention, texas had to make sure they were in the news. If you're a fan of another school besides texas, you can look at this and see it as texas trying to show again that it is all about them, that they're bigger than the conference.

Of course, if you're an A&M fan like me, you're looking at this and seeing it as another example of why we should have moved to the SEC. ESPN is the de facto SEC network, and watching the SEC media days get streamed live on EPSNU last week was just more evidence that we're in the wrong conference. The Pac-10 is holding their media days in New York, making sure they get some notice from the East Coast sportswriters, thinking outside the box while they try to expand their brand. Meanwhile, the Big 12 is happy to have their few hours of time on Fox Sports SW and their stuttering streaming video online, and call it a day. While Larry Scott is taking his conference to New York, the Big 12 is......not changing anything. How refreshing. Is it any wonder other conferences chose to attack the Big 12 when realignment talks started?