Why Isn’t The Big 12 Looking At Expansion?

The past three weeks in NCAA circles has been dedicated to the discussion of expansion in the Big 10, PAC 10 and/or the SEC.

Under most scenarios, the Big 12 gets gutted.

That fact makes me wonder: Why isn’t the Big 12 discussion expansion on its own instead of hoping Missouri, Nebraska or Colorado aren’t picked off?

The Big 12 is not some little league conference like Conference USA.

Texas and Oklahoma seem to compete annually for national titles in football. Meanwhile, Kansas is normally a threat to win a national title in basketball.

Sprinkle in football teams like Texas Tech, aTm, Nebraska and others and you have a really nice conference. In basketball, Missouri, Kansas State and Baylor have each made Elite Eights along with KU since 2007.

In other words, the Big 12 is a legitimate conference.

So instead of resembling Neville Chamberlain like Dan Beebe is doing with the Big 10 (the NCAA’s Adolf Hitler), I have some ideas.

1. Expand East. Add two of the three following: Memphis, Arkansas and Louisville. Memphis should be easy. Louisville is probably easy. Arkansas is likely impossible, although it’s a damn sexy fit. In other words, a 14 team conference. Divide the conference into West and East divisions. West: The South schools, plus Colorado. The East: The remaining North schools, plus Memphis/Arkansas/Louisville.

2. Expand West. Add two of the following: Utah, BYU or TCU. If you add TCU and one of the Utah schools, you can basically keep the conference aligned in the North and South divisions.

3. Expand East and West. Add four of the six teams mentioned above. In this scenario, you could survive with Nebraska and Missouri leaving.

Oh, and here’s a key to keeping the Big 12 alive:

GET A FREAKING BIG 12 NETWORK!!

You have Houston. You have Dallas. You have Kansas City. You have St. Louis. You have Denver. You could have Memphis and some decent markets out west.

A Big 12 Network would be wildly successful and Beebe should promise one to keep Mizzou and Nebraska in the conference.

Will it happen?

Like Neville Chamberlain standing up against Hitler….it’ll be too late.

A Very, Very Hot Woman Wins Miss USA – A Victory for The War on Terror

There’s much discussion in the blogosphere today about Rima Fakih winning “Miss USA 2010” last night. Fakih, apparently, is a Muslim.

And that fact, along with her answer about birth control, is supposed to make me outraged with anger, per some on the right side of the political aisle.

OUTRAGED!

However, I’m not. And this is a huge cultural victory for The War on Terror, as crazy as this sounds.

While I consider myself more libertarian than conservative or liberal, I check out Bill Maher’s HBO show quite often. Two weeks ago, he had a nice rant about the American/Western Culture and the culture of the Muslim World.

Regardless of what you think of Maher’s politics, and quite frankly his take, the following video is outstanding:

Here’s the obligatory “all Muslims aren’t terrorists” notification everyone’s required to make before they criticize or question the culture or religion.

But Miss Fakih’s victory last night did almost as much damage as our smart bombs.

Remember during the Cold War when we raced Russia to the moon and tried to show off our cultural and financial advantages all the time?

Consider this victory the War on Terror equivalent of landing on the Moon….as strange a metaphor as that sounds. Quite frankly, Fakih’s victory probably pisses Osama bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or any other Islamic terrorist off more than any bomb we drop or any other Democratic election in Iraq.

The fact that a faithful Muslim won a beauty contest by showing off her beauty, looks and attitude is exactly what crazy Islamic fundies frown on. And if you need more proof of that take, remember that an Iranian cleric declared that hot women were the cause of an earthquake in Haiti

You know, rather than science and plate movements.

So I celebrate this victory. Of course, it would be silly to think a war could be won without bombs and soldiers. Once in a while, however, it’s good to have symbolic victories.

This is one of them.

By the photo above, it’s clear to me Fakih is well deserving of the award.

How I Would Try To Save The Kansas City Star

Having been part of the fall of a long-time newspaper, I have been sadly in the place where many Kansas City Star staffers are at now.

Every six to eight months, you see dismal dollar numbers flowing out and layoffs being announced. It’s not a pretty sight, even for this competitor.

(Plus, there are at least two staff members who don’t hate my guts. Or – at least I think they don’t hate my guts. I am a 25-year-old punk, after all.)

But anyway, back to the post title.

If I was a consultant and I was asked to put a plan into motion to save The Star, here’s what it would be. There’s no guarantee that it would work, but some of my ideas have worked.

Here is some free advice for my “friends” at The Star.

1. Acknowledge everything you’ve tried to do so far is a Band-Aid. Cutting pages isn’t a long-term solution. Cutting staff members isn’t a long-term solution. Putting a sports columnist on an opinion page is not a long-term solution. It’s time to get radical and completely change the way you do business.

2. Use http://www.kansascity.com as a mutually exclusive item from your print edition. In other words, don’t just dump the next day’s newspaper online throughout the day. Use the Website to post breaking, live news. Use the print edition to do investigative print stories, longer feature stories and graphical stories in nature. The Website of any newspaper should have VERY LITTLE to do with the print edition. First, it inspires people to buy the print edition, which is the moneymaker. Second, you can sell advertising for two different products.

3. Announce right away that you’ll never charge for online content. This is for another post but charging for online content is the best way to guarantee a loss of readership.

4. Scrap editorials, syndicated columnists and maybe even The Opinion Page. I have no numbers to back this up and probably will never research it, but it seems to me more people watch TV for opinion rather than pick up a newspaper. See the dwindling network news ratings for that. Fox News, meanwhile, is crushing all networks with opinionated news. MSNBC is beating CNN for essentially the same reason. I believe the same is true online. See the popularity of blogs like Tony Botello’s Tony’s Kansas City. But for a newspaper, I still think “reporting the news” is the primary reason why people buy the paper. Why pay thousands of dollars for syndicated content when you often read that same stuff online or hear about it on shows like Meet the Press or any other deal on Cable News? This also saves money in the long-run.

5. Eliminate The Associated Press content agreement; use funds for local reporters. I can just about guarantee you this: Most people do not pick up a Star for news about Iraq, North Korea or some other awful hell-hole country. They pick it up for Chiefs coverage, government coverage and other local information.

6. Hyperlocal newsblogs. Have a different blog dedicated to every single county within the Kansas City metro area. These blogs can serve as a source of opinion, short news-bits, photo essays or anything else that puts a spotlight on the community. Rather than subjects or topics, blogs from a news organization should be about communities and people.

7. End the idea of a “central office.” This is part of the “radical” changes I would implement. Reporters should not be behind a cubical, on the phone or at a desk. He or she should be out meeting the community, talking and visiting the people. Allow reporters to have “mobile bureaus” rather than the typical boring staff meetings.

I have more ideas, particularly for online.

But I kind of own a business of my own that’s geared towards online viewership, so I won’t provide that strategy unless I get paid a hefty five-figure sum.

Those seven ideas above probably won’t solve every single issue The Star is facing. However, it will be a damn good start on a plan to save it.

Reasons To Be Optimistic About The Royals

The Kansas City Royals, after taking a second game from the Major League leading Tampa Bay Rays, are sitting at 10-14.

They’ll likely finish this season out of the playoffs once again. They may even lose 90 to 95 games. Luke Hochevar and Alex Gordon look like slam dunk busts, while Gil Meche’s right arm is on a milk carton some where.

But there are reasons to be optimistic about the Royals, my friends. Trust me.

1. Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria still look solid. Too bad two guys aren’t enough, but you have cornerstones there. It’s just sad that those cornerstones might likely be out of a Royals jersey when the future comes.

2. The Future. Remember when the Royals lost 100 games three out of four seasons, but had no farm? This team does have a quality farm. Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow, Daniel Duffy, Eric Hosmer, Mike Montgomery and Wil Myers is the best six-pack of prospects the Royals have had in a long, long time. Add in guys like Tim Melville, Johnny Giavotella, Luis Coleman and Jeff Bianchi are all players who could make an impact at the Big Show.

3. By some miracle, Jose Guillen could actually be trade-able for an American League team. A team that needs  solid bat could use him – I’m looking at you, Oakland, Seattle or Boston. I say this because ESPN’s been mentioning him and if there’s a way you can get a DH off your team in a trade, you do it.

4. The Royals might have solved the Alberto Callaspo defense problem without sacrificing his bat. Callaspo, who’s been brutal at second base during his time with the Royals, has been average to solid at third base. He’s certainly been better defensively than anyone else there and his bat is pretty good at times.

5. Percentage wise, Kansas City’s had the second toughest schedule in baseball. They should be better than 10-14. They’ve played nine games against the Twins and Rays so far, who have been the two best teams in baseball. Add six against Detroit, who’s usually always solid.

6. The new philosophy of the team. Last year, Dayton Moore and the front office decided that speed and defense were more important than power. Whether or not that means the team improves this year means nothing. However, long-term, that philosophy will be better for the Royals.