Flash! UT-Austin fans LOVE TLN.

The Few, the Proud, the Longhorn Network viewers: A critique from someone who actually saw it, Kevin Benz, CultureMap Houston

The headline is a little misleading. This wasn't a "critique" it was gushing by a UT-Austin fan who's so anxious to see this fledgling network not bomb objectivity was thrown to the side. As a regional network with a small viewership I think TLN has a chance. As a "game-changing force" or something that other universities will want to copy? No.

Contrary to the writer UT-Austin are not the "Joneses" of College sports, they're a top-tier program to be sure, but trust me when I tell you that the Big X (XII) and the SEC are not shaking in their boots because Samantha Steele will be bringing her blonde tresses to Austin. Neither will Notre Dame, who has NBC for all of their games, or the PAC X (XII) who will soon roll out their own network. Hell, even BYU had a network in place before UT-Austin. If anything the Mormon's in Utah are the Joneses that UT-Austin desperately wants to be.

As for TLN being a recruiting tool? Right now it can be viewed by around 5,000 people, which means that the Rice game will be viewed on TLN by slightly more people than regularly attend a Rice home game. In contrast, LSU and Oregon are going to get the National ESPN slot, the SEC game of the week will be covered by CBS and each will draw audiences in the hundreds of thousands. As long as they're not allowed to broadcast HS football games (and I expect that the NCAA will put the kibosh on that for good soon) then I would argue having some of your home games on closed-circuit TV is detriment to recruiting.

Which leads us to the programming, which is mainly going to consist of the Rice game, the Mack Brown Show and Women's volleyball for the first few weeks. While this may appeal to the dyed-orange-in-the-wool UT-Austin T-shirt fan, for most of us it's drier than cracker juice. It's telling that the most effusive praise Mr. Benz could offer was that they showed Mack Brown acting "Like a coach" (which, unless I'm wrong, is still his current job title right?) And this is leading up to the season. Even the Big X (XII) Network has problems filling time during the off-season, and they have 12 teams to cover. Once the newness has worn off I predict UT-Austin fans will migrate back to ESPN and the Networks, except during games. God help them if UT-Austin goes 5-7 again. There's nothing worse than a coaches show when things have gone terribly wrong. Except for a coaches show when things have gone wrong for the second year running.

Now, granted, I don't consider CultureMap Houston to be a serious news provider. In truth they're a bunch of Houston Chronicle "star" section cast-offs who are trying desperately to punch out controversial material to drive readership. But when they branch out into sports or political reporting the results are quite often a train-wreck.

This story was no different. As a letter from a fan it was humorous and very revealing of the delusion experienced by most UT-Austin fans. As a critique of the station it was a complete, unmitigated disaster.

Much like all of the other CultureMap sports "reporting".

Pre-Season (College and NFL) Thoughts...

It's the most...wonderful time...of the year.....


1. OU is a worthy pre-season number one, but the rest of the AP Top 25 is based more on reputation than what's probably going to happen.

2. Houston Texans: 8-8 'Nuff said.

3. The Eagles will NOT win the Super Bowl. Repeat: The Philadelphia Eagles will NOT win the Super Bowl.

4. The New England Patriots are going to be pretty good this year.

5. ....the Carolina Panther's aren't.

6. The SEC is STILL the best conference in the land. It's not even close.

7. 4-team super-conferences are right around the corner. There will be 5. Everyone else is out. (Are you listening UH?)

8. Speaking of UH, for the first time in a few years I haven't followed them AT ALL in the off-season.

9. If a Longhorn Network turns on in the woods, and no one can see it, does Mack Brown still call interviewers by their first name?

10. Two words: Brady Hoke. Michigan is now OK.


Let's play some football.

Listen up Coogs

THIS is why the Big XII(X) should be a non-starter for you. It's a conference on the outs, ran by a school (Texas) that doesn't have any concern for the conference as a whole.

Stay away from UT-Austin, far away. What seems like a good idea really isn't. Face it, with lesser facilities and budget you won't be able to compete with the OU and UT-Austin's of the world. Sure, maybe in the 70's and 80's you could, but this is a different football landscape in a different world for College sports. A move to the Big XII(X) is not athletic Nirvana, it's athletic suicide.

What to do now?

Start having conversations with the Big East. Not only are those school's budgets and facilities much more in line with yours, but you also have a travel partner (and instant rival) in TCU that will ease the costs.

Leave the Big XII(X) disintegration to UT-Austin, let them own it and have fund doing it.

Go East young people, and prosper out there.

The Longhorns gain a network....

......and lose a conference?

Already OU and A&M are giving signals that the SEC is back in the running, and with Nebraska and Colorado done that would pretty much do it for the Big XII(X). OSU would end up somewhere (ACC?) while KU and KSU could probably move to the Big East with no problem at all. ISU would be in trouble, as would Baylor. However, I'm betting the Mountain West would welcome both of them as they move closer and closer to B(C)S status. (Hell, KU and KSU could end up there as well, which would probably put the Mountain West over the top.

That would leave Texas on it's own, where really they're better off being. Face it 'horns...you don't play well with others, no one really likes you (they just tolerate you) and you're one of the few University's with a fan base that could pull this off. Since the Big XII(X) is too dense to form their own network, your best option is to sever ties with the outside world and take the independent tack. Heck, you could even follow the Notre Dame plan and keep one historically tough out of conference game in Oklahoma (Michigan) their cross-state rival that's usually a win but not so much lately in Okie State (Michigan State) a rival that makes no demographic sense in Oregon (USC), some patsies in Baylor and Rice that you typically manhandle (Navy & well, pretty much all of the rest of Notre Dame's schedule) and a school in which you share something in common in Mississippi State (Notre Dame's Catholic cousin Boston College, for UT it'd be another school with some jerk fans that no one really likes).


Now, if only you could game the B(C)S so you can get in even when you're clearly not B(C)S caliber you'd be onto something. Given the money of your donor base (and let's be honest, the B(C)S isn't about good football) that should be no problem at all.

The Longhorn Network, I'm for it.

Quick football thought.

The best way to deal with the NFL lockout is to pay NCAA players and create a FBS playoff.


That is all.

Not better than Reliant.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz has given us some bad sports analysis over the past couple of years. His beat reporting is typically not much better, gushing, overly positive, un-objective you name it.

Today's piece on the new Dynamo soccer stadium continues that trend....

(Soccer notebook: Stadium should earn city matches. Jose De Jesus Ortiz, Chron.com)

The Dynamo is building a beautiful soccer stadium on the East End. Sure, it would be silly for the federation to bring a qualifier against Mexico to Reliant Stadium. It would make tons of money, but there wouldn't be much of an advantage because of the massive Mexican fan base around here.
A large portion of that soccer-loving Mexican and Mexican-American fan base would readily pack the Dynamo's new stadium to support the U.S. against any other CONCACAF team, such as Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama or Canada. We couldn't guarantee pro-U.S. crowds against El Salvador or Honduras because those communities are quite large here.

The idea that the new Dynamo Stadium, at less than half the capacity of Reliant, is MORE attractive to US Soccer is ridiculous. Sure, it's probably the line that's being pushed forward by the team, but it's not something that has a place in any serious analysis of the game.

Reliant Stadium is the big soccer draw in Houston, a nice little stadium in Downtown's East End isn't going to change that, no matter what the Dynamo's mouthpiece embedded at Chron.com says.

Juan (Diaz) and done.....

Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz hangs up the boxing gloves. He was a good fighter and a very nice man. Rumor is he's considering a career in politics. Good luck to him in whatever he does. I've not doubt he'll be a success in whatever he chooses to do.