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Thursday Morning Notes

By Seth C

Texas Tech Football:

I'm shocked, literally shocked. Yesterday morning I saw the article from the DMN about the the Wooing of Jerry Jones (courtesy of Brian Davis) and thought that because it's a day late that there wasn't any point in discussing it. I was also running late (I woke up at 5:30 a.m. instead of 5:00 a.m.). Well, I was obviously wrong. Basically, the same story was in the LAJ the day before and I wrote about it at that time too. Then I saw a news report on Channel 8 (sorry no video available). I wrote this:

Jerry reads the paper, sees that Tech is close to coming to an agreement with Oklahoma State. Jerry calls Myers and says that before he agrees to anything with OSU, he'd like to sit down and talk to him about playing the game in the new Cowboys stadium. For all of fans wondering why the deal wasn't getting done, this is probably why, Myers sees an opportunity. Let's just say that Tech agrees to this deal with OSU on a 2 year deal, just long enough to build the new stadium. The game then could potentially move if the numbers support the move, make the game an event.

I still believe that this is probably what happened, however, now I believe that Jones doesn't want Tech to go to the Cotton Bowl at all. He wants Texas Tech to be the focus and that makes my Red Raider pants go crazy. The most interesting part of the DMN article is in the last two paragraphs:

Mr. Myers said talks about moving the Tech-OSU game have not progressed since last week.

Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder said he has not met with Mr. Jones and does not have any similar meeting in the coming days.

So let me get this straight . . . The DMN comes out with an article that essentially states that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted for Tech to play OSU in the Cotton Bowl on Thursday of last week, but now the talks haven't progressed? Huh. Now outgoing Dallas Mayor, Laura Miller has this to say about the Jones's:

Ms. Miller expressed disappointment Tuesday when told about the meeting. She said she met with Mr. Jones' son, Stephen, about a year and a half ago and pleaded with the team to let Dallas work on bringing games to the Cotton Bowl without the team's interference.

"I said, 'Guys, every time we talk to a school, you call the schools right behind us,' " Ms. Miller said. "I'd like them to just let us get our four weeks of college football. They said the Cotton Bowl was an old, antiquated stadium and nobody wants to play there.

"This just doesn't seem to be in the spirit of regional cooperation. We're helping them with their Super Bowl bid."

Mr. Jones was unavailable for comment Tuesday."

Does anyone else feel sorry for the city of Dallas? Honestly, they made their bed, now they have to lie in it. I feel so guilty saying this, but let the bidding begin. Gerald, don't go crazy here, but do the best deal for Tech, no matter where we play.

But the bickering doesn't stop there, this morning, DMN's Steve Blow calls Jerry Jones a "weasel". I'll say it again, this is just too surreal for me.

There's a couple of really good articles from LAJ's Don Williams and Rivals.com's Blayne Beal about former assistant coach Dave Brown who was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Dave was Texas Tech's defensive backs coach from 2001 through 2005, played at the University of Michigan from 1972 through 1974 and passed away in January of 2006. From Coach Leach (found in both articles):

"Dave was one of the greatest and most talented individuals I have ever met," Tech coach Mike Leach said in a statement. "I can't think of anyone more deserving of this honor, and our football program is better for having known him. He achieved greatness at the college level, the NFL level and life."

In other Big 12 related news, SEN's Tim Griffin is reporting that Fox Sports Southwest is close to selling some of it's games to ESPN. That's sort of a head-scratcher. What's FSSW's motivation for selling the games other than they're just not making any money? Someone else smarter than me needs to help me out with this.

A neat post from The Wizard of Odds on the Barrow High school football team:

The remarkable story continues of the Barrow High football team. The Wiz first told you about Barrow's plans to start a team last July. Considering there are no roads into Barrow, located 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and the nearest opponent was 577 miles away, this appeared to be an impossible task.

Texas Tech Basketball:

TSN's Mike DeCourcy has a decent article on the generael effect of moving back the 3-point line. I like this part:

The move was designed to bring a greater sense of balance to the game, to prevent it from becoming too much of a long-range shooting contest. It's expected to enhance offensive flow by opening up more space on the court.

Teams that set their perimeter players behind the 3-point line on offense will have to move them back. Teams that try to drop from the perimeter to double-team the ball in the post on defense will have more ground to cover. With less congestion in the key area, it likely will be easier for officials to identify the bumping, clutching and grabbing that defenders employ to disrupt offensive flow.

On some level, this sounds great for Tech, more space means better offensive flow, but on the other hand, teams have to defend the post, which means that Ricardo De Bem and Trevor Cook better be good.

Texas Tech Baseball:

LAJ's George Watson has a preview of Oklahoma State series that is set to begin tomorrow evening.

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