SEN's Tim Griffin, who consistently covers the Big 12 like no one else, has his weekly Big 12 Insider and makes a couple more interesting points about Kevin Weiberg's departure to head up the Big Ten Network. Griffin details Weiberg's success while acting commissioner, but notes that his position was not one of power, but of mediation.
I find a couple of things interesting here, first that Weiberg's discussed replacement, Dan Beebe, is the polar opposite of Weiberg, and wonder if Beebe wouldn't feel greater frustration than Weiberg of not being able to wield much power from this position, especially if you consider that the Big 12 commissioner may not have much power.
Griffin gives us the following statement and quote from Weiberg:
Snip
His frustration about being unable to effect change deepened as his tenure continued.
"In this job, you really didn't have a vote," Weiberg said. "It ultimately comes down to what your members are willing to do. And in some of these areas, there just has not been a lot of change since the conference was formed."
So I wonder how exactly do the job descriptions differ in other conferences in comparison to the Big 12? Does the commissioner in the Big Ten or the SEC have bigger voices and a greater ability to make change or could this be a character flaw in Weiberg, who just didn't have the personality to demand change? I'm tempted to rumage through the rules and regulations of each commission, but feel my time is better spent finding incredible pictures of Jessica Beil.
Michigan blogger, Maize n Brew, couldn't give two flips about the proposed network (and I agree with much of Dave's sentiments), and now I'm beginning to wonder if Weiberg isn't making a huge mistake by taking a job that may be near impossible to sell to the general public. Much of this depends on the depth and scope of what the Big Ten hopes that their network will become, but as Dave points out if the network takes away games that are near and dear to certain fans' teams, this network isn't going to last too long due to fan unrest.