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It was supposed to be... the "'Tweet' Heard 'Round the World" for BYU Cougar fans this afternoon:
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"Looks like Big 12 will be back to 12. BYU and Air Force will be invited to replace NU and CU by Wed. Texas/Okla schools are all on board."
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That was from 104.9 "The Horn" in Austin, TX this afternoon.
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Within minutes came this tweet:
"104.9 The Horn DID NOT report that Air Force and BYU would be two new Big 12 teams."
"We apologize, but it seems like someone had access to the account that shouldn't have."
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Wow. I guess that's what we get when we rely on something called a "tweet" for reliable news; it's going to be hit-and-miss, I suppose.
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Despite the false alarm, and despite the fact the Big 12 is making survival plans for ten teams only, here's what I've been told by someone who has had years of personal dealings with ADs in both the Pac-10 and Big 12, and who has had conversations with a Big 12 AD in the last week.
That AD said the Big 12 schools were essentially glad to be rid of Colorado. The CU program amounted to a headache for the conference more often than not and the Buffs' departure disappointed no one in that league. He added that losing Nebraska was a huge deal, and replacing the Cornhusker program is not something easily done.
This particular AD said he thought Air Force would be a great replacement for Colorado from a character standpoint, an academic standpoint, a fan base standpoint, a geographic standpoint, and at least in football, a competitive standpoint.
BYU, he continued, would be about as fine a replacement for Nebraska as you could find in that you are looking at a program with a national name and identity, an historical record of competitive excellence, and in general, an institutional fit that is all but ideal in every way but Sunday play.
On that note, the person with whom I spoke said most of the Pac-10 ADs and roughly a dozen other ADs nationwide had previously told him that going to Sunday play in their respective schools and conferences was "the worst thing they had ever done." They said they regretted not leaving an open day every week for players and coaches to re-charge, etc.
Whether than means a revamped Big 12 would ever take a fresh look at Sunday-play is debatable, but adopting the NCAA's policy would be a safe way for any conference to handle things relative to BYU: scheduled the conference championships on Sunday if you wish, but if BYU qualifies for play in said championship, arrangements must be made to accommodate institutions that for religious reasons do not play on Sunday.
Again, the above thoughts on BYU and Air Force were the thoughts of just one Big 12 AD, an AD who is likely to be on board with whatever plan Dan Beebe has come up with to save that league.
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Today's "fake tweet" and the many erroneous and contradictory tweets, predictions, projections, speculations and expectations have amounted to a perfect storm of misinformation, disinformation and quasi-information in this multi-media instant info age.
In many ways, the buzz of this particular story has become as incessant and in some ways annoying as the World Cup vuvuzelas.
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