As I'm sure most of our resident Aggies are already aware of, apparently there as been a very large amount of smoke today saying A&M is putting the wheels in motion to leave the Big12 for the SEC.  From the SBN Aggie Blog:

Once again the twitterverse has exploded with rumors of Texas A&M moving to the SEC. The latest story is that lawyers representing A&M has sent a letter of intent to the SEC and that all the member schools have already voted to accept the Ags. I was under the impression that A&M would announce their intention to join the Southeastern Conference this spring. The Ags did not want any distractions during football season and definitely did not want to receive the "officiating" that Nebraska got during their farewell tour of the Big 12 last year. It looks like the timeline has been sped up. Billy Liucci is reporting that although the Ags are not going to make a move this week or the next, the wheels are definitely in motion.

With the recent rumors that Tech has been talking to the Pac 12 about moving West (and likely taking OU and OSU with them) we may not have to deal as many issues with the legislature as some had thought. Right now I would guess that Missouri would try to go to the Big 10 again. Kansas and KSU will make a move for the Big East. Baylor will do everything they can to go to the Pac 12 with everyone else. 

I think Tech's recent overtures to the Pac 12 are due to ESPN and the LHN offering Tech a deal to televise the Tech-tu game this year. Supposedly ESPN and the LHN offered Tech $5 million to televise the conference game this year, and the promise to televise games against Nevada and New Mexico in future years on the LHN. To his credit, Tech President Kent Hance turned down the offer. It is plain to see from their actions (and Liucci stated as much) that tu and ESPN fully intend to broadcast a second football game on the LHN this year, and intend to go forward with televising high school games

I don't think the Pac12 is interested in Tech, especially without UT or A&M.  Maybe they take an OSU if they get OU.  And we all know that Berkley is going to stonewall a Baylor addition. Another take from Mr. SEC:

Twitter has blown up today with more rumored reports of a Texas A&M-SEC marriage.  Among the rumors:


1.  A&M and SEC officials have been working on a membership agreement for the Aggies.
2.  Representatives from all 12 SEC schools have voted in favor of accepting A&M into the league.
3.  A “letter of intent” has already been sent from A&M to the Southeastern Conference.

As you know, A&M to the SEC is an old standard by now.  We wrote last summer that the school and the league have had flirtations going back to the mid-to-late-1980s.

In our Expanding On Expansion series we suggested A&M would be a better fit for the SEC than higher-profile Texas — same TV markets, same recruiting inroads, less ego...

But we still don’t believe that time is now. 

We could be wrong, of course, but we would be surprised if an announcement of a planned move is made today or tomorrow.  Those doing the rumor-spreading so far have been Twitter-users and hometeam bloggers...So far, this remains a social networking story.  And our sources are silent.

And since this all based on source-less rumor, I'm going to fabricate my personal favorite theory for Baylor: The Big East with Kansas and KState.

Skip Holtz, in his second season as coach at South Florida, sees a benefit to emulating the growth of other conferences by moving to 12 teams. He also warned against expanding merely for the sake of expansion.

"I don't think it's all about adding teams. It's adding value," Holtz said. "What are the three teams that add the most value? That is what a lot of people are deliberating."

Central Florida, East Carolina and Houston have been mentioned as possibilities to join TCU and the current membership of Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia.

One more (very long) addition, via DFWAg and The Midnight Yell:

This post is the work of our friend Spadilly and full credit for what you read here should be given to him.  We have simply offered up our blog space to him to be able to share with everyone what he had found in an Open Records Request sent to the University of Texas.  This work is his, and we were very happy to work with him in this.  He has taken all the right steps here, even contacting the Office of the President at Texas A&M last week.

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It looks like ESPN/UT/LHN is going to end up being the end of the Big 12.  I am one of those optimistic fools who thought that there would be enough new TV money to keep the Big 12 together despite the shenanigans of last year.  I think that a conference can withstand losing a team or two if it is proactive about adding back or finding other ways to make up for the loss. 

However, it appears to me that UT and ESPN have too much riding on the LHN.  It's going to be a constant source of division amongst the Big 12 teams as it offers UT an advantage that even the other top tier programs don't have. 

More thoughts from an Aggie perspective can be found here. I'm not familiar with the quality of David Sandhop, but he makes some good points and adds in something I didn't know:

He [Dan Beebe] hoped the edict would stop ESPN in its tracks and placate agitated conference members Texas A&M and Oklahoma that felt the LHN was expanding into programming areas that violated the spirit of the conference agreement cobbled together hastily last year in the face of realignment rumors that threatened to destroy the conference.

Since that pronouncement by Beebe, the big issue really focuses on the response of ESPN which is the entity absorbing the financial and business risk for the LHN. After all, how can the Big 12 or any conference dictate to ESPN the games they can or can’t televise that were purchased and the rights secured? Well, based on recent moves by the sports leader, ESPN doesn’t believe the Big 12 can interfere in their programming choices and the ability to make a profit. After the Beebe announcement, ESPN and the LHN finalized contracts with Brenham High School and Lamar Consolidated to become the first high school football broadcast on the network. The Longhorns currently have two verbal commitments from that Brenham team, linebacker Tim Cole and highly-regarded defensive lineman Malcolme Brown.

Pearland Dawson officials indicated last week that the LHN has contacted the school inquiring about the possibility of airing one of their games this fall. The school is home to highly-rated offensive lineman Kennedy Estelle who happens to also be a Texas verbal commitment. There have been others similar reports of ESPN contacting high schools across the state about broadcasting games

Whether the NCAA decides to eliminate high school broadcasts on team-specific networks is really moot at this point. ESPN basically showed its poker hand to the Big 12 through its actions last week. They will not respect the authority of the Big 12 Commissioner.

And what I didn't know and found to be interesting:

Apparently, Oklahoma was told by several SEC sources that a future deal including Oklahoma State was highly unlikely...that they would need to split if they wanted to be seriously considered for inclusion. That explains recent rumors that OU has been inquiring about the PAC-12’s interest level in expanding the conference with both Oklahoma schools. If that doesn’t pan out, then the Sooners may come back to the SEC and consider working the politics of splitting with OSU. But, Missouri is ready to go now and if the chips start falling pretty soon, it looks like Missouri could be in line to get that western division SEC spot along with the Aggies.

What is also helping out Missouri's cause right now is that Arkansas is pushing the SEC to take both Missouri and A&M as a package. For the Razorbacks, that would be a great addition with the proximity of both schools and the built-in rivalries along with the enhanced recruiting possibilities in Texas and Missouri.

 

Sigh.  As much as it pains me to say it, the Aggies were right all along.  UT's arrogance is going to be the death of the Big 12.  Where do you think the schools end up?

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$$$

Financial terms were not disclosed. Sports Business Journal has reported that the contract, which starts with the 2012 football season, will pay the conference $90 million a year.

The Big 12 also has a deal with ABC-ESPN running through 2015-16 that would raise the conference's total TV rights revenue to a reported $130 million annually.

Commissioner Dan Beebe said the Fox contract positions the 10-team league favorably with other major conferences.

The 12-team SEC generated $205 million from TV rights last year and the 12-team Big Ten $220 million. The Pac-10, which becomes the Pac-12 this year, made only $60 million on TV rights but is working on a new television package that would include its own network.

So $17M per SEC team, $18.3M per Big10 team and $13M per Big12 team...if they did even revenue splitting.

Good news for those who actually like watching games:

The 40 Big 12 regular-season games that will be carried by Fox nearly doubles the number under the current agreement. Many telecasts will be distributed on FSN, which reaches more than 85 million homes. Several other games will also be scheduled on FX, which is in 99 million households, the network said.

Every Big 12 home football game will be broadcast on ABC, a Fox network or by institutional platforms such as Texas' new Longhorn Network. Big 12 schools will have the option to retain rights to one home football game per season for distribution on their own networks.

From a discussion in the morning thread, it seems that there might be some interest in a wine thread.  Probably because of my age, I've found that there's a lot of hesitance to explore wine amongst my friends or acquaintances.  I understand that the proliferation of wine due to its increased popularity (a survey found a year or two ago that wine is now preferred to beer for the first time since they started giving the survey) has resulted in an overwhelming experience at the grocery or liquor store for those who have some interest.  Ideally, this thread would help overcome that.

Interestingly, blind taste tests have found that beginning wine drinkers prefer wines in the $5-15 range more than than $50-100 range.  There are numerous theories as to why this may be, but the main point is to realize that you don't have to spend a lot to find a bottle that you are likely to enjoy.  Below, I'll offer some suggestions and (very) basic wine knowledge, but I am by no means a sommelier or wine expert (just a big fan), so I hope that others will chime in with other suggestions. 

In general, it seems that people who are getting into wine have an easier time starting with the sweeter whites.  Sweeter white wines are made by carefully pressing the grapes, then fermenting at cold temperatures in steel vats for around 3 months (though this is variable).  They generally don't see time in oak barrels (like a chardonnay or most reds), so they aren't going to have the stronger flavors that those wines pick up from toasted wood.  Instead, in addition to the sweetness, you'll find a wide array of fruity flavors like apricot, blueberry, or apple, with other flavors such as spices coming through as well. 

Depending on the type, they pair with a variety of foods.  Spicy cheeses (pepper jack) and foods, as well as some of the milder cheeses like muenster and mozzarella can pair well.  Most often, they're just a great sipping wine before a meal or hanging out on a porch in the spring or summer.  They are drank chilled, somewhere just above the temperature of your fridge.  I'd recommend keeping it in the fridge all day, then opening it and leaving it at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before pouring.  This serves a double purpose of getting the wine to a good temperature and allowing some of the initial alcohol vapors to evaporate and take some of the bite out of the wine.

As for type of grapes, I'd recommend the following: Riesling from the West Coast, Germany and Alsace region of France, Gewurztraminer (nicknamed "GAH-vurtz") from California or Alsace, Torrontes from Salta, Argentina, and Vinho Verde from Portugal (likely the cheapest and amongst the sweetest).  Other options include Pinot Grigio, Viogniers, Chenin Blancs and Moscatos.  Be careful with some Moscatos and Rieslings as they are often made as dessert wines meant to be served in smaller glasses (2-3 oz) after dinner.  West Coast refers to Washington, Oregon, and (generally) Northern California.

Easily found examples of these:

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World Cup

Pears

Poison

Die.

Qatar fun Facts:

via i55.tinypic.com

I finally found something they beat us at:

Qatar has the highest per-capita carbon dioxide emissions, at 55.5 metric tons per person in 2005.[22] This is almost double the next highest per-capita emitting country, which is Kuwait at 30.7 metric tons (2005) and they are three times those of the United States.