Thursday night, Rece Davis got a momentary reprieve from Jesse Palmer and Jesse Palmer's friend to welcome Oklahoma St. Cowboys athletic department T. Boone Pickens behind the mic. The ethics of having a Big 12 booster in the booth during a Big 12 game are mighty sketchy, but Pickens did crowd out a talker who once got a Big 12 coach fired for no reason, so it's actually an improvement for the whole enterprise's credibility.
Also, Pickens is more optimistic about the future of the Big 12 than you or Baylor's legal department or anybody else does. He cited his geology expertise as cause for his optimism. Moving on.
With Texas A&M on the verge of jumping to the SEC as soon as A&M's current rivals agree to let them go, Pickens said he expects the Big 12 to work out their issues. How in the world can this mess be saved?
Equal revenue sharing, says Pickens, who knows some things about revenue. He quickly laid out a system that would allow Texas to keep its Longhorn Network, but otherwise spread money evenly throughout the conference, citing the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 as potential models.
Oklahoma State in the Pac-12 could be huge for Pickens' program, but it's growing just fine in the Big 12. It's not necessarily in Pickens' best interest for the school to stay in the Big 12 if the Pac-12 is calling, though, so his comments could be read more as an actual recommendation than as Bayloresque spin.
Then Craig James came back, so all that was over with.