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NOTE: This is a general rant where I mock the Big 12. The tie in to Minnesota and the Big Ten is mostly a concern on my part that we might one day be subjected to the foolishness being wrought by the Big 12 leadership. You'll enjoy it because it's Friday and a Michael Bluth GIF is involved.
The Big 12 is stupid.
That's not a question. It's a fact.
This is the conference that let Texas hold them hostage and begged for the table scraps. It's the conference that allowed a moron like Dan Beebe to be in charge.
This is a conference that spent a whole off-season (and most of the 2014 season) crowing about how they were the best because they crowned "One True Champion" in football only to end up with CO-CHAMPIONS in football. But that wasn't the worst part. Oh no. The worst part is that they bragged with this horrible ad.
WHY WOULD YOU MORPH "HEY GIRL" KLIFF KINGSBURY INTO CHARLIE WEISS THAT IS JUST A TERRIBLE IDEA YOU BETTER HAVE FIRED WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THIS MY EYES THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!
This is a conference that hires social media staff who bitch about media coverage of Big 12 refs on the official Big 12 Twitter account (while using terrible grammar).
But enough about the Big 12's illustrious past. Let's talk about how they are presently unveiling rules that have left me gobsmacked.
The Rule That Takes A Good Thing An Makes It A Bad Thing Under Completely Subjective Standards
Those of you who watch a lot of college football live will remember the days when the Big Ten forbade schools from ever showing a controversial replay in the stadium. Everyone at the game had to whip out their cell and hope they could phone a friend who was watching on TV to see if they could get a semi-unbiased opinion on what just happened. It was the worst game of Telephone ever and it was pointless in an age of HD Godzillatrons. No one at home should have a better idea of what is happening on the field than the people who paid money to be by the aforementioned field. Thankfully the Big Ten and other conferences have seen the error of their ways and allowed all replays to be shown in the stadium.
And now the Big 12 wants to screw that up too.
Part of the Big 12's new sportsmanship policy: Schools can be subject to penalty if they show controversial replays too much in a venue.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) May 28, 2015
Someone will now be tasked with monitoring the video screen after each home game to determine if:
a) the venue showed a "controversial" replay
b) the venue showed this replay "too much."
I just...I mean...
I understand the intent of the rule. Heck, the polite "Minnesota nice" part of me agrees with the intent of the rule. Don't let the home crowd get too riled up. Can't have folks showing too much displeasure with our terrible officiating. Wouldn't be polite. I gotcha. But there is a way to make that happen without creating a subjective rule that will never ever be applied to Texas and always get applied to the poor SOBs in Manhattan or Ames. Limit the # of times a replay gets shown to a specific number. Boy, that was hard. My brain needs a rest.
So that's it right? No more stupidity to talk about? Well...
The Rule That Will Be Applauded By Fun-Haters Everywhere
Rush the court or storm the field ... and you could lose a game at home? That's a lingering possibility for one major conference in college basketball and football.
Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby announced on Wednesday from the conference's spring meetings that his league is taking steps to giving him the power to retract future home games from schools if their fans rush the floor in the wake of a win. This according to a report from the Associated Press, among other outlets.
Once again, this rule has a reasonable underlying logic...the safety of players and staff from court/field rushing fans. And yet, here's the Big 12, taking it too far. Just make the fines onerous. Trust me, you make schools pay enough money and they'll keep their students in line. But no no no. The Big 12 would rather remove home games as a penalty for being excited. The fact that this penalty would be more likely to affect the less successful schools who need the home games and not the cash cows programs is a feature not a bug in the Big 12.
I'll say it again, the Big 12 is stupid. We can only hope that Jim Delany and the Big Ten have more common sense, because if in the near future we're denied the joy of watching a hard earned court storming or the chance to see in color just how much the Big Ten's refs are screwing Minnesota I'll be a very sad panda.