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Negotiating the realignment spin cycle
Published: 9/20/2011 8:07 PM
Last Modified: 9/20/2011 8:07 PM

Tuesday was a busy day on the realignment spin front, with numerous reports and subsequent denials.

The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri has an offer to join the SEC and that the SEC is willing to wait on the future of the Big 12.

SEC officials denied that report later in the day, but even later in the day, the Birmingham News had a similar report as The Star.

And that's not even to mention the Daily Oklahoman's two reports Tuesday -- one saying OU wants the ouster of Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe among other demands to stay in the league and another that quotes Boone Pickens as saying the Big 12 isn't dead.

But wait, there's more.

The Big East met Tuesday night to decide its future, Pac-12 officials were said to be meeting by the end of the week to decide on further expansion, Missouri's curators scheduled a meeting for Thursday and the Mountain West, along with talking to C-USA about a possible merger, hasn't ruled out the return of TCU and has reached out to Iowa State.

I think I'm out of breath.

So what does it all mean? Well that's the hard part.

Most reputable newspapers only use sources they trust, so I don't doubt the information. But know this about sourcing -- sources have agendas and information changes.

I laugh when fans question a newspaper's sources and claim reporters are "making up information." Likely, the source is someone high up the food chain at your favorite school that you would never believe is leaking information to the "hated media."

The reason: reporters develop strong professional relationships with school officials, and it's information the school wants out for whatever reason.

Look at OU's demands to stay in the Big 12. That story blew up the Twitter-verse, starting speculation among national writers that Oklahoma might not have the votes to move to the Pac-12 and is looking to negotiate a soft landing back in the Big 12.

But it's just as likely that information got out so Oklahoma can plead benevolence as it walks out the door.

It's not unlike the reports in the last few weeks that Texas was talking to the ACC about moving east. Was the information correct? I would guess so. But in the end, it appears the conversations with the ACC and the reports about them were mostly posturing by Texas in trying to work a better deal elsewhere.

So I have no reason to question today's information. But I also have no reason to doubt what we've heard for the last several weeks -- that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are still westward leaning.

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jctblue (last year)

Crow for breakfast?

mgpeters (last year)

A little. But except for OU and OSU not going to the Pac 12, everything else stands.
The OU sources talking about the Big 12 were saying it to look benevolent on the way out. They were caught off guard at the Pac 12 announcement, as was I.

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Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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