Get Over Yourselves

That's a message that goes out to my friends at Texas A&M, as well as my "favorite" athlete who simply needs to shut up: Oscar Pistorius.  I've got some other things on my mind, but I'll start with those two.  Yes, I've already touched on each of these topics, but it's not like they're leaving the headlines anytime soon, so they're both still relevant.

• As I've said already, Texas A&M needs to accept the fact that it's not Texas.  Oklahoma State is fine with being Oklahoma's little brother.  So is Kansas State with Kansas.  If Oklahoma leaves for the Pac-12, Oklahoma State's going with them.  If Kansas decides to sue Texas A&M (which I completely advocate), Kansas State will as well.  If Kansas doesn't sue, Kansas State won't either.  My point is this: If Texas A&M doesn't want to be a part of the Big 12, they can at least actually say what the actual reason is.  Especially since we all know it already.
• The popular opinion is that BYU will join the Big 12 as Texas A&M's replacement.  I think this would be a tremendous move by both the school and the conference.  And, Texas A&M, this just in, BYU has a little more cache than you do also.  If not BYU, another school I've heard mentioned is Arkansas.  Arkansas is currently in the SEC, so the two conferences could in effect simply be trading Texas A&M for Arkansas.  I find that really funny.
• Last point on the Texas A&M thing: I really wish school presidents and athletic directors would think about something other than their football teams when deciding what conference to play in.  Otherwise, you might as well take the "student" part out of student-athlete.  Yes, football pays the bills.  But this has gotten beyond ridiculous.  Ask anyone at Boston College if they enjoy having their closest conference road game be in Maryland.  I give Texas credit for actually bringing up this point as a reason for staying in the Big 12 last summer.  The TV network also had a lot to do with it, obviously, but they at least realized that it's tough to do well in class if you're never able to go.  The existing conferences are built on rivalries with local schools that fans have grown to hate.  All the conference-jumping will also kill those rivalries.  Exhibit A: Oklahoma and Nebraska.
• Now on to Oscar, who's "Pist Off" (I can't take credit for that one, I've seen it in a couple other places and really liked it) that the IAAF told him he has to run the leadoff leg on the 4x400 meter relay.  You automatically have a slower split running the leadoff leg.  Pistorius claims that this slow split is the reason he was left off South Africa's relay team for the final at the World Championships (which went on to win the silver medal, by the way).  The IAAF's reasoning for its ruling is completely legitimate.  They're worried about the potential injuries that could occur if Pistorius were to get tangled up with another runner on a handoff.  He claims this is ridiculous, since he's run the other legs before and never gotten hurt.  They aren't talking about potential injury to you, you idiot!  They're thinking about all the other runners.  I already don't think this guy should be competing against able-bodied athletes, as I've already said.  His continued whining when he doesn't get his way makes me like him even less.  It's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks he's making a complete mockery of the sport.
• While I'm on the subject of track & field, check out this article from the Chicago Tribune that brilliantly states all of the reasons why Doha, Qatar (one of two finalists, along with London) should NOT host the 2017 World Championships.  The article is wonderful and I agree with everything said in it.  The basic jist of it is that Qatar wants to buy every major sporting event it can, completely ignoring the fact that its 120 degrees in that country in the middle of the summer!  And I'm not even going to get into some of the backwards political policies that are in place in Qatar.
• The U.S. Open ended on Monday for the fourth consecutive year.  I think once they get to five, the Monday final becomes official.  They didn't have to play the men's final on Monday, but they decided that would be the fair thing to do for the men that otherwise would've had to play four days in a row.  I have no problem with this, but I don't like the way they adjusted the schedule.  They kept the men's semifinals on Saturday afternoon as scheduled, followed by the women's semifinals on Saturday night (when the women's final was supposed to be played) and the women's final on Sunday afternoon when the men's final was supposed to be.  In other words, the men's semifinals were before the women's semifinals, even though the women's final was first.  How big a deal did this end up being?  Well, for starters, Sam Stosur got stuck playing a grand slam semifinal match on the Grandstand, which is the No. 3 court.  Her match started at 6 and was over around 8:30.  The Serena Williams-Caroline Wozniacki semifinal was supposed to start at 8, but there was a rain delay, Roger and Djokovic played five (that match is still too painful to talk about), and Nadal-Murray went another three hours after that.  Serena and Wozniacki didn't end up taking the court until around 9:30, and the match ended just before midnight.  Serena then had to take the court again (for a grand slam final) just 16 hours later.  Think it didn't effect her?  Think again.  I think the 6-2, 6-3 Stosur win is all the evidence I need to back up my point.
• I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility that it could be a Tigers-Brewers World Series.
• The 2012 MLB schedule came out today.  Could somebody please explain to me why the Yankees and Braves are playing an interleague home-and-home?  And why in a year that's supposed to be East vs. East, the Yankees (Reds) and Red Sox (Cubs) are both playing an NL Central opponent they played this season?