And the plot thickens...
As noted earlier, not a single party directly linked to a report that the Pac-10 was prepared to make offers to six Big 12 schools -- Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado -- to join their conference has offered even a hint of a denial.
Now, there’s a party directly linked to the report who has seemingly confirmed that the sucker may indeed have some legs.
Speaking to the Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn told the paper “the longer that we were together in Kansas City it appeared that that rumor or speculation did have some validity to it. ...
“We’re led to believe that that may be the case, but, again, there are so many different reports and different dialogues and different developments within our league and outside our league that prevents me from being able to predict what will happen.”
So, if you’re keeping score at home, we have zero confirmations, one quasi-confirmation and zero denials eight hours or so after the story first appeared. In other words, something is going down.
Want another clue that something is going down between the Pac-10 and Big 12?
Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott was afforded the opportunity to deny the validity of Orangebloods.com‘s report not once, but twice.
First, he gave a non-denial non-denial to Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times.
Then, in a prepared statement released just a short time ago, Scott had another chance to at least attempt to jam the toothpaste back in the tube. Instead of jamming, he ended up shooting even more Crest all over the bathroom mirror.
“We are aware of a story filed today by an Orangebloods.com columnist, speculating about possible expansion plans for the Pac-10 Conference. While many interesting scenarios have been suggested in numerous news reports, around the country, we remain focused on a thorough evaluation process that examines all of the options for increasing the value of the Conference for our member institutions, our student athletes and our fans. We have not developed any definitive plans. We have not extended any invitations for expansion and we do not anticipate any such decisions in the near term.”
Needless to say, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe‘s press conference Friday morning is going to be must-see TV.