Deliver Us From Kietzman

Is Kietzman emotionally unfit for radio?

If you are not from Kansas City and not a sports fan, you probably have no idea who this man is.  Kevin Kietzman hosts “Between the Lines,” a radio show on local 810 WHB.  He also happens to be part owner of the station while maintaining his four hour long program.  A dirty little secret that is seldom broadcast to the listening public.  I’ve taken issue with many of the topics discussed on the show and the manner in which they are carried out by the host.  I’ve emailed with no response either, as opposed to fellow host Soren Petro who routinely responds to seemingly everyone’s emails.

Ready at a moments notice to get on his high horse, as he usually does when it comes to anything regarding the Huskers, he was quick to take action against University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Pearlman and Athletic Director Tom Osborne for bringing our special brand of arrogance to the publicly broadcast board of regents meeting,  “smearing” Texas and Missouri.  You call it arrogant, I call it transparent.  Tomato, tamato.

Calling the two men mostly responsible for the move to the Big 10 classless, tasteless and boastful in this meeting is one thing.  The guys who take these positions are fully aware of the thick skin they have to wear in order to operate multimillion dollar athletic programs in the presence of overly self important and self righteous sports talk radio hosts.  I mean really, how else to you fill four hours while talking about one subject?  It’s not as easy as it looks folks.  Taking flack from the media is also a part of the game and people like Obsborne have been down this road many times as a legendary coach of a highly visible football program and taken shots from all over, least of all Kevin Kietzman.

What I take issue with is Kietzman’s perception of Nebraska fans.  Sure, there are bad apples in every bunch.  With the success our football team in relation to conference and national championships, a subject Kietzman has virtually no understanding of as a Kansas State alumnus and not-so-impartial fan, so it’s easy to see why he takes the position he does.  However, calling out all fans of Nebraska as arrogant people who will one day brag to their children they brought down the Big XII conference is not only presumptuous, but incredibly stupid.

I have much respect for the former members of the Big 8.  I grew up on Big 8 football and the battles between Nebraska and Oklahoma.  But has the Big XII erased all memory of the Big 2 and Little 6?  The cries of an inherent imbalance when it came to football?  The desperate outcries of athletic programs like Kansas State and Oklahoma State to form a larger conference that meant more money for them and a level playing field in theory, gave them the fuel to get where they are today.  So, somewhat in Kietzman’s defense I understand his wishes to keep the conference going because it made Kansas State somewhat relevant outside the bubble that is Kansas City.  In light of Texas and other Big XII South schools set to move to the Pac 10, Kansas State is poised to move to the Mountain West Conference I would be upset too as a fan and probably donor to K-State’s athletic department.

What I cannot abide is the arrogance and hypocritical nature of a sports broadcaster who is quick to call out the faults of men and women in the sporting world while housing the amount of skeletons in his closet that he does.  Not more than a few years ago while calling out former Kansas City Chief running back Larry Johnson for being a poor role model, citizen and football player and teammate, Kietzman was allegedly in the midst of a nasty divorce from his wife because of an affair with a staffer at his radio station.  I know radio is entertainment, and you have to be somewhat of a character on the radio, however Kietzman reminds his listeners he gives honest, factual opinions on his show.  I personally find it hard to take the honest and factual opinion of someone who preaches being humble, talks of  family values and moral fortitude while his personal life crumbles around him because of his improprieties as a human being.  Allegedly.

Call Pearlman and Osborne what you will, because at the end of the day they will gain or lose the support of the people they answer to and in turn be held accountable, which happens to be the State of Nebraska and the fans of the athletic program.  But making hay and radio time out of calling out the fans is lowbrow and sophomoric.  Kietzman knew the Pearlman’s and Osborne’s of the world have little time for his thoughts and opinions, so he goes after the people who support Nebraska and are subject to his show.  His job is to stir up animosity among the local universities fans, create controversy and be “edgy.”  I get that.  But I guess when your alma mater is being pushed out of the BCS because it is still, for the most part, nationally irrelevant, it would make me say just about anything too.

Burning Kansas

Bill Self on his way to East Lansing?

As if being left out in the cold of the conference shake up we are in the midst of wasn’t enough, there are rumors now circulating Kansas may also lose their men’s head basketball coach.  With Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on his way to Cleveland (supposedly) the new rumor floating about that could be buried by all the conference realignment talk is Bill Self being poached by the Spartans.

Self knows the Big 10, he still recruits the area and had measurable success at Illinois on his way to Lawrence.  It’s logical a vacancy in East Lansing would result in them going after all the big names in college basketball.  Self would not be immune from that kind of search from Michigan State.  This without a doubt would mean at the least temporary disaster for the Jayhawks.  With big names like Aldrich, Henry and Collins all bolting for the NBA or graduating  it would be tough for a new coach to cope with the crop of young stars coming to Kansas and continue the year-round recruiting war on a national level.  Sure Kansas is a big name in college basketball, but what conference will you be playing in?  Do kids worry about the athletic department’s integrity?  Something which in Kansas’ case is a giant question mark.

More expansion talk…

This post of course is the stuff of wild speculation and should not be taken seriously to the point of fact, however it is not far fetched to believe things are about to go from bad to worse in Lawrence.  For the time being, most fans will probably still wonder where their teams will fall by the end of this weekend with Colorado already becoming part of the Pac 10 Conference, and Nebraska on the verge of moving to the Big 10.  Locally, fans and alumni from Kansas along with Missouri and Kansas State have to feel little insulted by the fact that for the most part, these talks of super conferences do not include them.  Missouri being the exception.  But in the opinion of this blogger Missouri was used as a catalyst to get the ball rolling on bigger fish.  The Big 10 has hinted at the fact if Nebraska comes to the Big 10, expansion may continue down the road which may include the Tigers.  But for now it’s wait and see.

If things go according to plan, the Pac 10 and Big 10 will go down as making some savvy moves to acquire talent and revenue to compete with what will become the SEC/ESPN juggernaut.  The two conferences are still pretty cozy, and holding on to their archaic Rose Bowl tie in now looks like a genius move.  The Pac “16″ and Big 10 (if they can land Notre Dame and Rutgers along with Missouri) will be on par at least financially with the SEC and what it is about to become.  It seems that the conference heads realized they needed to stay united to compete with the movement of football in the South becoming a powerhouse, and now it seems they’ll have the teams to do it.  Once again, if things go according to plan the Pac 10 and Big 10 will have orchestrated one the biggest raids on another conference in college history.

What does this all mean for the BCS?  And are we closer to finally somewhat legitimizing the sport by moving toward a playoff system?  For now we’ll have to wait on the answers to those questions which will probably hold more interest to the public at large.  For now, there is money to be made.  Which at the end of the day, this is what it’s all really about.

Happy Trails?

Nebraska appears to be headed to the Big Ten.

The ink isn’t just not dry, it hasn’t even been put down on paper to be wet, however most national media outlets and “inside” sources are pointing toward Nebraska uprooting from it’s traditional Big 8/12 ties and looking east toward a conference it vaguely understands or has much in common with.  However, if the move does in fact, go down, it will no doubt be the prospect of more revenue that caused Big Red to go Big 10.

So, so long Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri.  Well, maybe goodbye to Missouri.  The past few years have been good to you but the decades of being a Husker punching bag in football are coming to a close.  We’ve played for over a century and had fairly healthy relationships, but it’s soon to be a thing of the past.  Goodbye Oklahoma, maybe we’ll see each other in some non-conference battles every 15 years or so, if we’re lucky.  Sometimes interstate tradition lives on in a perpetual bubble like the Ohio State’s and Michigan’s of the world are afforded.  However, you lost your way in the 90′s and our rivalry was no longer of any importance.  Remember how our day after Thanksgiving showdowns decided national title games on a perennial basis?  Name the last time the Buckeyes and Wolverines each had an opportunity to play for a national title, and their final game of the season decided who would play for it all two years in a row, let alone for decades.

Time to say goodbye, Colorado.  I certainly won’t miss traveling to Boulder to have rich, scruffy hippy kids who are burnt out from all the weed smoking throwing water balloons filled with their own urine on me.  Just remember to stay classy and know where the exits are when your team gets upset at home and your student section feels so inclined to litter their own field.

Last but not least, good riddance Texas.  It was never a comfortable long distance relationship, and I don’t think we could have taken any more of your ultimatums or orders.  You came in a broken, cheating and sanctioned football program and now have the luxury of influencing the football landscape as we know it.  Giving Nebraska deadlines?  Please.  Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the ruling bodies of the conference and your athletic department in relation to the BCS.  Need another example?  Look no further than the last 17 seconds of the Big 12 Championship game from December.  There you will find Nebraska’s struggle with not only the University of Texas, but an entire state of entitled, holier than thou/better than everyone else, “we do it better cause we’re bigger” fans and people.

It’s been fun while it lasted.  Teams out of the Midwest that should not have won anything at all, seems to be the perception.  Too often our traditions are easy to break because they aren’t perceived as relevant.  Not like USC/UCLA or Alabama/Auburn.  Which for the record, is a rivalry that hasn’t decided anything other than state bragging rights in years.  Teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma were not supposed to upset the established order of teams in the East, but in the 40′s and 50′s the Sooners led the charge.  Nebraska took a page out of the books of several Southern schools in the 90′s, and turned the tables and began dominating them, winning three national titles in four years.

Starting in the 60′s and ending at the turn of the century, the two schools combined for seven Heisman Trophy winners and nine national titles.  Sure, the Florida schools have won a combined 10 during that same time frame, but then you’d be including three teams as opposed to two, and no combination of any two schools from the Sunshine State won as many as the Huskers or Sooners.  Look at the supposed best college football rivalry in Michigan and Ohio State.  One and a half national titles in that period.  Where was the public outcry when Texas and their universities ripped our traditions apart?  Everyone was all too willing, of course save for Nebraska, who was opposed to the formation of the conference in the mid-90′s.  So, it seems it is only fitting it is Nebraska who leads the charge in tearing it to shreds.

It would seem people from this neck of the woods would have some bones to pick with the rest of the country when it comes to having our conferences, our traditions and our states raided by the likes of the Big 10, the West Coast or Texas, but you’d never know about it.  We’re made from a little more than that.  These teams aren’t just something to do on a Saturday.  It isn’t a place to see people like Will Ferrell or Matthew McConaughey.  They’re our homes or our adopted home states.  It’s where we grew up and a place where we can identify.  Will being absorbed into super conferences cause us to lose who we are?  Doubtful.  Will we still show up in droves to support our teams?  No question.

The only puzzle to be solved is how will our new siblings react to us?  You remember what it was like when the new kid came to your school.  One of two things happened.  He was either ridiculed, reviled and made fun of relentlessly or was ushered in as the best thing since sliced bread.  Only time will tell with this change most likely an irreversible one, and with the grass always being greener mind you, how will Nebraska look five or 20 years from now?  Will the fans requirement for nothing less than the best and obtaining remain in tact?  Or will we eventually look like Minnesota?  A once proud program from years past now floundering in mediocrity?  Sure, dealing with Texas is a bitch, but be careful what you wish for.  The money may be greener, because that’s where it could end.