The Texas Network

You don’t make $80 MM profit every year without pissing everyone off

Ok, let’s say that I am one of 10 phone makers in the South. Myself and the 9 other companies all represent AT&T.  All of the money we generate, and all of the hype we generate benefits not only ourselves but also AT&T.  If I’m AT&T, it doesn’t really matter who of the 10 of us does well, it just matters that a) AT&T has a representative in the discussion versus Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Boost, etc. and b) cellular phones, in general, maintain their growth and popularity.

Now, my company happens to make the most money of the 10 companies, and my company gets first pick when it comes to the best talent to be hired: creative people, sales people, technology people, you name it.  The best talent usually chooses to go and work for one of the top 3 companies in the area.

Because my company has the most money, and because my company’s phone is one of the e most widely used phones, to the point that a lot of the nation inside and outside my area has my phone, I am able to broker a deal with the Belo Companies to have my own page in the Dallas Morning News, my own site on DallasNews.com, and a my own spot on WFAA to be run during every show.  It benefits me because I get to promote my product, and it benefits Belo because their relationship with me ties my loyal patrons to them as well.

AT&T benefits because they get high profile.  Cellular phones benefit because they get more promotion.  My company benefits because of the deal that I have struck with a media channel.  In the business world, I would be heralded for smart business sense and I would be lauded for the deal that I have made.  Would my competitors be mad?  Sure, but it isn’t my job to make sure my competition does well.  As long as AT&T has a competitive phone against the other companies, it doesn’t matter because AT&T can still compete.  Other companies can switch allegiances to Verizon and what-not, but AT&T is too recognizable to not be in the “who’s the best cell phone provider in America?” argument. 

So…explain to me again, how is it Texas job to take care of the rest of the conference and why are Oklahoma and A&M screaming foul?

Rock Chalk

So, as a fan of sports, I'm sure you watched, or at least read this morning about the NCAA championship last night. Kansas came from down 9 to beat Memphis in OT. Good stuff.

Mario "Super Nintendo" Chalmers won the MOP (unstable), for his gritty play, and more importantly his 3 point shot near the end of regulation that sent the game to overtime.

All ready this morning, most talking heads are talking about how Memphis blew it in the end. They couldn't shoot free throws, they did foul when they should have, yada yada. All in all, these two teams were very well matched, they both liked to run, and in the end, Memphis went cold, while Kansas got hot.

I said all year that Kansas could beat anybody with the style of play that Bill Self roles out there, and the fact that anybody on the roster could go for 20.

As for Memphis, it was a travishshammockery that the refs called a tricky tacky foul on Joey Dorsey late in that game that fouled out the senor. I don't know if they could have pulled it off if he was still in the game, but the fact that he had to sit on the sidelines and watch the end of last game he would ever play in college is wrong.

Derrick Rose is the real deal. The kids 19, and in the biggest game of the year, had 18pts, 6 boards, and 8 assists. I don't know what kind of pro player Chris Douglas Roberts will be, but he showed a lot of guts last nights, even with missing those free throws.

So congrats to Kansas, and to the biggest Kansas fan I know, April, your hawks did it, I'm sure Presley couldn't ask for a greater birthday present.

tonights the night for love

NCAA Tourney starts back up tonight. And guess who's still there.



The best mascot ever. Big Red. Western Kentucky. Sunbelt. Bitches.

Day one,

So the first day of NCAA is done with, another big one today. It was a pretty simple day, only 2 "upsets," and one of them was 9 seed A&M over 8 seed BYU.

In our little bracket thingie over at ESPN, guess who is in last? That's right, its Brown. I can't say much because I'm second to last, I missed USC, Kent, and the upset special Winthrop(bastards, make me look dumb!!!), but out of those I only have USC going to the next round, so its still anybodys game.

teams I liked from yesterday:

UNLV played great and could give Kansas some problems.

Pitt may have the best defense in the nation right now.

Notre Dame can beat anybody if they get hot.

Teams i didn't like yesterday:

Duke has to play better than that. they might be the weekest 2 in the tourney

Xavier scared me yesterday. I have them all the way to the round of 8. That didn't look like a 3 seed yesterday.

Another slate of games today, and much like yesterday I will be poping on and giving some "reports" on whats going down while i'm at work today. Games i am looking forward to seeing:

Western Ky. vs. Drake - Its the classic David vs. well... David.

Davidson vs. Gonzaga - Its the classic David vs. well....David-son(ha!), again (did they do this so we will most def get a smaller school in the second round?)

South Alabama vs. Butler - Do you see the pattern? All of these are the early games, almost saying go fuck yourself mid majors.

Austin Peay vs. (The team that can't be named for fear Brown will kill me for writting about and "jinxing" his alma mater)

UT-Arlington vs. Memphis - Maybe this Mavrick team will play with some heart.

NCAA Live!!! (kinda)

First 3 games are done, and I'm 3 for three(as if you care). I watched most of the Xaiver-Georgia game and now am looking forward to switching between Kentucky v Marquette, and Purdue v Baylor. Here is my running blog of the second half of the early games.

love the 16-1 match up, Kansas already has 64 and still has 10 left in the game.

The fact that Xaiver/Georgia is the only competive game has the streamming very shaky. I can hear just fine, but I'm watching a silde show right now. Its like someone explaining to you their first time at a basketball game and showing you still pics. "And this Gaines going to the rim." when all it looks like is a bunch of blurry black guys on a basketball court.

Tied at 49 with 7:50 left to go, then Georgia missed 2 layups, followed by a fast break 3 pointer by Xaiver. This could be the begining of the the end.

Other games don't look worth watching at all, Kansas by 25, Mich St by 18.

Yup, in 2 min the X Men have taken all the big mo, now lead by 8 with 5 min left

Dave Bliss from Geogria(how on EARTH did this team not play Baylor in the first round?) just slammed home a NASTY dunk to get the dawgs back to within 4.

Temple is trying to get back into the game againt Mich St, pulling within 12 with 2:20 to go, but nobody is watching because Georgia keeps fouling Xaiver in their comeback attempt.

So Xaiver, Kansas, and Mich St all move on to the round of 32. Good stuff

NCAA Live!!!

I'm at work, for the time being. With that said, NCAA.com, and March Madness on Demand is a god send. I am watching Xavier(a sweet 16 in my bracket) get pushed around right now by the barley 500 Georgia.

Looking forward to later today
Kentucky Baylor Kansas St.
v v v
Marquette Purdue USC

Texas A&M George Mason
v v
BYU Notre Dame

and my upset special

Winthrop
v
Washington St.

Where I think Winthrop will shock the fine older ladies that just wanna fuck us young dudes.

More to come. Keep Checking this post.

15:35 left and Xaiver is down 11 (!) to Georgia. Georgia was 4-12 in the SEC this year.

Mich St. is starting to pull away from Temple, 42-26 with 17:00 left in the game.

And no shocker in the Kansas game, they are blowing up Portland state, who has a 5 foot 6 starting point. They are up 20.

Xaiver started playing like a 3 seed again, pulling withen 4 and has the ball

OK - so the live bloging has lagged my video streaming, so This will the be the last post till after the early games.

Last Chance

Last chance this morning to try and beat me and Brown in a bracket picking contest.

Go to here over at ESPN, and sign up, when asked for group search The Big and the Brown, make your pics, if your Number One, you get a post on this here interweb.

Good stuff. I will be on later with some team/people to watch today.

Sex me.

Too many great things about this clip to name...

Hat tip: Fan House

You have to get through the first 20 seconds...apparently Pawl TV should get the hat tip here.

Let's try...

1) Greatest song ever made.
2) Mockery of the music video with a man I believe to be Jason Garrett
3) Mockery of women's basketball
4) Confused old people
5) Cheerleaders dancing as if this is totally normal
6) "Scientology Kills" sign

300 Jumps the Shark

This is Tom Izzo at, what I believe to be, a pep rally for the tournament...

Let me get this straight, Michigan State decided it was a good idea to dress their basketball team's head coach as King Leonidas from 300.

Wasn't Izzo a respected coach at one time? Honestly, I just don't see Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Barnes, Billy Gillespie, John Calipari, or any other coach that has an ounce of respect doing stuff like this.

I blame Bruce Pearl.

Umm, tonights kinda huge

I don't know if i can take it.

I have been paceing for the past 2 weeks thinking about.

This thursday might be the biggest sprots day of our young year.

NCAA Tourney Starts. Mav's play the Celtics. I'm sure somewhere Jerry Jones is wheeling to make a big splash in the draft. And i'm sure Tatoo is still playing indoor soccer.

I don't know how I can take it all in.

I need a warm up.

What?

The NCAA tourney play in game is tonight?

Nice, but thats won't be enough

What?

Rockets and Celtics tonight too on TNT at 8:30? 22 games in a row is on the line?

Nice, but I still don't think that will prepair me for the Sports intensive thursday.

Really, They are?

The Mav's and Lakers play tonight? But we just saw Mamba drop 50 on us the other week. Its going down again. This time at home? Nice.

I think this will do. It will get my blood pumping basketball. This week is going to be Awsome.

Need help on your brackets?

Here's your ultimate guide to March Madness:

• Read a few posts on different sites so you know just enough about each team. Just say "I like Psycho-T" after each question about a player and you'll appear to have the basic grasp of things.
• Make a few daring picks like a 15 over a 2. If you're right, you can claim you're a genius. If you're wrong, just say "come on, did you really think I thought Tennessee would get upset? Whatever. "
• Make statements like "George Mason is totally setup to upset Notre Dame because they're a better team, but got a bad seed." People eat this shit up, and you look like you know what you're saying.
• Hate Duke, after all, that's the chic thing to do. Greg Paulus is the new J.J. Redick.
  
• Say "Bruce Pearl is a great coach who obviously cares about his team and his school" and make sure you ignore anyone who brings up the whole Illinois tenure...that didn't count.
  
• Mention to me that Texas set themselves up nicely by falling into the Houston region. Really, I need to know from other people what my team does because I've never paid attention to Texas sports.
  
• Mention to Big that mid-majors have no chance of ever succeeding. Seriously, he loves that shit, and might buy you a beer for your trouble.
• If anyone asks you what you think about teams that were left out of the tournament, just say "the NCAA hates the state of Virginia"....VCU totally deserved a chance to lose in the first round.
• Make sure you share your bracket with everyone. Don't wait for them to ask. It's like fantasy football, everyone is really interested in how your stuff looks and how things are going for you and your bracket.
  
• When Beasley gets "Kevin Durant-ed" out of the first round, be the first to make the comment: "It doesn't matter, he'll still be the first pick in the NBA!"
• Pick a random team, and claim you've followed them all season. Drake! Xavier! Brown's perennial, Gonzaga! St. Joe's! Come on, folks, bandwagons are filling up now!!!
• Look down on anyone when they question why the tournament names an "MOP" and not an "MVP"
• Tell anyone from California that Kevin Love isn't as good as Tyler Hansborough. Watch a live brain aneurysm take place as they argue the East Coast media bias.
  
• If anyone from Baylor speaks up, tell them Dave Bliss called and said "you're welcome"
  

If you really want some insight on what's happening, check out the boys at Thirty Five Seconds. These guys have paid attention to CBB all season, unlike anyone else you know who claim to have done the same thing.

Are they really going to help you pick your bracket? Probably not, but at least you can make some educated guesses.

Have fun on your brackets people. It's Spring Break, so your boss wasn't expecting you to get much work done anyway.

Side note: For those that are wondering why I haven't filled out my bracket in our ESPN challenge, it's because my computer won't load the bracket picker. Rest assured, I've already got it loaded on CBS Sportsline, so my picks are made.

Bracket Time Baby!

For most readers of this site, I kinda know how you do it. You wake up in the morning, get ready for work, go to work, log on to a computer, remind yourself you can't look at porn because your at work, so you drag your happy ass to your other fav sites like ESPN or Deadspin. When you have read everything you can possibly read over there, and the boss still hasn't come in to check on your "work," then you might say, "Hey I wonder what the Big and the Brown are up to today?"

You come on over to the site, find that we a few new posts, you read them, all the while you are saying to yourself, "man these guys have no clue what they are talking about."

First off I must say we are not talking, but Typing(poorly), ass hat.

Second, here if your chance to do something about it. If you, the sexy reader, think you know about basketball than either me(probably) or my hetro-sexual life mate Brown, bring it on.

ESPN every year has a Bracket Challenge. All you need to do is sign up, when it brings you to the "Join a Group or create one" screen, you search The Big and The Brown. If you can't figger it out, hit us up with an email.

What do you get if you win? Well, the number 1 guy/girl who gets the most right at the end of the Tourney wins a free post to rub it in our faces. Thats right, you too can have nobody read your sports thoughts on our website! Or you can take the time to say how much we suck! Or even better yet, how thankfull you are that we let you read what we think!

Who knows, you could be the next Blogadore, Nayfa, or even the Next Kennith Noisewater!

Remember, the Group Name is the Big and the Brown, or send me your email at thebigandthebrown@yahoo.com and I will invite you. Enjoy Bitches!