Tramel's ScissorTales: Why Brett Yormark's Big 12 experiment in Mexico just might work
The Big 12 is headed to Mexico.
To Mexico City for Kansas-Houston basketball games (men and women) in December 2024.
To the same region for exhibitions against clubs in baseball and soccer.
Perhaps to Monterrey for a football bowl game in 2026.
The conference announced its Mexican initiative Thursday, another fulfillment of new commissioner Brett Yormark’s clear mission to market the heck out of the Big 12.
I’m thinking what you’re thinking and what every Big 12 administrator initially thought and no doubt asked. Is this a good idea?
I mean, millions of Americans vacation on the Mexican coasts every year, with scant few safety issues. But Mexican cities can be much different.
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The recent murder of two Americans in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, has again raised the issue of U.S. tourists’ safety in Mexico.
The U.S. State Department currently has a “reconsider travel” warning for most of Mexico, including Monterrey and Mexico City, but that designation is among the lowest of its warnings.
I went on a mission trip to Tijuana, just south of San Diego, last summer and am headed back this summer. I felt mostly safe and comfortable; there are rough parts of town, same as in most big U.S. cities, and we avoided those areas. I assume Big 12 teams would do the same.
Sort of like you do when you go to Chicago or Los Angeles or Oklahoma City.
In Tijuana, we traveled with a security guard to our scheduled ministry functions, and the Mexican military showed up in force to stand guard when we visited a refugee shelter. I promise you, I’ve never felt safer than that day.
But around our church base and our hotel, we didn’t have security, and we just followed protocol. Don’t go anywhere alone. Don’t wander too far away.
Thursday, I checked out Monterrey’s status for safety. Monterrey sits 141 miles south of Laredo, Texas, which is where Interstate 35 runs into Mexico. Can’t get more Big 12 than I-35.
Urbanabroad.com says this about Monterrey:
“Yes, Monterrey is a safe place to visit, but like many other cities in Mexico, there are some not-so-safe areas that you have to avoid as a first-time visitor.
“This moderately safe city is well-equipped for both tourists crowds and expats who are looking for a better way of life in Mexico.
“You’ll need to take precautions in built-up areas (especially at night), but aside from that, in Monterrey, you’ll likely feel safer here than in other Mexican cities.”
Monterrey has a population of about 1.1 million, but its sprawling metro area has a population of about 5.3 million, making it the second-largest in Mexico, behind only Mexico City.
Taking basketball teams to Mexico City for a doubleheader seems quite doable, sort of like the NBA zipping in for a game. Small squads, in-and-out with coaches who control their environments, easy to monitor.
Football teams are completely different. Heck, just getting passports for everyone associated with a football operation would be a major undertaking. I’m not sure you could even entice another conference to sign up for a bowl game, just based on the passport issue alone. A team might have four weeks lead time from knowing its bowl destination to everyone needing a passport. Not enough.
And all the logistics would be a nightmare. I can only imagine the headaches of getting the equipment truck across the border at Laredo.
But if a bowl can be pulled off, the experience probably would be grand. We had a swell time in Tijuana – met a bunch of great people who love life and love each other. The culture was different, but the values seemed very much like ours.
I would imagine a bowl game would provide the same benefit to the competing teams, and I assume Monterrey would embrace the experience. Mexicans love the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe they could learn to love the Oklahoma State Cowboys, too.
“Mexico is a natural extension to the Big 12 footprint, and I’m thrilled to introduce Big 12 Mexico as the Conference’s first-ever international presence,” Yormark said. “Through Big 12 Mexico, our student-athletes will have the opportunity to compete in an international setting, and our conference will have the chance to showcase our brand across Mexico.”
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ESPN and Fox, the Big 12’s broadcasters, have agreed to seed the Big 12 product across Mexico through Spanish-speaking outlets.
The conference announced it will seek to secure Spanish-language radio broadcasts for Big 12 football and basketball championships, plus implement a “robust Mexico digital strategy,” beginning in 2023-24.
The Pac-12 launched something similar a decade ago, only for Asia and without the bowl game. It did not go well. Cost a ton, produced few results. But the Big 12 in Mexico makes much more sense. It’s 296 miles from San Antonio to Monterrey. It’s 5,901 miles from San Francisco to Beijing.
The Big 12 is partnering with a Mexico City-based entertainment agency for promotion and sales.
The Big 12 plans a variety of community outreach programming, commercial partnerships, merchandise and activations, including partnering with notable musicians and artists, and launching an influencer marketing campaign in the region.
I don’t know anything about such things. But Yormark does. Or knows people who do.
He’s taken the Big 12 by storm. Now he’s taking the Big 12 to Mexico. It might just work.
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Nuggets win Christian Braun Game
Christian Braun averaged 18.5 minutes a game as a freshman on Kansas’ great 2019-20 team that appeared to be the nation’s best before the pandemic wrecked the season.
Then Braun became a starter, averaging 9.7 points a game in 2020-21 and then 14.1 points on KU’s NCAA championship team of a year ago. Good wing out of Blue Valley Northwest High School in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City.
But at no point did I say, wow, there’s an NBA prospect. Then the Denver Nuggets picked Braun 21st overall in the 2022 draft, and Wednesday night, Braun helped Denver take control of the NBA Finals.
Braun scored 15 points in 19 minutes, providing the thin Nuggets with much-needed bench production, as Denver routed Miami 109-94 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Braun’s only miss was a 3-point shot from the corner that hit the side of the backboard. He made his seven other shots, and NBA pundits took to calling it the Christian Braun Game.
And Thursday in Miami, Braun was quite popular with the NBA press corps:
Q. How many text messages did you get last night?
Braun: “I got a couple, a little more than usual obviously. The same people that always text me texted me.”
Q. What allows you to go to the rim without any fear whatsoever?
Braun: "Nikola (Jokic). I think Nikola and Jamal put me in the right places. Obviously, our team is set up for everybody to succeed, everybody to be in the right spots. I've said it a million times, it's just my job to be in the right spot when my name is called.”
Q. You gave a primal scream when you had the steal and dunk. That's your deal, that's what you do?
Braun: “Yeah, I think I've been doing it since high school. I don't even mean to, to be honest with you. It just kind of comes out. I can't really control it. Those are the plays I like to make. Jamal actually told me to run through a pass in the first half, be more aggressive. When I made the play, obviously that's just kind of my natural reaction.”
Q. You said you weren't expecting to play in the NBA Finals, but it's come to you naturally. Can you describe what this feels like?
Braun: “I mean, I'm just grateful to be here obviously. This is something I wanted to do my whole life, something I wanted to do since I stepped foot in Denver. I'm grateful to be here. Just really enjoying the opportunity, enjoying the moment, enjoying the basketball games.”
Q. You said Nikola allows you to do what you're doing. What advice have you gotten from him and Jamal? What have you learned from them?
Braun: “He's not big on advice. I mean, that's just not him. Like I said, he puts me in the right spots, makes my life a lot easier. Same with Jamal. Me and Jamal talk a lot. Like I said, he was the one that told me in the first half, ‘Hey, could have run through the pass. Be more aggressive.’ Like I said, put me in the right spot to make that play. They help me and help everybody on the team, put everybody in the right spots, make everybody's life easier. So we appreciate those guys. Obviously, we're going to ride them to a championship for sure.”
Q. Three state championships in high school, won the national championship in college. What is the biggest difference here playing in the NBA Finals?
Braun: “I think the biggest difference, I just think the adjustments. I mean, in the NCAA championship, it's one game, who's going to play harder, who makes shots. It's just one game. This, every time after a game, you got to go back and make adjustments. You don't know what the team's going to throw at you. There's more opportunities to get it right in this, but you have to be consistent, you have to stay healthy. A lot of things got to go your way. There's a lot of differences, but I think the NBA Finals is more fun, for sure.”
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Is SEC softball overrated?
Last week, I wrote how Southeastern Conference softball is both excellent and overrated. The SEC dominates with the number of teams selected for the 64-team NCAA tournament – 12 of its 13 teams were included this season.
But much of that is how the SEC schedules and jerry-rigs the Ratings Percentage Index used by the NCAA softball committee.
Reader Patricia Gelnar did some research. Here’s what she found.
The “unwavering claims/faith about the SEC being the toughest and best softball league in the country -- while consistent with SEC/ESPN marketing machines -- just wasn't consistent with my experience watching softball for the last 10ish years.
“From my viewpoint, the SEC seemed to have a lot of good teams but not really any consistently high-level programs -- with the exception of a brief Florida run in the mid-to-late 2010s. It seemed to be a very competitive conference mainly because most of the teams varied little from the mean. As opposed to the Big 12 – which has a few poor programs, a few very good programs, and one exceptional program. Lots of Big 12 variance.
“Since I like objective data, I looked at WCWS championships and finals appearances in the 21st century and at the 2023 NCAA tournament, to see if my eyes or intrinsic biases were impacting my views. I think my initial assessment was correct.”
Gelnar is right. Three SEC teams made super-regionals this season, same as the Big 12, which advanced just four teams into the 64-team bracket. Four of the Pac-12's six schools reached the supers, and frankly, more Pac-12 schools should have been included.
Three Pac-12 teams made the WCWS, while two each from the Big 12 and SEC reached Oklahoma City.
“I don't know if marketing or inaccurate metrics plays a role in SEC inclusion in the tournament, but it seems some Group of Five teams might provide better competition (just ask UCLA),” Gelnar wrote. “Perhaps the number of low-level SEC teams making the tournament is more related to SEC/ESPN marketing and/or ‘RPI engineering’ than performance on the field -- smarter softball minds can address this question.
“Same thing when looking at WCWS finals and championships. The SEC has won only three championships in the 21st century -- far fewer than the Pac-12 (11) and Big 12 (six).”
To interrupt Gelnar, more SEC programs have won the WCWS than Big 12 programs. All six Big 12 titles were won by the Sooners. Alabama and Florida each have won the national title at least once.
“WCWS finals appearances of the SEC (10) and Big 12 (10) are dwarfed by the Pac-12 (19) -- which has by far the deepest roster of teams appearing in the finals,” Gelnar wrote. “The SEC and Big 12 are much more concentrated.
“The Pac-12's power has waned after 2010, but it's still likely the best softball conference.”
I agree. The Pac-12 is the best softball conference. I was chatting with Central Florida coach Cindy Ball-Malone this week, and she was talking about the quality of Florida youth softball but said she still needs to go to California for a few players. Virtually every coach in America does the same thing.
Five Pac-12 schools have won the WCWS in the 2000s – UCLA, Arizona, California, Washington and Arizona State. Stanford and Utah were in the World Series this year.
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Mailbag: Colorado to the Big 12
Speculation continues to swirl about Colorado and perhaps other Pac-12 schools joining the Big 12. And as usual with conference realignment, such talk draws rampant interest.
Thomas: “So let’s say CU joins for the 2024 season. There is certainly buzz around them with (Deion) Sanders as the coach, but what is the long-term goal here? I think most agree it’s not likely he is there for more than three or four years, then what? The Big 12 is left with the worst Power Five program of this century. I think all the anticipation about CU joining is shortsighted; they won’t be a benefit to this conference long term.”
Tramel: Thomas makes some solid points. But here’s what I would say.
Deion Sanders is not long for Colorado either way. If he’s not successful at CU, he’ll be gone soon enough. If Deion is successful at Colorado, he’ll be gone soon enough – to Auburn or Florida or some well-resourced job that turns over every three or four years.
However, if Deion is successful and builds any kind of foundation – I know, I know, a big if – then the next coach could keep the Buffaloes from the dregs they’ve wallowed in for almost two decades.
But the real value of Colorado’s addition would be if the Buffs brought schools with them. If CU jumps to the Big 12, causing Arizona and perhaps others to follow, then the Buffs have provided a valuable service to their new league.
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The List: Serbian stars
The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was that rarest of NBA commodities – an underrated superstar. No longer. He’s the rage of the sporting world with his performance in these NBA Playoffs. But Jokic always has been a legend in his native Serbia.
Here are the five greatest athletes from Serbia:
1. Novak Djokovic: Winner of 22(!) Grand Slam singles titles, matching Rafael Nadal for the most ever. Djokovic, still going strong at age 36, has won 10 Australian Opens, two French Opens, seven Wimbledons and three U.S. Opens.
2. Nikola Jokic: The back-to-back NBA most valuable player in 2021 and 2022, Jokic was runner-up this season. But he would win again if the vote was taken today.
3. Monica Seles: The winner of nine Grand Slam singles titles in tennis – four Australian Opens, three French Opens, one Wimbledon and two U.S. Opens – from 1990-96.
4. Nemanja Vidic: The former Manchester United star is a Serbia National Team hero and considered one of the greatest defenders in soccer history.
5. Peja Stojakovic: Sharp-shooting wing was a Sacramento King icon and a three-time NBA all-star.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Brett Yormark's Big 12 experiment in Mexico just might work
