Sending good thoughts the Longhorn baseball team's way in the Big 12 Tournament and beyond. Hook 'em!

Mark your calendar. The 2009 Oklahoma-Texas football game kick-off will be 11 A.M.

Same question, second year in a row. ESPN's Tim Griffin has five early questions for Big 12 teams. Want to guess what he has listed for UT?

Can Texas find a running game? The Longhorns are still looking for a featured back after no player really emerged during the spring. Cody Johnson had the best early production before he was slowed late in training camp with a hamstring injury. Neither Vondrell McGee or Fozzy Whittaker jumped forward during the spring. Heralded freshman Chris Whaley will get his chance once fall practice begins, but likely won't be counted on early. But filling the hole is important. The Longhorns desperately need somebody as they likely can't challenge for a national championship if Colt McCoy again is their leading rusher.

And a few teams have summer homework.

Who will be the breakout players in 2009 Big 12 football season? Tim Griffin has some ideas.

Texas LB Roddrick Muckelroy: Other players receive more notoriety from Texas' defense, but the steady Muckelroy looks ready to build on a solid junior season where he was overshadowed by others in Texas' defense.

One trouble with trouble is that is usually starts out like fun. Several Big 12 coaches make the Orlando Sentinel's list of college football coaches most likely to the stir the pot.

7. Mike Leach, Texas Tech Red Raiders: This pirate-loving coach gives crazy dating advice and has no trouble mouthing off from his perch in West Texas.One has to wonder if this guy is playing with a full deck.

8. Mack Brown, Texas Longhorns: Don't be fooled by the Texas coach's good-natured attitude - he's successfully outmaneuvered other teams for BCS bowl bids, has no shame always pushing his team for national championship game appearances even if they don't deserve it and completely changed the recruiting calendar by locking in all his classes by June.

9. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Cowboys: He's a man! He's 40! Or at least he was when he berated Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson in 2007. This video never gets old.

The Sooners lost several possible key players in their offensive line so they may have to rely on some JUCO transfers.

Dr. Saturday continues to break down the 2009 season favorites. Up next: Oklahoma.

Crystal ball says ... The fact that decent pass-rushing defenses have managed to disrupt Bradford behind the huge, nearly inviolable line he's operated behind the last two years is really concerning if you assume this line will take at least half the season (and probably more) to look anything like its predecessor, if it can come close. The defense will be better, but with the kind of offensive heroics the Sooners will face from the rest of this conference -- Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Kansas and maybe Nebraska are all top-20/25 attacks -- Bradford will have to be upright for another string of shootouts. Nothing can sink a team faster than the offensive line, so as good as everything else looks here, I still give OU a red siren when it comes to No. 1 until they effective block someone of substance.

The Kansas Jayhawks are the favorites in the Big 12 North.

You can make a case for three teams to win the North, but despite a hellacious Big 12 South schedule, the Jayhawks get a slight nod here based on their offensive firepower. Led by quarterback Todd Reesing and the league’s best receiver tandem, Kerry Meier and Dez Briscoe, Kansas returns the North’s most explosive cast of offensive playmakers — at least the most experienced cast. The defense is rebuilding in areas, but since when does anyone play great defense in the Big 12? It’s a quarterback’s league, and the Jayhawks have the North’s most proven commodity in Reesing.

Barry Switzer on Boone Pickens U's new athletic facilities.

Life is worth living, Richard. Not much longer now... Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle, is eagerly awaiting the Big 12 Media Days. Aren't we all?

I woke up feeling bummed this morning that the Rockets finally were done, and Phil is still a genius. But then, I opened an email that reminded me why life is worth living.

Big 12 Football Media Days. July 27-29. Dallas.

Suddenly, everything seemed right with the world. Two whole days of Mack and Mike and Art and Bobby. And of course, Colt and Jordan, the two best there ever was. God help me, I love it so.

Former Texas A&M coach Jackie Sherrill left quite a legacy at A&M and Mississippi State. SB Nation SEC blog Team Speed Kills looks for a new hero at MSU, but Sherrill's influence is still there.

When most people think of Sherrill, they think of the walking NCAA violation. Even now, he still is able to pick up a secondary violation without even trying.

And yet at both Texas A&M and Mississippi State, the two programs he left under NCAA investigation, he was not personally implicated in any of the wrongdoings. Even as he's been accused of "looking for a way to dissect the rules instead of abide by them," and called "the worst... terrible," by fellow coaches, he's also a good friend of Joe Paterno's.

Mike Leach has a plan. Leach is back at his mental wanderings, this time addressing a 64 team playoff. (The entire Bitter Lawyer interview with Leach is here.)

The Big 12 conference meeting is going on this week ion Colorado Springs, CO. Creating a Big 12 network is a topic of discussion.

Administrators will also discuss the direction the conference wants to take with its future television partnerships, including the possibility of developing its own network as the Big Ten and Mountain West Conferences have done.

"That's certainly a piece of what we're studying," Bohn said.

Greg Davis saved the Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak's football career. Yes, UT's Greg Davis.

They really do have computers in Oklahoma! Crimson and Cream Machine has a list of some OU players and coaches that Twitter. Everyone needs to follow Bob, as soon as Bob learns how to use Twitter.

Things are getting ugly in Manhattan. Kansas State filed a lawsuit challenging a deal between former head football coach Ron Prince and the former AD Bob Krause over a $3.2 million in deferred compensation between 2015 and 2020.

Former Arkansas coach Frank Broyles warns of a major crisis in college sports.

When the IRS is involved, the news cannot be good. A Congressional Budget Office study looks at the revenue earned from the athletic programs at D-1A schools. And you probably know where this is going. The Sports Economist weighs in on the topic.

And finally...

From I Am The 12th Man... Former Texas A&M fullback Ja'Mar Toombs' 12-year-old son Cory has been diagnosed with acinic cell carcinoma. 

Beergut, please keep us informed of Cory's progress and let us know of any funds set up to help the family with expenses. Stuff like this transcends any rivalry. Our thoughts are with Cory and his family.