Remembered joys are never past. James Montgomery, The Little Cloud.

Not only does the Big 12 have great quarterbacks, but we also have outstanding pitchers.

In its 12-year history, the Big 12 has had 15 pitchers selected in the first round, or the first supplementary round, of the annual amateur baseball draft.

A handful of candidates figure to be taken when the next draft is held June 9-10.

Theories abound for everything in baseball, but what explains the Big 12 rise on the pitching mound?

Baylor coach Steve Smith said he believes it could be geographical.

"Baseball is so strong in Texas and Oklahoma," said Smith, in his 15th season leading the Bears. "That probably has a lot to do with it, not to disparage the Midwest because there are a lot of really good arms up there."

And speaking of great quarterbacks... Colt McCoy gets to throw out the first pitch at today's (Monday) Texas Rangers’ game against the New York Yankees.

Texas junior wide receiver Montre Webber and sophomore offensive tackle Aundre McGaskey have decided to transfer.

One down, just a few more to go... Bob Stoops dismisses one of his offensive lineman. 

Injury can throw a spanner in the works of a football game. OU laments the loss of DeMarco Murray for the BCS championship game.

A New York Times headline the morning after the game labeled OU as "Chokelahoma." Like many others, the Times' story made no mention of Murray, centering instead on OU's fifth straight BCS bowl loss and Stoops' record dropping to 1-3 in national title games.

Stoops had read and heard it all before. After winning a record fifth Big 12 title, Stoops again went from "Big Game Bob" in December to a "Bowl Game Bum" in January.

Just a guess, but we can probably asume that the New York TImes article was not written by Thayer Evans?

The silly season is early this year. Barking Carnival has the Oklahoma All-Garbage Team.

If you even have to pose the question... ESPN's Tim Griffin wonders if Dennis Franchione and Bill Callahan were really all that bad.

Matt Hayes, Sporting News, looks at four football programs on the rise and four falling programs. Two Big 12 programs are mentioned: Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are the hot pick to become this year's Texas Tech. I'll go one step further: how about this year's Oklahoma? Oklahoma State could've -- and maybe should've -- beaten Texas last year in Austin (a 28-24 loss), and this year's game is in Stillwater. As for the Sooners, OU has gotten worse (see: rebuilt offensive line) and the Cowboys have gotten better (see: Bill Young as defensive coordinator).

Texas A&M. The entire coaching community shuddered when Kentucky fired basketball coach Billy Gillispie after two seasons. You better believe Mike Sherman, whose first year in College Station was awful, is feeling the reverberation from Kentucky's decision.

Competing in the Big 12 South Division is all about competing for players in recruiting, and Sherman at least made inroads with a strong class in February. But the reality is A&M now is behind both Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in the South -- and Baylor, with charismatic coach Art Briles and dynamic quarterback Robert Griffin -- is closing fast after beating the Aggies by 20 last year.

Perception overwhelms reality when it comes to antsy, big money boosters. And right now, A&M is last in a six-team division. That can't last long.

Stop torturing the Aggies, Orson. That's our job. Every Day Should Be Saturday picks on two of the Big 12's finest.

Mike Sherman’s entire A&M bio has this to say about 2008:

(Jack. Shit.)

They haven’t gotten around to updating poor Mike’s profile yet, and if they’re kind, they won’t. Just leave it up there to remind them why they hired him in the first place. (We feel for A&M fans, since they kind of just have to sit back and pray it works out, or that they fall into the right young coach when they fire Sherman. It is a horrible, drawn-out queasiness that will last at least another year. We’re sorry.)

Colorado’s bio of Dan Hawkins says FUCK YOU, SHITTY 2006 TEAM.

And there were other positives, most notably the fact that his Buffaloes were in every game, fighting until the end despite being outmanned at several positions.

It is tough all over. The Big 12 school sport media guide is probably a thing of the past.

Longtime CU sports information director Dave Plati said if the Big 12 or the NCAA decides to do away with media guides, he hopes the decision will be thoughtfully planned out.

Plati said CU spends about $100,000 every year producing media guides with about $80,000 of that resulting from printing costs. Plati said some schools spend significantly more depending on the total size of all the media guides printed and the number ordered.

Plati said some of the cost in producing the guides will always remain as long as programs need Web sites and accurate records.

"There are all kinds of uses for a media guide, but this perception that it's just for recruiting is not true," Plati said.

Don't worry. The Big 12 has a few dollars.

Even in the face of a struggling economy, the Big 12 Conference's economics are showing robust growth.

Big 12 officials announced Thursday that the conference will distribute a record $130 million among its member institutions from the 2008-09 fiscal year. The figure, announced on the final day of the Big 12's annual spring meetings in Colorado Springs, is more than 14.5 percent better than last year's previous record disbursement of $113.5 million.

Tim Griffin didn't buy the ""we are hurting financially"" whining, either.

Like their coaching counterparts, Big 12 ADs do not want to end the tiebreaker system, either.

Things are not better in Manhattan. Donors are put out over Kansas State's 3.2 million agreement with Ron Prince.

Many Kansas State donors are so disgusted over the secret agreement to funnel more than $3 million to fired football coach Ron Prince they're closing their checkbooks and vowing, "No more."

When Jon Wefald revealed the shocking news to the state Board of Regents on Wednesday, the longtime Kansas State president actually teared up.

I Am The 12th Man finds the whole Ron Prince debacle amusing.

Crimson and Cream Machine is scouring YouTube for some Sooner videos. They missed this one.

Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated, states the obvious. Certain schools enjoy a geographical advantage when compiling football recruiting talent.

Was Bear Bryant the innovator of the spread offense?

And finally...

Happy Memorial Day. The holiday was first known as Declaration Day, enacted to honor the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. It now includes all men  and women who have given their life for our country. Remember our soldiers and their families in your thoughts today.