Mike Kays: HASHMARKS: 'Flagship U' moves on, bound in an odd bromance

Jul. 28—You've known it. At one time, I was peripherally aware of it, until 20 years ago when I began plying a trade here, and then I formally met it.

Back when every page of the Phoenix, news and sports, were designed by the same desk crew, and on a Big Monday basketball night in a season when the Stillwater side of Bedlam was rockin' it, and with both schools playing games, the designer, who has been long gone, chose to run a less-than-ideal photo so oversized on the template to where it made for no more than six-paragraphs of room for OSU's big win that night.

The Sooners? No photo, but a legitimate story on a win running down the side.

The optics didn't look good. I knew he was an OU fan, unapologetically so, and well, with a tinge of arrogance one might have when they feel quite confident there's a big difference between the two schools.

The football rivalry historically speaking would support that. But this was basketball.

Soon after this, the sports pagination was returned to sports, where it has been ever since. Yet, over time, I've been called an OU homer. At times, an OU hater, both in the same office day. It's been that way with Cowboys fans a time or two, too.

Truth be told, when the home teams succeed, it's much more enjoyable working here, no matter the level. For more than half my time here, collegiate success made for some good work-play vacations to Pasadena, New Orleans, Miami and even San Diego and Memphis. Oh, and Dallas.

DFW is the place of my roots, so those trips weren't as much of a vacation but rather an extended Christmas at Mom's. But the Cotton Bowl has always been one of the best media experiences. A hospitality room connected both the media and their tag-alongs to the players, and my son once played Madden with Eli Manning and Rashaun Woods. Manning took the Colts, my son took the loss, and Woods took the winner. In the Madden game, not on January 1.

Years later, I wonder how things might be now had Woods won that game, and then Dez Bryant and Tyreek Hill had won a couple more, and so on, in big games, like Big 12 championships. Would the SEC-bound Sooners have kept the Schooner hitched to Pistol Pete rather than to Bevo and this strange bromance with Texas?

Probably not.

And here's why.

Today's Texas is like the popular rich kid at school driving Daddy's Mercedes. You need to be tight with him because his money buys influence, plus he has some good looking sisters everyone wants to date (think five-star recruits). As for athletic prowess, he is overrated if in his own mind, a kid who will only occasionally challenge you for a starting spot but is good to have around to beat up on to get ready for opponents.

Oklahoma didn't need Texas, you might argue. Save, really, for Vince Young's Longhorns, the Cows for most of the century have always run shotgun or back seat to the Sooners in the Big 12 car. The titles speak for themselves.

OSU? Beat Texas seven of nine until losing in both 2019 and 2020. TCU has that seven of nine streak going now. Even Kansas got a win over the Horns.

But it's that money, man. It's built an image. And it's why even Texas A&M is ticked off.

The Aggies haven't been to an SEC title game, but they've been cashing some nice checks and like their colleagues, beat their chest chanting "SEC, SEC" every time Alabama brings home a natty. But to the Aggies, it's still all worth it. They got away from the rich boy. And finally, with Jimbo Fisher, the Aggies could finally be at a point of threatening Bama in the SEC West this fall.

But in terms of national image, the Aggies still run in Texas' shadow. The traditions at A&M, and its Corps of Cadets band, are impressive. But Austin is just more hip than College Station, and recruits will see that, especially now with an SEC schedule coming to both places.

Checkmate for the rich kid.

Auburn and Alabama have a similar relationship. Auburn will never rule the state. And OSU, try as it might, will never be OU in that same perception.

Did OU need Texas to make its move this week? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps not with the Big Ten had the Sooners chose that route, but would it have hurt recruiting in Texas? With Nebraska, which got its share even in the Big Eight days, that pipeline dried up. The guy with Daddy's Mercedes might have decided to kill the Red River Rivalry and what might that have done?

OU brings the success, Texas brings the stuffed pockets to this bromance. And starting in 2025 if not earlier, the Sooners will be about $20 million richer than the Cowboys on revenue sharing.

Yet sooner or later, that won't be enough to satisfy. Because more is never enough. Your ticket prices will show it. But go ahead, wink approval and say "just win baby."

Blame the SEC, or more to the point, blame the TV networks. Blame Bob Bowlsby, who has always seemed like the cadet in Animal House during Faber's homecoming parade uttering "Remain calm, all is well."

Or, blame OU. You've heard the phrase "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Well if the latter is what we're seeing, then open the other eye. They're losing a friend or two. And I don't think Bob Stoops' column released by the major two papers Tuesday healed anything when he said, "By joining the SEC, we ensure the state's flagship university will be represented nationally while protecting our rich football history for many years to come. To move forward in any other manner would be to the detriment of OU and the State of Oklahoma."

It's all business, man, and by 2025, the spirit of the game risks morphing into something that will be unrecognizable in every facet.

"The state's flagship university." There they go again. Aggies are just Aggies, in Texas or Oklahoma.

At least we'll still try to be equal on Page 1.