NOTE: Don't usually post OKC Thunder stuff, but this article is a good read:

(by Jay Mariotti) LOS ANGELES -- Up in the restaurant of a swank, oceanside hotel, actor Edward Norton is noticed by all as he lunches with Hollywood types at a corner table. Down in the lobby, a few feet away, people walk past Kevin Durant like he's a potted plant. He sits and talks about his nascent career in comparative anonymity, smiling as he relates a story that outlines perfectly his status as The Best Young Athlete America Needs To Know....read more from FanHouse

(by Scott Wilson) The Mayan calendar could be accurate; the world may end in 2012!

Or the cataclysm might just be concentrated on the fanbases of Kansas State Wildcats, Iowa State Cyclones, Baylor Bears, or Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Instead of an earth-killing meteor falling from the sky, or a cataclysmic eruption of the caldera in Yellowstone (sorry Coach Christensen that isn’t a metaphor for the Cowboys new offense), this life destroying force could be…dun…dun…dun...NCAA Conference realignment (queue the screams)....read more from the Bleacher Report

(by Tully Corcoran) I'll start by apologizing to Kansas and Kansas State fans, because nothing I'm about to suggest is good for you.

But as a fan of sports and of interesting things, I can no longer support the Big 12 in its current shape, which is lumpy, oblong and malformed, much like Sam Cassell's head. We need something more like Howie Mandel or Capt. Jean Luke Picard....read more from The Topeka Capital-Journal

(by David Ubben) Planning to make it to your team’s scrimmage to close out spring practices? Big 12 teams are basically a grab bag when it comes to charging and not charging, but here’s a look at when you can and what it will take for you to get a first look at the spring edition of your team....read more from ESPN

More from ESPN:

• Pre-spring Big 12 Power Rankings

(by D. Walker) No doubt you have heard "you're team couldn't even survive one season in our conference!" or "son, that dawg a yurs ain't gonna hunt when Y'all come down to play with us!"

This is a poll where the teams matter but the fans are the ones who really count....read more w/slideshow from the Bleacher Report

(by Dave Player) Move over Baylor, bring on the Buckeyes.

Last month an anonymous source reported in the Lawrence Journal-World that the Big Ten athletic conference had reached out to UT for “preliminary talks” about jumping from the Big 12 to the Big Ten. That anonymous tip spurred rampant speculation of a major potential shakeup to one of the nation’s largest athletic conferences....read more from The Daily Texan

(by Kevin Trahan) Fans come by the thousands to witness "Gameday" and as many as 20,000 fans have shown up to see the show.

Corso consistently pumps up the crowd when he chooses a winner (normally the home team) by putting on that team's mascot head, although fans should be a bit weary due to his recent record.

So let's look at the top contenders to host College Gameday each week this college football season....read more w/slideshow from The Bleacher Report

(by Suzanne Haliburton) There is a decided regional theme developing for April's NFL draft: Scouts are smitten with the stars produced by the Big 12 Conference.

They can't decide whether Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford or a pair of defensive tackles — Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh or Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy — should go No. 1.

And now Oklahoma State offensive tackle Russell Okung, despite straining a hamstring at the combine, has made a jump to the top four of the draft....read more from the Austin American-Statesman

(by David Ubben) From Ames to Austin and Boulder to Lubbock, I’ll spend my time chronicling -- and hopefully providing some insight into -- the goings-on of the Big 12.

Over the past few seasons, I’ve had the privilege of seeing some great moments inside one of America’s most competitive conferences.

I’ll never forget Vince Young slipping inside the pylon on fourth-and-5 for the title. I watched Kansas and Missouri light up the scoreboard for four hours on a freezing November Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium just for a chance to call themselves No. 1. And if my time in Oklahoma is any indication, I think the Sooners forgive Billy Sims for eliminating any confusion about the school that’s produced two of the conference’s three Heisman winners in the past decade....read more from ESPN

(by Tobi Writes) The talk of UT moving to the Big Ten is difficult to imagine while the Big 12 is still a viable BCS conference.

The loss of Colorado to the Pac-10 and Missouri to the Big Ten would dramatically compromise the viability of the Big 12 in the eyes of Texans, freeing UT to move to a different conference without repercussions.

So, are the Pac-10 and Big Ten knowingly compromising the financial integrity of the Big 12 as a BCS conference to have a shot at UT?....read more from the Bleacher Report