Thought I'd share this email that I received from the OU Athletic Department regarding its All-Access service. I used to subscribe to it when I lived out of state to catch the radio broadcast of OU football games when not available on TV. It has many other benefits and features, some free, some not, but if you live outside of Oklahoma and especially outside of the Big 12 viewing area it's definitely worth looking into.

Introducing a New Streaming Media Experience

SoonerSports.com is excited to welcome our subscribers to the new Oklahoma All-Access multimedia player, your online channel for the most audio and video coverage of Oklahoma Athletics. The new multimedia player launched on Wednesday, July 28.

New features include expanded video navigation controls and advanced search functions to help you get the content you crave. A new on-page video player interface is compatible with Adobe Flash-enabled web browsers and offers a full-screen mode. http://webservices.cstv.com/wsemail/?arg=743993.J3EOaUfyAUpFpvHa Some of the other enhancements include:

• Video jogging for fast forwarding/rewinding
• Tabbed audio/video menu
• Thumbnails of video items in menu
• Unique video links for easy link sharing
• "Share" function to send links to social media sites
• Email to a Friend function
• New loading/buffering indicators

We are seamlessly transitioning your subscription and your user name and password will stay the same. Your subscription account will be ready to use on Monday, August 9.

In the meantime, we'll be offering free preview content for users to experience. Feel free to browse the free video clips and take full advantage of the great new features.

We hope you enjoy following Oklahoma Athletics with the new Oklahoma All-Access!

Link to All-Access live webcast and sign-up page: http://www.soonersports.com/ot/webcasts.html

Keep in mind that none of the OU football games that are on TV will have video streamed live over the Internet. In other words, all of the games are on TV in some form or other and therefore there will be no live webcasts of OU football games this season.

BEWARE of anyone that offers live streaming video of OU football games. Most of these scams purport to offer 'free' live streaming video, but then they want $29.95 or so for an 'annual pass'. A lot of these offers are to simply con you into filling out a long form which will get you signed up for something entirely different then watching a football game.

UPDATE: (August 4, 2010) OU has released fall practice/preseason information and it is available here on SoonerSports.com

As has been the case at this point in time for the last two seasons, very little has been announced concerning OU's 2010 fall practice. There are however two events scheduled with dates and times:

Thursday, August 5: Sooner Caravan in Oklahoma City - The final stop on the 2010 Sooner Caravan is in Oklahoma City on Thursday, Aug. 5, at 7 p.m. The event will be held at the National Cowboy & Western History Museum, 1700 Northeast 63rd St....more info from The Sooner Club

Friday, August 6: Meet the Sooners Day: One of the most popular traditions surrounding the Oklahoma football program is Meet the Sooners Day. The annual event kicks off preseason practice and gives the Sooner Nation a unique opportunity to interact with the Sooner players and coaches....more info from the OU Athletic Department

2008 and 2009 Fall Practices were closed to the public except for a couple quick 'sneak-peak' scrimmages, and there is no reason to think that 2010 will be any different. Perhaps though, with this being proclaimed "The Year of the Fan", there will be a special bonus something or other.

More information concerning Preseason Practice will be posted as soon as it's available. In the meantime here's a link to SoonerSports.com's Preseason 2009 to give you an idea what to expect.

Related:

• Pre-Season Predictions & Polls

Never played one of these games myself but from the looks of this video they're getting pretty darn realistic. Take a look see:

I have basically an unedited second half gameplay of the demo of NCAA Football 11, featuring the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners. Great game, be sure to check out my channel if you enjoyed it!: Posted on YouTube July 7, 2010 by trutrojan8

While the reported Pac-10 merger offer Thursday was a real shocker, talks between the two conferences actually started a month ago focusing on a TV partnership. A quick look in the Sooners Etc archives churned up these articles:

May 6 - ESPN College Football Nation Blog:

Expansion? What about a Pac-10-Big 12 partnership?

Most of the expansion talk on the West Coast has focused on the Pac-10 luring Colorado away from the Big 12, but there's increasing evidence that the Pac-10 and Big 12 also are interested in a potential partnership.

Big 12 and Pac-10 administrators and athletic directors met Wednesday in Phoenix, and afterwards Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott used terms like "strategic alliance" and "pooling TV rights" and "joint network."

None of it sounded terribly adversarial. LINK

May 7 - Dallas Morning News:

More talks likely as Big 12, Pac-10 see benefits of possible alliance

For two days in Phoenix this week, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe and many of his athletic directors exchanged ideas with Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott and his ADs.

Expect more discussions going forward on a mutually beneficial alliance/partnership. LINK

May 7 - Los Angeles Times:

Pac-10, Big 12 commissioners continue alliance discussion

Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott confirmed that he met with Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe to continue talks that could lead to a collaboration of media rights and expanded scheduling partnerships.

As a possible Big Ten Conference expansion sends shockwaves throughout college sports, the Pacific 10 and Big 12 conferences are continuing talks that could lead to a collaboration of media rights and expanded scheduling partnerships. LINK

May 10 - Big Red Network (Nebraska blog):

Big 12 Answers Critics with Work on Pac-10 Alliance

After thinking that the Big 12 was going to just sit back on the sidelines and wait for the Big Ten to raid the Big 12's coffers, we learn today that the silence on the expansion front may have had something to do with an alliance in the works with the Pac-10. Initial meetings between the two league's commissioners and some athletic directors from the conferences occurred Wednesday and Thursday, and according to Dan Beebe, the talks were "very positive". LINK

Such an alliance could make for a very lucrative television contract, particularly when taking some of the scheduling possibilities into consideration. Talk about made for TV games: Texas vs USC, OU vs USC, OU vs Oregon just to name a few.

And then there's this little nugget from a June 4th Deseret News article:

Combined, the Big 12 and Pac-10, as presently constituted, boast all 22 BCS automatic-qualifier schools west of the Mississippi River. Together, the two leagues make up 31 percent of the nation's TV markets. LINK

Were the Pac 10 'invites' a ruse to get something moving on the TV agreement? Is a Nebraska defection to the Big 10 a stumbling block? Was Texas AD DeLoss Dodds, who made the statement "We didn't start this - But if we need to finish it, we'll finish it", the one behind reportedly giving Nebraska a deadline to s*** or get off the pot? If Nebraska bugs out will it be curtains for the Big 12? Stay tuned and find out all this and more in upcoming episodes of Merger Mania.