Before the Nebraska Cornhuskers game against the Colorado Buffaloes last week, it was revealed that no one from the Big 12 offices would be heading to Lincoln, Nebraska for the game because of what they called threats from fans, particularly Nebraska fans. Husker fans haven't been pleased with the perception of them that's been created by some, including those in the Big 12 office.
I can see why they're upset. Rarely do you see the Commissioner of a major athletic conference giving some lunatics -- every fan base has them -- the platform that Beebe gave them. He didn't just say threats -- examples of the threats were made public -- furthering the perception that all Nebraska fans are raving lunatics.
Why did Beebe go public with those threats....and now decline to answer questions when people ask for more information?
Anyway, a rep from the Big 12 said the threats had been referred to the authorities. The problem? No one seems to know who these authorities are.
Earlier this week, Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said the matter had been reported to "the authorities," but declined to name the agency. He said he couldn’t provide copies of the alleged threats because they were under investigation.
Christopher Burbach of the Omaha World-Herald has an interesting story detailing some of the confusion. Originally, Dallas police said they were investigating threats made to Beebe but later we found out that it was a misunderstanding. The threats had apparently gone to Beebe's office in Irving, Texas so Dallas police clarified to say that they were not investigating anything and did not have any written reports of anything.
OK, so are the Irving police investigating the issue?
A spokesman for the Irving Police Department said Thursday that the agency’s records showed no reports involving Beebe.
So who did the Big 12 report the threats to? Reps from Nebraska aren't sure:
"Our law enforcement has not received any contact about any threat, or any report that we are being asked to be involved in, or asked to investigate," she said.
This is a slippery slope because I'm not insinuating that Beebe didn't receive threats. I'm sure he did and if, as he says, they were so much that he or anyone from his office didn't want to go to Lincoln, then which authorities did they report it to? Did they even report them? I think these are all valid questions at this point that the Big 12 is not answering other than to indicate that "the authorities" were contacted.
Until the Big 12 decides to clarify the situation, we're left to believe there's a possibility they didn't report them to anyone. We're left to believe that they went public with these threats, creating the perception that Nebraska fans are lunatics, and potentially without reporting them to the authorities. If the Big 12 did report it to the authorities, then why decline to name who they reported it to?
Why are there so many questions about this? Why is the Big 12 declining to comment who, specifically, they reported this to? And why hasn't Nebraska been contacted about the threats?