Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Fox News" Chris Wallace brings experience, sterling reputation to moderator"s role


Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace 10/16/16 | Pence responds to allegations against Donald Trump

When Chris Wallace takes up the moderators role at Wednesdays third and final debate of the 2016 presidential election, he will bring more than 50 years experience and an impeccable reputation to the task.

The debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will air on Fox News Channel onWednesday, Oct. 19 at 9 p.m. ET.

Wallace, the anchor of "Fox News Sunday," moderated Fox News Channel"s GOP primary debates alongside Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly and considers his role to let the candidates take center stage.

"If people say, "it was a great debate and I don"t remember you being there," I will have done my job," said Wallace.

Wallace has announced the topics, which will be discussed in six 15-minute segments.

  • Debt and entitlements
  • Immigration
  • Economy
  • Supreme Court
  • Foreign hot spots
  • Fitness to be President

The chosen topics may be altered depending on news events leading up to the event.

Wallace has participated in coverage of nearly every major political event and has secured several high-profile interviews with dignitaries and U.S. leaders in his 13 years at Fox News Channel. Serving as moderator of the 90-minute session at University of Nevada, Las Vegas is the latest milestone in an illustrious career.

"I"m the first Fox moderator to do a general election debate and I"m very proud for the news organization, Wallace recently told Baier. I think it"s a recognition of the fact that we do serious journalism. Some critics say no, but the fact is, you and I know we do. And here"s the Commission on Presidential Debates recognizing that."

To watch, tune in at 9 p.m. to Fox News Channel.

The debate also will be streamed live on FoxNews.comandthe Fox News app.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO WATCH THE DEBATE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE OR TABLET

Wallace has interviewed presidents before, including an exclusive sit-down earlier this year with President Obama, his fourth interview with Obama. He has also handled moderating duties in the past, working alongside co-anchors Baier and Megyn Kelly in August 2015, during the first GOP presidential debate of the 2016 election.

Wallace also co-moderated the networks second and third debates of the 2016 cycle, held on Jan. 28 in Des Moines, and March 3 in Detroit.

In prior election years, Wallace served as a panel member and moderator of FNC"s South Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida debates during the 2012 primary campaign season. He also played an integral role in Fox News" 2008 and 2004 election coverage.

It was 1964 when Wallace got his first taste of presidential politics, serving as news legend Walter Cronkite"s "go-fer" at the RNC convention.

Over the next 50-plus years in broadcasting, Wallace has won every major broadcast news award for his reporting, including three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Peabody Award and the Sol Taishoff Award for Broadcast Journalism, which was awarded to him by the National Press Foundation.

Most recently, he received the 2013 Paul White Award for lifetime achievement and service to electronic journalism from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Wallace has been described as an "equal opportunity inquisitor" by The Boston Globe, "an aggressive journalist," "sharp edged" and "solid" by The Washington Post and "an equal-opportunity ravager" by The Miami Herald.

Before joining FNC, Wallace worked at ABC News for 14 years where he served as the senior correspondent for Primetime Thursday and a substitute host for Nightline. During his tenure with ABC News, Wallace hosted multiple groundbreaking investigations and received numerous awards for his work.

Prior to joining ABC News, Wallace served as NBCs chief White House correspondent from 1982-1989. While at NBC, he covered the 1980, 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns as well as the Democratic and Republican conventions in those years. Wallace moderated Meet the Press from 1987-1988.

Wallace attended Harvard College.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/17/fox-news-chris-wallace-brings-experience-sterling-reputation-to-moderators-role.html

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"El Chapo" Guzm�n"s home turf is becoming a hotbed for synthetic-drug production


Matan a juez que suspendió extradición de "El Chapo", Prohíben disfraces de policía; EN SÍNTESI

The northwest Mexican state of Sinaloa where cartel boss Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn was born and lived has become a focal point of the country"s growing production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine.

Parts of Sinaloa state, along with areas of Chihuahua and Durango states, make up Mexico"s "Golden Triangle," an area so-named for intense marijuana and opium cultivation that also take place there.

And the recent rise in synthetic-drug production indicates the continued expansion of Mexican criminal organizations" presence in the drug trade, likely driven by changing drug-consumption habits in the US.

Drug laboratories discovered in Sinaloa, around the state capital of Culiacan in particular, appear set to double in two years, according to details shared by Rogelio Tern Contreras, commander of the local military zone.

In 2014, 47 labs were discovered, followed by 80 in 2015. Thus far in 2015, authorities have come across 55 such labs, according to official statistics cited by El Universal and noted by Insight Crime.

Since the end of June, Mexican troops have discovered a suspected synthetic-drug lab near Cosal in Sinaloa, a suspected lab in Culiacan, and another lab about 30 miles outside of Culiacan.

"The principal problem in the jurisdiction is organized crime ...," Tern Contreras told El Universal. "The units of the ninth military zone are bound for, practically, the eradication of the ... aspects of of organized crime."

A suspected drug lab discovered in Mexico"s Sinaloa state.Mexican Naval Secretariat

"Mexican traffickers have achieved this booming meth production by adapting their labs, switching recipes, and finding new sources of precursor ingredients," journalist Ioan Grillo reported in early 2015.

Mexico"s Pacific coast, on which Sinaloa sits, has long been a major production and transit point for drugs, and that dynamic has continued with the growth of synthetic-drug production. Sinaloa and Guerrero state, farther south, are known to be hubs for opium and heroin production.

Sinaloa and Michoacan, another state on coast, have now become the sites of superlabs for synthetic-drug production. A report earlier this year from the International Narcotics Control Board found that 131 such labs were dismantled in 2014, the majority of them located in Guerrero, Sinaloa, and Michoacan.

"As well as running some big labs, the crime syndicates now often cook meth known here as "hielo" (ice) in clusters of small labs scattered over hills and valleys," Grillo reported in January 2015. "Traffickers with capital buy raw ingredients in bulk, then subcontract producers ... to do the dirty work."

A Marine stands next to ingredients of crystal methamphetamines at a clandestine laboratory discovered by the police and military in the municipality of Badiraguato, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, June 12, 2009.Reuters

One such producer who spoke with Grillo said the workers who cook the meth will set up makeshift labs of plastic barrels and generators in secluded areas, packing the final product into plastic containers.

Ports up and down the Pacific shore are believed to be arrival points for the precursor chemicals needed to make synthetic drugs and departure points for the finished product. According to the INCB report, Mexico is a source country for crystal meth found in East and Southeast Asia and throughout Oceania regions no doubt served by shipments from Mexico"s western coast.

"Historically the states of Sinaloa, Colima, to a lesser extent Nayarit, but also Guerrero ... historically maritime smuggling in these areas has always been important," David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego, told Business Insider this summer. "And the physical infrastructure and transportation infrastructure from the coast to the center of Mexico, to Mexico City importantly, is vital to all kind of trade, including illicit trade."

A map of suspected areas of influence for Mexico"s drug cartels.DEA 2015 NDTA

Competition over ports in this area has driven up violence, particularly in Guerrero and Colima states, both of which currently have homicide rates many times higher than the national average.

Two major cartels, the Jalisco New Generation cartel and Guzmn"s Sinaloa cartel, are suspected of causing most of that violence. Those two organizations, along with various other regional criminal groups, are believed to be clashing up and down Mexico"s west coast, including in Guerrero state (Acapulco in particular), Colima state, and in both Baja California Sur and Baja California, especially in Tijuana.

The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartel are believed to dominate the crystal-meth market in the US, with the Jalisco group gaining a boost from local expertise and from knowledge it took with it when it split from Sinaloa in about 2010.

"They have a Ph.D. in drug trafficking thanks to the education provided by the Sinaloa cartel and other cartels," Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told Reuters of the Jalisco cartel.

A soldier takes a photograph while standing near boilers at an outdoor clandestine drug-processing laboratory discovered in Chiquilistlan in the state of Jalisco, December 7, 2011.Alejandro Acosta/Reuters

The proliferation of drug laboratories has created a significant strain on Mexican authorities" resources.

Investigative work and the dismantling of each lab can cost the Mexican attorney general"s office about $50,000 to $100,000, and the manpower needed to take apart the labs pulls soldiers away from other duties for as long as three months. This distraction comes as production of other drugs in Sinaloa appears to be rising, too, with 5,300 poppy plantations seized so far this year, up from 1,070 seized during 2014.

As noted by Insight Crime, Mexican criminal organizations operating in these areas have likely intensified production of opium and synthetic drugs to compensate for falling revenue from marijuana, demand for which is believed to have fallen with the spread of legal marijuana in the US.

"Methamphetamine in the United States originates primarily from clandestine laboratories in Mexico and is smuggled across the Southwest Border," the US Drug Enforcement Administration noted in its 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment.

Meth seizures were up all along the US border in 2014.DEA 2015 NDTA

"Methamphetamine availability will continue to increase as Mexican TCOs have adapted to restrictions placed on precursor chemicals and are able to continue producing large amounts of high-purity, high-potency methamphetamine," the DEA added.

"The increase in heroin abuse in the US is creating a significant surge of opium and heroin production by criminal groups in Mexico," Vigil told Business Insider earlier this year.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/sythetic-drug-meth-production-el-chapo-guzman-home-turf-2016-10

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Champions League roundup: Real Madrid cruise but Dortmund stay top


Bayer Leverkusen vs. Tottenham Hotspur | 2016-17 UEFA Champions League Highlights

Real Madrid moved into a commanding position in Group F by cruising to a 5-1 home victory against Legia Warsaw.

Gareth Bale scored his first European goal since December 2014 to give the Champions League holders the lead in the 16th minute with a curled left-foot drive and an own goal by Legias Tomasz Jodlowiec, deflecting in Marcelos shot, doubled their advantage.

Miroslav Radovic pulled one back from the penalty spot but Marco Asensio made it 3-1 in the 37th minute with a low shot on his Champions League debut.

The substitute Lucas Vzquez volleyed home a cross in the 68th minute and the former Juventus striker lvaro Morata rounded off the win by converting a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still waiting for his 100th goal in Uefa competitions, six minutes from time.

Real are second in their group, however, behind Borussia Dortmund who overcame Sporting 2-1 thanks to superb first-half goals by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Julian Weigl. Bruno Csar pulled the Portuguese league runners-up back into the game when an indirect free-kick was back-heeled to him midway through the second half but Borussia held on for a valuable away win.

Elsewhere, the second-half substitute Juan Cuadrado earned 10-man Juventus a 1-0 win at Lyon after Gianluigi Buffon pulled off a couple of superb saves to keep the Serie A leaders afloat. Cuadrado netted the only goal in the 76th minute, seven minutes after replacing Paulo Dybala as Juve were down to 10 men following Mario Leminas sending-off nine minutes into the second half. The Italy keeper Buffon, who made a rare gaffe in the 1-1 World Cup qualifier draw against Spain earlier this month, saved Alexandre Lacazettes 35th-minute penalty and made a couple of decisive saves before Cuadrado struck the winner.

Sevilla are level on points with Juve in Group H after a first-half goal by Samir Nasri gave the Spanish side a 1-0 win at the Croatian title holders, Dinamo Zagreb.

Sevilla missed a string of chances on a slippery surface either side of Nasris clinical 37th-minute finish, when he poked the ball home from a tight angle after a low cross by Mariano Ferreira to leave Dinamo as the only side of 32 teams in the competition yet to score a goal.

Monaco remain top of the increasingly tight Group E after coming from behind to secure a 1-1 draw with CSKA Moscow. Lacina Traor opened the scoring for CSKA against his parent club but Bernardo Silva grabbed the equaliser late on. Monaco currently have five points with Tottenham on four following their goalless draw at Bayer Leverkusen, who sit third with three points.

And Andr Silvas injury-time penalty sealed a 2-1 for Porto at Club Brugge. Jelle Vossen latched on to a rebound to put Brugge ahead but the Mexican defen`der Miguel Layn levelled with a long-range effort before Silva converted after Jess Corona had been brought down. Porto move to four points, level with FC Copenhagen, who are also five points behind Leicester City after losing 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNHSGQrIs1m8q8bdUaEfjOAvJ-Bo_g&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779244496413&ei=T50HWKCYLIGF3gHXmIq4Cw&url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/18/champions-league-roundup-real-madrid-legia-warsaw-sporting-borussia-dortmund

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Ariel Winter bares midriff and cleavage in summery outfit that reveals her underwear


Ariel Winter On Breast Reduction Surgery, "Modern Family" Fame | EXCLUSIVE

It might officially be pumpkin season, but Ariel Winter is still making the most of the last days of summer.

The actress dressed for the heat on Saturday, as she attended a party in Los Angeles with friends.

The 18-year-old wore a clinging crop top over sheer lace micro shorts.

Bearing gifts: Ariel Winter was spotted on Saturday heading to a party in Malibu

Dressed for the heat: Her white outfit showcased her cleavage and midriff

She and her Modern Family co-star Nolan Gould were heading into a party in Malibu, and she held what looked like a gift bag with a yellow envelope protruding from it.

A scarlet purse was slung from her left shoulder and matched the faux fur pom pom she"d attached to it.

Letting her black hair fall free, the Los Angeles native completed her ensemble with a pair of wedge shoes featuring gleaming tangles of straps.

Ventilation: Her lacy high-cut shorts were so sheer that her white underwear was distinctly visible underneath

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Nolan, who plays Ariel"s Modern Family character Alex" younger brother Luke, kept his outfit simple with a white T-shirt over purple and white shorts.

Covering the November issue of Seventeen, Ariel opened up therein about becoming comfortable with her body despite the fact "I wake up and I have tweets to me about how I"m a fat, ugly blah-blah."

She conceded that "When I was younger, it took a lot more of a toll on me than it does now.Three or four years ago, I would have been devastated, like, Why do people feel this way about me? I"m just being me."

Actress Shanelle Workman, her 38-year-old sister, who in 2014 became her legal guardian, "helped me understand that people will say those things regardless of how you look. I tell myself every day, "I look fabulous.""

Friends outside of work: Her Modern Family co-star Nolan Gould (far right) attended the party with her

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3844778/Ariel-Winter-bares-midriff-cleavage-summery-outfit-reveals-underwear.html

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"All of these guys ultimately snitch": "El Chapo" Guzm�n may be thinking about cutting a deal with the US


‘El Chapo’ Judge Gunned Down In Front Of His House In Mexico

Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn continues to wait on a judge"s decision whether to uphold or strike down his appeal against extradition to the US.

The legal gears are already turning in the US, where the Department of Justice and prosecutors are preparingto face the drug boss in court, and in Mexico Guzmn and his legal team may be getting ready for a different kind of showdown.

In an interview with El Universal published on September 20, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzmn"s lawyers, said that while they would exhaust all the available means of avoiding his transfer out of Mexico, the legal team Guzmnhas in the US was prepared to open negotiations in order to make sure Guzmn spends as little time as possible in jail.

This is not the first time Guzmn"s representatives have broached negotiations with US authorities. In an interview in February, Rodriguez said that the kingpin had"suggested to me the possible option of reaching an agreement with the United States government to consent to the extradition."

According to Rodriguez, Guzmn was"willingto accept his culpability" for charges filed in the US if he were given guarantees that he would not be"held in a maximum-security prison where he would not have contact with other inmates or where he would not see the light of the sun for more than an hour a day" stipulations likely referring to the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Those terms may be too ambitious for US prosecutors, however.

Mexican federal police guard a road leading to the Cefereso No. 9 federal prison in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, May 7, 2016, where "El Chapo" Guzmn was suddenly transferred from a prison in central Mexico.AP Photo/Raymundo Ruiz

"The government has no interest whatsoever in negotiating for any leniency vis vis Chapo Guzmn,"Peter Vincent, a former legal adviser at the US Department of Homeland Security, told Business Insider.

That would not preclude any negotiations, though. "However, what El Chapo Guzmn can do, and what he may likely do, is negotiate to protect certain members of his family from facing additional prosecution either in Mexico or the United States by turning on some of his former lieutenants," Vincent said, adding:

"And for all of the bravado, for all of the tough talk, for all of their viciousness, all of these guys ultimately snitch and provide information to law enforcement and intelligence agencies that compromise ongoing operations and the activities and location of their colleagues, cohorts, and lieutenants."

Guzmn is perhaps as close to a human-intelligence bonanza as US and Mexican authorities would have seen in recent memory.

He reportedly got involved in the Mexican drug trade in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and some of his relatives were members of a cabal of traffickers who formed a Sinaloa-state-based trafficking organization that would go on to spawn some of Mexico"s most high-profile drug cartels.

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in an undated photo.InSight Crime

Guzmn would eventually assume leadership of the Sinaloa cartel and go on to defeat many of those related organizations, including the Juarez cartel in a b****y battle centered on Ciudad Juarez.

His decades-long involvement in Mexico"s drug trade, as well as his ties to the powerful but shadowy Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who is believed to be Guzmn"s peer in the Sinaloa hierarchy, no doubt means "El Chapo" has deep knowledge of the cartel makeup in Mexico, though it"s possible his stints in jail and away from the cartel over the last two years has dated some of his information.

In a potential negotiation with US authorities, Guzmn may have a more personal reason to talk. Recent events on and near his home turf in Sinaloa state suggest that, in his absence, his family and the Sinaloa cartel are being drawn into conflict with rival organizations and erstwhile allies.

Earlier this summer, an armed group mounted an attack on his hometown that forced his mother from her home. In August, at least one of his sons was briefly abducted from a posh restaurant in Puerta Vallarta, allegedly by members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, the Sinaloa cartel"s increasingly powerful rival.

Footage of gunmen in a Puerto Vallarta restaurant during the kidnapping of at least one of "El Chapo" Guzmn"s sons.Omar Gonzalez/YouTube

Most recently, Guzmn"s sons were implicated in an attack on a military convoy in the Sinaloa state capital that left five soldiers dead; the sons, speaking through Rodriguez, denied any connection to the attack.

"I have no doubt that in this case, as in every other case I"ve seen, "El Chapo" Guzmn trying to gain a better ... situation for his family in Mexico, having them placed in some sort of witness protection ...may actually turn a plea deal and not go to trial," Vincent told Business Insider.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/el-chapo-guzman-negotiate-deal-us-prosecutors-2016-10

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Overwatch Sombra ARG reaches new, seemingly anticlimactic milestone


Overwatch | Sombra Countup Ende | Infos und Fakten | Bastion Morsecode uvm ★ Overwatch Deutsch

After months of teasing (and apparent leaks), Blizzards long-running alternate reality game for Overwatch one that, players theorize, will conclude in the reveal of a new character, Sombra looked like it was coming to an end today. Fans of the team-based shooter were paying close attention to a simple website that updated at a glacial pace over the course of many weeks, hoping that when a counter reached 100 percent, Sombra would be officially unveiled.

No such luck.

Instead, Overwatch fans were treated to an updated message on that website, amomentincrime.com. The new message read:

...Transmisin finalizada - finalizando carga... ...Carga finalizada. Unidad Bastion E-54 comprometida...

That translates to, roughly, Transmission complete. Completing load. Load complete. Unit E-54 Bastion compromised. In other words, Sombra, a computer expert who had been hacking into an unidentified network over the course of the past eight weeks, had hacked into the last remaining Bastion unit, who is playable in Overwatch.

Blizzard released a new update for Overwatch today, right around the same time that the A Moment In Crime website was updated. Players quickly went digging to discover what was new. So far, they havent found much. Bastion doesnt appear to have changed its behavior in the game.

The only new clue players have discovered is a message hidden in the A Moment In Crime websites HTML. That message is:

v1.4.0.2.324??

That number looks awfully close to the versioning numbers Blizzard uses for Overwatch, but so far, players havent cracked the version numbers significance. Players have also noticed that the number of cosmetic items available per hero in Overwatchs Hero Gallery appears to be a bit ... glitchy, indicating that if Sombra does appear soon, Blizzard may have more skins, emotes, sprays and voice lines queued up and ready to go for her arrival. That, or Overwatchs latest update introduced a minor bug.

Players are currently hammering out other theories, including one where theyre monitoring Bastions blinking eye in the robots recently added Halloween-themed victory pose, just in case Bastion is now communicating via Morse code.

Regardless of players findings, many Overwatch fans are expressing fatigue and annoyance at the painfully slow unveiling of Sombra. One of the most popular threads on Reddit is titled Blizzard please do not treat any heroes in the future like you have with Sombra. It reads:

Let me start by saying some of the ARG stuff is cool. Like the website or small hints in game. However all this Sombra "hype" has reached a point where I"m completely sick and tired of hearing about her. Sure, I"m excited for a new hero. But at this point Sombra has become more of a meme than an actual character. And nothing they introduce with her will be able to live up to the, frankly frustrating, amount of hype she"s been given. It seems like every time we"re FINALLY going to see a release, it turns out to be yet another teaser.

I guess the short answer is I"m sick of hearing about her. And if this is how every hero is going to be treated from now on, I worry every character will be released to disappointment rather than excitement.

Many Overwatch players on the games subreddit appear to agree with that sentiment.

Blizzard treated the reveal of Overwatchs first post-launch character, Ana, quite differently. The company dropped a few hints about her on Twitter one week, then made her playable the following week. That was in July, when the Sombra ARG kicked off in earnest.

Overwatch fans may have to ration their patience a bit longer, as Blizzard will hold its annual fan-focused convention, BlizzCon, in just a few weeks. BlizzCon 2016 will take place Nov. 4-5 in Anaheim, California. Hopefully, Sombra will emerge from the shadows before then, for the safety and sanity of all attendees.

Source: http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/18/13318010/overwatch-sombra-arg-blizzard-pls-giff-sombra

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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Tulane"s back where it started after Big 12 expansion scenarios fizzle


Six candidates for Big 12 expansion: Yay or Nay?

The Big 12s latest expansion talks turned into another big tease, meaning Tulane and 10 other schools that interviewed with the conference in September are right back where they started.

For Tulane, that means trying to become a contender in the American Athletic Conference, considered the top league outside of the "Power Five" conferences that dominate attention and revenue in college football.

The Green Wave is 3-15 in AAC football games through two-plus years and is coming off a last-place finish in mens basketball, prompting new athletic director Troy Dannen to hire Willie Fritz as his football coach and Mike Dunleavy as his hoops coach soon after arriving in New Orleans. Fritz has guided the Wave to a 3-3 start for only the second time in 13 years, but Tulane is 0-2 in conference play, home losses to Navy and Memphis.

Dannen was traveling Monday night and unreachable for comment, but he has made his position clear on elevating Tulanes athletic program since he arrived.

I expect to compete with the Big 12 and the ACC day in, day out in every sport whether Im in their league or not in their league so Ive got to make sure our program is in a position to do that, he said in January. You shouldnt look at one duck and be able to tell its Tulane and another duck and tell its Duke or another duck and tell its TCU. I want us to look like all the other ducks in the pond.

Tulanes Big 12 candidacy hinged on its sterling academic reputation. It is one of 62 members of the Association of American Universities, which is limited to top research institutions. Buffalo and Rice were the only other FBS members not already in a "Power Five" conference, so it was no coincidence when Tulane and Rice made the initial cut among 20 schools on the Big 12"s list, while Memphis did not.

Still, the Wave was considered a long shot even if the Big 12 expanded by four and out of the picture if the league expanded by two, with Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and UConn the favorites in almost every scenario.

It turned out that no one had a shot, with the Big 12s unanimous decision to stand pat leaving the AAC intact at 12 teams. Six of the 11 Big 12 expansion finalists were from the AAC, with Central Florida and South Florida the other league teams under consideration. The AAC would have struggled to replace any defectors with equivalent programs.

Tulane thought it was joining a power conference when it accepted an invitation from the Big East in November 2012. A day later, Louisville announced it was leaving for the ACC. Soon after, the league split in half, with its non-football members retaining the Big East label while the football schools became the AAC.

There is a huge gap between the AAC and Big 12 in revenue. The Big 12"s television contracts with ESPN and Fox, which run through 2024-25, are worth more than $20 million per year for each school. Each member of the AAC earns about $2 million annually from deals with ESPN and CBS Sports that run through 2019-20.

On the field, the difference has been much smaller. The AAC is 29-14 in nonconference games this year, and the Big 12 is 19-11. Houston beat Big 12 favorite Oklahoma 33-23 to start the season, rising to No. 6 in The Associated Press poll before losing to fellow AAC school Navy.

Source: http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/sports/tulane/article_c9b4d504-94d5-11e6-ab07-c7466cb275ad.html

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