I am going to do something that has never been done before in the Daily.

I am going to write about former Cyclone coach Jim Walden without using: obscenities, adjectives such as stupid and boneheaded, jokes about his football knowledge or lack thereof.

The reason I’m writing about Walden is because I had the chance (misfortune, bad lack, call it what you want) to watch a portion of his television show after Iowa State Head Football Coach Dan McCarney’s show on Sunday morning. I know what you’re thinking. Get a life Bill, no one could be that bored to stoop that low.

It was actually pretty good. In the segment I watched, Walden was interviewing legendary college football sportscaster Keith Jackson. They talked about a lot of topics, but the one that interested me the most was when they discussed college conference realignment for sports.

Jackson was in favor of realignment. He mentioned the money aspect of it, plus the added competition that the expanded conferences would bring.

This is an important issue on the ISU campus because the Cyclones will be part of the Big 12 conference starting in 1996-97. All of the schools in the Big Eight, plus current Southwest Conference members Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor will make up the new conference. The Texas schools plus Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will compose the southern division, with the rest of the schools in the northern division.

Jackson’s comments forced me to ponder two questions:

1) Will the new superconference help or hinder the Cyclone athletic programs?

2) Is it necessary to hold a conference championship game between the two divisions?

One of the biggest advantages of the new conference for ISU will be increased revenue to the athletic program. This added revenue will mostly come from television rights.

But let us take a closer look at this supposed windfall from television revenue. Sure, the Big 12 will get more money from a television contract than the Big Eight would, but the thing to remember is that it is divided 12 ways instead of eight.

Even if the ISU athletic department does end up getting more money in the Big 12, there is another thing to think about. If the ISU football program continues to improve in the next couple of years, will the the new, bigger conference diminish our exposure?

With 12 teams and only one game on national television a week for the conference, a lot of great games will not be shown on a nationwide basis. Ask folks in Kansas what they thought of the big K State-KU match up not being shown on television. Lack of television exposure could hurt Troy Davis’ chances of winning the Heisman in ’96 or ’97.

I have more of a mixed view on the second question. For one point, a conference champion would be exciting for the fans. The SEC championship game is usually one of the most thrilling match ups of the season.

The question if a conference championship game would bring more money to the conference is disputed. The title game would bring added television revenue to the conference.

But what happens if the No. 1 ranked team in the polls loses the championship game? How much money would the conference stand to lose in lost bowl revenues if one of its teams loses in the conference championship game?