Imagine you had a friend who decided to build a deck in his backyard. You’re over at his house one day, and he shows you the plans – spot for a grill, hot tub, etc. All in all, sounds pretty sweet.
The next day, he calls you to tell you about going to Home Depot to pick out the tools he needs. The day after that, he sends you an e-mail detailing his trip to the lumber yard to get the wood he needs. A day later at the gym, he’s telling you all about his discovery that he’s going to need a cement foundation.
Seriously, who cares? Call me once it’s done (which will hopefully be in time for a Memorial Day cookout).
I think we’ve finally reached a similar saturation point with the breathlessly reported details of Texas A&M’s slow-motion escape from the Big 12 into the waiting arms of the Southeastern Conference. The latest development, reported late Monday night, had the Aggies sending their current conference home a Dear John letter regarding their intentions.
Lest you get the wrong idea from the media coverage of every burp and fart coming out of College Station, there’s no ongoing “decision-making” from A&M’s part. These are mere procedural baby steps required to get the Aggies from point A (Big 12) to point B (SEC). The A&M shot-callers have clearly had their hearts set on this move for weeks, possibly months. In fact, after last summer, you could argue their fondness for the SEC never really died, despite being prodded to return to their conference of origin.
The real question now: How will the deck chairs get re-arranged? Everyone keeps asking who the SEC will target next to even out the number of league members, but the real action is likely in the Big 12.
Despite plenty of happy talk of keeping the conference together, the league’s future is growing more cloudy by the second. Grandiose designs on luring big-ticket names such as Notre Dame aare falling embarrassingly flat. Even more ominous, Tulsa World columnist Dave Sittler reported this morning that the launch of the Longhorn Network and the difficulties being created in dealing with Texas and ESPN are finally beginning to get on the nerves of the University of Oklahoma’s administration.
Oklahoma and Texas enjoy one of college football’s most storied rivalries and have been joined at the hip since the conference realignment wheel started spinning last summer. Should that alliance fall apart, though, OU would offer an attractive expansion candidate for any league and would likely come without the entanglements and ill will generated when one conference is perceived to have “raided” another. (Hello, ACC.)
Until the Big 12 picture clears up, more stable conferences such as the SEC and Pac-12 have no need to get too proactive about adding more programs. Fans growing weary of the realignment game can take comfort in knowing that the conference’s future looks bleak. Still, much like watching the dominoes fall at a snail’s pace with A&M, expect the tiresome speculation and rumor-trading surrounding expansion to drag on.
