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Yes, the Big XII is a Joke

I'd been avoiding any discussion of college football lest it renew any bitter, hate-filled exchanges between Pac 10 supporters and certain Utah fans.  But a commenter asked, so here's a thread on the moving and shaking in the college football world.

1.  No, U$C, you cannot pay cash to your players to play for you.  And as a memo to your anonymous sources claiming that the sanctions are warranted if you're a UCLA fan:  The sanctions are warranted if you care about the integrity of college sports--95% of which offers no promise of 8-figure lucrative professional contracts, just the chance to get a great education for free.  The arrogance / chutzpah is just breathtaking. 

2.  Can we finally concede that the Big XII (and by association Mack Brown) are a joke?  One team is about to move and that sets off dominos where the whole conference IMPLODES.  If Nebraska, which hasn't been relevant in 15 years, is the glue that holds your conference together, then yeah, you've got issues. 

3.  Implications?  There's lots of internet chatter about what all is about to go down.  One prospect is Nebraska going to Big 10 (which now actually becomes 12 schools), and six of the Big XII coming to the Pac 10.  The Pac 10 would then have two, 8-team divisions (Arizona and ASU, the last two to join the Pac 10 would merge with the 6 Big XII schools).  At this point there's already several "If"s that need to happen so I'll stop with the hypotheses. 

What this is showing is the complete failure of the NCAA.  Raise your hand if you think these moves have nothing to do with money.  I thought so.  Clearly money is a huge part of college athletics (see no. 1 above).  It shouldn't be.  But it is.  The NCAA has been an ostrich in all of this...at least when it comes to football.  Long ago, the NCAA asserted its control over men's basketball and created the tournament that drives us all crazy in March.  Yet when it comes to football we have independent conferences governing play.  This is like 40 years ago the NFL and the AFL competing for TV/ticket dollars.  It's really time to end the charade.  Other than serving as a middleman between schools and TV contracts, I don't see the point of independent conferences.  Put all (the old D1A) schools on the same field.  Conferences become nothing more than geographic organization tools--no different than the conferences and divisions in professional sports.  Bowls can stay, but they now become regional battles like in the Men's Basketball tournament.  Winners play maybe 2 extra games to determine a national champion.  The argument that the NCAA cares about football players and therefore does not want to expose them to extra games does not wash.  If they gave a rat's ass about student athlete's they'd remove the archane rules governing scholarships.

There's lots to chew on since the Nebraska news broke.  Feel free to chime.  Did I mention the Big XII is a joke? 

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).