The Big Break Up

It's now become official. With a wave of the hand and the ink of a stamp, Colorado has decided to venture westward into the college athletic vastness of the Pacific. The Buffaloes won't have to worry about their annual Day after Thanksgiving tilt with Nebraska or trips to college towns such as Ames and Manhattan. Their journey to the Pac-10 Conference is complete, and the Pac-10's journey has just begun.

Throughout this week of collegiate football upheaval, the main talk has been focused on the Cornhuskers and the team I still root for above all others, Missouri. The Tigers might actually be one of the original villains in this whole ordeal. When Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney opened up the floor to possibilities of the conference's expansion recently, Mizzou was the first in line to voice their willingness to jump ship and their displeasure with the Big 12 status quo.

I actually have to thank Nebraska and Colorado. The folks from Lincoln have pretty much taken the heat off of MU by getting to the 98% mark of bolting the Plains states organization. Doesn't make up for the Fleakicker, but thanks just the same. Now everyone in Boulder is taking a dip into the Pacific's "green" waters. Not saying that will reverse the Fifth Down, but I still appreciate the gesture.

Whether the end result got kick-started in Lincoln, Boulder, or Columbia, one thing was for certain ... the Big 12 was the main target. Now, not even 15 years after its inception, the conference may be on its last breath. And for me, sad would be a slight understatement.

I feel that this whole process is one of bittersweet proportions. If the Tigers do get invited to (is that still on the table?) and accepted into the Big Ten, I don't deny that there would be some intrigue. But at the same time, some athletic departments are the equivalent of cigarette butts being thrown out the car window, left to roll helplessly on the pavement until they're flattened.

One such program I have familiarity with ... my alma mater, Iowa State. Another, I should have nothing but disdain for ... Rock Chalk Kansas. However, the affection I have for the Cyclones and the contempt I feel for the Jayhawks have melded together into compassionate sympathy for both sides.

I was at ISU when the baseball program was dropped because of budget cuts. There were quite a few people on campus that weren't pleased with that outcome. Now, magnify that by "12." To get dropped from their status as Big 12 member, through no fault or doing of their own, makes my heart break.

As I've said before, growing up in Kansas City, you're really either on the side of blue and crimson or the side of black and gold. But being tilted one way doesn't define you. Each group needs the other to function. It's a way of life. How would the Yankees do if they had no Red Sox? What about the Packers without any Bears? Heck, you're seeing it now with the Lakers and the Celtics playing for the NBA title.

I watched some of Mike & Mike on ESPN today, and Greenberg brought up the fact that he'll miss the tilts between Oklahoma and Nebraska. How about no KU/MU? A rivalry that literally goes back to the Civil War could be lost in a heartbeat. To many Tiger fans, it would be surreal and unthinkable.

Let me digress from the rivalry talk, though. As much as I can and do chide the Jayhawks and their fans, I know that KU is getting a raw deal (as Dick Vitale might put it). To have the history that this school has overall, and to be slighted because their not up to "football" standards is a crime.

But that's the way college business works in 2010. And as I noted earlier, it's sad. You see, I'm not a son of the Big 12, I'm actually a son of the Big Eight. I remember when the conference football champion was sent to the Orange Bowl every New Years' Night. I remember when Kemper Arena hosted the conference's basketball tournament each March. I have memories of downright animosity between the Huskers, Buffaloes, Jayhawks, Tigers, Sooners, Cyclones, Wildcats, and Cowboys. Three of these institutions have been there since the beginning (1907), and all but Colorado and Oklahoma State formed the Big Six back in 1928. When ties run 80 years deep, there's going to be some separation anxiety.

And that's where I sit today. I sit with empathy for enemies, in a stupor for my mentor, and in bewilderment for my roots. As Ralphie roams toward the coast and Herbie Husker eyes the Great Lakes, there's nothing but a foggy haze that may never settle in my mind. Truth is this only starts to kick up the dust of what could be a complete restructuring of college athletics as we know it. Even though football is the catalyst, all of your university's sports programs will feel the effects.

But that's a discussion for another day.