Something Different

Dallas is a religious city. In the fall we go to our churches up to four times on weekends. Friday night its high school football. Saturday is for college football. Sunday morning we go to the house of worship of our choice and pray the sermon doesn't run so long that we are late for the fourth service: the Cowboys. Dallas has been like this as long as I can remember. When Roger Staubach retired in 1980, all the local stations (except the PBS affiliate) carried it live. So it comes as no surprise that the lead story on the news tonight is the apparently imminent breakup of the Big 12 conference. Colorado is gone (were they ever in?). Nebraska is on the verge of leaving. And rumors are flying as to what UT, Tech, A&M, OU, and OSU are going to do. If they follow Colorado's lead and go to the Pac-10, I believe they will feel right at home. USC's latest shenanigans would have been right at home in the days of the Southwest Conference and the Big 8. The Jackie Sherrill era at A&M, the Mike Leach era at Tech (from which the dust has yet to settle), the Barry Switzer years at OU. All of these draw some comparison to USC's current troubles. Now we know why Pete Carroll left La-la land for the Pacific Northwest. He said in his statement today that he knew nothing of the charges against USC while he was coach. Sorry Pete, but your audition for the role of Sgt. Schultz in the remake of Hogan's Heroes is next week. If USC does have to vacate the title from their blowout of OU, what does that say about Vince Young and UT's win over virtually the same team the next year? Certainly one of the greatest games ever. The sad thing about all the commentary about USC? I heard one talking head compare in severity to that of SMU in the 80s. Isn't it time to leave SMU alone?