So here we are—it’s a dreary Thursday in June—and there’s no football in sight. I bet you think I’ve forgotten about you, my fellow female football-philes, but that’s simply not correct. The truth of the matter is that there is a sad dearth of newsworthy events happening in the football community right now, baring a random assortment of odd occurrences. Currently, talk is swirling about a shake-up in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) regarding the school conferences.
What are the school conferences, you ask? Well, all colleges and universities are divided into several divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Basically Division I schools are your big universities that generate a lot of money and scholarships for their athletes. For example, University of Florida, University of Texas, Ohio State University, etc. Using this criteria, you can then work out what schools would be included under Division II and III; schools like Appalachian State or Georgia Southern in Division II and Lenoir-Rhyne University in Division III. Within these Divisions, most schools find it expedient to join with several others to form a conference, which runs like a mini-union for universities and colleges in the sports world. Most conferences consist of 10-15 universities and while a college/university doesn’t have to join one, like Notre Dame, it works out for most of the others.
I live in Georgia and you can bet your bottom dollar that football is The Big Thing down here. In fact, the South is proud to be especially rabid when cheering not only for their favorite team but also for their conference as well. We love us some SEC (Southeastern Conference) and ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) but there are lots of other conferences as well, including the PAC-10, the Big-12, the Big Ten, the Big East, the Mountain West Conference, the WAC, the Conference USA and so forth. The SEC is comprised of the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee, the University of South Carolina, Vanderbuilt University, Auburn University, the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State, Louisiana State University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Kentucky. These schools all play each other in whatever sport is going on, culminating in a conference championship.
I won’t go into the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) right now but believe me, I will get to it soon. I’m only mentioning it at this time because the conferences play an important role in which schools go to which bowl games through the BCS.
Back to the rumors running rampant in the sports world about conference shake-ups. Apparently some teams are willing to jump ship and move to new conferences. The Big Ten and the PAC-10 are making the effort to lure various teams away from the Big-12 and I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’ve kinda grown up with these conferences so to see them rearranged makes me sad inside. But both the PAC-10 and the Big Ten have good reasons for wanting some new blood because they have perennially weak conferences and schedules. If you’ve watched any college ball recently, you couldn’t help but notice that USC (University of Southern California) dominates the PAC-10 while OSU (Ohio State University) has done the same to the Big Ten. There’s no competition and as a sports lover, I want competition. I mean, what’s the point of watching otherwise? So here we are at a watershed and no one seems to know how this situation will turn out. What we did learn today though was that Colorado is leaving the Big-12 for the PAC-10 but that’s hardly earth shattering.
I’ll keep you posted.
Also today USC got their hands slapped by the NCAA for improper recruitment procedures against Reggie Bush from years ago. Reggie has since gone on to the NFL and even has won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints but that hasn’t stopped the NCAA from investigating the USC athletic program. The NCAA isn’t playing around though (hahaha…nice pun) because they’ve literally thrown the book at USC. Not only have they banned the team from bowl games for the next couple years but they’ve taken away some of the wins that USC had when Reggie was on the team. Also, and this is the most heinous of the sanctions, USC will lose more than 30 football scholarships over the next 3 years! I can’t tell you how terrible this situation has become for USC. Athletic scholarships are gold, people! Scholarships are how teams are made; it’s how teams get the good players. If you take away scholarships, good players go elsewhere and then you are stuck with the scrubs. And because I dislike USC and all their shady dealings, along with former head coach, Pete Carroll and current head coach, Lane Kiffin (or Lame Kitten, as I like to call him), I have something that I must do at this very moment….Mwah Ha Ha! In your face USC!
I’m not a malicious person by nature, but you have to admit that sports is basically legalized hatred at best. I’m allowed to hate USC and no one would think a thing of it. In fact, most people expect it. And that is another reason why I love sports—we can all hate each other and it is, for the most part, perfectly amicable.
So while there hasn’t been much football news lately, I’ve managed to eke out the most important stuff. Soon training camps will begin with the preseason right around the corner and then the regular season starts and OMG, I’m so excited!
Before I sign off however, I would like to draw your attention to other things going on in the sports world during these dreary, non-football related, summer months. First of all, there are precisely two—TWO—playoffs going on right now. We have the NHL finals and the NBA finals. Either are good for some fun at a sports bar or out with friends. (Correction: I just found out that we have exactly one playoff going on at this moment, the NBA. The Stanley Cup was won last night by the Blackhawks. Just shows you how much I keep up with hockey. Ah well—it was a good thought.)
Also next weekend the US Open golf tournament is on and this is a biggie! There are only 4 Majors a year on the PGA tour and the US Open is one of them. If you’re like me, you’ll be cheering on your boy, Tiger Woods, but just about every good golfer in the world will be at this tournament. Very exciting! Also at the end of June, Wimbledon kicks off and with Rafael Nadal recently winning the French Open, I’m feeling pretty good.
Not to mention, we are exactly One Day Away from the start of the World Cup! I’m not much of a soccer fan but every country around the world loves this sport and can’t understand why we call football, football. (Like Mike Ditka says, “If God had wanted us to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given hands.”) Anyways, the World Cup is fun to watch because it’s like a mini-Olympics, bringing the entire global community together in a bond of legalized hatred. USA plays England on Saturday, June 12th and I’m excited to see if our Americans can revolutionize the Brits back across the Atlantic! Go Team USA! Don’t Tread On Me! Woot Woot! The World Cup lasts a month so try to catch a game out some where. I know that here in Atlanta a couple parks are trucking in big TVs so that everyone can watch together.
Let’s see…I’m sure NASCAR has a race every weekend and…um…baseball is playing all the time till October (which is pretty much The Best Month of the Sports Calendar).
Unfortunately May, June, and July are a pretty big loss when it comes to football but there’s hope, ladies—autumn comes every year. Watch some other good sports for right now and then before you know it, when temps begin to fall, we’ll be right back in the midst of another exciting season for football fun.
