RattlerGator Blog

SEC Expansion Thoughts

What follows will be a few random and perhaps controversial or crazy thoughts on the looming expansion of the Southeastern Conference.

[1] I think Jerry Jones is very much involved in this whole process, on the down low. And I suspect he knows that with the entry of A&M, the SEC is very likely -- VERY LIKELY -- to award Dallas an occasional SEC football championship game. That would be quite an event, ladies and gentlemen.

[2] I'm very comfortable with VaTech or N.C. State as possibilities in the east and would not have an issue with West Virginia.

[3] In the West, I'm cool with Missouri -- to me, they're a good fit -- although I know they're probably still hoping for the Big Ten.

[4] Although it is virtually inconceivable, I would like for the SEC to add either FIU down in Miami or FAU in Palm Beach County as the 14th member. Adding FIU would absolutely decapitate the Canes, truly freak out the Noles, strategically harm and destabilize the ACC, increase the SEC's reach into Latin America and the northeast, and it would give all Gators a conference little brother down in the most populous corner of the state and allow our huge alumni base down there to interact with their alma mater regularly. Adding FAU wouldn't quite reach that level but it would come close enough. 

[5] With the conference now sitting at 14 members, we could then stand pat and see how the expansion cookie crumbles and cherry pick the remaining two members from the best available universities.

[6] I see UF and A&M partnering on more than a few research initiatives. I know UF has an International Center in China that we're either going to share with another SEC school (or more). Perhaps that Center and others like it will be shared with the whole conference. Academically, UF and A&M can lead the SEC research pack and, simultaneously, pack one hell of a powerful political punch.

It's an exciting but unsettling time in college athletics; tremendous changes are on the horizon and I'm ready to see just what's going to be the end result.

Reversing the Decay

This morning I came across a good opinion piece by Jonathan Sacks in the Wall Street Journal discussing the recent riots in Britain. The following sentence especially caught my attention:

[A] tsunami of wishful thinking [has] washed across the West saying that you can have sex without the responsibility of marriage, children without the responsibility of parenthood, social order without the responsibility of citizenship, liberty without the responsibility of morality and self-esteem without the responsibility of work and earned achievement.

This is an outstanding summation of our times, wouldn't you agree?

That nugget was soon followed by a necessary acknowledgment: there has been an equally disastrous corollary to the decay found in our social fabric within the financial markets. It has resulted in something of a "hook-up" mentality that seeks a free lunch, so to speak, in a world where there are no free lunches. Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, went on to write:

Freud was right. The precondition of civilization is the ability to defer the gratification of instinct. And even Freud, who disliked religion and called it the "obsessional neurosis" of humankind, realized that it was the Judeo-Christian ethic that trained people to control their appetites.

Yeah, buddy. Insatiable appetites. Gluttony.

I'm sure I'll have more on this "reversing the decay" theme later, and the return to religion solution suggested by Last, but that is all for now.

Urban Meyer is the Greatest

This is why I revere Urban Meyer so much; watch these four videos:

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Wow!

The greatest Gator football coach ever, greatest Gator coach ever, and quite possibly the greatest college football coach ever. Enjoy your wife and kids, Urban, and thank you for all you did for the Fightin' Gators !