Back during my
childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and me after Sunday
morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived.Even though we were seeing mostly familiar
sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded
about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are
well worth seeing again and again.The
link below the image is to the site itself, and the image is linked to the post
it was first included in here.
This is a weekly
series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been
published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter. Hopefully, this will encourage you to go
check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number
of truly outstanding authors. Moreover,
I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing
member/author, as well. The “Hear Ye! Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of
the side-bar should answer many of your questions. Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam
On Saturdays)” segment before, but it
just wasn’t working for me. Therefore,
that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.
[Ma’s Roadhouse] has me wondering if all of the good times I remember having in
places like that weren’t actually so good.
A
lot has been made of the supposed dumbing-down of America, with our educational
system taking a lot of heat, and with all of the realignments (both real and
imagined) of major athletic conferences lately, methinks there is nothing
supposed about it. For I don’t think
anyone with a fourth-grade education would make some of the moves that have
been made—let alone people with multiple doctoral diplomas hangin on their
office walls.
Now,
before we get too far into this, I would like to make it clear that I am well
aware of there being many conference realignments over the years. For anyone with a passing interest in history
knows that no self-respecting [Goth] would have left home without their
American Express card until some decided to go with [Visa] instead, but I do
not want to go back that far.
Oh,
and as an added benefit to my readers, I have included images to make it easier
to keep up with what states are involved.
Yeah, they may look like they were rendered by a kindergartener hopped-up
on Kickapoo Joy Juice and Pop-Rocks, but if you had any idea just how
technically-challenged I really am, you just might be as impressed with me as I
am with myself. (Our Heavenly Father
asked to be kept completely out of this one.)
Anyway,
I would like to start with a much more recent realignment that involved the now
defunct [Southwest Conference (SWC)] when it consisted of Arkansas, Baylor,
Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist (SMU), Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian
(TCU) and Texas Tech in 1990, which is shown on the left. The beginning of the end of the conference occurred
when Arkansas announced that it was moving to the [Southeastern Conference (SEC)] that very same year, which is shown on the right.
Before
Arkansas joined, the SEC consisted of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana State (LSU), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee and
Vanderbilt, which is shown on the left.
South Carolina also joined the SEC the same year as Arkansas did, which
is shown on the right.
Earlier
this year, Texas A&M announced that they were leaving the [Big 12] to join
the SEC, which is shown on the left.
More recently, Missouri announced that it was also leaving the Big 12
for the SEC, which is shown on the right.
No,
Texas A&M and Missouri moving to the SEC doesn’t look all that out of
place. That is, until you get into the
proposed realignment of the conference itself.
For Texas A&M will be joining the Western Division of the SEC, which
is the completely darkened portion above, while Missouri will be joining the
Eastern Division, which is depicted as the outlined portion. Yes, I suppose it could be argued that it is
only fair. For Texas A&M made the
first move, and we just couldn’t have Alabama and Auburn moving to the Eastern
Division—could we?
The
Big 12 was previously known as the Big 8 when it consisted of Colorado, Iowa
State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Nebraska,
which is shown on the left. In 1996, it
officially became the Big 12 with the addition of Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M
and Texas Tech from the disintegrating SWC, which is shown on the right.
Last
year, Nebraska joined the [Big 10], and Colorado joined the [Pac 12]. So, the landscape changed to what is shown on
the right before Missouri made its move.
No,
it is not looking good, but any plans of celebrating the demise of the Big 12
would seem to be premature. For TCU
(formerly of the old SWC and more recently with the [Mountain West Conference])
has already been formally accepted into the conference, and West Virginia has
started taking down their [Big East] banners, as is shown on the right. [Politics] might get in the way, however.
One
would think that the [ACC] would have been a better choice for West Virginia. For with its longer termed members being
Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami,
North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest,
it is regionally close, which is indicated on the left. Furthermore, West Virginia has become practically
surrounded by the ACC with Pittsburg and Syracuse leaving the Big East to join,
as is indicated on the right.
Another
logical choice for West Virginia would have been the Big 10. For as is shown on the left, it had Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State,
Purdue and Wisconsin before Penn State joined as few years back, which is shown
on the right.
The
Big 10 has even been in a “the more the merrier” mood lately, which Nebraska
became officially a part of this year, as is indicated on the right. There was a lot of buzz about Missouri
joining the Big 10 a few weeks ago, but the announcement about them going to
the SEC put a halt to that.
Nope,
we ain’t done yet. For the Pac 12
started out as the Pac 8, with California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, The
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), The University of Southern
California (USC), Washington and Washington State, which is shown on the
left. With the inclusion of Arizona and
Arizona State, it became the Pac 10, which is shown on the right.
When
Colorado (formerly of the Big 12) and Utah (formerly of the Mountain West)
became official members this year, the Pac 10 became the Pac 12, as is
indicated on the right. Rumors are that
they will become the Pac 16 before it is all over with. Oh, and the Pac 12 keeping up with the number
changes is more commendable than you may realize. For the Big 10 currently has 12 members, and
the Big 12 might have 10 after all Missouri, TCU and West Virginia officially
land where they appear to be heading.
The
most mind-boggling realignment of all is the proposed merger between the Big
East, [Conference USA], the Mountain West and the [Western Athletic Conference (WAC)]. For if the logistical nightmare
that could be the Big East Mountain Western Athletic Conference of the USA comes
to life, it could include Air Force, Boise State, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Connecticut,
East Carolina, Fresno State, Hawaii, Houston, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Louisville,
Marshall, Memphis, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, San Jose State, San
Diego State, Southern Mississippi, Rice, Rutgers, Southern Methodist (SMU), Texas
Christian (TCU), Tulane, Tulsa, the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), the
University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV),
the University of South Florida (USF), the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Utah
State and Wyoming, as indicated on the map above. Can you imagine how much it would cost the
University of Connecticut to fly their football team (along with all of its gear
and equipment) 10,000 miles (or so) to get them out to play the University of
Hawaii and back?
I
could go on about many of these changes only applying to the football teams,
which could see some schools playing football in one conference and other sports
elsewhere, but I wouldn’t want your head to explode. For I have had it happen to me before, and it
is an awful mess to clean up.
The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is
to call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one
way or another. Just to be clear,
inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I
have included sites that are rather disturbing to me. The link below each image is to the site
itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken
when applicable. Please, go see for
yourself.
