Changes for the Better

Conference realignment, the two most feared, dreaded, and popular words among NCAA athletics for the past few months, has caused a tremendous amount of turmoil among the world of sports in America.  The motives behind all of the commotion have been questioned, and it is extremely obvious that everyone is concerned about what all of the changes will mean for college athletics as we know them today.  Now, all the NCAA officials ask of the public is to simply relax.

Change is inevitable.  We’ve all heard this saying a thousand times, and whether or not we like to admit it, it’s true.  NCAA football is not the same as it was twenty years ago, nor will it be the same twenty years in the future, as John Lindsay of Scripps Howard News Service reminds us.  For instance, twenty years ago, the SEC was only comprised of ten teams and there was no conference championship game.  There was no Big 12 conference, only the Big 8, and Colorado was the top dog.  Things have changed dramatically from then to now, and we like things the way they are today much better than how they were in the past.  So why not be open to the possibility of these new changes bringing about an even better future for college athletics?

The repercussions of conference realignment currently seem to have different effects on different people.  For instance, the additions of Syracuse and Pittsburg have the potential to boost the ACC’s competitiveness in football and add to its strengths in basketball.  That being said, it may also seem detrimental to the Big East for losing two strong competitors.  As for now, that’s how most things go as far who reaps the benefits and who suffers the consequences.  However, we all know that teams, as well as conferences, go through highs and lows as far as success goes.  If the next few seasons do not go very smoothly for Syracuse and Pittsburg, the Big East could possibly be glad they dodged a bullet.

Lindsay’s article did a great job at giving anecdotes of football from the past and how it has progressed and changed (for the better.)  The discussion of rivalries is also a great point to bring up.  I, myself, became worried at the thought of what conference realignment could mean for these rivalries that we have known for our entire lives.  Vince Dooley assures us, though, that “rivals change, and you can pick up new rivals in a hurry.”

It is human nature to resist change.  However, it is necessary for us to overcome change in order for things to expand and evolve for the better.   While these conference realignments may seem like the end of the world now, we’ll look back in twenty years and wonder how things were ever any different.