This is a weeklyseries that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have beenpublished on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter. Hopefully, this will encourage you to gocheck out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a numberof truly outstanding authors. Moreover,I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributingmember/author, as well. The “Hear Ye! Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top ofthe side-bar should answer many of your questions. Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (SpamOn Saturdays)” segment before, but itjust 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 inplaces like that weren’t actually so good.
[Lavender Darwin Attacked By Militant Urologists] tells the tale of Lavender being savedby the Vasectomy Avenger.
[Michelle Duggar and the Breastfeeding Taboo] has Lavender ranting about something otherthan vasectomies and Shaun White.
[Why I will NOT buy RCA products again!!!] is another Lavender rant about somethingother than vasectomies and Shaun White.
[Pros and Cons of the Matrix films…] goes to prove what happens to Lavender when heloses focus on vasectomies and Shaun White.
[Self-Driving Cars] gives Lavender another subject to take his mind off of vasectomies andShaun White (not to mention breastfeeding).
Alot has been made of the supposed dumbing-down of America, with our educationalsystem taking a lot of heat, and with all of the realignments (both real andimagined) of major athletic conferences lately, methinks there is nothingsupposed about it. For I don’t thinkanyone with a fourth-grade education would make some of the moves that havebeen made—let alone people with multiple doctoral diplomas hangin on theiroffice walls.
Now,before we get too far into this, I would like to make it clear that I am wellaware of there being many conference realignments over the years. For anyone with a passing interest in historyknows that no self-respecting [Goth] would have left home without theirAmerican Express card until some decided to go with [Visa] instead, but I donot want to go back that far.
Oh,and as an added benefit to my readers, I have included images to make it easierto keep up with what states are involved. Yeah, they may look like they were rendered by a kindergartener hopped-upon Kickapoo Joy Juice and Pop-Rocks, but if you had any idea just howtechnically-challenged I really am, you just might be as impressed with me as Iam with myself. (Our Heavenly Fatherasked to be kept completely out of this one.)
Anyway,I would like to start with a much more recent realignment that involved the nowdefunct [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 occurredwhen Arkansas announced that it was moving to the [Southeastern Conference (SEC)] that very same year, which is shown on the right.
BeforeArkansas joined, the SEC consisted of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia,Kentucky, Louisiana State (LSU), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee andVanderbilt, which is shown on the left. South Carolina also joined the SEC the same year as Arkansas did, whichis shown on the right.
Earlierthis year, Texas A&M announced that they were leaving the [Big 12] to jointhe SEC, which is shown on the left. More recently, Missouri announced that it was also leaving the Big 12for the SEC, which is shown on the right.
No,Texas A&M and Missouri moving to the SEC doesn’t look all that out ofplace. That is, until you get into theproposed realignment of the conference itself. For Texas A&M will be joining the Western Division of the SEC, whichis the completely darkened portion above, while Missouri will be joining theEastern Division, which is depicted as the outlined portion. Yes, I suppose it could be argued that it isonly fair. For Texas A&M made thefirst move, and we just couldn’t have Alabama and Auburn moving to the EasternDivision—could we?
TheBig 12 was previously known as the Big 8 when it consisted of Colorado, IowaState, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Nebraska,which is shown on the left. In 1996, itofficially became the Big 12 with the addition of Baylor, Texas, Texas A&Mand Texas Tech from the disintegrating SWC, which is shown on the right.
Lastyear, Nebraska joined the [Big 10], and Colorado joined the [Pac 12]. So, the landscape changed to what is shown onthe right before Missouri made its move.
No,it is not looking good, but any plans of celebrating the demise of the Big 12would 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 hasstarted taking down their [Big East] banners, as is shown on the right. [Politics] might get in the way, however.
Onewould think that the [ACC] would have been a better choice for West Virginia. For with its longer termed members beingBoston 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 practicallysurrounded by the ACC with Pittsburg and Syracuse leaving the Big East to join,as is indicated on the right.
Anotherlogical 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 shownon the right.
TheBig 10 has even been in a “the more the merrier” mood lately, which Nebraskabecame officially a part of this year, as is indicated on the right. There was a lot of buzz about Missourijoining the Big 10 a few weeks ago, but the announcement about them going tothe SEC put a halt to that.
Nope,we ain’t done yet. For the Pac 12started out as the Pac 8, with California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, TheUniversity of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), The University of SouthernCalifornia (USC), Washington and Washington State, which is shown on theleft. With the inclusion of Arizona andArizona State, it became the Pac 10, which is shown on the right.
WhenColorado (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 isindicated on the right. Rumors are thatthey will become the Pac 16 before it is all over with. Oh, and the Pac 12 keeping up with the numberchanges is more commendable than you may realize. For the Big 10 currently has 12 members, andthe Big 12 might have 10 after all Missouri, TCU and West Virginia officiallyland where they appear to be heading.
Themost mind-boggling realignment of all is the proposed merger between the BigEast, [Conference USA], the Mountain West and the [Western Athletic Conference (WAC)]. For if the logistical nightmarethat could be the Big East Mountain Western Athletic Conference of the USA comesto 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, SanDiego State, Southern Mississippi, Rice, Rutgers, Southern Methodist (SMU), TexasChristian (TCU), Tulane, Tulsa, the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), theUniversity of Central Florida (UCF), the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV),the University of South Florida (USF), the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), UtahState and Wyoming, as indicated on the map above. Can you imagine how much it would cost theUniversity of Connecticut to fly their football team (along with all of its gearand equipment) 10,000 miles (or so) to get them out to play the University ofHawaii and back?
Icould 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 sportselsewhere, but I wouldn’t want your head to explode. For I have had it happen to me before, and itis an awful mess to clean up.
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