This is an opinion column.
Get ready to feel weird.
The realignment train isn’t just chugging down the track, it’s now at the station and we’re in for all kinds of awkward introductions and reunions.
The revolutions are now reality, as Texas and Oklahoma officially join the Southeastern Conference, and SMU expands the Atlantic Coast Conference to Dallas. Within a month, it’ll reach to the Pacific Coast as the mess made by leadership becomes reality.
Adding to the excitement of Monday’s first round of conference musical chairs is the realization we’re not at a terminal but just a station. The movement is sure to continue as the institutional bedrock of our traditions is tested.
So this is gonna get a little weird.
Prepare yourselves for the discomfort while remembering we’ve been here before. These aren’t the first tectonic shifts within what we thought was untouchable and won’t be the last.
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But this feels far more significant than the vibrations of 2012.
We’re not just talking about Texas A&M reconnecting with their burnt-orange enemy in Austin a week after they snatched the Aggie baseball coach. That happened.
This will be a year of recalibrating what feels natural within league play -- perhaps even resetting what it actually means to be in a conference.
The advent of superconferences in the SEC and Big Ten will add gravitas to claiming league titles from climbing a hill to more of a mountain.
We’re going to have to get comfortable without certain rivalries that once felt untouchable. There will be no Bedlam in Oklahoma, but Texas and Texas A&M are back ruining Thanksgiving weekends across that state.
Speaking of messy family dynamics, social media offered a few fun ones Monday.
Each of the returning members of the ACC posted tweets on X (you know, Twitter) to welcome the newcomers of SMU, California and Stanford. These were standardized down to the fonts and logos but the “GREATNESS IS BECOMING GREATER” theme becomes comical when you see Florida State and Clemson post their versions.
Seeing the two schools suing the ACC to leave welcoming a new member that’s essentially paying to join is the ultimate nod and wink in divorce court.
Where Duke’s version of the tweet had approximately 4,800 views as of Monday afternoon, FSU’s had 315,000-plus.
We love a trainwreck.
The replies to that one spelled out exactly where we stand in college sports.
Also, props to TCU for finding the humor in its divorce from Big 12 rivals Texas and Oklahoma.
So while Monday was the first of the many official transitions (the rest of the Big Ten and Big 12 moves come in August), it’s important to check the scoreboard of misleading conference names.
- The Big Ten now has 18.
- The Big 12 now has 16
- The Pac-12 has … 2. From the Pac-12 After Dark to the Pac-12 going dark.
- And the ACC has pilfered two schools from what was once, “The Conference of Champions”.
The SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma was not only the catalyst for the domino effect that followed but also the one that makes the most sense.
Where the ACC was posting tweets and hosting an ACC Network show at SMU on Monday, the SEC was holding full-on concerts and firework extravaganzas. Pitbull performed for free in Austin on Sunday night, which led to a “crowd surge/crush” incident that hospitalized one, according to KXAN-TV.
Bottom line: The SEC’s moves are celebrations and the others are variations of responses.
It’s a win for the conference, while the trickle-down doesn’t appear as rosy. Of course, there are more factors involved --mismanagement abound -- but the time to avoid the implosion of the Pac-12 and the bloating of the surviving conferences is over.
We’re here, standing on the platform, trying to figure out what this train means for us all.
But for now, it’s just gonna be a little weird until we figure things out.
Because the college sports kitchen table has always had somewhat of a revolving door and we’ll almost certainly get through this one too.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.