"You keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it means." Of course, Inigo Montoya made this famous in The Princess Bride, but it can be applied to soooo many things.
Maybe an even better line for today is Samuel L. Jackson's, "Hold onto your butts!" from Jurassic Park.
It was announced yesterday the Big TEN Conference is going from, um, fourteen teams, to AT LEAST sixteen (and it sounds like even more will hop on the bus before the dust settles).
Many speculate we are entering the era of the Super Conferences! There will likely be two, both with at least twenty teams each. And someday we'll wonder why all these [other] colleges and universities had to close their doors.
Now, some consider this to be merely progress - much like the Name Image Likeness (NIL) business which began in collegiate sports this past year. Most people I read or am in contact with either like it, or are at least glad the B1G (Big Ten) is out in front of it (The Big Ten is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States, incorporated as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, btw - oh, and there were only ten teams).
Me? Nope. I am not a fan. "Super Conference" sounds a lot like Super Walmart, and Super Target/Kroger/(insert other giant store that ran all the mom-and-pop's out of business)! Is it progress, or more consumerist/capitalist/power-hungry-grabbing arrogance known by no name other than the almighty fricking DOLLAR?!? I think someone once said it was the root of all evil or some such thing.
Anyway, I'm not sure what can be done about it. Everyone knows it's all about money, and apparently that's just fine(?). I think it's sad, but not surprising. I have presently lost my appetite for college sports. Shoot, I lost it for pro sports years ago. Maybe that's as it should be. There is more to life, right?
Ironically, this was the morning prayer for today in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals:
"Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and forgiveness. Help us to hear your word and to follow you today. Numb our ears to the persistent call of idols like vanity, consumerism, power, and pride. Enable us to lead lives tempered by the awareness of others' needs and propelled by your love. Amen."
***
Romans 12:3
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."
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