Weeks of threats, schemes, rumors, desertions, plans and counter-plans came to an abrupt and, according to some pundits, surprising halt June 14 when the Big 12 Conference seemed to close a wound and limit its loss to two schools.
Here’s a quick catch-up for those not closely following college athletics. The Big 12 currently contains 12 schools ranging from Texas to Iowa. It began play in 1996 following the merger of the old Big 8 with four Texas schools from the deceased Southwest Conference.
Recently, however, two schools have agreed to leave for other conferences – first Colorado announced it will join the Pac-10 in 2012 and then Nebraska arranged to move to the Big 10 in 2011. Rumors escalated that several other schools would move to the Pac-10 except one might opt instead for the Southeastern Conference.
If you want to know more, it’s easy to find, but our concern here is narrowed to one thing ... the name of the conference.
Can it really remain known as the Big 12 if it has only 10 teams? It cannot change its name to the Big 10 because that’s already taken.
Note, however, that the Big 10 has had 11 teams since it took in Penn State in 1990 and it will have 12 teams when Nebraska joins.
No, they cannot just exchange names. That would drive everyone crazy.
There are two easy answers – remain the Big 12 regardless the number of member schools or add two new schools – but we’re taking on the difficult solution, coming up with a new name for the remaining 10 colleges.
Currently, I am referring to it as the Big 12(-2), but that’s clearly not a long-term solution, so I turned to online friends Monday evening for their input.
Nina and Ricky also suggested a math problem as a name – Big 12-2 – but it occurs to me that might put some athletes in a potentially embarrassing spot should they be asked to solve the problem.
Many other suggestions continued to hinge on the number 10.
Andy seemed to be poking fun at the reduced size, nominating Econo-Size 10 Conference. Ditto Denise, who came up with the Only 10 Conference.
Cheryl pitched in with And Then There Were 10 Conference. I pity the sports writers and commentators who would have to work with that.
Others tried to put a positive spin on the 10-member conference. Tina suggested Force 10 Conference and James went with Mightiest Ten Conference. Similarly, Martha opted for the Perfect 10 Conference and Andy went with the Tough 10 Conference.
Some suggestions included rather obvious opinions, such as James’ idea it be called Ten Amigos Minus 2 Soreheads Conference. Kimberly went with Not So Big 10 Conference.
Gary took a shot at all of the schools, suggesting the name Money-Grubbing 10 Conference.
Henry and Lynn concentrated on the losses, coming up with 2 Shy of a Dozen Conference and Lookin’ for 2 Conference, respectively.
Speaking of opinions, Regina put in a vote for The Rejects Conference. Lynn also came up with Who Needs a Championship Game Conference, since a North vs. South title game is supposedly not part of the new scheme.
Other long-shot suggestions included Mark’s submission of Texas and the Nine Tagalongs Conference and Hunter’s of Conference A&M.
Some suggested regional names.
Phillip tossed out the idea for Big South Conference, though I’m not sure of the geographic accuracy in that. Michael and Dale liked the idea of returning to Southwest Conference, but that seems a bit of a stretch for Iowa. Alan nominated Southwest 10 Conference.
Carlos came up with Big TeX Conference and Ricky suggested Texas Football Conference, adding the comment, “give it a real name.”
James seemed more on track geographically, suggesting both Central 10 Conference and High Plains 10 Conference, both of which I assume could be used without a number.
Perhaps the most original possibility lies in Tina’s suggestion an acronym of the 10 schools might work. Admitting she did not know what schools were staying, she did not make a suggestion.
Hmm, maybe BOTTOM AMTIKKS Conference (Baylor-Oklahoma-Texas Tech-Oklahoma State-Missouri and A&M-Texas-Iowa-Kansas-Kansas State).
OK, that might need some work.
(Comment to leave your suggestion)
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