Seismic events, and their accomplices

And, no, we're not talking about the 8.2 quake that shook things up off the Alaskan coast yesterday.

We're talking about the latest churning of the Earth's crust in college football -- and make no mistake, it's ALL about football. The Blob played it for laughs the other day, suggesting the SEC was Godzilla and every other major conference would soon be Tokyo, stomped flatter than a manhole cover. But as ever in America these days, satire and reality share increasingly uncomfortable resemblance.

I say this because with Texas and Oklahoma forsaking the Big 12 for the SEC, the latest seismic event has begun. There's speculation the chain reaction might swallow up Kansas and Iowa State, whom the Big Ten  might conceivably covet. West Virginia, which should have gone to the ACC anyway in the last big shakeup, might soon be banging on that door. And everyone else?

Cutting whatever deals with whatever conference they can in a dwindling landscape. And adios, Big 12.

Unless of course it raids the Mountain West, coaxes Nebraska back into the fold, dooms some other conference further down the food chain.

Here's what's different this time around: Apparently ESPN has been actively involved in this process.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby claimed as much when he sent a cease-and-desist letter to the network this week, accusing it of actively trying to lure other Big 12 schools away from the fold. If Bowlsby's right, ESPN is way, way out of line here. As an alleged media entity, it's supposed to report the news, not be an active agent in it.

Of course, that is old-man-shaking-his-bony-fist stuff, here in 2021. ESPN, after all, long ago shed all those futzy journalism rules -- so 1950s, all of those -- to become that curious 21st century hybrid, the media entrepreneur.  As the owner of the SEC Network, it both covers the conference and promotes it. That the latter directly conflicts with the former is just details, conflict of interest being one of those tired 1950s concepts, too.

And yet ...

And yet, there are lines you shouldn't cross. Even if it's not the 1950s anymore.

As for the rest of this, maybe it's time to concede the ground to Godzilla -- aka, Power 5 corporate football. Stomp the current model flat and build a new one that lumps all the major football powers into one entity that operates the way it already operates anyway. Which is to say, as a semipro developmental league for the NFL.

Everyone else can then stop bankrupting their athletic departments trying to keep up. Football may pay the bills, see, but it's also by far the biggest drain on resources. And the latter is far more a factor in lower-tier Division I conferences  -- which is why more than a few schools in those conferences either have dropped the sport or are thinking about it.

The revenue stream provided  by small-time D-I football simply can't keep up with its costs, not when the payoff is some lawn implement bowl in Hog Waller, Miss. It's why so many schools at that level wind up subsidizing football with ever-increasing student fees.

So, sure. Let the big dogs eat, and let the smaller dogs eat better. Sounds about right.

Oh, yeah: And keep ESPN's mitts out of the process.