Ouch

[ozark trout fisher]

I dunno...In the minority, but even with distance aside I'd rather go to Ames, Stillwater, or Lawrence than Alabama or Mississippi, because we have actually rivalries and ties to those schools...We're you all there at the KU game this year, or when our football team beat Oklahoma a few years back? It won't be anywhere near the same next year.

Money ruins everything good doesn't it?

[stlfisher]

IMO the atmosphere at an SEC game would be much much better. It is second to none and so are the campuses. They live for Saturday football in those communties and draw 100,000 a game not to mention the tailgating. Rivalries will develop and the only rivarlies I cared about in the Big 12 was Nebraska (who is gone) and KU. I rather go south in the winter than hang in the Midwest. I am sure the students would rather see tan coed's in October and November than midwest chunks preparing for winter. Imagine if we beat Alabama (I know won't happen) or Georgia at home? Columbia would erupt.

We will have a natural rivalry with Kentucky in basketball and Arkansas will become a heck of rivalry (especially with Mike Anderson on campus). We will play KU in basketball in a few years in KC...the money is too good for KU to pass up.

Traditions are nice to an extent, but times change and exciting times are ahead. If I was a student I would be seriously excited about joining the SEC and juding from the students reaction they are decidely in favor of it.

[ozark trout fisher]

I know what you're saying, but didn't Columbia erupt when we beat Oklahoma awhile back? Or Kansas this year in basketball? I sure thought it did..

But I'll concede I might be the only one who would rather go to Ames Iowa than Athens Georgia in November:)

[ness]

IMO the atmosphere at an SEC game would be much much better. It is second to none and so are the campuses. They live for Saturday football in those communties and draw 100,000 a game not to mention the tailgating. Rivalries will develop and the only rivarlies I cared about in the Big 12 was Nebraska (who is gone) and KU. I rather go south in the winter than hang in the Midwest. I am sure the students would rather see tan coed's in October and November than midwest chunks preparing for winter. Imagine if we beat Alabama (I know won't happen) or Georgia at home? Columbia would erupt.

We will have a natural rivalry with Kentucky in basketball and Arkansas will become a heck of rivalry (especially with Mike Anderson on campus). We will play KU in basketball in a few years in KC...the money is too good for KU to pass up.

Traditions are nice to an extent, but times change and exciting times are ahead. If I was a student I would be seriously excited about joining the SEC and juding from the students reaction they are decidely in favor of it.

Geez -- You think a convoy of fans are gonna tootle down to Gainesville just because it's warm and the girls are tanned? What about the cost and time involved with all that travel?

How many Vanderbilt, Alabama, Florida or Georgia grads do you run into, much less talk smack with, in St. Louis?

There are great football traditions all across the country. It's a stretch to say the SEC has the best tailgating and biggest crowds.

Rivalries are built over time. You're starting from scratch.

Nothing wrong with being excited, but dang...

[Justin Spencer]

I understand more money is good, but who is it benefitting. Ticket prices went up, season ticket holders are getting raked over the coals, tuition is going up again. They have a new basketball arena, and can't fill the seats they have in the football stadium for every game. Where is the money going to go?

[ozark trout fisher]

Rivalries are built over time. You're starting from scratch.

Exactly. I don't understand it when people say we're going to instantly be big rivals with Arkansas or Kentucky. Maybe we will be in 25 or 30 years, but even then there won't be half the history behind it that we have with KU and other Big 12 rivals. I'm not willing to give up all of our tradition just so we can play football in warmer climes...LOL

And what about sports not named football, because that is all that is being considered here. Consider wrestling for example....Mizzou has an elite program, but the SEC doesn't even compete in that sport, so they are likely going to have to join some small conference as a wrestling only member. Do you think this move is best for them? What about athletes in "non-revenue" sports like track, cross country, tennis, golf, etc? They are just having to travel further (missing more class) and in many of those cases, the SEC is a clear downgrade from the Big 12. Conference alignment should be in the best interest of ALL sports, and the university as a whole. I don't see how the move to the SEC fits the bill. It's just a football move plain and simple, and to heck with tradition, non-revenue sports, and everything else.

[Al Agnew]

I think I'd rather they had stayed in the Big 12 had the Big 12 not been so unstable the last few years. But that's the reality. It wasn't ALL about the money, it was about finding a home in a powerful and STABLE conference. The Big 12 came pretty darned close to disbanding, or at least losing most of its bigger members, a couple years ago, and there is no guarantee it wouldn't happen in another couple of years. Mizzou would have been left out in the cold to scramble for another conference had things gone the way they almost did, and may have ended up in one of the mid-majors at that point. I think Mizzou had to do what they did for their own stability. The increased revenue stream was icing on the cake.

[ozark trout fisher]

But who's to say it won't be the SEC that's unstable a couple years down the road? With constant realignment, it's not even close to a guarantee that any conference will be stable for the foreseeable future. This is still a risk, make no mistake about it. We're just placing our bets with a different conference that appears more stable at the moment.

[Addicted to Creeks]

deleted cuz my comment makes no sense now

[ness]

But who's to say it won't be the SEC that's unstable a couple years down the road? With constant realignment, it's not even close to a guarantee that any conference will be stable for the foreseeable future. This is still a risk, make no mistake about it. We're just placing our bets with a different conference that appears more stable at the moment.

Yeah, and the Big 12 didn't fold up.

Al -- I think the money was the icing and the cake. I can't imagine the money was just a happy accident out of Mizzou's search for stability.

I think this trend will continue. And, as teams scatter they'll destroy the great traditions and rivalries at the expense of the fans and lesser sports. A lot of the things that are great about sports -- the touchy-feely ones -- will be lost. They're not something money can buy.

Saw this commercial today and thought it was good:

http://youtu.be/A63XjuA8u3U