Sunday, February 12, 2012

SEC about to finish off Auburn's tradition?

Is this a picture of Mike Slive?

Continuing the theme from my last post, this latest news has our roller coaster going down and I mean REALLY DOWN...   The news is the SEC possibly stopping the Auburn vs. Georgia game, the best football rivalry in age and stats-wise in possibly all of sports, as a continuous series.  Yes, I mean reducing "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" to Auburn vs. Vanderbilt level.  Think about that.  I am trying not to completely lose it on this but if they cancel the Auburn vs. Georgia series then what is the point?

If we do not move to the East and they do this, it is just not Auburn football anymore!  They have taken Tennessee from us, then Florida and now maybe Georgia?  All for Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Missouri???  I understood all the arguments I am hearing now when the SEC expanded the first time.  There was also a good reason, to get the SEC championship game which I love.  Now it seems like we are splitting into two conferences and our only continuous games will be Arkansas, Bama, LSU, Texas A&M and the two Mississippi schools and then playing our real rivals every few years. This is the last test for Jay Jacobs, he lets this happen and finishes throwing away our tradition except for playing the stupid Iron Bowl he will in one way ruin Auburn football forever.

I would gladly give up the Bama game for Georgia.  I would gladly join the SEC East and get all our old rivals back and give up the Iron Bowl.  The Iron Bowl is not an enjoyable game and is only good when the game is over and you have won.  Of course even our latest and maybe greatest win in the series cost us a large part of our tradition at Toomer's Corner.  I actually enjoy the Georgia game.  I look forward to it.  I enjoy the lead up to it and the game (most of the time) and everything about the rivalry.  I know they will never cancel the stupid Iron Bowl but I just wanted to make a point.

Putting Auburn in the East or going to a nine game conference schedule seem to be the only way to save this series.  However Bama has stopped our move to the East and no one wants a nine game conference schedule even though they want to expand again???  All these morons running this conference seem to have no clue what they are doing.  You expand to 14 teams but act like a nine game conference schedule (which the Big 10 and Pac 12 already play) in a crazy idea?  Did they think this thing through at all?

I mean how stupid do you have to be to mess with the most successful conference in college sports?  You have won six national titles in a row and even had both teams in the game this year.  Yet you are dumb enough to drastically change it because "everyone else is expanding"?  Again there was a reason for going to twelve teams, what is the reason to go beyond it?  Just a little bit more money to the pile of it you are already making?  And then to do it you kill two of the greatest rivalries in the SEC in Auburn vs. Georgia and Bama vs. Tennessee?  To add two middling Big 12 schools out of the SEC geographical area?  Staying within the defined geographical area is one of the reasons the SEC has been so successful in my opinion.

It is just pure greed.  I am all for making money but when you start sacrificing the things that made you successful you are making a big mistake.  Mr. Blutasky from the Georgia side probably says it better than me.  Please hit the link and read his comments.  This is such a big deal because it is not something that can be undone or will get better with some time.  We hire a bad coach or a series of bad coaches, we can recover in time and have.  We have some bad recruiting classes, we can recover and have.  We go on NCAA probation, we can recover and have.  We stop our longest running rivalry and reduce it to the same as Auburn vs. Vanderbilt and I do not think we can recover.  We will have lost something very precious that we will never be able to get back again. 

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