Students from Cal, Stanford and
UCLA met at the Newport Rib Company to hold a wake during Happy Hour to mourn
the death of the Conference of Champions. All funerals, Celebrations of Life
and wakes merit a poem for the occasion. Hope you enjoy it.
Requiem For the PAC
12 Conference
Unlike Antony I come
to bury the PAC 12 and to praise it
Rightfully called the
“Conference of Champions” for most championships
Not in the apex sport
of football but in the list of all sports of the NCAA
Many of which are the
domain of only the student athlete with no pro team on which to later play
The PAC 12 has folded
save for OSU and WSU and the other 10 have headed to the Midwest and East
To give their players
to on larger portions on the NIL platter to feast
This could be the
beginning of the Age of the Haves and Have Nots
Where schools with
the largest viewing audiences will attract the cream of the athletes lot
If schools cannot
attract the players and losing records become the norm
Even a school of
athletic renown like Stanford may not weather the decreasing fans storm
Stanford has prided
itself on premier education in the class rooms and performance in athletic
events
With losing records
in football its AD will be hard pressed to fund the non-apex sports with less
money to be spent
Maybe time to tap into a small portion of the endowment
And offer star
players some carried interests with chances to millionaire status be sent
In the age of the
growing war on climate change carbon emissions need to decrease
The longest flight
for Stanford in PAC-12 was 964 miles to Boulder and in the ACC 2712 miles to
Boston for big emission increase
In the PAC 12
Stanford’s shortest flight was a mere 337.5 miles to L.A.
In the ACC Stanford’s
shortest flight is 1464 miles to Dallas a much longer way
No wonder Stanford
and Cal could be known as the ACC's Jet Lag teams
Home games will be
key to success with a Stanford Stadium with fans bursting at the seams
If ACC away games are
at 11-1 EST our viewing parties’ attendance will suck
While there jet
lagged Stanford will likely be wallowing in the muck
For the non-apex
teams to survive with a near empty stadium alums to the Buck and Cardinal Fund
need to donate
And Troy must in
recruiting star athletes dominate
We offer the degree
most students would die for
With long term earning and satisfaction that will trump a Saturday football
score
Go Stanford, Fear the
Tree
Attend home games or
watch all games on a viewing party TV
© 7/18/2024 Michael
P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
