These are scary times for Baylor University. Even with some noise late last week that the Texas legislature may not try step in and take some action to arrest conference realignment, it's still unlikely that the politicians will have the final say on where Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech end up when the the smoke clouds clear from the wreckage of the Big 12, which appears in even greater danger than normal with Oklahoma wistfully gazing westward towards the Pac-12.
And if -- or most likely, when -- the conference realignment dominoes start to fall, the poor Bears will get kicked to the curb and left for dead, just like Houston, SMU, and TCU when the Southwest Conference disbanded. It's a nightmare scenario for an athletic program that could only hope for a Conference USA bid at best in such a situation. Again, scary times.
As the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's exactly the category under which the "Don't Mess With Texas Football" campaign launched by Baylor falls:
Nothing is more beloved in Texas than Texas football. Entire towns travel to neighboring communities on Friday nights as rivals meet under the Friday night lights; Saturday mornings find families rushing out to pee wee football games and spending their afternoons with friends tailgating or watching some of the most historic and storied football rivalries in the nation; Sunday afternoons see families gathered in living rooms across the state to cheer on the Cowboys or the Texans.
Football in Texas is more than a passing interest, it is a part of the fabric of this great state.
* Will Texans stand by and watch hundred-year-old rivalries be cast aside as the state's largest universities align themselves with other states across the country?
* Will Texans sit and watch as Texas' flagship universities pledge their loyalties to other states?
* Will Texans stand by as our most promising student athletes are lured out of Texas by new rivals?
* Will Texans watch as our most precious resources-the great minds of the next generation-are exported to new conference institutions?Texans must stand up and call the leadership of the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech to clear-headed thinking about the state's future. Texas' flagship institutions of higher learning are the guardians of the state's future-their loyalties must first be to Texas and to her citizens. Ask these leaders to take a stand for Texas and to stop this madness that will lead to the dissolution of the Big 12 and the end of an era for Texas.
A link at the bottom of the page provides contact information for the Board of Regents and Presidents/Chancellors of Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, though given the fact that Texas fans normally outnumber Baylor fans when the teams meet in Waco, it's not clear how much of an outcry Baylor football fans can really raise. Or if it even matters if they do.
So, Baylor, good luck with all that, and may there be a trampoline to catch you when you fall from the Big 12 tree.
Bouncing Bear (via zergdaddy)