A Game of Musical Chairs

The business of college football has become a game of musical chairs during the last few months as several conferences went through realignment. This whole business seems to have become one giant soap opera for which the University of Texas was forced to write a whole new script. Nebraska and Colorado universities bolted from the league held together by the cornerstone, the University of Texas. Would the Longhorn stay put or join the California teams on the west coast? It seemed to be Big Television money vs the UT Orange Blood Alumni. I thought surely, Big Money would win the greedy hearts of the Regents at the University of Texas but the Alumni soon figured out that because of the time zone difference the Longhorns would have a lot of 9 PM kickoffs if they were to join a California league. I guess it all worked out because UT got to keep it's broadcast right for all it's games and the Alumni got to keep most of the games in Central Time Zone. I think the outcome of this contest was a mistake and the University of Texas could someday regret their decision to stay put. Regardless if this is the last of these eruptions, none of this maneuvering has done what college football fans wanted it to do. As a fan I enjoy all the college rivalries but I also would like to see a true college football playoff every year. It's hard to see how the system could support both rivalries and a playoff with out killing the goose who laid the golden egg.
This game of musical chairs is not over by a long-shot. Eventually the big boys from television land will push the little alumni boys from university land to the floor. Someday soon all the chairs will be filled with fat cat television money and when that days comes I'll probably be lucky if the games are still broadcast for free over the radio.
Money will alway be the admission for this soap opera and the boys of the television networks are willing to pay more and more for that ticket. With tickets to a home Longhorn game costing $90 no matter where you set in the 100,000 plus seat sold out stadium, I have not been to a UT game in over ten years so I guess my goose has already died. As realignment surly continues and TV contracts get larger it will be harder for me to have a chance at securing a chair in this game of musical chairs. I'll still wear orange on game day and flash the hook-em sign win or lose. I'll walk through the tailgate parties surrounding the stadium on game day, finding someone who has set up a satellite dish. I'll watch the game on their TV, eat their BBQ brisket and join in on the conversation of how we are going to beat the hell out of OU next year. But the day they throw a goose on that BBQ pit and line up some chairs while playing the "Eyes of Texas" I am going to throw everything orange I own into the dumpster and flash the hook-em sign one last time as the trash truck driver pulls away with my passion.