Just saw that ESPN report about the Big 12 sitting on this Sorsby lawsuit at Texas Tech and it got me thinking about what this conference used to be. Remember when the Big 12 meant something because of the blood feuds we built over decades? I still get chills thinking about those late 90s battles with Nebraska when the option was still alive and you could feel the ground shake. Now we have the whole league held hostage by one quarterback's eligibility and lawyers writing the rulebook instead of coaches. This whole mess is what happens when you let NIL and the portal turn loyyalty into a transaction.
I remember back in the Southwest Conference days when a rivalry meant something because you grew up hating those guys. When we played Texas and Arkansas it was personal, not some corporate partnership. Now we have the Big 12 chasing lawsuits over a quarterback who got beat out and decided to take his ball home instead of earning his spot back. Coach Franchs would have never put up with this nonsense. He would have told the kid to get in the weight room and compete. The Sorsby situation just proves that the portal has turned every backup into a potential legal case and every rivalry into a business negotiation. Give me the old days when we settled things on the field and the only lawyers involved were the ones fighting over parking spots at the stadium.