Deford on Greeks and SEC

I mentioned Frank Deford's In with the South, Out with the East is must listening.

There is great irony, however, in Deford's mention of the Big East as some kind of warm and fuzzy, good ole fashioned college days.

I remember a different Big East.

The predator that consumed NCAA men's basketball in the 1980s, built for the sole reason of creating a hegemony over the sport that had escaped the power centers (especially the power media centers) of the upper east coast.

Specifically targeted at the former center of the men's basketball universe -- the ACC.

Deford kind of gets it right. The Big East lost its way when it became involved in trying to be a football league. Trying to capture for itself the SEC's position as Lord Dominator of All Things Pigskin.

But it is only because men's basketball -- which again, Deford nailed -- stop being the driving economic force in college sports.

We still love March Madness, but now, it is more reality show. It's no longer about who among the anointed stars get to take the center stage in the sitcom. Which quirky character actor will take over and run the island, or board room, or win the rose. No longer about Georgetown; who is the next Butler or George Mason.

Football has returned to its place at the top of the food chain.

Do wonder if Greece joined, would that allow Missouri to shift into the SEC West.