Justifying Tradition

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Mark Twain once opined, “The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.” Likely Twain was talking about things such as uncomfortable neckties and high heels, but one might look at college sports and wonder whether the opposite of Twain’s axiom is true? There was a lot to justify keeping in place the traditional collegiate conferences, and their geographically logical rivalries, but all it took was a look at the almighty balance sheet, and the foundation of collegiate athletics has been rocked.

As news of the Pac-12’s demise trickled in at the beginning of August, AB senior editor, Paul Steinbach, confided his sadness at the seismic shift in collegiate sports. “I loved it once. Getting harder to now,” Steinbach said in a chat among editors. But there’s more to it than just the separation of longtime conference rivals.

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