Mike Slive, SEC: Drunk On Their Own Power

Like any typical diehard SEC football fan, I have defended my favorite conference’s honor many times. 
 
I grew up thinking that the national media didn’t like us southerners when it came to anything, especially sports.
 
There was a West coast bias, an East coast bias, and a northern bias.  Southerners always got the short end of the national media stick.

The SEC has long been the greatest football conference in the land.  Our proud conference boasts of athletes who hit harder, run faster, and play smarter than any other.  I won’t dispute that fact.
 
I fully believe that SEC football is the NFL of college football.
 
I also won’t dispute the fact that I am sick and tired of hearing about it being the best. 
I am tired of Jim Bob saying things like, “Them Big 10 teams are softer than a baby’s butt!”
 
When Bobby Joe says, “Put USC in the SEC and see how many games they win!” I cringe because of the sheer idiocy of that statement. 
 
I am an orange-blooded, rabid, Notre Dame-hatin’, Tennessee fan who still thinks ESPN cost Peyton Manning the Heisman trophy in 1997.
 
I still think that Alabama’s lack of a Heisman winner is a travesty considering how many times the Fighting Irish, Trojans, and Buckeyes have had winners of the illustrious award.
 
It’s no wonder why fans of the SEC still harbor that resentment.  I get it.  I am one of you!  I completely understand.
 
Recent developments, however, have begun to concern me regarding the far-reaching scope of the new SEC.
 
Before the season even began I wrote this article about how much I hated the new $15-billion agreement with ESPN and CBS, making the SEC one of the most powerful sports entities this side of the NFL.
 
No team or conference in major college football should wield this much power.
 
No commissioner in any sport should be able to bring the national media to its knees.  But the SEC did it.
 
The conference has simply let its enormous success go straight to its head.

The SEC has become drunk on its own power and publicity.  Commissioner Mike Slive is now the Grand Pubah of all things college football.
 
He has arbitrarily decided to stiffen penalties against coaches who complain about bad officiating, which is really no big deal until you consider this is perhaps the absolute worst year for officiating in the history of the conference.
 
I’ve written about SEC conspiracy theories.  I do not personally subscribe to one, but we have seen evidence to support the crazy notions.  Alabama, Florida, and LSU have benefited tremendously from questionable calls all season long. 
 
We’ve seen entire officiating crews suspended.  We’ve heard public reprimands against referees.
 
Now the main source of fighting those terrible calls has been cut off at the neck.
 
Should some coaches be reprimanded?  Absolutely!
 
My team’s coach, Lane Kiffin, deserved his latest reprimand—especially since his gripe came on a play that wouldn’t have mattered in the outcome of the game.  His other complaints about the disparity in the number of calls against his second-least penalized team in the country were spot on, however.
 
Mississippi State’s head coach Dan Mullen was every bit justified in his public comments about the horrible call made by a replay official.
 
Bobby Petrino had every right to complain after his team was shafted against Florida the week before.
 
Georgia fans and coaches had every right to threaten mutiny after LSU was handed a win against the Bulldogs earlier this month.
 
Just in case anyone else gets the shaft, the SEC’s own incarnation of Don Corleone, Commissioner Slive, decided to issue the edict that anyone complaining from now on will not receive a reprimand—no, now it’s immediate suspension and/or heavy fines.
 
The Godfather has spoken, and now his enemies have been cut off before questions can even be asked.  Slive can influence whomever he wants to allow what’s “best for the conference.”
 
Is it really such a shock, SEC fans?  Your former commissioner, Roy Kramer, came up with the grand idea of the BCS.
 
In the 11-plus years since the inception of the BCS, five SEC teams have won the national championship.  The very first BCS national champion was Tennessee in 1998.  Florida and LSU have each won it twice (LSU in ’03 and ’07, Florida in ’06 and ’08).  If I were a betting man I would not bet against LSU, Florida, or Alabama to take home the prize again this season.
 
Sure one SEC team has gotten screwed over the years (Auburn ’04), but five national champions in 11 years traded for one screw job is well worth it.
 
Why do we need all this publicity and money?  We already have the best coaches, facilities, and athletes in the nation. 
 
This monopoly of sorts is exactly what countless men throughout history have discouraged.  This is why our government has a system of checks and balances.  It’s why we have laws against companies monopolizing goods and services.
 
What you are seeing from the SEC and the BCS is illegal, and it should be treated as such.
 
The commissioner of the SEC has way too much power.  The conference as a whole has way too much authority and influence.
 
College Football is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  It is not, contrary to popular opinion, an SEC entity.
 
Why do fans in the south typically hate teams like Notre Dame?  Because for years they had the market cornered.  For decades they were held in high regard.  According to the media, Notre Dame is the greatest institution ever.  They have their own network for crying out loud.  The talking heads have loved them for much of the past century.
 
The SEC is becoming the very thing its fans and followers hate.  Too much power and influence is never a good thing.
 
It was much more fun fighting for respect and attention than getting all of it.