SCOTT JACOBS

The clock is ticking, the nation is watching, and sports fans (more specifically college football fans) at home and abroad are waiting impatiently in the background.  Like the new movie 30 Minutes or Less, Texas A&M is Jessie Eisenberg.  Unlike the movie, they may hold the detonator to their own explosive.  Because the Aggies have the power to truly blow up college football as we know it, if they take their maroon and white to the SEC.

Forget the fact that the SEC would then have two teams with eerily similar colors (paging Mississippi State), the Aggies have the chance to deface the traditional conferences as we know it.  If the Aggies bolt for the SEC as many are expected them to, it will create the type of domino effect that we expected last summer and didn’t get.  It will be the first domino in conference craziness free-for-all.

If you thought the Big 12 was standing on a broken leg and walking in a cast, A&M’s departure would literally paralyze it.  The vultures are ready to circle.  The Pac 12 waits in the wings.  Last year it nabbed Colorado while offering 5 other Big 12 members (including Texas) the chance to form a super conference.  Texas stayed put and got in bed with ESPN to create the football network that will ultimately undo college sports as we know it: the Longhorn Network.  The Big 12 rejoiced, but secretly the wheels were already put in motion for a brutal breakup.  A&M was jealous of the linchpin Longhorns, and despite agreeing to the pact, they soon wanted no part of it.

So here we are.  Again.  On the brink of College Football Apocalypse Now.

Shivering in the corner are schools like Iowa State, Kansas, and Baylor.  If A&M bolts, it could be the thread that officially undoes the entire conference.  And from there, well, college schools would basically become free agents, open to the highest bidder.

FSU has been rumored to be flirting with the SEC as well.  If they leave the SEC will have 14 schools (assuming A&M bolts). Many believe that FSU holds the strings to a suddenly shaky ACC, which could quickly be a sinking ship itself if FSU bolts and schools like Clemson, Virginia Tech, and others join it.  Sure there could be resentment from that school in Gainesville and the one in Columbia, but at this pointeveryone seems fair game in the unfair system of college (pro) sports.

The roulette wheel is spinning and A&M is the ball. No one knows what will happen of the conferences that we’ve become so accustomed to if both the Aggies and then the Noles leave for the SEC.  It very likely will lead to a feeding frenzy with the Big10 picking at the Big12 and Big East, and the ACC picking from the Big East and Conference USA, and the Pac12 devouring a few more schools from the Big 12.  From there the Mountain West could be at risk, and well, who the heck knows.

Rivalries will be lost, resentment will echo from coast to coast, and many schools will be left in the cold.  As for the BCS, well whose to say there will be one if all this happens.  Super Conferences will take shape leading to conference heavy schedules and then what happens to quality-non conference games? Do those go by the wayside?  What about bowl games?  Does the Super Conferences form a Super League leading to the end of the NCAA?

It’s all hazy right now because this is un-chartered water that we briefly got to put our toe in last year. In 2010 only Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Boise State along with TCU switched conferences.  In 2011 we’re looking at a seismic shift.

Texas A&M of all schools is the card-holder.  Sure, the don’t care what their selfish move does to college sports.  It’s not like they didn’t know what Texas was planning.  O wait, they did?  ESPN’s commitment to the burnt orange created this whole mess, but it’s not even just about them.

Nope, greed runs college sports now.  It just might ruin them as we know it too.  Which is ironic, because the NCAA is so big about emphasizing the amateur aspect. But they’re not fooling anyone, because the stench of green can be smelt from Florida to Texas to California and everywhere and anywhere in between.

If you believe that this is just amateur sports we’re talking about, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Behind the scenes or in front of the camera, it’s going down, and this toxicity of big TV deals, conference networks, and money grabs is going to haunt college sports for a long time.

Schools and conferences are just too busy rolling around in their money pits to see it.

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

It’s a unique opportunity when you get a chance to meet and chat with someone a few years before they turn pro.  I had the opportunity to profile Chris Singleton back in November 2009 when he was a sophomore at Florida State.  Now, Singleton is with the Washington Wizards, after the new look Wiz tabbed him to be their defensive stopper and hustle guy with the 18th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft.

He is a quiet, low-key, down to earth guy who goes about his business, and continues to improve every day.  A McDonalds All American in high school, Singleton was high recruited by a number of big schools before he ultimately settled on FSU.  After a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 this past March — where he helped lead the defensive minded Noles within a point of beating VCU — the rangy small forward opted to take his talents to the draft.  He may not be able to guard everyone in the NBA, but Singleton will be a tough match up on anyone he is assigned to guard.   If he can develop a consistent shot he could have a long NBA career in front of him. But that’s for later…

In my conversation with Chris he discusses why he wears headbands, why he originally chose FSU, what it takes to make the most of god-given talent, and what he hopes his legacy will be.  Washington may not be getting the best player in this draft, but rest assured, they’re getting a guy who will bust his butt to make a name for himself in the league.  Here in it’s entirety is my 2009 conversation with Chris.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

Just got back from Atlanta.  Wow, what a crazy game I saw on Saturday.  Florida State-Georgia Tech in one of the craziest finishes imaginable.  From the thrill of near and inevitable victory to the shock and agony of defeat.  I’ve never seen a team’s fortunes swing so many times in such a short span live.  The Seminoles faithful packed Bobby Dodd to the point where it almost became a neutral field, but it wasn’t enough to propel then number 16 FSU over Georgia Tech.  Instead, the Seminoles went from on the verge of completing an improbable and stunning comeback, to fumbling the ball three yards into the endzone, and their amazing win became a more unbelievable loss.

I stood there in the stands of the endzone where it happened, and I just stared.  In utter disbelief.  Georgia Tech fans hugged, and screamed and stomped, and deliriously bounced up and down like they just won 10 million dollars.  It was the most paralyzing 30 seconds of my life. From stunned silence, to pure delirium.  I’ve never heard a stadium get so loud in my life.  My ears were shot for a good 20 minutes.  Florida State’s ACC Atlantic hopes, dashed for now.

And then Georgia Tech rushed the field.  The first time I had ever seen that in person.  And I was left to only stand there.  Just staring at the madness.  That was all I could do.  Look around, and take in the wildest finish I had seen live and in person in my life. 55,000 saw it.  And lots more on ABC.  But if you weren’t at the game, you wouldn’t truly understand what it was like.

This wasn’t just some ACC game between two teams just good enough to be contention for their respective division crowns.  This was a masterpiece.  A game that twisted and twirled, and shook you up all the way to your core.

I’ll never forget it as long as I live.

Heartbreak City, location: Atlanta, GA.