Calkins: Memphis should jump to the Pac-12
Boise St. quarterback Taylen Green (10) scambles for a first down during a Sept. 30, 2023 game against Memphis. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
Let’s say you are in a lifeboat. It is not much of a lifeboat. You are bobbing in the ocean and you are taking on water and you are hoping your meager provisions keep you alive.
For the longest time, you held out hope of a dramatic rescue. You thought that a big, shiny boat — with an excellent motor and plenty of empty beds below deck — would swoop in and carry you to safety. Alas, that has not happened. A couple of those big shiny boats did actually come by but they plucked other people out of your lifeboat. Can you imagine? Those lucky dogs.
So things are looking bleak. But at this exact moment, another lifeboat pulls up alongside. It is not the big shiny boat you were hoping for. It is taking on some water, too. But it is clearly a better lifeboat. It seems likely to stay afloat longer than the one you currently occupy.
What do you do?
Do you decline the invitation to switch lifeboats? On the vague hope that a big, shiny boat finally comes along?
Do you let other occupants of your lifeboat get on the sturdier boat instead?
Of course not.
You scramble onto that new lifeboat as fast as you can.
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