Pac-12 revival deserves a nickname worthy of cheap sunglasses

Ever walked past a vender’s stall in Mexico and peeked at the sunglasses?

Some of them probably had an “O” near the hinges. They might even have said “Oakley” across the bridge of the frames, but you knew they weren’t not Oakleys, because Oakleys don’t sell for 500 pesos.

And, anyway, upon close inspection, these glasses don’t entirely look like Oakleys. They’re knock-offs, and you wouldn’t want to wear them to stare at the sun, but, what the heck, they only cost 500 pesos, and they’ve got an “O” on them, and you can’t afford real Oakleys, but you’d feel kind of cool wearing these cheapos, and, maybe, no one will notice.

Except plenty of us do notice.

People in on the joke know these sunglasses by a nickname: Foakleys, short for Fake Oakleys.

That’s what the new Pac-Whatever is. It’s the Fake Pac-Whatever. I’ll call it the F-Pac-W.

This resurrected league can welcome Utah State into the fold, slap a Pac logo on its chest and hope no one notices the imitation, but anyone who remembers Reggie Bush or Marcus Allen or Bill Walton or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will spot this conference for the gimmick it is.

Washington State and Oregon State will tell themselves they saved the “Conference of Champions” while remodeling their home. Except they didn’t save a conference. They couldn’t, because the spirit of the Pac-12 died when 10 members announced in either 2022 or ’23 their defections to the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC.

Wazzu and Oregon State could’ve found home and harmony in the Mountain West. Instead, they rebuffed a few of their potential Mountain West roommates (too good for you, Wyoming!), invited the rest over to their dilapidated place and put a fresh coat of paint on the tattered house.

As the F-Pac-W scrambled for members this week, it all came off as a little pathetic.

Oregon State and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/pac-12-revival-deserves-nickname-100739350.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-25 10:07:39

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