Seeing the big picture of conference realignment

"It is filled with unexpected twists and turns. It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival and persistence, and of the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America as we think of and experience it today." Those words were written by Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher to describe the days of the Wild West and the exploration of new lands.  In truth, the days of conference realignment in college football is a modern version of that frontier time.  It's a tale of conquest for some.  A tale of persistence for many.  And a tale of survival, or lack thereof, for others.  Realignment is indeed a story of merging cultures and traditions as east stretches west and midwest reaches east. The modern rush of conference realignment has been like nothing we've ever seen in college sports.  With a new team or new conference switching allegiances almost daily in the past week, it's easy to lose sight of just how drastically the l...