Texas A&M made its desire to leave the Big 12 official Thursday. Next up: ugly divorce negotiations wiht the conference.

The news brought a mixed media reaction, as you might guess:

Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle: "The Longhorns say the Aggies were shopping for a new conference long before the Longhorn Network was born. Texas A&M says it began shopping for a new conference because Texas tried to strong arm it into the Pac-10. And then when they fully realized the potential impact of the Texas partnership with ESPN, they had no choice. In the end, they are both to blame. Texas allowed its greed to overwhelm its judgment. Meanwhile, Texas A&M decided to leave the Big 12 and worry about the consequences later. It's not in A&M's best interests to leave. Suddenly, A&M's road to a BCS bowl got much tougher. A&M had just pulled even with Texas in the Big 12. Now it may fall into second-tier status in the SEC. But at least those Aggies showed the Longhorns who is boss, and that's all that matters."

Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com: "We've known for weeks that Aggies everywhere would rather change into formalwear, than stay in the Big 12. It's a University of Texas thing and you're not expected to understand it fully but a multi-million deal with ESPN to launch a network has something to do with it. This starts the official process of A&M leaving its not-exactly-life partners in the Big 12. Now comes the potentially ugly legal part."

Holly Anderson, SI.com: "Texas A&M wants more attention than it's getting in the Big 12, where there are two modern flagship programs standing between the Aggies and superstardom. In the SEC there's Alabama, Florida and LSU to compete with, to say nothing of defending national champ Auburn and a South Carolina squad that can no longer automatically be counted out of any game on its schedule. One division or the other devolves into a lobster pot of one-loss teams in just about any given season. There are rising tides, but then there are riptides and — ask Georgia how easy it is to contemplate firing a coach for a nine-win season — getting lost in the swells is easier than it looks."

The Big 12 (Minus-3) will not be forced to add at least one new school and work very, very hard to appease those surviving members not based in Austin.

If anybody cares, SMU wants in.

"We feel it's time. We're ready," SMU athletic director Steve Orsini told the world Thursday. "The college landscape is shifting. We're already a top academic institution and with the re-commitment of the university already in place, we can be a top athletics program nationally."

Great, but you averaged 23,515 fans at your game last year. That's barely better than some 1-AA schools draw. Your stadium seats 32,000.

Even the most aggressive stadium expansion/program building project would take the better part of a decade to complete.

How would SMU possibly help the Big 12 in any way?

Other expansion options include Houston, Colorado State and Air Force from within the geographical area and BYU and Boise State from out West. Wish Big 12 (Minus-3) commissioner Dan Beebe luck as he tries to keep his conference viable.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if New York City will recover from the Derek Jeter/Minka Kelly breakup:

What if famous historical leaders had become head coaches?

If the Big 12 blows up, what will become of The Kansas State University?

How did Mark McGwire know that his life would have so many ups and downs?

Who knew Novak Djokovic could pull off an Anna Kournikova imitation?

QUIPS 'R US

Here is what some of America's leading sports pundits have been writing:

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com, on Panthers owner Jerry Richardson: "If the Yankees have their long-standing prohibition against facial hair, shouldn't Richardson be able to impose his grooming preferences as standards? Sure. Standards, yes. But not double standards. In other words, if you let Jeremy Shockey and Steve Smith have their tattoos, don't broach the subject with Newton. For all the yes sir, no sir stuff, Cam Newton should be coming to a realization right about now. He's a grown man. He can do what he wants as long as he doesn't break the law and pays for it with his own money. In other words, don't be like Terrelle Pryor. If ever there were a cautionary tale regarding the perils of tattooing, that's it. I mean, look what happened to the poor guy. Neither Roger Goodell nor the NCAA could fashion a punishment as cruel as that which now awaits Pryor: exile in Oakland."

David Whitley, FanHouse: "If you're one of the estimated 45 million Americans with a tattoo (according to a 2007 U.S. Food and Drug Administration report), you probably view this whole thing as unreasonable. This isn't 1967 anymore, when the only people who got inked were prisoners, sailors and a young Dennis Rodman. At this point it wouldn't shock me to find out that Jerry Jones has a "$" tattooed on his right buttock."

Jim Caple, ESPN.com: "The Marlins are about to enter their final month at their home stadium, which has had seven official names (if you count minor changes from Park to Stadium and from Dolphin to Dolphins), none of them ever spoken in endearing terms. My favorite was Land Shark Stadium, which it was called for one year after a deal with Jimmy Buffet. This place hasn't exactly been as enticing as Margatitaville but it isn't that terrible either, especially as multi-purpose stadiums go. Though it would be nice if Florida ownership could have found the money to keep the out of town scoreboard. The Marlins will be hard-pressed to equal their two World Series championship at their new ballpark that opens next season. You know, there was a time when communities built stadiums to efficiently serve multiple teams and sports, and the fans were perfectly content as long as the team, you know, won. Those days are long gone -- now luxury suites and revenue streams are all-important -- and based on the vast expanses of orange, empty seats always visible at Marlins games, those days may have never existed here."

MEGAPHONE

"Oh, geez, it was rough, to say the least. We definitely didn't want to go out and do that."

A's reliever Bruce Billings, to the San Francisco Chronicle, after the A's lost to the Yankees 22-9.