The two-paragraph press release of MIAC announcing the departure of St. Thomas from the conference did not provide much detail or elaboration.

But the 94-word statement, announced on the conference website under the unpretentious title "MIAC announces a change of membership to the conference," provides three key points that allow the spirit to wander and s' expand a little.

1) The words "deleted involuntarily" with respect to St. Thomas joining MIAC are essential. This is a reiteration that St Thomas did not want, and that the main drivers were other schools.

2 "The MIAC Presidents' Council cites sport parity in the conference as a major concern," he says.

Well, at least we do not have to guess the motivation anymore. St. Thomas undergraduate enrollment may have also played a role: more students means more athletes, which can contribute to this competitive parity.

However, many of the conference schools were tired of losing just about everything – especially football, and especially against unbalanced scores like 97-0, which was the final when St. Thomas played St. Olaf in 2017. or not, at least we know.

In terms of competition, St. Thomas and many of the other members of MIAC are bad matches. The argument of St. Thomas supporters is that other schools should try to compete against each other. The argument of the detractors is that St. Thomas wins a match rigged in his favor. I can see both sides.

3 "Thomas Street will immediately begin a transition of several years and in the meantime he will be eligible to compete as a full member of MIAC until the end of the spring of 2021."

This part is needed with already defined schedules and time-consuming processes. But this is the part where things could become really annoying and / or interesting depending on your point of view.

This means that St. Thomas, who has been "involuntarily withdrawn" – if you've already been involuntarily removed from a bar, you realize that it's a polite term for "kicked out" – will likely still have two seasons Comprehensive competition against MIAC schools, the vast majority of them have orchestrated the ousting of Tommies for being too good or having won too many points.

I placed a figurative circle around November 2, 2019 – the scheduled date for the trip from St. Thomas to St. Olaf for a football match.

It's hard to be more unbalanced than 97-0, but I'm not sure there's a point wide enough away if St. Thomas gets into this game, especially upset by how all of this failed .

The Tommies could publicly say all the good things. But as we have nothing to lose over the next two years, we will see how bad the victories are.

Again, the MIAC statement concluded, "St. Thomas is one of seven founding members of MIAC and will leave the conference in good standing with a long and beloved history of academic and athletic success. "

Maybe everyone will really appreciate the next two years?