THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Rooting (if we could) for WSU, OSU to survive this nonsense

There are some obvious rules for journalists.

Yes, even opinion columnists have to stay between the lines — honesty, fairness and so on.

Over the years that I’ve been doing this, though, I’ve added one rule of my own.

It may even sound silly.

But.

I never wear shirts, caps or anything else with the names or logos of the teams I’m regularly covering.

Sure, it’s a little thing, but I don’t want to look like I’m actually part of the team or organization.

This comes up today because I’ve made an exception.

I’m sporting a Washington State hoodie as I write this, and I’ve already ordered a nice orange one from Oregon State.

Maybe I’ll rotate them.

The point, obviously, is that I’m wholeheartedly behind these two schools in their battle for survival — after being left starving in the desert by their former “partners” in the Pac-12.

I love the spirit of the fighting Pac-2, searching for some way to keep their athletic programs running at Power Five funding levels.

That isn’t simply about competition, either.

Wazzu and Oregon State would have to cut staff dramatically — real human beings — if revenue can’t support current budget levels.

IT WAS always pretty obvious that things would start happening around this time.

The Pac-2 legal position, which headlines its lawsuit against the fleeing brethren and hapless commissioner George Kliavkoff, has always been that the two remaining schools now comprise the entire Pac-12 board.

There have been filings and discovery back and forth, and now it appears almost a slam dunk that Washington State and Oregon State will win access to control of the conference assets.

The departing schools, greedy right to the last, claim they should have some say in the future of a Pac-12 they’re abandoning — but I suspect they’ll be slapped aside for violating their own bylaws.

By the way, if you think this football-driven “realignment” isn’t ALL about money, new Washington AD Troy Dannen came right out and said it when asked about the future of the Apple Cup.

This might change through outside intervention (Iowa’s state legislature once made it law that the University of Iowa and Iowa State HAD to play each other annually, home and home), but U-Dub’s current fiscal view is that the Apple Cup can only survive if the Cougs go to Seattle every year.

Hah!

The Huskies of the mighty Big Ten need home non-conference games against the Little Sisters of the Poor, who absorb a 62-7 thrashing and are paid off with a pack of Costco gift vouchers.

They’ll favor cash over history, and a rivalry that goes back more than a century.

Same thing with the game formerly known as the Civil War in Oregon.

Meanwhile, we’re starting to see some clearer views on how the Pac-2 intends to put together decent 12-game schedules for at least the next two years.

It looks like there will be some sort of alliance with the Mountain West, although there are multiple plans in the works to make that viable for all involved.

Perhaps it will lead to a merger under the Pac-12 banner.

Perhaps not.

But at the moment, the Pac-2 is looking for an oasis in this desert, and any long-term destination can wait.

YOU MAY be wondering what happens to all those other university sports.

Where (and if) can they compete while the massive football machine churns out cash, and schools stab each other in the back to get it.

At the moment, nobody knows.

I hate to say that nobody cares, so I’ll phrase this more diplomatically.

All remaining athletic business — including some very profitable basketball programs, along with volleyball, baseball and so on — must sit on hold until the almighty football gods figure out how to run the world.

There are probably some horrendous Title IX violations getting swept aside in all of this, but do you think many big-time football schools really care right now?

Finally, one last item for today.

We need a word or two about the gall of UW and Oregon fighting the Pac-2 lawsuit tooth and nail.

Don’t kid yourself about those two schools.

They are the universities (along with their paymasters at Fox) that killed the Pac-12.

Stanford, Cal and the Four Corners schools were happy to stay in a new Pac-12 aided by a bit of expansion, but Oregon decided to shoot for the moon and UW — which wouldn’t have bolted by itself — felt emboldened to follow the Ducks.

To narrow this down even further, Oregon goes where Phil Knight points his finger.

The Nike gazillionaire could have kept the Pac-12 intact, and chose instead to blow it up.

So, here we are.

Eventually, I think Wazzu and Oregon State will connect with all or part of the Mountain West.

You know what?

I’ll take that over some ridiculous membership in a watered-down Atlantic Coast Conference.

Or anything like it.

We’ve had enough insanity.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”