Uh,oh. I'm starting to hear it from some Marshall fans. Or see it on Facebook, as the case may be.
A one ... a two ... a three ... "I knew they shouldn't have left the MAC!"
The chant was inevitable after Conference USA nearly drowned in its last TV deal. When the league announced the multi-network deal, officials in Irving, Texas, weren't about to admit the carnage was worse than expected.
The numbers I heard the day of announcement: Less than $250,000 per school per year of the short contract, well short the pre-realignment seven figures. Later, "less" was reported to be around $200,000.
Meanwhile, the Mid-American Conference is chuckling with its comparatively fat ESPN-centric contract, a 13-year deal hammered out before the cable sports industry's panic over "cord cutting." Suddenly, a league that once had to pay for TV time will receive about $670,000 per school, maybe more.
These are hardly Power 5 numbers (duh), but C-USA's desert-to-Atlantic geographical footprint is suddenly a legitimate issue after 11 years. This being the summer, idle imagination has spawned a rash of realignment theories. I have even heard the name "Coastal Carolina" thrown out there.
The Chanticleers? Really? How 'bout the Presbyterian Blue Hose, while we're at it?
Others may simply be yearning to return to Toledo's Glass Bowl. Hey, the Herd hasn't invaded Ypsilanti since 1998, right?
Let's get something straight: I have very little tolerance for Thundering Herd fans who claim they didn't want out of the MAC last decade. "Claim" is the operative term - I could amputate a finger or two and still count the fans who truly were wary of a conference change.
The rest of you, the coaches, the administration wanted out. The media wanted out, too - whether publicly or privately, we teed off on Akron's old Rubber Bowl, the mere existence of Buffalo and generally puny fan bases that rooted more for Ohio State or Michigan.
One of my favorite stories: When MU's Board of Governors conducted a highly visible meeting extolling the virtues of moving to C-USA, Mitch Vingle and I were in Kalamazoo. After attempting a quickie poll of people at a crowded restaurant, some sporting WMU sweatshirts, I concluded that none of them gave a hoot.
The next morning, the story merited about six column inches in the local paper. Had to hunt for it, too.
But it didn't escape the MAC schools' powers that were, especially when MU athletic director Bob Marcum was told his presence wasn't needed at the 2004 summer meeting in Detroit. At the concurrent media day, one athletic director took a jab at C-USA's instability, pointing out that nine schools had departed. Indeed, MU was one of six new members of the reassembled league.
The late, great Charlie Coles, basketball coach at Miami (Ohio), addressed the matter more directly, "Why? They're going to play in a football league with UAB?
"Please, please. Marshall better stay put. OK? Stay put, Marshall! We love you ... It doesn't seem like we love you, but we love you!"
And now, MU is one of five holdovers in a 14-team league, thriving in football, intriguing in basketball. But C-USA hoops isn't quite what it was, NCAA upsets aside.
So you may ask: Would Marshall want to come crawling back to the MAC? How would that really go over with all concerned?
Not sure of the margin of queasiness among Herd fans, but I bet it's still considerable. MAC schools would be hesitant, at the least, to have somebody else cut into their TV pie.
There's no doubt MU would face exit fees from C-USA, entry fees to the MAC and a delay in receiving TV dough. Economically, that might not be worth it.
Resentment from the divorce last decade might not be so bad. The MAC itself is not a person, it's an entity, one made of member schools, their presidents and so forth.
There has been near-complete turnover since 2003-04. Only two athletic directors remain from then: Mike O'Brien at Toledo and Kathy Beauregard at WMU. Roderick J. Davis became president at Ohio in 2004; all other presidencies have turned over. Two new presidents begin July 1.
As for the league office, I recognize one name from the MU days, chief operating officer Bob Gennarelli. There is a different logo - some awful thing that looks like it was rejected by an English soccer league.
But it's a small world, and everybody knows the history. They know that if MU asked for re-entry, it would do so with tail between legs.
From where I sit, the Herd will have to suck it up and keep winning, stay in touch with folks in the American Athletic Conference and wait for any Big 12 raid on the latter. I'm skeptical of "creative" realignment theories.