So far this summer, there have been two pretty major stories in college athletics – USC getting a stiff punishment from the NCAA thanks to Reggie Bush – and conference realignment. Yahoo (specifically Charles Robinson) owned the Bush story from the outset, and OrangeBloods.com (specifically Chip Brown) has dominated conference realignment. Where’s ESPN? Three theories on why the Worldwide Leader is missing in action on conference realignment:

1) Late May, June and early July is the ideal time for college football reporters to take a vacation. School isn’t in session, there isn’t usually any movement on the coaching/recruit front, and from August-January, they’ll be working 6/7 day weeks. (Toss in recruiting and the coaching carousel, and February and March can be intense, too. Some will even double-dip and cover college basketball.)

2) ESPN’s reporters are connected at the coach/player/athletic department level … but this story is above that – think Board of Regents and University Presidents. This is where the local papers, with people on the ground, can produce some scoops. It’s tough for ESPN’s army of bloggers to make anything happen from their couch (or, from Bristol). Which might partially explain an erroneous report like this one from ESPN’s Joe Schad this morning.

3) And the final theory … the guy dominating the story, Chip Brown, has become a mouthpiece for the University of Texas, the most powerful school in the Big 12 and the one holding most of the cards. With Texas A&M now becoming a major player in the process – if it goes to the SEC, the league will be left with just nine teams – does the Houston Chronicle begin to dominate the story? (Well, not if Texas talks to Texas A&M – then it’ll just hand the info to Brown, which is what most people seem to think it happening). Oklahoma is also a major player in all of this, and the Oklahoman has had a good 24 hours. Which makes us wonder … who is Pac-10 commish Larry Scott talking to? [Major Applewhite photo via Getty]

That’ll be all for today. You’ve been great. Tomorrow, perhaps someone will refer to us as “Cosmo Kramer-like.” Enjoy hypnotic Daisy dancing.

Daisy Lowe for UK esquire HD from Greg Williams on Vimeo.