A brief pause from conference realignment for this London piece of writing on the England-U.S. World Cup game

OK, Texas A&M seems headed to the SEC, and that league is also trying to out-woo the Pac-10 to get Oklahoma.

Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State seem Pac-10-bound, but the Big 12 is still trying to convince its 10 remaining members to hang together.

And Kansas is said to be moving ahead of Utah for a Pac-10 spot.

Is your head spinning? Mine is, so I went to London's Sunday Times and read the opening paragraph of Jonathan Northcroft's story on the England-USA World Cup game of Saturday.

To the Boston Tea Party and Belo Horizonte, the Royal Bafokeng stadium can almost be added. Here was parity that felt a lot like purgatory for Englishmen. England have never begun a World Cup better, scoring brilliantly through their captain, Steven Gerrard, in just four minutes and yet they have seldom ended an opening game at a tournament feeling worse. Robert Green, Fabio Capello's contentious choice to be No 1 goalkeeper, imploded. The myth that England are among the favourites for these finals appeared to explode. A scrappy, uncomfortable draw against the second-ranked side in Group C may not stop Capello's men topping it but it is hard to see England going too far in the knockout rounds if they fail to improve.

I love it. The writing, and the pessimism. Me, I think England will be fine. But I'm picking the Netherlands to win the whole shooting match.