IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MONEY. Peace talks in a hotly contested corner of the world broke down today. I'm not talking about anything as mundane as North Korean nukes or ethnic cleansing in Darfur. These are the talks that would have scheduled some basketball games between Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Marquette Warriors Golden Porcupines.

Why the deal collapsed is a puzzle. Money was reportedly the issue. Yet, Marquette was offering UWM a generous $60,000 on average for each of three games to be played at MU's home court, the Bradley Center. The teams would have switched between the Bradley Center and UWM's home court, the U.S. Cellular Arena, for the last two games, exchanging no money.

The two sides should have come to an agreement - for their fans' sake. But now, they say they're through trying. We urge them to go back to the table and try some more.

Marquette and UWM played each other regularly until the 1998-'99 season. Marquette, a longtime basketball powerhouse, won all 34 games in the series. But like the skinny kid in the comic book ad who worked out and built muscles after a brute kicked sand on him at the beach, UWM has since morphed into a strong team. Suddenly, Marquette wasn't the only team in town to be invited to the exclusive NCAA tournament. The Panthers have earned three such invites in a row. In 2005, the team made it to the Sweet 16.

So, now, contests between the Panthers and the Golden Eagles could be humdingers. The winner would earn local bragging rights.