[NU Sports] A new low for the Big Ten ...

[Peter C. Warner]

I have been following The Big Ten for more than 50 years.  Nebraska was by
far the worst decision that The Big Ten has ever made - particularly given
that The Big Ten has announced that it has closed this book for the time
being on further expansion.

The only thing worse that Delaney could have done would have been to add
someone like Iowa State or South Dakota.  It cost The Big Ten tens of
millions of dollars of the next 20 years by adding UNL instead of a team in
a populated area like NY or NJ.  Academically, UNL is ranked worse than any
other Big Ten school (unless perhaps in the area of animal husbandry).  

The selection of Nebraska screams out to the world how far The Big Ten has
fallen in prestige relative to other conferences.  Even after the clear
success of the BTN, The Big Ten (led by Delaney) took (or could only get)
the likes of UNL.  Delaney's gambit to get Texas and/or ND was a total
failure.  Although the schools have stood solidity behind the addition,
there have been some that have let it slip that King Delaney has no clothes.
Joe Pa, for example, slipped last summer that he was happy with the
addition, but thought looking to the east (e.g., Syracuse or Rutgers) would
have been more prudent.  

Perhaps it is reality that The Big Ten (with its climate and rust belt
status) just isn't good enough for Texas and/or ND, but Delaney has made a
public spectacle of that fact.  Delaney should be fired.

Peter Warner

P.S.:  I thought the Division names were hokie at first too.  But, I look at
The Big Ten's consumer profile.  Not all graduated from the Harvard of the
Midwest.  Plus, a lot of the market is kids.  It's not a bad way to get the
kids to take notice of tradition and to strive to emulate the leadership
qualities of the athletes to whom they look up.  So, I'm begrudgingly ok
with it.  Further, despite all of the complaining, I haven't seen anyone
else come up with anything better.

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 4:26 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: [NU Sports] A new low for the Big Ten ...

Since when did the greatest league in college sports try and out-dumb the
morons at the B(C)S for major decisions?

First they reject the logical east/west division split in favor of
"competitive balance" - which really isn't there and will change over time
anyway (ask the SEC, where the west used to be a laughing stock but now the
east is - might as well go with something that won't change).

Now we get "legends and leaders"? Really? That's the best they could do?

I think someone at corporate ran out of money to hire a marketing team. I
seriously could have picked two items out of the trash and come up with
better division names. It makes the league a laughing stock nationally and
overshadows some pretty decent trophy names.

September cannot come soon enough - when the one smart decision the league
has made in all this mess, adding Nebraska, will give the Big Ten some great
matchups week after week and make us the top conference in the land for
football once again. That will hopefully overshadow the brain trust of ad
wizards who came up with these embarrassingly stupid division alignments and
names ... and had the lack of awareness to "unveil" each decision to fan
befuddlement and national ridicule.

Did Jim Delaney take a vacation after the hard work on adding Nebraska and
put his wife's idiot cousin's boy in charge while he was gone?

What's next? We "proudly" announce dropping half our Florida bowl ties to
sign long-term deals with the Weedwacker Bowl, ESPN8 ("The Ocho!") Kickoff
Classic and inaugural Utica Bowl?

Yeeesh.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT


* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
==========================


      

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