The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[The_Douger]

Ah, Captain Snarky returns.

[TripletDaddy]

Ah, Captain Snarky returns.

Hmm....says the guy who denigrates the achievements of family members.

[The_Douger]

Hmm....says the guy who denigrates the achievements of family members.

Heh, because that's what I was doing.

[TripletDaddy]

Heh, because that's what I was doing.

ha, no you were being incredibly supportive, telling your cousin that she should be happy that she has a scholarship that was paid for by someone else.

You said she was "miffed." I wonder why? Perhaps she couldn't sense your love.

[The_Douger]

ha, no you were being incredibly supportive, telling your cousin that she should be happy that she has a scholarship that was paid for by someone else.

You said she was "miffed." I wonder why? Perhaps she couldn't sense your love.

I was being incredibly supportive. I was showing her how things work in the real world, something she seems clueless about. It's just boyfriends, running, and school for that great kid, dagnabit. Not a thought in the world to how things work behind the scenes.

I hear Shaka was saying the poly pipeline dried up due to BYU's increased grades requirements. Maybe you should go call him a racist or something.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

So if conferences are clamoring to get to 14 teams now, why won't they go to 16, 18 or 20? 12 makes a ton of sense because you can have a championship game and play teams from the other half of the conference once every two years, and you can't do that with 14. But the SEC and BIG 10 are doing this with the assumption that more teams means more money. In the case of the Big 10, that is absolutely true given their revenue stream from their network.

The Big 10, SEC and Pac 10 have always had a seat at the table because they're the strongest conferences in their respective regions of the country. The fates of the ACC and Big 12 has always been more up in the air. The ACC seemed to do fine because it was managed better than the Big 12 and they didn't have one program dominating the discussion and pissing the rest of the members off. Now, the Big 10 has picked off one of its schools and Maryland would have been crazy not to accept an invite.

The targets of the Big 10's expansion makes sense -- get big markets where you can build up the conference's brand. Maryland and Rutgers do nothing to add to the conference's competitiveness, but they make a lot of sense dollars wise. The question in my mind then is whether the Big 10 is done or will they go after two more programs that would also increase their footprint -- Boston College and Kansas.

Does Maryland leaving portend anything else for the ACC? I would be willing to bet that the SEC would love to add either Florida State, but I've heard that Florida is opposed to it for obvious reasons. If Florida is some kind of roadblock, does Florida State look at the Big 12 as less of a sinking ship than the ACC? I would think partnering up with Texas and Oklahoma would be better than staying with the basketball centric axis in North Carolina especially if the Big 10 were to pick off another ACC school. On top of that, if and when the SEC gets involved again with expansion you would have to think their focus would be schools in North Carolina and Virginia (if they can't entice Oklahoma). Va Tech would go, and perhaps a school like NC State would also go.

I don't think there is room for five powerhouse conferences. I think there's only room for three or four -- and four conferences only because one school in some of these conferences is trying to keep out another one.

[The_Douger]

SEC invites VaTech and NC State.

B1G invites UNC, Virginia, Maryland, Rutgers.

Big 12 invites Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, GaTech, Miami, and Cincy.

[pellegrino]

SEC invites VaTech and NC State.

B1G invites UNC, Virginia, Maryland, Rutgers.

Big 12 invites Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, GaTech, Miami, and Cincy.

so Dook gets left out? As funny as I think that would be (actually it would be horrible for UNC) that will never happen.

I think the North Carolina schools will stay together, but then I would never have thought that the Terps would bolt for the big 10

[The_Douger]

so Dook gets left out? As funny as I think that would be (actually it would be horrible for UNC) that will never happen.

I think the North Carolina schools will stay together, but then I would never have thought that the Terps would bolt for the big 10

Teams have made it pretty clear the last few years that regional games and rivalries can take a backseat to the almighty dollar.

Someone said earlier than they don't need both Duke and UNC. So, I was just basing it on that. I can't really see them as anything but a package together, but stranger things certainly have happened.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

so Dook gets left out? As funny as I think that would be (actually it would be horrible for UNC) that will never happen.

I think the North Carolina schools will stay together, but then I would never have thought that the Terps would bolt for the big 10

You don't think NC State would leave for the SEC if invited? I don't think UNC would leave for the SEC because of academics, but NC State is another story at least it seems to me. I could see UNC leaving for the Big 10 if invited. The question is whether the Big 10 wants to go farther northeast and grab BC and become the only college football presence in that whole region, or if it would instead try to get into richer recruiting ground and grab UVA and UNC. To me, UVA and UNC would be the better route because of academics and recruiting, but it doesn't have the population center of the northeast -- but would BC even command much of the market up there? Does adding BC and Syracuse make sense? Syracuse is upstate, but don't people in the NYC area pay attention to Syracuse somewhat at least to the extent they care about college football at all?

[wapiti]

Teams have made it pretty clear the last few years that regional games and rivalries can take a backseat to the almighty dollar.

Someone said earlier than they don't need both Duke and UNC. So, I was just basing it on that. I can't really see them as anything but a package together, but stranger things certainly have happened.

Maryland was not the lynch pin of the ACC. Florida State on the other hand . . .

If FSU goes to the Big 12 and takes another school with them, the ACC could crumble and Duke would be left on the outside.

[pellegrino]

You don't think NC State would leave for the SEC if invited? I don't think UNC would leave for the SEC because of academics, but NC State is another story at least it seems to me. I could see UNC leaving for the Big 10 if invited. The question is whether the Big 10 wants to go farther northeast and grab BC and become the only college football presence in that whole region, or if it would instead try to get into richer recruiting ground and grab UVA and UNC. To me, UVA and UNC would be the better route because of academics and recruiting, but it doesn't have the population center of the northeast -- but would BC even command much of the market up there? Does adding BC and Syracuse make sense? Syracuse is upstate, but don't people in the NYC area pay attention to Syracuse somewhat at least to the extent they care about college football at all?

I agree that they're all chasing money, but I think at least for the state schools (UNC, NC State) there might be enough state lawmakers who care who their alma maters affiliate with. It will be interesting to see what happens. I would be very sad to see another great rivalry like UNC/Dook be consigned to the dustbin of history.

[Scorcho]

I wonder if Delaney inviting Maryland to the B10 is the conference's way of shooting one across the bow of the SS Notre Dame? I can't imagine that B10 was thrilled about having ND align itself with the ACC.

I can see Delaney muttering under his breath to ND, "did you see what I did there, do you want to see me go to 15?"

[pellegrino]

I wonder if Delaney inviting Maryland to the B10 is the conference's way of shooting one across the bow of the SS Notre Dame? I can't imagine that B10 was thrilled about having ND align itself with the ACC.

I can see Delaney muttering under his breath to ND, "did you see what I did there, do you want to see me go to 15?"

that's possible, but it really does make sense financially to add schools with large television markets in contiguous states.

As much as I hate Delaney, he has proven to be a genius in all of this conference expansion.

[doctorcoug]

Think what you like.

She's complaining about her free education that she earned by being an athlete at track, saying she doesn't get as neat of things as the football players. What that is, I don't know, whether it's training table, or what.

I'm just pointing out that despite her being a great athlete, their department doesn't cover the costs of their equipment, scholarships, and coaches and administrative salaries.

I pay a lot of money to watch football. I have never attended a track meet.

I have a hard time feeling bad for anyone who got their education covered for free while they were participating in a sport they liked doing.

As I'm an insider, I'll let you know the differences.

The football team has their own locker room and their own gym. All Olympic sports use a different locker room and gym.

The football team has more coaches.

The football team has more trainers.

The football team travels more people.

They have more office space for the coaches and team, though we were able to use the conference rooms if we had a team meeting with all the track athletes.

And, that is about it.

We get the same amount of gear. I could check out as much gear as I wanted and the only thing I had to do was turn in the old stuff. I went through new trainers about once a month (I was putting in very high miles and I destroy shoes quick). I had plenty of training sweats, t-shirts, BYU paraphernalia related training stuff. They even did my laundry! All I had to do was throw my clothes in my laundry bag and the next day it was back, clean.

We had the same access to academic support. We had the same study hall. BYU required all athletes to spend 16 hours a week there until your grades met a certain standard. All grades for freshmen were tracked and if you were doing poorly, they required you to have a personal tutor (at their expense). If you wanted, the university would provide a tutor for your classes, free of charge. I never took advantage of this and I was stupid for it. I spent my required time in the study hall flirting with track girls.

We did have different trainers. But there was always plenty of help. When I got injured, I would get a massage after practice (which hurt really really bad), then I would sit in an ice bath. I didn't have to wait for any of this.

We had the same team physicians. There is an afternoon every fall where we have to get a physical. It is first come first serve. Everybody is in a big line and it takes hours. I think I was in line for over four hours once. We were all mixed together, football, basketball, volleyball...everybody. When I traveled with the team, the school sent a trainer with us and not a doctor, however. I guess that is a difference. Anytime I needed to see a physician I could get in free of charge. That is when I was finally diagnosed with exercise induced asthma, how mad I was that I went years with symptoms.

We all got to register for classes before anybody else. That was nice prior to the days of route y. That phone system sucked.

I remember the days of complaining. We all complained about the women because they had so much scholarship money available. I can't remember the figures, but I think men's track had less than 20 scholarships for the team, which usually was divided. Some would get books, others half tuition. It was rare for a men's track athlete to have a full scholarship. In fact, I don't think anybody did. The women were different, but I still think that only the top women had full scholarships. It is funny to hear about a woman complaining the exact thing that many male athletes complained about the women.

The grass is always greener...

via a galaxy s3 far far away