College Football Realignment

Nebraska to the Big Ten makes sense; the Cornhuskers definitely lost a lot when the Big 8 became the Big 12. They lost their Thanksgiving weekend game with Oklahoma when the two rivals were placed in separate divisions (Texas-Oklahoma became the marquee regular season conference game). The Big 12 chose not to preserve or establish cross-divisional rivalries the way that the SEC has (Florida/LSU, Auburn/Georgia, Alabama/Tennessee, etc.). A consideration may have been the conference championship game the first weekend in December – a rematch wouldn’t be best for the conference. That coupled with the conference center of gravity moving from Kansas City to Dallas over the past 15 years, it makes sense for the Huskers to move to the Big Ten. I had to laugh at the idea that Rutgers would receive a Big 10 invite. Only non-sports fan MBA’s would think the Rutgers athletic program would deliver the New York City media market to the Big 10 (and its network). Notre Dame and Penn State are the college programs that NYC fans follow. For basketball, St John’s, Syracuse, and Connecticut fans have been buying the bulk of the Big East tournament tickets at Madison Square Garden for 30 years. Rutgers might make sense geographically, but not practically. I don’t think that the Big 10 will go to 16 teams unless Notre Dame is part of the equation.
Colorado and Utah to the Pac-X enable that conference to hold a championship game but I’m not sure how much this addition will help the Pac-10. Colorado football hasn’t been bowling much recently, and while Utah was strong in the Mountain West, they will find the size and speed much more challenging over the course of a full season compared to 1 or 2 inter-conference games that are more important to them than their Pac-10 opponents. The attempt at luring Texas and Oklahoma was a good strategic first strike towards the 16-team Super Conference, but I don’t know that it can be successfully employed. The Big East has 16 teams for basketball and hasn’t found a good regular season or post-season tournament format yet. The college seasons don’t have enough games to facilitate a thorough conference schedule for 16 teams. The 12-team format with 2 6-team divisions allows for a good schedule, but the best remains an 8-team conference. That enables home-and home for basketball and a full slate for football. Would a 16 team format with minimal cross-divisional regular season competition be successful?
The unanswered question about Texas and Oklahoma is which universities eventually move with them if the 16 team Super Conferences form? Texas Tech may very well turn into Iowa State in 5 years. Bob Knight has left, his son has also left; will the basketball program improve, or will it fall back to its historical performance? And with Mike Leach’s ouster as Football coach, will they be able to continue their offensive excellence that has led them to recent success? Texas A&M didn’t want to partner with the Pac-10, but was interested in the SEC. The SEC only would need 4 programs to get to 16 – would the 4th school be Oklahoma State or basketball-rich Kansas? Or do they bring 5 and point South Carolina back to the ACC? First on the map for the Big 12 is getting back to 12 members so they can hold those recently booked Championship games at JerryWorld. Do two of the snubbed SWC members (Rice, SMU, TCU, Houston) receive invites? Or does the conference look to expand geographically and invite Memphis and Louisville? While those programs would be in the SEC’s area, I don’t think that the SEC would be particularly interested in them.

The Decision

LeBron James should have done his show at the interview table following the Game 6 loss to the Celtics. The Cavs gave up on their home court down 9 points with a minute to play against a team that Lakers Coach Phil Jackson described as the best NBA team at blowing leads late. In that 4th quarter against the Cavs, the Celtics missed 6 free throws. It may have been the first time in NBA playoff history that it actually took one minute to play the last minute of the game!
I didn’t watch the show, but whoever enabled him to think that stabbing his home city in the back on national TV is a moron. And LeBron can’t be far from moron status himself to go along with the idea. While LeBron apparantely talked about his legacy, this charade will not be recorded as a positive note. I don’t have a problem with him choosing his team or his teammates, but the other historically elite players (Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kobe) in the Free Agent era have carried themselves much better than he has this summer. He simply should have made his visits, chose his team, and simply signed his contract.
His comment about not having to be “The Man” are reminiscent of what Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina said when signing with the Yankees. Pavano’s comments were directed at the intensity of the Boston fan base while he was being targeted by both the Red Sox and the Yankees in 2003 – I think Pavano won more games for the Twins after the All-Star break last season than he did in 3 years in New York. While Mussina enjoyed success in New York, the Yankees didn’t win any championships and had more first round playoff exits (5) than World Series appearances (2) during his 8 years in pinstripes.

Isiah Thomas working for the Knicks ??????

I did a double take when I saw the story. Would the Lions rehire Matt Millen? Like the Sham-Wow, this gets better! Not only did Isiah lead the Knicks out of the NBA playoffs, there was the sexual harrasment charge. And how exactly is it kosher for him to be an NCAA Coach and work for an NBA team at the same time? I don't think that USC would try to get away with that!