On a truly momentous day for Indiana Hoosier fans, players and coaches, one that'll result in $40 Million making the long overdue renovation of basketball icon Assembly Hall a reality, where's The BigTenNetwork with any coverage and original content? Nowhere to be found! Isn't that supposed to be what THEY do?; @BigTenNetwork @DavidWoods007 @DustinDopirak @HoosierFaithful @IndianaMBB @insidethehall @iubbhoosiers ‏@IUBloomington @Justin_Albers ‏@OurIndiana @rickbozich

IUAthletics YouTube Channel video: IU Athletics Receives Historic Gift: Fred Glass and President Michael A. McRobbie. Uploaded December 19, 2013
http://youtu.be/ev5UgwK27PQ

"Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie today announced that IU Athletics has received a $40 million gift - the largest in its history - from IU alumna Cindy Simon Skjodt to provide much needed renovations to Assembly Hall and launch IU Athletics' ambitious and unprecedented $150 million "Catching Excellence: The Campaign for Indiana University Athletics" capital campaign. President McRobbie also announced that in honor of the landmark gift made by Catching Excellence co-chair Cindy Simon Skjodt and her philanthropic organization, the Samerian Foundation, IU will rename Assembly Hall the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall."

We thank Cindy Simon Skjodt for generous gift of $40 million to preserve legacy of @OurIndiana Hoosiers basketball! http://t.co/qRcCwceXhI
— Indiana University (@IndianaUniv) December 19, 2013

On a momentous day when Generosity, Hoosier Love and Big Bucks come knocking, IU Hoosier AD Fred Glass knows to open the door and welcome them in. Result? $40 Million to the IU Athletic Dept. and the over-due renovation of basketball icon, Assembly Hall. But where's the BigTenNetwork with any coverage? Nowhere to be found!

Below is the Indy Star's video of the complete 2:30 p.m. announcement, including remarks by philanthropic Hoosier Cindy Simon Skjodt, followed by links to their stories by Zach Osterman, @ZachOsterman https://twitter.com/ZachOsterman

By the way, in case you were wondering about the name and any prospective name changes in the future, IU's policies rule out corporate names, so at least that's a positive.

No worry about being changed to give some PR to insurance names, car parts manufacturers, et al, like has happened at Joe Robbie Stadium, which has been desecrated with awful corporate names -including bankrupt companies- over the past 20 years, none of which I use on this blog. :)

IU's Assembly Hall: Its origin and its future 

By Zach Osterman, zach.osterman@indystar.com 

1:28 p.m. EST December 19, 2013 http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2013/12/07/ius-assembly-hall-its-origin-and-its-future/3906225/

Includes renderings and schematics

IU icon to become Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall 

By Bob Kravitz and Zach Osterman, bob.kravitz@indystar.com 

8:30 p.m. EST December 19, 2013

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2013/12/19/indiana-university-assembly-hall-basketball/4123963/


So, did you see happen to turn your TV dial to The BigTenNetwork on Thursday to see how they were bringing its viewers around the country up-to-date on what happened in Bloomington on Thursday afternoon, a moment that could prove so very important to the future success of Hoosier Nation and its legion of fans and former players -and future fans and players- who want more consistent success, but with the requisite amount of class we've come to expect and demand?

No, of course not, because they didn't do a damn thing.
I'm writing and posting this online more than 12 hours after that press conference at Assembly Hall has been over, and there is still no original content of any kind about the story of a very generous IU alum with control over $40 Million knocking on the door and Fred Glass being smart enough to hold the door wide open.
And what might happen next as a result of that.

There's no original content of theirs of consequence about this subject on The BigTenNetwork website anywhere. 
Not even the video that most of us have now seen more than a few times.
Why?

I thought one of the principal reasons for the network being created in the first place, besides the need by the Big Ten office to make even more money from national and regional advertisers and give millions of that to the athletic departments, was to be able to directly service and connect fans and alumni from Big Ten schools, often located far from those campuses, like me here in South Florida, with what was actually going on.
The sort of thing that leads some fans to even finally start giving some money back to their schools, even if not quite $40 Million.

But here we are, more than six years after its creation, and all my doubts over the years about what they were actually doing, producing and seemingly settling for, have proven more true than I wanted in one big strikeout for Hoosier fans across the country.

The BigTenNetwork is NOT a Community College alternative radio station in the Quad Cities or a student-run newspaper run out of a Columbus office building by some silver spoon legacy whose father owns the building, they're supposed to be a professional media organization that has the resources and common sense to know in advance of a big story to ACTUALLY have people in place to cover the story and tell an original and compelling story that's different than the one told by the ambitious beat reporters for the school newspaper or the breezy comments offered by national reporters doing drive-bys on cold winter days.
So where were they?


WISH-TV, Channel 8, Indianapolis video: IU's Assembly Hall to be renamed after donation
By Jeff Wagner 
Updated: Thursday, December 19, 2013, 7:59 PM EST 
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2013, 2:38 PM EST
http://www.wishtv.com/news/local/iu-makes-major-announcement

13 WTHR Indianapolis

WTHR-TV, Channel 13 Indianapolis video: Philanthropist donates $40M for Assembly Hall renovation  
Updated: Dec 19, 2013 6:21 PM EST
http://www.wthr.com/story/24262048/2013/12/19/sources-iu-renaming-assembly-hall

My other blog, to be rejuvenated in the new year, is South Beach Hoosier:
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

More on Hoosier Great Walt Bellamy who died this morning, a seminal member of #HoosierNation; #iubb, #Hoosiers

#HoosierNation mourns loss of seminal family member as Olympian, Hall of Famer Walt Bellamy died this morning, http://t.co/irn7BbgR7s #iubb
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 2, 2013

Hoosier Nation has lost one of its great legends today with the passing of Walt Bellamy, IU and NBA Hall of Famer. pic.twitter.com/anfdi6e6co
— Indiana University (@IUBloomington) November 2, 2013

A starter on the IU basketball team from 1959-61, Walt Bellamy was also IU's Most Valuable Player, an All-Big Ten and All-American in his junior and senior seasons of 1960 and 1961, the starting center of the Gold Medal-winning Olympic basketball team at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and remains IU's all-time IU rebound leader. He was a 1982 Inductee into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Rookie of the Year Roommates: Bellamy's freshman roommate was IU football star Earl Faison. Their first year away from IU, Faison, of the San Diego Chargers, was named AFL Rookie of the year while Bellamy, with the Chicago Packers, was voted NBA Rookie of the Year. 

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Bellamy

I must've sat in the TV room at the Indiana Memorial Union hundreds and hundreds of times with Walt Bellamy's black & white photo right next to me from 1979-1983, watching local news, sports, General Hospital, All My Children, et al when that room was packed full of IU students and festooned with Hoosier athletic memories from decades past, from floor to ceiling, basketballs to footballs, photos and trophies.

Only one of my favorite places on campus, it was also my (and many friends') unofficial hangout in that era before cell phones made communication so easy.
And with all the long hours I put in with the Student Athletic Board (SAB)and the-then IU Student Alumni Council, (SAC), as I've written here previously, I sometimes spent more time there than I did at home in my apt.

On a huge-but-beautiful campus like we were blessed to enjoy in Bloomington, with so many attractive distractions and lots of distance sometimes between classes in my case, that TV room at the enormous Student Union, with all of its memories was one of my/our Centers of the Universe, every IU team photo, medal, football, basketball like part of our family heritage that we had an obligation to live up to.

And in my sophomore year of 1980-1981, we did, winning the fourth of IU's NCAA basketball championships, with the able defensive help of one of my friends, James "Jim" Thomas, #20, Mr. Florida Basketball his senior year at Nova High School in Davie, and a member of the 1981 NCAA Tournament All-First Team for everything he did to help the Hoosiers that remarkable March to remember.
Jim was Coach Knight's first-ever recruit ever from Florida.

Hoosiers! And the day after my beloved IU Hoosiers win their first Big Ten regular season basketball championship in 20 years, we speak now of the other beloved "Hoosiers." New York Times film critic A.O. Scott on what makes "Hoosiers" not just a great sports film, but a great film for the ages

Opening scene and credits of MGM's 1986 "Hoosiers," with Jerry Goldsmith's iconic Oscar-nominated score. Uploaded June 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/tUqhPsZh93Y

NYTimes video: N.Y. Times film critic A. O. Scott reviews the beloved 1986 MGM film "Hoosiers" about Indiana high school basketball -and personal redemption- set in 1951, and why it still remains a film for the ages. Uploaded March 3, 2009. http://youtu.be/AzgOZ0xHCEA

And on the day after my IU Hoosiers win the Big Ten basketball regular season championship for the first time in 20 years, a game they appeared certain to lose to Michigan in Ann Arbor before coming back in the final seconds, we speak of the other beloved "Hoosiers."

In 1986, I was living in Evanston, Illinois, the suburban home of IU Big ten rival Northwestern University, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, a town full of bright and fully-engaged professional, academic and management types just north of Chicago, and a world separate and apart from the life I had known and led in North Miami Beach and in Bloomington.

Then as now I was a big sports fan and avid movie-goer, a lover of not only classic films, but the worlds of advertising, journalism, American and European history and politics.
And like many of you reading this today, a sucker for smart and knowing well-made films about comebacks and teamwork and overcoming adversity against all odds, including those of self-sabotage, as was the case with Dennis Hooper's character in the film, where he played former basketball star-turned-alcoholic father and assistant coach "Shooter" Flatch



In short, I was the perfect demographic for the MGM film that came out that year loaded with a cinematic all-star lineup and a narrative that was straight out of both Indiana and Hollywood, loosely based on a story I'd known for years since leaving South Florida in the rear-view mirror for the Cream and Crimson of the beautiful rolling hills of southern Indiana and Indiana University in Bloomington, late in the summer of the year that the film 'Breaking Away" had been released to popular and critical acclaim.

Because of who I knew and what my interests and passions were, I'd been hearing and reading about the film from the very beginning, even before it was ever shot, from friends in Los Angeles involved in the entertainment industry and thru my avid and copious reading of the film industry trades I usually bought most weeks, like Variety.

From the crucial initial choices made in on-screen casting as well as those behind-the-screen with respect to the writer, director and even the film's composer, I knew that it could be a very special film indeed if all the stars aligned, and yet you never know how these things will go, despite the talented team you assemble.

So, it was with all of that history and knowledge very much front and center in my mind that I found myself one cold night in Evanston literally leaning against a wall while in line outside of a movie theater, forced by timing to listen to a bunch of jaded and self-indulgent NU grad students blabbing about the film and story in ways that bore absolutely no resemblance to what the reality was or what was soon to come.

As ridiculous as it sounds now, they even joked about leaving after an hour because how could this story about Indiana high school basketball possibly turn out to be anything worthwhile, even with Gene Hackman.
Yes, they really said that.

But you know what I did?
I kept quiet.
I kept my mouth shut and refused to play the Marshall McLuhan card as Woody Allen had does in his Oscar-winning Annie Hall.
You know what scene I mean.



I found myself there at that point in time because I'd had the good sense and foresight many months before to call in some IOU's from folks I knew around the Chicago area who were very much, yes, "in the "Loop" in the Loop.
The sort of people who know things before the masses and have unusual access because of who they are or what they do.
Since I wasn't afraid to reciprocate, I was also never afraid to ask for favors when it came to something important, as long as it was legal and above board.

I told them, these media and business mavens, that I wanted to be in the audience for the sneak preview of "Hoosiers " weeks before the film actually played in Chicagoland, and if possible, somewhere near Evanston.


View Larger Map

That's how I came to be standing in line with a special pass from a film-related concern to attend a special sneak preview of "Hoosiers" at a then-extant movie theater on Central Avenue, located across the street from the Wildcats' athletic facilitiess, the-then Dyche Stadium and Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Hickory High head coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) gives his underdog Huskers some pregame reminders and encouragement just moments before the start of their championship game against South Bend Central. Preacher Purl (Michael Sassone)  delivers a message that seems tailor-made for the upset-minded team. Uploaded February 13, 2011. http://youtu.be/3gKbrj2nZis

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen."

- Preacher Purl encouraging the underdog Hickory High basketball team before the state title game against heavily-favored South Bend Central in 1986's Hoosiers 

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechhoosiersfinal.html

The rest as they say is history.

I've seen this film well over 25 times from beginning-to-end, less than some, but surely more than most.
Though that's still less than I've seen "Breaking Away," a film that I know inside and out like I know the smiles of my three adorable nieces in any large crowd.

2012 ACC Lacrosse Tourney TV schedule for Men & Women, other NCAA Lacrosse matches on TV, Friday thru Sunday, April 20-22, 2012

The Big Game: Duke at Virginia Men's Lacrosse, Episode One. April 19, 2012.
http://youtu.be/fXoo-3OYQ1o

2012 ACC Lacrosse Tourney TV schedule for Men & Women, other NCAA Lacrosse matches on TV, Friday thru Sunday, April 20-22, 2012

The 2012 ACC Womens Lacrosse tourney is in Cary, N.C. this weekend, hosted by Duke, and games will be available online at ESPN3 and on certain RSN affiliates.


Check your area to see if you will get this on TV or have to go online. Here in South Florida, I will watch via Sun Sports, DirecTV Channel 653 to see thr two games on Friday and Saturday:
http://www.theacc.com/championships/12-womens-lacrosse-championship.html



Friday, April 20, 2012 - Quarterfinals


Noon ET – Boston College vs Virginia
- FS South 
- Sun Sports 
- CSN Mid-Atlantic 
- NESN – delay broadcast @ 10:30pm ET


2pm ET – Virginia Tech vs. Maryland
- FS South 
- Sun Sports 
- CSN Mid-Atlantic


Saturday, April 21, 2012 - Semifinals


1pm – UNC vs BC/UVA winner 
- FS South 
- Sun Sports 
- CSN Mid-Atlantic 
- NESN – delay broadcast @ 3pm ET


3pm – Duke vs UMD/VT winner 
- FS South 
- Sun Sports 
- CSN Mid-Atlantic 
- NESN – delay broadcast @ 7pm ET


Monday, April 23, 2012 -Championship Game
ESPNU, DirecTV Channel 208  amd at ESPN3.com
7 p.m. Winners of the two Semifinals on Saturday


------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2012/04/19/acc-tournament-provides-big-stage-tough-competition-ahead-ncaas



Friday, April 20th, 2012  

ACC Mens Tourney in Charlottesville/UVA on ESPNU, DirecTV Channel 208  

5 p.m. Duke vs. Maryland 

Last weekend Duke beat UVA at UVA, and Maryland knocked-off Johns Hopkins at Baltimore. 

7:30 p.m. North Carolina vs. Virgina

7 p.m. CBS Sports Network, DirecTV Channel 613 

Colgate at Bucknell

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

BigTenNetwork, DirecTV Channel 610

11 a.m. Air Force at Ohio State 

CBS Sports Network, DirecTV Channel 613 

Noon Johns Hopkins at Navy

CBS Sports Network, DirecTV Channel 613 

2:30 p.m. Women - #7 Notre Dame at #15 Georgetown

Georgetown is only team to defeat North Carolina this year.

http://www.und.com/allaccess/?media=316352

Sheehan Stanwick Burch and Todd Harris will be doing color commentary and play-by-play here and you know how I love Sheehan. She's a keeper!

ESPNU, DirecTV Channel 208 

3 p.m. Georgetown at Syracuse

BigTenNetwork, DirecTV Channel 610

5 p.m. Women - #4 Florida at #1 Northwestern (Tape Delay)

Combining two of my favorite names, Shannon Smith of Northwestern, odds-on favorite to repeat as Tewaarton Award winner, lead the Wildcats against the young and speedy Gators, still reveling in their overtime win at Johns Hopkins last week.

usalacrosse8 video: WD1: Florida Sneaks Past Johns Hopkins in Sudden Death 13-12.  http://youtu.be/HV-G6gOKpIY

ESPNU, DirecTV Channel 208 

5:30 p.m. Notre Dame at Villanova

Sunday, April 22, 2012

ACC Mens Championship at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville/UVA

ESPNU, DirecTV Channel 208  

3 p.m. Winners of Friday's Semifinals

Head's-up for Women's lacrosse fans in the Baltimore/DC area

Ohio State's Women's Lacrosse team will be playing in Baltimore on Saturday April 28th against Johns Hopkins at 1 p.m. 

Glenelg High School grads Alayna Markwordt and Katie Chase are on the Buckeyes LAX team, as are Cara Facchina and her younger sister, Mary Kate, from Mount de Sales Academy. Katie and Cara also both played for Hero's.

http://www.hopkinssports.com/allaccess/?media=301333

-----

http://www.youtube.com/user/uslacrosse8

http://espn.go.com/lacrosse/

http://insidelacrosse.com/ilwomen/

http://laxmagazine.com/landing/index

http://www.theacc.com/championships/index.html

More on the dangers of the 'Joe Pa' cult of personality: WSJ's Reed Albergotti gets in-depth re Paterno's battles with PSU officials re punishment

Joe Paterno as Darth Sidious Time Lapse Painting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQa_DBRoNu0&feature=colike

I read this Wall Street Journal article about yet another aspect of Joe Paterno's longstanding attempt to control all aspects of what happens with the Penn State football team

-and to steamroll legitimate scrutiny by others- with rapt attention within minutes of it first appearing online.

Afterwards, I sent the link to just about everyone I know who'd appreciate what was really going on here: Paterno's real character and authoritarian tendencies being revealed, and PSU administrators not eager to get into a pissing contest with a sports icon, even when he was clearly wrong.

To me, this is not unlike what many outsiders and constant critics of him always wanted to believe were true about Bobby Knight but weren't, and when they leveled many of their unfounded criticisms of Coach Knight, many sportswriters and journalists used sainted ol' Joe Pa the Pious as the model for angelic probity.

The only way this could have been better would have been if there was video of kindly Joe Pa saying, "Boys will be boys."

Well, now we are all learning the truth about who really believed in holding everyone on the team accountable to one high standard -Coach Knight- and who wanted special (favorable) treatment and dispensations for his players -Coach Paterno.

Sure would be nice to hear some nationally-known sports writers finally admit they were 100% wrong before they retire for good.

Don't hold your breath!

Joe Paterno really DID believe that the Penn State football players he coached should be held to a lesser standard than the one regular PSU students were supposed to follow, even when they violated the law or ran afoul of school rules. For instance, this nugget after a number of player incidents receive serious push-back from school administrators who wanted one firmly understood standard for everyone:

The incident prompted Mr. Spanier to visit Dr. Triponey at her home. Dr. Triponey confirms he told her that Mr. Paterno had given him an ultimatum: Fire her, or Mr. Paterno would stop fund-raising for the school. She says Mr. Spanier told her that if forced to choose, he would choose her over the coach—but that he did not want to have to make that choice.

Excellent reporting that is long overdue!!!

Wall Street Journal

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

A Discipline Problem, Paterno Fought Penn State Official Over Punishment of Players

By Reed Albergotti

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno clashed repeatedly with the university's former chief disciplinarian over how harshly to punish players who got into trouble, internal emails suggest, shedding new light on the school's effort to balance its reputation as a magnet for scholar-athletes with the demands of running a nationally dominant football program.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204443404577052073672561402.html

See Reed Albergotti's answers to reader questions about this article, here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2011/11/22/chat-send-us-your-questions-on-paterno/

Wednesday's follow-up to this article is:

Two Views on Administrator

Some at Penn State Call Ex-Official Courageous, Others Say She Micromanaged

By Reed Albergotti and Rachel Bachman

The former Pennsylvania State University administrator who clashed with football coach Joe Paterno over player discipline was seen by supporters during her time at the school as a courageous leader but by critics as a micromanager of student groups.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204443404577054632030945696.html

USA Today's Michael McCarthy wonders aloud what I've been wondering, too: "Is Big Ten Network avoiding Penn State sex scandal?"; Matt Millen's p.o.v.

BigTenNetwork video: Former IU head football coach and current BTN analyst Gerry DiNardo and Dave Revsine talk about the latest news involving the evolving Jerry Sandusky sex scandal and cover-up at Penn State and the future of head coach Joe Paterno. Sports writer Pete Thamel of the New York Times appears on the program to confirm his report that Paterno's reign in Happy Valley is nigh, and that Joe Pa will NOT be back next year.

Article at: http://youtu.be/bnrW5CIOgx0

ESPN video: Matt Millen talks candidly to SportsCenter host Chris McKendry about Jerry Sandusky, a man he has known since 1976. November 8, 2011.
http://youtu.be/3bc4raMo4QU

"Penn State has to stop the train or face the train and that's what it is..."

-Matt Millen

USA Today

Game On blog

Is Big Ten Network avoiding Penn State sex scandal?

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

November 8, 2011

The child sex abuse allegations rocking Penn State have dominated TV, with ESPN aggressively covering whether coach Joe Paterno will survive and national network morning shows weighing in on what's become a national and international story.

The TV network that seems to be tiptoeing around the scandal, so far, is the one billing itself as the "ultimate destination" for Big Ten Conference fans and alumni. Namely, the Big Ten Network (BTN).

Read the rest of the article at:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/11/is-big-ten-network-tiptoeing-around-penn-state-sex-scandal/1

-----

As if to buttress the reluctantly admitted fact mentioned in the article that the BTN is NOT a "24-7 news operation," which is to say that they are NOT really quite the resource that many Big Ten alums like myself wish they were, on Wednesday, they do not currently have a single LIVE program scheduled.

Everything is videotape, so nobody would think to turn there to see anything that is actually news Tuesday thru Thursdays.

According to their website, they did have a Special Report Tuesday night, one I missed, again, largely because they have so convinced everyone that they are not a full-service sports channel in the way we've come to accept it -and neither is CBS Sports Network for that matter- who would've thought to turn there?

Certainly not me.

-----

http://www.danpatrick.com/

http://www.youtube.com/bigtennetwork

http://www.youtube.com/user/espnfrontrow

Breaking: Miami Herald & sports editor Jorge Rojas already in mid-season form as they ignore BigTenNetwork's televised ballgames

Breaking: Miami Herald & sports editor Jorge Rojas already in mid-season form as they ignore BigTenNetwork's nationally-televised football games.

"Breaking," that is, if by breaking you mean every Big Ten football and basketball game they've televised for the past three years, whose games have never been listed in the Herald's daily Sports on TV.

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/
http://www.bigtennetwork.com/subindex/programming

Right, because there's nobody in South Florida who's originally from the Midwest, or who are alums from those eleven schools in South Florida.
I mean I only know about 100-125 myself, many of them well-known names locally.
Brilliant!

That's why the folks at the Herald and likely many of you with DirecTV in South Florida also missed the phenomenal Appalachian State upset of Chad Henne's over-rated Michigan team in the very first BTN broadcast, because the Herald didn't list it.
But I saw that amazing game LIVE.

I was laughing to myself in the fourth quarter as the game went "Instant Classic," knowing that the Herald had, once again, been caught with its pants down.

Par for the course over there in the Sports Dept., as the details of the Marlins finances coming from DeadSpin and not them proves rather conclusively.
http://deadspin.com/5619235/florida-marlins-financial-documents/gallery/

How does a supposed media reporter/columnist like Barry Jackson continue to not just ignore but act seemingly oblivious of the BTN, month-after-month, year-after-year, when other college conferences desperately want to emulate the cash-cow and national coverage the Big Ten teams already provides?

Good question, why don't you ask him?
But before you do that, consider the chicken-and-the-egg of this paradox: that's why he's Barry Jackson, that's why it's the Miami Herald, and that's why he's there and not somewhere else.

Once again, if you think about it a bit, you answer your own question!

You remember the BigTenNetwork, don't you?
They're the Chicago-based TV network beloved by advertisers that is one of the main reasons that the University of Nebraska leaves the Big 12 Conference effective next Fall for the national exposure and TV money that comes from having their football and basketball games available ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.
Where each of the current eleven member school gets roughly $22 million a year?

Plus, traditional non-revenue sports, where Nebraska excels and actually make money, like Men's Baseball and Women's Volleyball, where they're multiple NCAA Women's Volleyball champs, will also get seen all over the country, even in California and Hawaii and New England.

That's the sort of thing that helps national recruiting, don't you think?
A not insignificant consideration for a small state like Nebraska, whose state population is less than Miami-Dade and Broward's combined, and who has thus always had to recruit nationally, especially in Texas, for football.

And what does the University of Miami have again in terms of a TV deal?
Is that game of theirs tonight against FAMU on TV anywhere?
No.

The Randy Shannon TV Show is on what channel on what date at what time?
Nobody even knows whether he has one!

But in the Midwest, among real sports fans, they know exactly what time and when and where the myriad coach's TV show comes on, and the BTN even repeats the shows during the week for national coverage, which is how I came to watch the Bill Lynch Show this week.

Meanwhile, the Herald has NEVER written a serious article specifically about the BTN, which I know for a fact because I've checked their archives so many times.
The answer is always the same: ZERO.
Congrats One Herald Plaza!

Another David Landberg and Jorge Rojas success story!
That's why your sports section is so decidedly third-tier.

Tonight:
Marshall at Ohio State on DirecTV Channel 610
Towson at IU on DirecTV Channel 611 at 7:30 pm.

With encore showings in the days to come for folks like me.


Chicago Tribune
Big Ten could see TV money skyrocket with expansion
As number of subscriptions rise, multiplication adds up to considerable sum
May 13, 2010
By Teddy Greenstein | Tribune staff reporter
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-05-13/sports/chi-100514-big-ten-expansion-greenstein_1_btn-big-ten-network-tv-executive

Chicago Tribune
Big Ten big winner in divisional set up
Hard to find downside in way league divided while protecting most rivalries
September 01, 2010
By Teddy Greenstein | ON COLLEGES, ON GOLF
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-01/sports/ct-spt-0902-greenstein-big-ten-footba20100901_1_dave-brandon-pat-fitzgerald-ryan-field

Chicago Tribune
Rosenblog by Steve Rosenbloom
Big Ten's new set-up: NU wins, Illinois loses again (and again and again)
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2010/09/big-tens-new-set-up-nu-wins-illinois-loses-again-and-again-and-again.html

The New York Times College Football homepage and blog, The Quad:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/ncaafootball/
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/

The Dallas Morning News's influential College Sports blog and Sports Media blog:
http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/
http://sportsmediablog.dallasnews.com/

Mr. College Football blog by Tony Barnhart:
http://blogs.ajc.com/barnhart-college-football/

Athlon College Football website: http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football

IU Basketball coach Tom Crean speaks; Big 12 disintegration means big decisions on tap for next week in Texas; BigTenNetwork's financial magnet: $$$

Eric Gordon, Tom Izzo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfEevQvdp0w

IU Athletics YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/IUAthletics
IU Athletics Dept. website: http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/index-main.html

Over the next few months, I will be tuning-up my other blog, South Beach Hoosier,
http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

It's my expectation that by the time the college football preview magazines are starting to crowd bookstore periodical shelves and Dolphins pre-season football is looming, South Beach Hoosier will not only be updated and have a more attractive look, but will also have features, stories and anecdotes that you won't find elsewhere in South Florida.

Truth be told, I literally have dozens and dozens of sports-related blog posts that I have just sat on over the past year that I never posted here, about all manner of sports and personalities and issues, not least of all conference expansion, contraction and extinction.

Today, Nebraska formally asks for admission to the Big Ten Conference, Colorado leaves the Big 12 in the dust and heads for the Pac-10, and Texas and Texas A&M fans and alumni wait to see what they do next week, with Aggie fans afraid they will be left in the dust with Kansas and Missouri if the Longhorns head west for greener pastures.

As usual, The Dallas Morning News is all over the story, as they have among the best college football reporters in the country: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/

Texas Regents will hold teleconference on Tuesday and make decision then on conference choice http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/061210dnspotexasmeeting.9228beaf.html

Sources: Texas, Texas A&M may head in different directions
12:40 PM CDT on Friday, June 11, 2010
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/061110dnsporealignment.19064ac.html

I agree that A&M is a better fit for SEC, and if that happens, Utah would be a good fit to move to the Pac-10 also, which fits given their recent football, basketball and gymnastics success.

Columnist Tim Cowlishaw gives his take here:
Cowlishaw: 16 things to ponder about life with the Pac-16, without the Big 12
10:38 PM CDT on Thursday, June 10, 2010
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/061110dnspocowlishaw.ffc3a1.html

Not surprisingly, one of the constants of those particular posts I never posted here are what I believe to be the rather low-caliber of South Florida sports reporting and writing, and its increasing turn towards corporate sycophancy, leaving real sports fans the losers.
The multiple golly-gee stories last year about Dolphin owner Stephen Ross' dim-witted marketing ideas were the most egregious.

I know, I know. This hardly represents a surprising admission from me, given my previous negative comments here over the years, especially about local sports radio and the Miami Herald's very erratic and myopic sports section.

With all the changes afoot for the conferences, with TV money and TV markets the principal driving force on this issue, how difficult must it be for the Herald to report on this story given their consistently dreadful coverage of The BigTenNetwork since it started with a bang and Appalachian State's victory over Michigan at Ann Arbor?
A game that didn't appear in the sports section's TV schedule.

Though they've existed for a few years now, despite the particular demographics of South Florida, the Herald has completely ignored it, not even bothering to run their TV schedule in the Sports Today graphic, even when they have Top 10 teams playing each other in football or basketball.

For instance, the first time the Herald ever mentioned the BigTenNetwork, they got a very basic fact WRONG:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
FIU

September 5, 2008

By PETE PELEGRIN

O-LINE MIGHT GET A MAKEOVER

The FIU offensive line could have a new look when the Golden Panthers visit Iowa on Saturday.

Coach Mario Cristobal said redshirt freshman right guard Chris Cawthon has "caught up to" junior starting right guard Joe Alajajian, and both players are now co-starters, with the decision on the starter expected to be made before kickoff.
* Starting left guard Mario Caraballo, who missed camp and the opener at Kansas with a foot injury, began jogging, and Cristobal said he "will definitely" be ready for the Golden Panthers' first home game Sept. 20 against South Florida.

A TV HIT OR MISS
Depending on the type of cable package they have, FIU fans might be able to see Saturday's game against the Hawkeyes on the Big Ten Network. The game is being transmitted among the local Big Ten affiliates, meaning only in Iowa and Florida. However, most sports bars use DirecTV and not local cable boxes. DirecTV boxes get the Big Ten national signal, not the local one, so they will show Marshall vs. Wisconsin instead. Fans who have the Big Ten Network with local cable companies will be able to watch the game at home.

Actually, fans like me who have the package can watch any of the games they want, which is why they have the overflow channels, and not just Channel 610. Real sports fans know that, but not the very people writing about it.
Par for the course at the Herald.

Then, the BigTenNetwork doesn't get mentioned again in the Herald for another 17 months, despite all the stories last year about conference expansion and Notre Dame or Rutgers or Pittsburgh.
WTF kind of self-respecting newspaper Sports Dept. completely ignores the largest college conference TV network in the country for YEARS?

Talk of Big Ten expansion doesn't have everyone's support

From Miami Herald Wire Services

February 28, 2010

Big Ten university presidents and athletic directors said a handful of factors will determine whether the conference expands. Listen closely, though, and it sounds like one outweighs them all: Money.

The Big Ten generates more money than any other conference, thanks in part to its one-of-a-kind Big Ten Network. And no one in the conference, not even enthusiastic expansion advocates such as Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, wants to sacrifice a dime of the roughly $22 million each school gets a year.

"You just don't jump into the league and get a full share of what everyone else in this league has established over time," Alvarez said. "I think someone has to buy their way into the league."

Alvarez sees expansion as a path toward the kind of football title game that keeps the SEC and other conferences on national TV and fans' radar after Thanksgiving, when the Big Ten typically begins a multiweek break before the bowls.

"You take a look at the championship week in December and we're non-players," said Alvarez, the former coach who led Wisconsin to football prominence. "We're irrelevant."

Texas, Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame have all been mentioned as possible targets since the Big Ten announced in December that it was evaluating the possibility of expanding the 11-team conference.

"If you look at the college landscape across the country, look at television contracts that are coming up over the next 5-8 years, this is probably the right time for us to see if there is any value in trying to add a team or teams," Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said at the time. The three big factors Big Ten presidents and ADs said any new member would have to bring to the discussion are academic credentials, a strong geographic fit and money.

Stanley Ikenberry was the president at Illinois the last time the Big Ten expanded, adding Penn State in 1990. He said the decision to admit Penn State was driven less by money than by academics.

----------
Despite all the fervent emotions expressed on ESPN and on sports talk radio as well as well-known national sports blogs, the Herald's most recent story on college athletic conference expansion is this one -from last Thursday! Guess they're stuck in a time warp, which seems to be a real problem over at One Herald Plaza, as you will soon see me demonstrate here to a rather convincing and embarrassing degree.

Miami Herald
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE SPRING MEETING: SEC playing waiting game on decision whether to expand - Like the other major football conferences, the SEC is watching the Big Ten closely before deciding on possible realignment.

By Joseph Goodman
June 3, 2010

The Southeastern Conference has a plan to keep up with the Big Ten if the latter expands.

Now the waiting game begins for the SEC, one of college football's most powerful leagues -- its teams have won the past four BCS national championships.

SEC officials, athletic directors and football coaches met Wednesday during the annual spring meeting at the Sandestin Hilton to discuss league rules and current contracts with ESPN, CBS Sports and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.

Also on the day's agenda: the hot topic of expansion. Although the possibility of adding new members was discussed by league officials, talks were preliminary, according to Alabama athletic director Mal Moore.

The outcome of any expansion or contraction among the NCAA's major conferences, including the SEC, hinges upon the Big Ten.

The 11-member Big Ten, which owns the Big Ten Network and would like to increase TV revenue and add a conference championship game, announced in December that it would study the possibility of expansion.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has said his league might consider expanding to 12, 14 or 16 teams. Since then, speculation has been rife and multiple scenarios have been bandied about, including Notre Dame joining the Big Ten; the Big Ten dismantling the Big East; or the Big Ten and Pacific-10 cherry-picking teams from the Big 12.

According to commissioner Mike Slive, the SEC will act proactively if the Big Ten attempts to increase its size, power and revenue.

''If there's a significant shift in the conference paradigm, we will be thoughtful,'' Slive said. ''We'll be strategic, and our goal is for us to maintain our position as one of the most successful conferences in the country.''

In other words, if the Big Ten grows into a mega-conference of 16 members, then the SEC will not sit idly by while a rival attempts to become the most powerful conference in college football.

The SEC would not reveal its preliminary plan for conference expansion if the dominoes actually begin falling, but a source familiar with the SEC's vision said the league might consider ''expanding its nine-state footprint.''

Notre Dame is considered the wild card in conference-realignment speculation. If the Big Ten adds Notre Dame and two or four other major football powers, bringing its league total to 14 or 16 teams, then the SEC might follow suit in a revenue-driven chess match of major college football.

Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick has stated his university would like to remain independent.

Alabama coach Nick Saban, who coached at Big Ten member Michigan State from 1995 to '99, said Tuesday that he believes most of the conference-expansion chatter is being driven by the possibility of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten.

''Even when I was back in the Big Ten, and I really think that's the key to all this stuff, it was always about Notre Dame then,'' Saban said. ''Each year, there was a big discussion about trying to get Notre Dame to join the Big Ten, and I think that's a lot of what it's about now.''

In the event of a realignment, the SEC would prefer to add major programs from states with universities currently not aligned with SEC, according to a source, but the source emphasized that ''it's all speculation at this point.''

For their part, most SEC college football coaches prefer the status quo, a 12-team SEC divided into two competitive six-team divisions.

Florida coach Urban Meyer indicated Tuesday that he would not be in favor of conference expansion. Georgia coach Mark Richt said he isn't necessarily against conference expansion, but does not like the idea of adding another conference game.

For the latest move in the conference chess match, see the New York Times College Football webpage: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/ncaafootball/index.html

The BigTenNetwork

The BigTenNetwork - My lifeline to the normalcy of the American Midwest and college sports.

The answer to the question, "When are the Hoosiers on the Big Ten Network again?" http://www.bigtennetwork.com/schedule/

IU Hoosiers Video & Highlights from The Big Ten Network: http://www.bigtennetwork.com/videos/indiana.asp