IU's Soccer Hoosiers face Creighton in NCAA College Cup 2nd Semifinal at 7:30 p.m. tonight on ESPNU for record 18th College Cup appearance; Georgetown plays Maryland in opener at 5 p.m.

Above, what's left of my old 1990's IU soccer t-shirt, which I also bought two of from TIS Books in Bloomington for my two young nieces to wear in 1998, which we all wore when we watched the World Cup games in France on ABC-TV at my sister's house in Maryland. It didn't help the U.S. or the Netherlands, the two teams we were rooting for.

After eight years in the darkness, the Soccer Hoosiers have returned to the bright lights of the Final Four, the NCAA's College Cup, after defeating defending NCAA champion North Carolina 1-0 last Friday.

IU's Soccer Hoosiers face Creighton in NCAA College Cup 2nd Semifinal tonight at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU for record 18th College Cup appearance; Georgetown plays Maryland in opener at 5 p.m., DirecTV Channel 208

http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-soccer/ind-m-soccer-body.html

Watch online here via WatchESPN:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/688115/georgetown-vs-maryland-semifinal-1

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/688139/indiana-vs-creighton-semifinal-2

The final is Sunday at 2 p.m. and also on ESPNU

Space limitations here prevent me from naming all my friends who were players on IU's 7-time NCAA Soccer champions, whose many exploits & comebacks at Armstrong Stadium under coach Jerry Yeagley I recall like they were yesterday, happily, often in the company of my friend Laura Seitz from Pittsburgh, wearing her red Adidas IU swimming warm-up jacket that always made my charming friend's very good looks just pop-out a little bit more.

Well, okay, I'll name two, IU soccer phenoms Mike Hylla and Dave Boncek, of St. Louis, part of IU's much-vaunted St. Louis pipeline, who were twice members of an IU NCAA champion team in 1982 and '83, and the runner-up team in '84.

Dave and Mike lived in the same apt. complex as me, Dunhill Apartments, directly west from Memorial Stadium, and not surprisingly, like all IU soccer players, or at least the vast majority of them that I knew, were personable and funny.

Those qualities always made rooting for them very easy on those rare times when we were actually trailing in a close game.

Since they had a very particular talent for showing some crazy soccer skills, they were very adept at always kicking the ball around near the pool -basically, just below my apt. and what our living room window opened up to- while simultaneously noticing, along with me- who among the bevvy of beautiful IU coeds lying around the pool still retained their spring break tans.

Yes, that a was a very nice place to live!

(I think the daughter of IU team doctor, Dr. Brad Bomba lived there as well, if I recall. 

Dr. Bomba was an All-American end when he was at IU in the mid-1950's.)

If YouTube has existed then, I would've definitely uploaded video of their gravity-defying dexterity with a soccer ball, as they seemingly could keep soccer balls in the air forever.

None of those soccer triumphs were more memorable or deserved than the 1982 NCAA eight-overtime title game victory over Duke, which I witnessed in person over Christmas break at Ft. Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium, in what remains THE longest game in the history of college soccer. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126243/index.htm

Afterwards, jubilant Hoosier players, coaches, families and supporters -like me- partied all-night in the hallways in the team's hotel, the Ft. Lauderdale Sheraton Yankee Trader.

It was one of the happiest days of my time in Bloomington -success!!! 

-----

IU soccer merchandise at the official online store:

http://iuhoosiers.cbscollegestore.com/search.cfm?store_id=406

Oklahoma's plays in his head, but IU's players on the field: ex-Sooner OC Kevin Wilson begins his coaching reign at Indiana rather ignominiously

IU Athletics video: Indiana University football head coach Kevin Wilson's press conference after the Hoosiers 27-20 loss to Ball State at Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium, his first game as Hoosier head coach. September 3, 2011.

http://youtu.be/GPRkx_-9eXU

Above, the crimson-colored "Win with Wilson" IU t-shirt I decided NOT to buy a few weeks ago. I decided that I would sit on my enthusiasm just a bit longer and wait and see via ESPN3 how my "Great Expectations" looked against Ball State Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy, five months before the Super Bowl is played there.

After all, you can't judge these things based on watching video and practices via the Big Ten Channel and the official IU Athletics YouTube Channel.

Good thing my intuition is so good!

Shirt is available at http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/

Well, he's got Oklahoma's plays in his head, but IU's players on the field: former Oklahoma OC Kevin Wilson opens the Wilson coaching era at Indiana in rather ignominious fashion, losing to Ball State and looking lackluster in doing so.

But then me being me, the optimist, I remember that things started out VERY BADLY for Joe Gibbs his first year with the Redskins, too, losing his first five games in 1981.

Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star starts his Sunday column on the ballgame in a rather droll way, perhaps to ward off the uncomfortable silence of a losing effort that was closer on the scoreboard than it was on the field.

Wilson era opens with dud

In theory, the Kevin Wilson era at Indiana could have started in a more ignominious fashion.

For example, the team bus could have gotten lost on the way from Bloomington to Lucas Oil Stadium, or the club could have arrived with its red uniforms instead of its road whites.

But this was pretty ignominious.

Embarrassing is another word.

Ball State 27, IU 20.

It wasn't just the result; it was the way it was achieved.

Read the rest of the column at:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110904/SPORTS15/109040362/Wilson-era-opens-dud

Terry Hutchens at the Star's Hoosier Insider blog doesn't bother trying to humor IU fans and gets right to what bothered them -us- the most.

Where do we begin? The new Indiana under Kevin Wilson Saturday night looked a lot like the old Indiana.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://blogs.indystar.com/hoosiersinsider/2011/09/03/looking-back-at-iu-ball-state/

You don't have to know much about Indiana Hoosier football to know from reading those two sentences above to know that isn't a good thing, and if you do know the subject like I do, it's like a chill going down your back.

That sense of unknown dread out there lurking below the surface...

The history of choking in the clutch... an errant throw right when you are close to pulling off the upset...the dropped pass in the end-zone in the first-half that you never get back...the huge second-half leads that you blow in consecutive weeks on the road against Northwestern and Iowa -last year.

This coming Saturday is the football home opener at Memorial Stadium against UVA, where niece #2 goes to school. They beat William & Mary 40-3 Saturday, so they must be looking forward to coming to Bloomington.

IU-Ball State highlights video: http://btn.com/2011/09/03/ball-state-knocks-off-indiana/

Recap of IU-Ball State game:

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/090311aae.html

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/

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

http://blogs.indystar.com/hoosiersinsider/

http://twitter.com/#!/indystar_hutch

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

http://indiana.247sports.com/

http://btn.com/

http://btn.com/schools/indiana/

http://bleacherreport.com/indiana-hoosiers-football

Sun-Sentinel & Miami Herald snooze for hours as websites have ZERO on earthquake & tsunami in Japan as other sites move quickly; NHK's LIVE coverage

Screen-shot of CNN coverage of Japanese earthquake and tsunami at 2:25 a.m. Eastern

Early this morning I was watching the 12:30 a.m. repeat airing on The BigTenNetwork of IU's loss to Penn State in the Big Ten basketball tourney in Indy at Conseco Fieldhouse, their ninth loss in a row.



Screen-shot of BigTenNetwork at Big Ten basketball tourney
During a second-half commercial break, l flipped over to Fox News Channel and it was then that I first saw the story that is developing as South Florida's news media snoozes -THE largest earthquake in the recorded history of Japan, and the seventh largest ever recorded in the world.
A tsunami warning is now in place for the entire Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada, with six-foot waves expected to hit Hawaii around 9 a.m. Eastern and smaller waves hitting California, Oregon and Washington state at 11 a.m. Eastern.

Evacuation orders for all beach hotels in Hawaii are already in place, with nobody permitted to remain after 8 a.m. Eastern.


Screen-shot of Fox News Channel at 2:15 a.m. Eastern

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel finally posted something about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in northeast Japan at about 3:45 a.m., two hours AFTER other major newspapers started posting information to their websites, usually screen-shots from NHK-TV in Japan.

Watch NHK-TV's LIVE streaming coverage in English at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42025198#42025198

After flipping around to check certain key news websites to see who was asleep and who was awake on this amazing story, the Miami Herald was in its customary state -sound asleep.
At 4 a.m. Eastern there was still NADA on the Herald's website.



Screen-shot of Miami Herald at 2:30 a.m. Eastern
http://www.miamiherald.com/



Screen-shot of The Drudge Report at 2:30 a.m. Eastern
http://www.drudgereport.com/



Screen-shot of The New York Times at 2:18 a.m. Eastern
http://www.nytimes.com/


Screen-shot of The Los Angeles Times at 2:30 a.m. Eastern
http://www.latimes.com/



Screen-shot of Svenska Dagbladet at 2:45 a.m.
http://www.svd.se/

MSNBC even got into the picture for a change on this story, unlike their invisible news coverage early-on last year during the Polish Prime Minister's airplane crash in Russia and the Moscow subway bombing, where they stuck to their curious 'crime-block' programming, featuring repeats of their 'Predator' series or profiles of U.S. prisons, which is still a weird programming choice no matter how many years they run that overnight and on weekends, instead of actual news programming.

They were, however, 'punked' at 4:04 a.m. by someone claiming to be at Narita Airport, outside Tokyo, who ended his personal account with the new maxim of 2011: "Winning!"
That's the lasting power of Charlie Sheen.


Screen-shot of MSNBC's coverage

The unseen male MSNBC anchor seemed a bit stunned but didn't let on that anything unusual had just happened.

Sometime around 4:30 a.m., the Miami Herald finally awoke and posted something. Better late than never I suppose, huh?

Watch NHK's LIVE streaming coverage in English at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42025198#42025198
------
1:15 p.m. Friday Update:

If you're looking for some LIVE coverage from Hawaii, try Hawaii News Now at
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=176904&nav=menu55_1_1

Remember, Hawaii is five hours behind Eastern, the same amount we are behind
GMT, to give you some perspective.
Hawaii gets roughly 4,000 Japanese visitors a day and the latest news that Narita Airport is going to remain closed due to physical damage from the disaster is NOT good news. According to what I heard on Hawaii News Now around Noon Eastern-time, three airports in Japan hope to resume flights soon to Hawaii, including Nagoya.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper website;
http://www.staradvertiser.com/

Finally something to smile about for Hoosier fans in a season of wasted opportunities

Been a little under the weather this weekend so my plan to drop a cache of posts here to get things stirring has taken a back seat to my health.
I did want to post this one, though, before IU's upcoming game in a few minutes against a reeling Michigan State team at East Lansing that I'll be watching on The BigTenNetwork, DirecTV Channel 610.


IU 52, U of I 49 - First win against ranked team while Tom Crean's been head basketball coach at IU.
Video highlights at:
http://www.bigtennetwork.com/generic/sports/video?autostart=true&bcpid=60234638001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAEBQhU8~,kLn_EtefUBn-jd4QuQdKKKEE0M4y3HUj&bctid=766801782001

It's not by mistake that I've chosen not to write much about this disappointing college basketball season, the third in the Tom Crean regime in Bloomington. (Or even said anything about Kevin Wilson being hired as the new football coach, a move I welcomed.)

There's a lot of misgivings and discomfort among some Hoosier fans I know and communicate with on a regular basis, not only over players that have failed to develop as expected (or in some cases, even regressed) but about wasted opportunities on nationally-televised games, cementing the idea among key high school players -and some fair-weather fans- that IU can't show more toughness and grit in close games, and emerge victorious.

While this victory over the Fighting Illini was certainly nice, especially at a packed Assembly Hall where devout fans have been eyewitness to more losing than at any time since I've been a Hoosier -and more since these students have been alive- I still find that a lot of very frustrated IU fans living far from the Midwest, are having a hard time accepting "moral victories."

You can count me among them, and you can see that in the agitated and exasperated emails from Hoosier faithful that are sent to the Hoosiers homepage of the Indy Star
http://www.indystar.com/section/SPORTS0601?odyssey=nav|s|hoosiers&nav=2

That's especially the case with knowledgeable fans whose base of understanding for Hoosier basketball, both history and personality context, extends decades, many of whom frequently respond to Indy Star reporter Terry Hutchens' Hoosiers Insider blog at
http://blogs.indystar.com/hoosiersinsider/

Hoosiers Insider remains a great resource for Hoosier fans living far from the rolling hills of Bloomington, and remains one of the few places that I can consistently go and find out something, from either Terry or a reader, that I didn't already know or had considered about the team and its history.

People with an institutional memory about the team that recall things that happened before I got to Bloomington in the fall of 1979 the way I STILL remember things about the 1972 Dolphins Perfect Season -whether scores of the games, the team roster, mini-controversies, et al- which was my first year as a Dolphins season ticket holder.

When IU plays Kentucky in mid-December, that's almost always been a nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game that got lots of eyeballs coast-to-coast. Now, it's almost forgotten and on ESPN2 or wherever it was, and not even brought up until late into ESPN's SportsCenter or into their radio programming -an after-thought.

The annual Michigan at IU ballgame which had so many memorable and clutch finishes from 1980-2000 while a CBS nationally-televised staple, has also become a victim of the recent mediocrity.

When I watched it recently on TheBigTenNetwork, it was hard not to think of all those games with Coach Knight getting the better of whomever was patrolling the sidelines for the Wolverines, and the confidence IU fans had with Damon Bailey or Steve Alford bringing the ball up-court with less than thirty seconds to play against those excellent Wolverine teams.

You knew that the fundamentals would be there and that guys would come thru in the clutch, and if they lost, it would NOT be for lack of a proper understanding of what they needed to do and where they needed to be on the court for that last shot.

Now, I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen from play to play, and whether a player will repeat the same mistake twice before getting pulled from the game.

Rebuilding is definitely a bitch.

The IU homepage at The BigTenNetwork website, full of IU-related stories & videos: http://www.bigtennetwork.com/subindex/schools/indiana

Hipper-than-thou Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein finds the U.S. Constitution musty and uncool. It's so 1776!

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=hd6UkU6UaG

Posted by Larry O'Connor Dec 30th 2010 at 11:31 am at
http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2010/12/30/which-part-of-the-constitution-is-confusing-ezra/


And when that something tends to re-confirm your own seasoned intuition about why the American mainstream media has lost SO much credibility, respect and just plan eyeballs/readers the past 10-15 years, it makes you wonder if in the year 2010, reasonably smart print reporters STILL don't understand that when the red light is on, the TV camera is actually ON and that you are being broadcast for everyone to see; and some people record that for posterity. 

Such is the case today with this curious video featuring Ezra Klein, which I first discovered on Andrew Breitbart's popular MSM-skewering journalism website, Big Journalism, 
http://bigjournalism.com/, itself, a spin-of of its very popular parent website, Breitnat.com, http://www.breitbart.com/


After reading the accompanying article by Larry O'Connor and re-watching the video, I'm inclined to think that it's very likely that there will be a forthcoming new feature in this space in the new year titled, "Children's letters to liberal WaPo blogger Ezra Klein."

If you believe anything over 100 years old can't be properly understood, then why do we STILL love Shakespeare?

Why do some people -thou not me!- still pay big bucks to hear classical music or opera in concert halls that they've already heard hundreds of times?
Surely cable TV can do 'Better Than Ezra' as an eyewitness to history, but then that's why they're MSNBC, right?

Oddly enough, the U.S. Constitution proscribes the oath of office that the newly-elected President of the United States must utter under oath, and yet the person we were told two years ago was a brilliant constitutional law expert, Barack Obama, had no problem whatsoever understanding what those words meant -and neither did anyone else.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html


Klein seems to have no problem understanding the original part of our Constitution we call the Bill of Rights, and in particular, the First Amendment guaranteeing "freedom of speech"

But then that's part of the current MSM's problem isn't it?
Its very disconnectedness with the majority of the American electorate makes it a poor source to judge anything of note, and when something happens they don't expect, esp. with blue-collar or Southern appeal, they always cast it in negative and even sinister tones, out of habit.

It makes you wonder what would this crop of overly self-impressed reporters and columnists have made of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams?
And God forbid if Jefferson had been from Georgia, forget about it!

So many current print and TV reporters are forever opining the merits of compromise for others in their columns, blogs and public/TV appearances -that's when you give in and let them have their way, in case you forgot- or trying to make heroes of pols who are unprincipled go-along types.


But when push comes to shove, reality has shown us that despite their talk, they aren't really the compromising type themselves.

Reality has shown us that what they like to do is pick-and-choose from American history and its institutions, as if it were a Chinese takeout menu, and while they are very protective of their own rights. yours? Well, YOURS are up for debate.


This continually shows itself thru their very opinionated screeds and squeamishness about the parts that they personally disagree with, like American's right under the Bill of Rights to bear arms, for example, which they want to do away with.
But you couldn't have one right without the other.


So much of today's MSM don't understand this fact -or want to understand- which is one of the reasons why so many Americans are genuinely repelled by certain of them when they appear on TV chat shows, because while the citizens know their history and what real compromises were made in order for the Constitution to be passed in Philadelphia 234 years ago, many young-ish reporters are clueless, and many of the worst offenders are currently toiling in South Florida.

Ernie Pyle is dead and he isn't coming back.

http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/
------
Update of January 2, 2011 at 2:09 p.m.On The Drudge Report this afternoon, http://www.drudgereport.com/ 

Matt has this Klein story featured with the headline
Ernie Pyle is dead and he isn't coming back.

 
http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/


Update of January 2, 2011 at 2:09 p.m.
On The Drudge Report this afternoon, http://www.drudgereport.com/ Matt has this Klein story featured with the headline: WASH POST STAFFER: Constitution Impossible to Understand Because It's Over 100 Years Old...
-----

Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough on History
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A4Kti0iw3M


See also: American Revolution "1776" - David McCullough
http://www.c-span.org/Events/American-Revolution-1776--David-McCullough/19609-1/
-----
Below are some prospective issues that may appear in upcoming letters to 'Ezra the Elder':If Tallahassee isn't the most corrupt state capital in the United States -and it isn't Albany, either- what is?
How do you solve a problem like JenJen? (Jennifer Gottlieb)
Can you explain how airplanes don't fall from the sky?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Billy_Goat


What's the reason there's no WMATA pedestrian tunnel connecting the north and south-bound Farragut North train station and the east-west-bound Farragut West Metro train station in Washington, D.C. when they are less than a city block apart, and would obviously make everyone's life easier?


Why are all the press hangouts near the Washington Post on 15th so very, very lame, unlike the way press bars always appear in films, hence one of the reasons so  much of DC's media drinks and eats between K Street and DuPont Circle.
Those cool images oif what life could be like are precisely why so many college students put up with crap while working for the student college newspaper, because they can picture that idealized life and can imagine making it a reality?

How will it all end for Daniel Snyder and the Washington Redskins, with his wife inheriting the team and running it after he sticks his foot in his mouth one time too many and suffocates, or with him selling the team to be rid of the headache and universal criticism of him and his grating personality, and the new team owner raising the Vince Lombardi Trophy within three years?


The extra-hard sports imponderable:
The sports teams I root for most fervently have had the following people associated with them over the past few years since I returned to South Florida from the Washington, D.C. area:
Dave Wannstedt (Dolphins football coach),
Mike Davis (IU basketball coach),
Randy Shannon (University of Miami Hurricanes),
Tony Sparano (Dolphins football coach),
Peter Angelos (Orioles owner),
Stephen Ross (Dolphins owner).
Hoosier head basketball Tom Crean seems to have gone a long way in solving IU's personnel problem, but the pious Dolphins and Hurricanes seem almost oblivious to the longstanding problems that have bedeviled them for years, despite the self-evident nature of those problems.
Why?

Big Ten Network's Mary-Rachel Dick is in Bloomington for the announcement of Indiana's new head basketball coach Tom Crean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szn0VqSa61Q


Timeout during 2007 IU Basketball game against Kentucky at Assebly Hall, Bloomington, (IN), featuring the "William Tell Overture" and "Indiana Our Indiana" - the Indiana University Pep Band and IU Cheerleaders


See also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVpstk3WBk4
http://www.youtube.com/user/breitbart

Article: Which Part of the Constitution is ‘Confusing’ Ezra?

Sometimes, when you least expect it, say at the end of the year when you have a million things on your mind, something falls into your lap.

Yes, hipper-than-thou Uncle Ezra, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/ will ruminate on all matter of imponderables, but first, back to this video above.

Surely it must be more than the exposed cleavage everywhere, right?
So why is Uncle Ezra so confused?


Delicious!!!
Can you name the 7 'extra' U.S. states that Obama refers to when he says that there are 57 states? (Is one of them the State of South Florida?)


What's the point of two Carolinas and two Dakotas?

Will the curse on the Baltimore Orioles only end upon the death of Peter Angelos, or will it have staying power like the curse of the billy goat on the Chicago Cubs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3_eozGUays

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

Hoosier in a Hurry: IU Hoosier Field Hockey star Mutsa Mutembwa, Rhodes Scholar selection, is bound for Oxford

The BigTenNetwork's Kara Lentz profiles Indiana Hoosier Field Hockey star Mutsa Mutembwa, a math and economics double-major and now a Rhodes Scholar, leaving Harare, Zimbabwe and Bloomington behind for her two years of study in Oxford. The daughter of Amman and Priscilla, she plans to become a financial economist and return to her native country to help solve Zimbabwe's profoundly tragic struggle with hyperinflation.

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/videos/indiana-hoosiers.asp?bcpid=41652681001&bclid=1612710067&bctid=101554555001



For more on Head Coach Amy Robertson's IU Field Hockey team, including roster and 2010-11 schedule, see http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-fieldh/sched/ind-w-fieldh-sched.html


See an early profile of Mutsa here: http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-fieldh/spec-rel/100807aaa.html


See more news on Indiana University athletes and teams at http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/index-main.html and http://www.bigtennetwork.com/schools/indiana/

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/

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