FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL ๐Ÿ›ซ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ“บ๐Ÿ“ฝ️๐Ÿˆ. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

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Showing posts with label Tom Crean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Crean. Show all posts

Friday, December 20, 2013

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."


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 
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/
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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Tweets of Note: Recent Pop Culture & Sports Odds & Ends you may've missed -September 21 thru October 5, 2013
















LA Times: Jimmy Kimmel's Obamacare stunt: How infallible is public opinion?







You can see more of that Bars routine in the video below of her training. Lest we forget, when she really puts her mind to it, Mustafina is Magic!


























































Great photo of "Downton's Uptown Girl" in the Sunday Telegraph: Michelle Dockery, a.k.a. Lady Mary, the English Rose whom this blog dearly loves.
Caption underneath photo reads: "Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, ahead of tonight’s Emmy Awards. She is nominated as best actress."
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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Must-see TV tonight! #1Michigan at #3 Indiana tonight at Assembly Hall on ESPN at 9 p.m.; @OurIndiana, @TomCrean, @INDIANAMBB, #Iubb, #CollegeGameDay

ESPN video: On CBB Live Extra, Jay Williams breaks down the matchup between No. 1 Michigan and No. 3 IU. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8899994
Must-see TV tonight! #1Michigan at #3 Indiana tonight at Assembly Hall on ESPN at 9 p.m.; @OurIndiana, @TomCrean, @INDIANAMBB, #Iubb, #CollegeGameDay
Jay Williams is 100% right about the better strategy being to start Remy Abell instead of slower Jordan Hulls. 
And it would be great to know in advance which Cody Zeller will show-up tonight?
The one Hoosier Nation expected, or the one who's played most of the year so far, who has shown flashes of what we expected but...

 I think/hope Victor Oladipo will win the game for the Hoosiers tonight to put the Hoosiers back into the #1 position in the polls next week -unless the Wolverines get a lot more free throw attempts because the IU defense is allowing too many drives to the hoop and they're called for fouls instead of having proper position and taking the charge.
"ESPN’s Saturday Primetime Presented by DIRECTV telecast - is in its ninth season and on Saturday, Feb. 2, it will originate from the Indiana University campus. The first hour begins at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU, continuing at 11 a.m. on ESPN with a one-hour edition at 8 p.m. on ESPN The Michigan-Indiana game will tip-off at 9 p.m." 
Photos of the ESPN College GameDay set-up: http://indianambb.tumblr.com/post/42041695138/photos-from-espn-college-gameday-around-assembly
IUAthletics YouTube Channel video: IU coach Tom Crean at Friday's press conference to discuss Saturday night's game against Michigan on ESPN at 9 p.m. http://youtu.be/9LwUO5WiprY
IUAthletics YouTube Channel video: Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford on the task ahead of them Saturday night. http://youtu.be/9czmcI7psPQ

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

 (official) Indiana University Athletics YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/IUAthletic

 Indiana Athletics on Twitter, @OurIndiana, https://twitter.com/ourindiana

 Five Banners - IU Mens Basketball on tumblr: http://indianambb.tumblr.com/
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Sunday, January 30, 2011

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
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Friday, December 31, 2010

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

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?
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Friday, June 11, 2010

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

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