But what about the players!?!

After a century of being a grumpy old man, the Big Ten has agreed to let members play a game after Thanksgiving without the minor stipulation that it be played on a Hawaiian Island.

The Big Ten at their favorite local market.
The administration has, for years, claimed that its just not right for the players...for them to have to be away from their families. Never mind that it allows the cash cow game (OSU and one of the direction Michigans I think) to avoid competing with other rivalries or conference champ games, no, seriously, it's about the players.

Seeing as this is all a load of shit, and just about every coach, including the Old Man himself, has been pushing this for years...I don't buy the explanation. What's best for the players is not having to go to three-a-days all summer, grind through twelve straight games without a bye week, and then prepare during the holidays (and the entire first week of January for BCS teams) for a bowl game...it's never been about the players and it never will be.

Now the the recent change allows teams to shift a game if both competing parties agree. Wisconsin is already trying to finagle their way out of a pickle. They play Michigan, OSU, PSU, Iowa and Illinois* during a five week stretch and are attempting to move the Iowa game to the end of the season. Conference games are scheduled through 2011, so we won't see an automatic after turkey game until at least 2012, although games can be moved as early as next season.

So is this good news? I think so. The voter ADD that seams to get worse and worse every year will not have as big of an impact on Big Ten layoff teams. Just as important, I don't have to sit around and wait for the bowl game while everyone else has 2 or 3 games on their schedule. It will eliminate the bullshit excuse about the 'layoff' effect in bowl games. Also, I won't have to run stupid "The More You Know" stories about the bowl game a full six weeks before the actual contest.

Good move Big Ten, you are a hope to men with old balls everywhere...now give me my fucking TV coverage back you greedy bastards!


*I can't believe I am even mentioning Illinois as anything but a crap team. More on this in the offseason, but I'm not convinced that Illinois is for real. I will be called a hater, and they did beat the current #1 team in the nation, but I really think they had a Rutgers 2006 type year. They did lose to Iowa, after all, and if it wasn't for Morelli's endless fourth quarter turnovers and a bad call against OSU they could very well be 7-5.