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.

And then there was one...

So we managed to fall further behind in the Coaches Poll. Last week we received 4 votes (presumably four spots at 25), and after an off week we dropped to just one. (Who cares I know but run with me on this one.) Now Paterno doesn't vote as the old man has been around long enough to realize it's a waist of time. My guess for the vote is Tressel, he is trying to boost his SOS as it will no doubt be an issue now that they are sitting one upset away from a second straight birth in the Mythical National Championship game. Nothing is public until the final vote so he has nothing to lose.




This all goes back to the insanity that is the Big Ten. There moronic rule about games being over before Thanksgiving is both a joke and a sham. It is a joke in the sense that the rule is amazingly outdated. It was created back when teams played 8 games and the game of football was still, well, a game. It is now one of the biggest businesses in the nation and public perception of your university can earn or lose you millions of dollars. The first year Penn State went to the Rose Bowl, the administration said that applications almost doubled...they went right back down to their normal levels the next year when PSU was not granted such a large national stage. Teams now play 12 games, no bye weeks are alloted for B10 teams, meaning players play banged up all season with no time to rest...and this is a rule that is suppose to 'protect' the players.

But in reality all it does is protect the cash cow that is the OSU-Michigan game. It is the most hyped up game every year, and while I am well aware that these two schools draw bigger audiences than the rest of the league (outside of PSU from time to time), it is not the job of the Big Ten to shamelessly promote the game at the expense of the other 9 members. They refuse to listen to the concerns of the players and coaches of the rest to continue to garnish the OSU-UM game, a game that has become the most one-sided 'rivalry' in the entire league.

Now this really goes back to how we need to leave this stupid league. Ya, I said it. We will never be anything but the third most important team, even when we win the stupid thing. We will continue to get no press in the North East and a declining amount in the Midwest with the stupid BTN. We will continue to lose in-state recruits to teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame because we the league and TV contracts mean we aren't even the most viewed team in our own state. We will continue to lose our pipelines into New Jersey, New York, and DC because even our crap games are now dish-only in those states, and our big games are second to the Big East or ACC matchup of the week.

Now I understand that going from 4 points to 1 is trivial, and it really doesn't matter in the least. And the fact that we are getting 1 point in the poll means be have some serious issues. But what happens when we get this thing fixed? When we are part of a clustfuck of one loss teams and we watch the SEC, or ACC or even Big12 champ jump us two weeks after the UM-OSU game signifies the end of the Big Ten season? What happens when we aren't Ohio State and don't get d*ck suck treatment? When we are left out of a MNC shot because of this league?

We need out of this repressing league, we can no longer be held down by their idiotic rules, their stepchild treatment of us, we must demand freedom! Freedom I say! (or at least membership in the Big East).