Big East Has an Expansion Problem

I must admit that even I wanted to see a school like Memphis or ECU in the Big East a year ago. Even I want to see the Big East being proactive. We all say why isn't the Big East proactive here. But can we look at the bigger picture for a minute.

No expansion candidate is a perfect fit. All BCS ready schools are in the MWC. Some say that we should invite a school and let the grow with BCS recruiting similar to Cincinnati. Fact of the matter is Cincinnati compared to ECU and Memphis are totally different situtations. Cincinnati is practically a MAC All Star Team. Its no coincidence that during the Bearcats rise that the Mac steadily has declined. The local Memphis and ECU area simply doesn't feed recruits like the Cincinnati area. Shoot Cincinnati doesn't even need to compete with OSU for recruits and they should be a top 3 school in the Big East. Can we say the same for ECU and Memphis. Looking deeper at the candidates and ECU and Memphis have 1st year coach's so things could get worse or better for those programs.

I'm a big advocate of Temple but they're also not the answer. There is no guarentee that Golden is going to stay at Temple. They're fan support is slowly growing but its not where anyone wants it to be.

Now lets look at UCF for a moment. Face value they may be the the best choice. They're located in the epicenter of football recruiting and a nice media market, plus they have a massive amounts of alums. Lets dig deeper for a moment. Adding UCF holds back the growth of USF because they'll be competing with each other for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier recruits in Florida. Almost every school in the east taps into Florida for recruits from Alabama, Georgia, to the Big East schools. Adding UCF not only hurts USF for recruits, but also our own schools. We need USF to start growing into the program we expect it to before we add UCF.

Lets talk about Big East Network for a brief moment. Look where the snowbirds and Northeast transplants are located. They moved mostly to the Carolina's and Florida. Most of those transplants and snowbirds are also Big East school's alumni. That tells me that a Network(if created) will most likely be provided in Florida and the Carolina's with/or without schools in those area's. The demand for a Big East Network is already in those states.

Remember one thing Big East fans(and CUSA fans that are lurking), we just don't have room for error here. The Big 10 added Nebraska, the Pac 10 added Utah and Colorado. All those schools are highly respected and won a BCS Bowl or National Title the past 20 years. Adding the so called normal prospects doesn't help out cause to grow. Each prospect has a glaring weakness, wether its market size, level of play on the field, first year coach's ect.

The major eyepopping problem here is that the Big East is probably going to be forced to expand. You have the Pac 10, Big 10, Big XII all going to a 9 game conference schedule. I'm not sure if the ACC and SEC are far behind. Thats a problem because we're not going to have enough quality opponents to fill out our conference schedules. We need one of the normal prospects to seperate themselfs from the pack. Temple seems to the the prospect to do that if they can win a few MAC titles in a row. Larry Porter can certainly get Memphis on the right track.

There are 2 prospects that are superior to the other prospects out east. Those 2 prospects are TCU and Houston. But the problem with those 2 schools are that they are 2 far west. I think they could instantly compete in the Big East. But could geography really be the problem here?

What if One Day the Dollar Crashed

This is totally a fictional story that can be reality if the Government continues to overspend.

So what could happen if one day the paper money we have in our wallets became worthless? And we suddenly our IRA's, our stocks, and bonds become worthless? How would we survive such a sudden turn of events?

On miniscule aspect would be our entire way of life would change. Gone would be the days of "Living the American Dream" for one. There wouldn't be electric, gas, running water and so much more. Therefore the days of playing video's games, tv, computers, sporting events, and the normal daily shopping sprees.

Our buying means would be our assests. And i'm talking about real assets like fruit, vegetables, guns and ammunition, water, and gold and silver.

I think its a good time to prepare for this catastrophic event, even if it doesn't happen in our lifetime. I challenge women to learn how to bake, can, and garden. I challenge men to learn how to hunt, fish, and other things that can be useful in a post-industrial society.

So how would society in general respond to this event. I'd assume there would be a very high crime rate, with robbery and murder having the highest rates. Our country in general could have 2 or more scenerios. We could live under a Facist, Communist like regimes, or a Military Dictatorship. Heck we could live under the current Democracy with Sheriffs running everything on the local level, similar to the Wild West.

All of those scenerios are scary with similar outcomes. We would worry about being spied on in every aspect of our lives. Police would most certainly rule our lives. I say this has a 50% chance of happening. I'm not extremely worried about this. But I want everyone to be aware of such dire cirucumstances. Instead of worrying about Chelsea Clinton getting married earlier today, pay attention the real news going on in our country. Since last week there has been an oil leak in Michigan, a dam breaking in Iowa and so on. Lets be an informned society, instead of a dumbed down society.

Is it Time to Legalize Drugs?

As I sit back and watch the news, I hear the upsetting news that PAT Transit will be cutting routes and raising fairs. Then I see news that our bridges have much needed work to be done on them. Our entire infrastructure is collapsing. And we don't have the revenue to pay to fix the problems.

The simple solution is always to raise taxes on either gas, housing, sales. The people can't survive any longer paying more and more taxes and not seeing true results.

Its time to think "outside the box" for once. Its time to legalize every illegal drug on the market. On top of that you sell it and tax them like tobacco.

Now lets look at the effects of legalizing drugs. One of the most glaring positives I see is the money saved when it comes to the prosecution of drug users and dealers. Once the drugs are legal, there aren't the need for drug dealers. Which means there will be less crime on our streets. And at the same time you put the drug cartels out of business since we have manufacturer's developing the drugs here in the US.

Hey you also stimulate the economy by putting people to work developing the drugs. Which will lower the unemployment rate. And that means more people are paying income taxes

To regulate this new market, we simply add a new branch to ATF. Call it ATDF for all i'm concerned. We have to have regulations on how much a manufacturer can put into each specific item, wether its a joint, pill, ect.

Ok, we safe money due to less court cases and less people in jail, and we create a new tax revenue. Not saying this is enough money to fix all of our country's problems. But its a start. I just hope the Government can see this, because I feel its a common sense solution.

A Nation at a Crossroads

As we all know i'm more into the sports thing. But this is just one topic that is really vexing me as of late. It is that glorious thing we call the Cable News Media.

Not only do they tell the people that they want to hear. They preach hate more than any "Tea Party" or "Black Party" member. Lets get real for a minute. Its 2010 and normal society just isn't as racist as these morons protray society to be.

I just don't understand why someone that doesn't like Obama's Policy's, or supports Arizona's Law to get actually do something about Illegal Alien's is instantly assumed to be a racist.

And just earlier today Al Sharpton accused people that support State's Rights to be a racist. Does Al Sharpton know about the 9th and 10th Amendment? Does people really know what the Federal Government was originally intended to do? The Federal Government was intended to oversea intrastate trade, extradition of criminals, ect. Not a Health Care Bill, and Gun Control. Wiretapping, and having a private bank overseeing our economy.

This new Bill that Obama and the Democrats are pushing through isn't really needed. If the regulators before actually did their jobs in the first place we wouldn't have this problem today. So what makes me think that this new Bill is going to be enforced? On top of that it allows too big to fails to be broken up into splinter companies. So instead of having 1 terribly run company, we have 4-5 terribly ran companies. It makes no sense.

But somehow since the Republicans aren't for the Bill. The Liberal Media goes off the wagon saying that the Republicans are holding back progress. The sad thing is if the roles was reversed the Conservative media would say the same exact thing about the Democrats.

This country desperately needs to go back to its roots. State Rights is something I plan on talking to my Representives about, at the State and Federal Level. The Government should be working for us and not the other way around.

We are at a crossroads, do we continue this road of a 2 Party System that simply pushes their agenda's and don't listen to WE THE PEOPLE? And continue to let the media spread lies about the people to make us look like the bad guys. Or do we take back control of this country from the bottomm up. Its in our hands. Either wake up, or become a slave to the sytem. The choice is yours.

Realignment Predictions

So all heck is breaking lose. Anything can happen. Things are changing so rapidly that what I type now could be not true come 3PM today. Its insane man.

PAC 10+ 4 Colorado, Texas Tech, Utah, ???
SEC + 4 Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St
Big 10(11) + 1 Nebraska
Big East + 6 Mizzou?, Iowa St?, Kansas?, Kansas St?, Memphis, UCF(Memphis and UCF are possible replacements if the Big 10 decides to add Syracuse and Rutgers.

The Pac 10 just might stop at 12. Which could change if Texas decides to jump to the Pac 10.

I'm not sure if the Big 10 wants to jump past 12 just yet, even though there has been many reports that indicated that.

The most amazing part of this whole realignment is the Big East reaching out to the B12 leftovers possibly heading to the Big East. No one including me thought this was possible. I thought that many peieces had to fall for it to happen. I'm still waiting for more confirmation on this but this article seems to hint at it.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/blogs/Watch-This/Remaining-Big-12-schools-to-the-Big-East-gaining-momentum-96137294.html

Realignment is All About the Money and not Tradition

Ok the biggest newstory the past 2-3 days has been Texas, Texas A&M, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma St going to the Pac 10(16). But what about the 6 leftover schools. I can assume that Nebraska and Missouri are more likely going to head to the Big 10. But what about Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., and Baylor.

Baylor, Kansas, K-St., and Kansas will most likely end up on their feet in either the Big East, or Moutain West, or possibly the worst case scenerio CUSA. But what about Iowa St.. What if Iowa St., god forbid, ends up in the MAC? Wouldn't that be disastrous for their fan base or what?

Now Iowa St left this statement today on its dire situation. http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/06/04/ames_tribune/sports/doc4c0951e944459305138917.txt

Why doesn't anyone care about traditions anymore? Iowa St. been part of the B12 since it started back in 1996 and part of the Big 8 for decades. Why leave a school like this behind? Its about the dollar signs.

The Big 10 and Pac 10 needs to tell everyone the truth. All they care about is the dollar signs. They don't care about the schools that are going to be left behind. They don't give a rats ass about history and tradition. Hell they don't even care about their own traditions. There's chances of Iowa playing Ohio St. and Michigan once every 3-4 years.

I wish nothing but dire consiquences for these supermegaconferences or whater the hell you want to call them.

Plus I would like to see these conferences lose their tax exempt status. I tell you when schools can be making 20-25M a year profit due to TV Contracts. Its not a fucking nonprofit organization.

While us Big East fans are watching the B12 collapse, just keep one thing in mind. This same thing can be happening to the Big East by the end of the month, or as late as September. I'd rather buy my lube today and the Big 10 expand tomorrow. Just get this over with so we know where Pitt and WVU stand in the new realignment.

Is Notre Dame Really the Big 10's #12 Team

Does Notre Dame really want to become the Big 10's #12 school? I really don't think so.

Notre Dame thinks they're better than everyone else.

So what would it take for Notre Dame to join a conference? 2 things; 1 a Big East Collapse, 2 NBC doesn't renew their TV Contract.

Here's quotes from the Kansas City Star today

That’s how we’re approaching this. This is what we’re doing.

“Secondly, the Big East is an extraordinary partner for us. We love the schools we’re with, and they let us be independent in football.

“Having said that, everything is so unusual right now that you can envision situations where the world changes. We hope it doesn’t. We don’t want it to.“But we’re monitoring that.”

The quote I bolted is telling isn't it. It simply shows how much Notre Dame values it Independence in football.

So if Notre Dame isn't the #12 who is and why.

I can't answer those questions but I can come up with a couple of theories.

Just a couple of facts, Pitt has played Notre Dame 66 times. Notre Dame isn't willing to play Syracuse and Rutgers on their own home fields.

Those are very telling to me. I feel Notre Dame is holding the cards in this expansion and not the Big 10. Now we all know that the Big 10 wants Rutgers and that NYC Media Market. But is grabbing Syracuse and Rutgers enough to raise Notre Dame's eyebrow's. I say no.

If Rutgers and Syracuse are the 2 teams invited that's not enough to destroy the Big East. Losing Rutgers doesn't hurt our BCS bid and Syracuse has been in a funk these past 5 years.

So what exactly would really hurt the Big East's standing as a BCS Conference? Losing Pitt and Syracuse would be a start.

But the Big 10 wouldn't get the NYC Market that it wants. So whats next? Could there be a compromise?

I say that Pitt, Rutgers could possibly be the compromise that they're looking for.

Another quote from the KC Star today;

“The traditional model, where a conference had a fixed fee media rights deal, if you added somebody you sliced the pie a little thinner,” Swarbrick said.

“When you’re dealing with equity in a network ... it’s a situation we haven’t had before.”

Notre Dame’s own deal with NBC on televising home football games runs to 2015.

Might that be an an obstacle to joining a conference?“No,” Swarbrick contended. “That’s our greatest asset.”

What exactly was Swarbrick saying there? He was mentioning the TV Deals ect.

This is the closest Notre Dame has come to joining a conference since they played college football. And they're definitely thinking very hard about it.

Again there's going to have to be a compromise to get Notre Dame into the Big 10.

Here's the KC Star article that I was referring to...
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/28/1842531/notre-dame-ad-expands-on-big-ten.html#ixzz0jaG1vh7G

Grab a lot of popcorn and enjoy this ride.