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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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The Idiot’s Guide to Conference Realignment

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Recently, I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “hey Jon, what do you think of all this crazy conference realignment happening in college athletics right now?”. Pause Ok, so maybe nobody has asked me about all the crazy conference realignment in college athletics right now. But that doesn’t change the fact that realignment remains a topic of conversation for passionate sports fans across the country even though amongst my immediate circle of friends it ranks somewhere in between the new season of Dancing With the Stars and the Poker Ponzi Scheme.

So Oklahoma and Texas bolt for the Pac 12, bringing Oklahoma State and Texas Tech along with them, while Mizzou heads down to the SEC, Rutgers and UConn make it 16 in the ACC, and the Big East is left picking up the Big 12leftovers. There has to be enough football money to go around. Last time I checked, the ESPN family of networks was airing almost every single college football game including Gardner-Webb/Wake Forest and UCF/Florida International.

My take is quite simple. As a product of a DIII athletic conference where college presidents will not allow their football programs to play enough games to qualify for post season play because the extra weekends would “interfere” with a student/athletes academics, I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about. I mean, so long as there are enough chairs for every school to sit down on when the music stops, shouldn’t we just simply allow the process to proceed?

The only thing that really bothers me is the thought of no Big East basketball championship in Madison Square Garden. Those 5 days in early March are one of the highlights of my annual sports calendar. And sure, I can see the ACC tourney relocating to the Big Apple but Duke/Pitt just doesn’t carry the same gritty nostalgia as Syracuse/Georgetown. I for one love hearing from curmudgeons like Jim Boeheim who believe AD’s should just leave well enough alone.

And finally, the way the Big East is headed, maybe the conference will be lucky to play a tournament in the Providence Civic Center let alone MSG.

view from Toledo/Boise St. courtesy of @bigrupe57

The End of an Era on the Smurf Turf

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I didn’t watch much of the Maaco Bowl from Las Vegas last night, but from what I could tell, one of the biggest stories in Boise State’s 26-3 butt whipping of Utah was that we could all be witnessing the end of an era in Idaho. With 18 seniors graduating, the Broncos may be staring down the end of decade long era of BCS busting football. I hope I’m wrong about this because I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Boise St. play these past few years. (I heard somewhere that Boise has a patent on the blue turf.  Anyone know if this is true or not?)

So what does everyone else think?  Was last night the last time that Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will ever call a Boise State game on national TV? Share your views.

View courtesy of @pkillip

College Football: Who needs a playoff system?

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For those of you on the East Coast who stayed up to watch the entire game last night, congratulations.  You probably won’t forget what you witnessed  for some time. Nevada’s early morning 34-31 overtime victory over #4 ranked Boise State is an example of why college football does not need a playoff system.  It already has one, it’s called the regular season.  Every single game carries such enormous weight that by adding a playoff to the end of the season, games like last night are not as important.

This morning, Boise State is out of the BCS picture and most likely headed out of the top ten.  What makes college football so special is that every game comes with consequences, good and bad, for the teams and their fans.   The current system is the reason why we watch a 10:26pm start between two WAC teams the day after Thanksgiving. This was the biggest game in both programs’ history.

I’m sure fans in Idaho disagree with my position this morning.  What about the rest of you?  Is Boise still deserving of a BCS bid?  Is everyone else out there clamoring for a college football playoff? Now is the time to share your views.

College Football: Saturday Night Has Not Been Good to No.1’s

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First Alabama falls at South Carolina. Then Wisconsin take care of Ohio State.  And now, this evening in Columbia, the Missouri Tigers defeated current BCS #1 Oklahom.  So who really wants to be #1 right now anyway? When the polls come out tomorrow, Auburn and Oregon will be the top two teams in the country followed closely by Boise State, TCU, Michigan State, and Mizzou.  Look out for Alabama however because if the Crimson Tide beat Auburn on the last game of the regular season, and Oregon goes undefeated in the Pac 10, we very well could be looking at Bama/Oregon for the BCS Championship.  And this matchup could occur at the expense of an undefeated Boise St, TCU, and Michigan State.  Playoffs anyone?