football

I'm essentially illiterate in college sports fan blogs except for those of the Michigan variety, but Brian's recent link to RCMB made me curious: What are the most thoughtful and intelligent blogs/boards for OSU and MSU? I'm hoping it's not RCMB considering the number of animated emoticons flying around on that site is enough to induce an epileptic seizure.

Also fun to note, in that very same link that Brian provided is an MSU fan, like, totally burning Michigan by changing player names on NCAA '09 to "Taynt (sic) Forcier" and "Martavious Scrodoms."

I know NCAA football is the clear favorite to everyone here, but  this might sway someone to buy Madden to hear a trademark Gus Johnson cackle.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/05/21/gus-johnson-will-be-the-new-play-by-play-voice-of-madden-11/

I've been following college basketball recruiting lately, and have been hearing a lot about Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones signing financial aid agreements rather than LOIs with Kentucky.  Much has been made of this, especially with Brandon Knight.  My understanding is that with a financial aid agreement, the school is bound to provide a scholarship for tuition and board to the player, but the player is not bound to that school.  Come August, a player can simply enroll at another school and play immediately; this is unlike an LOI where a player has to ask for and be granted a release (and schools can put restrictions on where the player can go).

This is smart for Knight and Jones, especially with the rumors (founded or not) that Coach Cal could be headed to the NBA.  I really think that we're going to see a lot of this coming up in college basketball.  Do you guys think that we'll also see an influx of guys in college football signing financial aid agreements rather than LOIs?

I'm also wondering what the restrictions are if one plays a year under a financial aid agreement but decides to go to another school.  Financial aid agreements are one year agreements and can be renewed every year.  I'm assuming the NCAA rules apply and they have to sit out a year right if they opt not to resign it right?

Nice shirt, dude:

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1086191

so a couple monthts ago i beleive martell webb tweeted about how michigans jerseys are going to be different next year.

if you've noticed, mcgoblueshop.com is putting all their stuff at 40% off. Jerseys are going for prices as low as $14. To me, this has got to be a sign that the jerseys next year are going to be signifcantly different and/or better in some way next near.

you agree?

The case for expansion is simple; adding teams means more yearly revenue per school.  Adding a 12th team allows the Big Ten to hold a championship game that should generate something on the order of $1 million per school.  The real profits, however, come from expanding the conference footprint, putting the Big Ten Network on basic cable in more markets.

Unfortunately, this seems to mean expansion beyond 12 teams.  Does anyone actually want a ManBearBigEast of a conference with 14 or 16 teams where we only see Minnesota or Iowa twice a decade?  I most certainly do not.

So I pose this question to the MGoBlog Community: Is there a way to expand the markets in which the BTN is on basic cable, without adding more schools?

What if the BTN were to approach the Big XII, a conference with a large number of untelevised conference games and strike a deal?  Would 2-3 games each week be enough to see the BTN put on basic cable in Big XII markets?  What if individual schools were contracted to provide ~2 non-conference football games per year, in addition to football and basketball coverage?  In short, could the BTN grow revenues without expanding the conference?