**Note: Sorry if some of this is redundant with any other posts/diaries.  I'm short on time**

I was able to attend the Alumni Association Tailgate before the Michigan-ND game today (great game)!  AD Brandon did a Q&A session at it.  I thought I'd pass on a few of his thoughts/answers.  Nothing to earth shattering, but probably of interest to at least a few folks.  I'm trying to provide the answers as quotes, but this was transcribed on my phone as he was talking, so it's bound to contain some paraphrasing.

From his opening remarks:

"We played Notre Dame in their first football game in 1887 (pause for drama) ... And we kicked their ass. (lots of applause, then somewhat sheepishly)  I'm probably not supposed to use that language huh? (more applause and laughs)

"We (the AD's) redid the 2011 and 2012 seasons as Nebraska joined the conference. .. That was fun..."
 

Someone asked if Mike Martin was the best player on the defense:
"I think Mike Martin is incredible."  Brandon then added some more fluff and never answered the question directly (but not unsurprisingly).
 

Someone then asked about miking the MMB:
"I will probably be chastised for telling this story:  At a Big 10 AD meeting I proposed an amendment to allow bands to be miked and it was emphatically turned down.  I kept pushing it and tried to convince the other AD's that it was about distributing the sound throughout stadiums better and not amplifying the sound on the field.  Using my persuasive powers, we eventually got this amendment passed and now we've got the band miked.  Now to head off any questions about the recorded music, we are planning on there being less recorded music now that the band can be heard better. "
 

Someone then asked whether expansion was over:
"There is a chance of going to more teams.  The conference is still evaluating more expansion.  This doesn't mean that there will be more expansion, but it is definetly still being discussed."  Then AD Brandon followed this up with something along the lines of "Most of the teams that have been rumored have been discussed and in discussions with the big 10."  <--- Note the last phrase here I do not remember 100%, but I had it in my phone notes.  So please take that with a grain of salt.
 

Someone then asked whether OSU would always be the last game of the regular season:

Before he can answer there was lots of yelling from the alumni that the game needs to be last one, this did not happen for any other questions, so it was clearly is something folks care about.  "We've got a mob here huh? (a few chuckles).  Well the initial plan within the Big 10 was to move it to sometime earlier in the season.  Gene Smith, the OSU AD, and I got together to convince the other ADs how important this tradition is and that some traditions should not be adjusted.  Now I learned a long time ago to never say never.  However, if The Game is ever moved from the regular season finale, then I will have failed at my job." [Edit: See JeremyB's comment on this response]
 

Someone asked if the conference name will change:
"The name of Big 10 will not change.  It has a lot of market recognition. The logo may change after some market studies. " (this last response I paraphrased quite a bit).

 

Sorry this isn't really 'original' from the perspective of me creating it, but it seemed kind of long to put in a Board.