Expansion is BAD for UM

Submitted by oldblue on

It will RUIN the absolutely best and most unique thing about the UM athletic program -- having the Michigan - Ohio State game at the end of the year and meaning so much whenever either team is good.  Delaney doesn't get it or even care.  He is and always will be an ACC basketball player.  How can be expected to understand the Michigan - Ohio State tradition?  All he cares about is finding money, no matter what else is lost.  Even national people get it.  In USA Today on Friday Mike Lopresti had an article about what it will be like 20 years from now to explain to kids what sports used to be like.  Fairly far down in the article, after suggesting a number of things, including the extinction of the Big 12 and Bowl Games, he adds the following:

"A lot of tradition sank that day. The Big 12 had great history and the Big Ten had an interesting event called the Michigan-Ohio State game. But the people in charge had big dollar signs in their eyes, so those things were pretty much sacrificed for the cause.

Michigan-Ohio State became just another date on the road to the conference championship game, and the Big 12 ended up like Atlantis and the carrier pigeon."  See     

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2010-06-10-usc-confer…

I wish he weren't so right, and I will always blame Delaney.

 

Indiana Wolverine

June 12th, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^

Do we even know that the rotation would include making the rivalry games a non yearly event?  I realize the value of the balanced schedle but maybe they last week of the season  stays in tact and the newbies (newby??)  works in where necessary.

Michigan_Mike

June 12th, 2010 at 8:58 PM ^

Michigan and Ohio State is going to be just as important as ever. We'll still be the last regular season game on our schedules. Now we just have a conference title game of which one member of the rivalry will be in just about every year anyway.

plaidflannel

June 12th, 2010 at 9:07 PM ^

There is life beyond Michigan-Ohio State, despite what readers on this site may believe. Is it a great and storied rivalry between two passionate fan bases?  Yes.  Is the threat of lessening the importance The Game the reason the Big Ten shouldn't expand?  Absolutely not.  Please don't be so closed minded.

plaidflannel

June 12th, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^

The Big Ten will be relevant past Thanksgiving.  When we go to a bowl next year, the month and a half between our last game and the bowl game will hurt us both in the rankings and in our readiness (because our offense is entirely based on timing, this is a huge factor) for our bowl game.

Additionally, The Game will always be what the fans bring to it.  If you decide it isn't worth as much because its not the last game of the season, then that's what The Game will become. If you still appreciate for what it is and understand its importance, then nothing should lessen the meaning of The Game for you.  The outside appearance of a rivalry isn't what it's about; it's about the passion, hate, and emotion between the players, coaches, and fans of the two schools, and nothing else. 

oldblue

June 12th, 2010 at 9:08 PM ^

longer be as important as the game that comes after it.  Those of you who are old like me will remember how big a deal the Nebraska - Oklahoma game was.  No more.  Their schedules sometimes just limp to an ending.  Change is hard, but change for the worse is bad.

david from wyoming

June 12th, 2010 at 9:13 PM ^

Change is hard, but change for the worse is bad.

Thanks Plato. You don't know what the conferences will look like. You don't know how the schedule will work out. You can't tell me HOW the Michigan / Ohio State game will lose importance. You're just spouting off about how much you don't like change.

Once upon a time the ottoman empire was all the rage. Do you still pine for the return of that too?

Wolv1984

June 12th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^

Yes, this is bad for 'The Game'.  No longer will the UM-tOSU matchup be the de facto conference championship.  That sucks.

However, an end of the year game, the extra week of playtime for our top two teams before their bowls, the revenue from that game, that is good for the conference.  Like last year, a Buckeye-Husker matchup and a solid win by the Buckeyes might have put them in the national title game.  As much as I hate to see tOSU with national titles, it is good for the conference. 

So at the end of the day it comes down, are we going pricks about it and try to run the entire conference for our personal benefit, or will we vote in line for what is better for the majority?

Wolv1984

June 12th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^

Texas only cared about Texas and ran the Big12 to suit its Texas related needs.  Notice how stable the Big12 was. 

We joined a conference, so we're in the same boat as the other teams here.  If we wanted to only care about Michigan and nothing else we should be independent like Notre Dame.   When we joined the Big10 we commited to equal voting, equal revenue sharing, etc.  Those others schools are part of the family, so in terms of acting we do what is best for the family, and we hope to kick their asses everytime we play. 

MGOBLUE2012

June 12th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^

Play one rivalry game at the end of each season. Rotate the rest. No divisions. 

Protected rivalries:

UM-OSU

PSU-MSU

IND-PUR

ILL-NW

WISC-MINN

IOWA-NEB

bluesouth

June 12th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^

not buying that argument. The Game will always be the biggest game to Michigan and Ohio State fans and frankly I don't care what the implications are nationally.  It may or may not lose some shine relative to a proposed championship game on a national level and to the casual person that could give a rats about Michigan and Ohio State.

Down in Alabama the  Auburn vs Alabama game is still the biggest thing going in the SEC and it still gets national coverage.  The BigVIII and the SWC morphed into the Big XII and I would say the conference is actually better without SMU, TCU, Houston, and Arkansas.

Paly33

June 12th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^

It's all about the money.  There isn't one person on this message board that doesn't know that.  But that will never change the fact that the Michigan/Ohio State game will always be the biggest game of the conference.

I'm excited for whats ahead, the expansion is great for the fans, especially great for the schools.  Times are changing and people have to accept that fact.  This isn't our dads Big Ten anymore.

 

Blue since birth

June 12th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^

I keep hearing about how "the UM-v-OSU game will lose importance"....

Still waiting for someone to actually explain how/why that's the case.It will still have a big impact on each teams post season(more often than not) and possibly determine who does/doesn't get to play for the B10 championship.

...It's still UM-v-OSU.

It won't lose importance to me.

GoBlueInNYC

June 12th, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^

Calm down, Michigan with play OSU every year, and most likely it will be the last game before the conference championship.  Did you really expect the B10 to never, ever adopt a conference championship game?

And guess what, Texas-OU is a huge rivalry (not UM-OSU huge, but still a big deal) and that takes place in the middle of the season.  Not being the very last game of the season isn't going to kill anything.

lhglrkwg

June 12th, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^

half of your first paragraph is just a collection of your assumptions. if it was always about the money then we'd be staring at rutgers and their 88 cents per viewer payout

Stupid Flanders

June 12th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^

The rivalry is big because it is UM v OSU, not b/c it determines the winner of the conference every year. Last I checked, 2006 was the last game that decided the conference champion. We haven't exactly been playing for titles the last few seasons. It will always be important, and more so if it determines who gets to play in the conference championship game.

rdlwolverine

June 12th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^

I can remember when only one Big Ten team could go to a bowl game, it didn't diminish the Michigan-OSU game that both might end up in a bowl.  In fact I can remember the period through most of the 60's when neither team had a chance at the Rose Bowl going into the game, yet it was still a huge rivalry game.  That will continue.

MGoTarHeel

June 12th, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^

It will RUIN the absolutely best and most unique thing about the UM athletic program -- having the Michigan - Ohio State game at the end of the year and meaning so much whenever either team is good.

Seriously, that's your "best and most unique thing about UM athletics"? Not our winningest program all time, Hall of Fame fight song, or Charles Woodson?

RockinLoud

June 12th, 2010 at 9:43 PM ^

If the UM / OSU rivalry isn't still played as the last game of the season (except, you know, back in '98 when we played Hawaii after we played OSU) then I'll let you punch me as hard as you can in my nuts... twice.

willywill9

June 12th, 2010 at 10:11 PM ^

I think it'll still be the same, but I'm torn as to whether or not I would want Michigan and OSU to be on the same side of a Big 10 Division split. 

I wouldn't mind seeing Michigan and OSU playing in a Big Ten title game, but that would require the teams to play twice.  I just know that when you think Big Ten Football, the top 2 teams you think of are U of M and OSU.  For this reason, I think if they're the top two, they should be afforded the opportunity for an eventual Big Ten title matchup.

Huss

June 12th, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^

who uses "tradition" as a reason for why expansion is bad is very, very dense.

Also, I couldn't give anymore shits less if Michigan-Ohio State isn't the last game on our schedule.  For the love of fuck, every other conference has major rivalries - you don't see Florida or Alabama fans whining about the sanctity of those games due to a conference championship game at the end of it all.  Duking it out against Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Iowa at the end of the year is exciting.  And if Texas is in too?  Fogeddaboutit. 

One day, evolution will take care of all these Michigan fans who still are oblivious to the college football world after the 2nd Saturday of November.  Jim Delany has prepped us very well in anticipiation of that day. 

Huss

June 12th, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^

is a collection of 12 (or 13+plus Chicago) like-minded institutions that are the NATIONS Leaders and Best in academics and research.  Nebraska will bolster our academic patina and bring in dollars both academically and athletically.  It'll expose the Big Ten to markets in Nebraska and Colorado.  Who knows what all this can extrapolate into - but it's going to very good at worst, fucking incredible at best. 

Delany has not ruined the Big Ten.  And anybody who suggests one football game against OSU is the single-best thing about Michigan is clearly not a fan of the University - just a fan of 12 Saturdays in the fall.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 12th, 2010 at 9:52 PM ^

It will RUIN the absolutely best and most unique thing about the UM athletic program -- having the Michigan - Ohio State game at the end of the year and meaning so much whenever either team is good. 

I beg to differ.  Michigan/Ohio State is the best rivalry in the country and huge part of what makes Michigan, Michigan.

But the day Ohio State is the best thing about Michigan is the day I burn my Michigan stuff.