Mainstream Media to Big Ten Conference: "Our Bad"
by Jonathan Franz on Jan 6, 2010 2:07 PM CST
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PrintFor three-years the mainstream media has treated the Big Ten like an inferior race, taking charge at every occasion to reinforce general stereotypes about the conference's competitiveness. And why not? The media hates the Big Ten and a conservative, punishing brand of football that rarely sends the scoreboard past 30 points. After all -- to the untrained eye -- it's a lot more fun to watch gimmicky, laser-light show offenses shoot up painfully undersized and undisciplined "defenses."
Stereotypes turned to monikers (i.e. "Slow-hi-O"), and drew dichotomies (i.e. SEC = Fast, Big Ten = Slow) across the sport. "Team Speed Kills" became a lazy explanation for the Big Ten's bowl struggles.
Nevermind that the conference's model most closely mirrored the NFL. Or that college football is perpetually cyclical.
Guess what's being served in the ESPN Cafeteria today?
Pat Forde predicted that we would go 1-6 in bowls this year. Colin Cowherd proclaimed that there was "no possible way" Penn State could hold its own against LSU.
The pundits huffed and puffed, and now find themselves holding the bag after Big Ten teams stormed the bowl-season Bastille, kicking ass, taking names, and collecting the scalps of Top 15 darlings.
Don't hold your breath. The media isn't about it admit that it was wrong. But writers are starting to fall on their own swords the only way they know how: by saying nice things about the conference they threw under the bus.
Here are a few of my favorites:
"Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin all defeated teams that were supposedly faster and more athletic. They were the myth busters of the BCS, scoffing at the "power vs. speed" plotlines. Georgia Tech and Oregon had the sexy offenses, but the Big Ten teams won with the time-tested formulas of defense, special teams and just enough offense."
- Heather Dinich (ESPN.com)
One of the great misunderstandings in college football is that the Big Ten's teams have trouble winning bowl games generally, and that they are especially out of their depth in games against teams from the Southeastern Conference.
In fact, the Big Ten does just fine year after year-in the early New Year's Day bowls that no one remembers. (It's the big games that have been the embarrassments.) Over the past dozen seasons, the Big Ten is now 13-11 against the SEC in the Outback and Capital One bowls. That is a winning record over a significant time span against upper-level SEC teams in SEC country.
The conference everybody loves to hate will finish with three 11-win teams (Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State) and a 10-win squad (Wisconsin). The league could end up with three teams in the top 10 and, at worst, four top 20 squads.
So much for speed.
- Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com)
The Big Ten's famine is so over.
- Ivan Maisel (ESPN.com)
Big Ten.
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Yes...
I’m sure that apology is in the mail, along with your publishers clearinghouse prize…
Actually, you can expect ESPN to do exactly what they have been doing. Completely acting like the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl didn’t happen, and just focus all of their coverage on the upcoming NC. The College Football Live today focused solely on the NC, and never mentioned anything about the OB. Not once…
But, during the Miami game, it was clear that Wisky wasn’t the better team, it’s just the fact that it was so cold out that they didn’t perform to their level.
During the LSU game it was clear that the field conditions were so poor that they couldn’t actually utilize their speed.
And during the GTech game, it was clear that it wasn’t that Iowa was the better team…GTech just didn’t execute and beat themselves.
Whatever, I can’t even stand ESPN anymore. I’m glad the Hawks won just to stick it to them. But as they run the media, they’ll just act like nothing happened…
Move along, move along, nothing to see here…
LSU fans
still haven’t gotten over the loss. Bad clock management will kill speed any time, any day.
Here’s an idea: After this postseason statement (All the Big Ten teams won the bowl games against ranked opponents. All of them) SEC stands for the Southern Excuses Conference.
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jan 6, 2010 9:51 PM CST up reply actions
No (and yes)...
…those were the actual reasons that tWWL and the teams gave.
by Eyeheartfreedumb on Jan 11, 2010 3:37 PM CST up reply actions
Seriously, ESPN is in the..
Entertainment business. Any pretention of them having serious, let alone competent sports analysts is a mistake. Nice shot of the crow-burger luncheon special for today. At ESPN, it’s usually a helping of Tebow-phallus and grits.
Media perception IS a large part of the problem.
ESPN is not practicing disinterested journalism. Instead they promote their properties. And, with their new deal with the SEC, watch out. CBS is even worse. Their SOLE interest is in promoting the SEC. All this adds up to the SEC enjoying a prefered position where it concerns media coverage. The SEC enjoys at least one national telecast during the CFB regular season. The Big Ten, Pac 10, Big XII, Big East, and ACC are relegated to regional exposure. There are parts of this country that rarely see a Big Ten game, much less a Pac 10 contest. I personally believe it would be in the interest of the Big Ten to explore a partnership with the Pac 10 for the purpose of offering a Saturday doubleheader package. Of course, right now the potential buyers are few (FOX) at least until NBC moves on from Notre Dame. As far as a cable package, I might explore Versus — they are starting to work out for the NHL as they get into more and more homes. Adding a Big Ten / Pac 10 package would only increase demand for Versus’ product. If NBC could be enticed, they have a constellation of cable outlets that could carry games. I am not wed to any of these ideas. Rather, I feel that the present situation is disadvantageous to the conference and would like to see something change. We are still in a favorable position in terms of population v. the SEC schools. Combined with the Pac 10 we would be a monster. I would like to see the population asset more thoroughly exploited.
In all, I enjoyed reading your write-up and concur with the thoughts expressed.
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
EDIT: SEC = one national telecast EACH SATURDAY
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
I don't think we want FOX
They’re pretty incompetent in their bowl broadcasts. We do not need 70 band shots per game.
Nor am I thrilled with the FOX college broadcasts.
Still, I would like to get true nationwide exposure for the conference and FOX is out there.
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
Of course, ESPN is in full-on hype mode for the title game.
It’s the biggest game of the bowl season and it’s on their network. The last three years they spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the Rose Bowl because that was the only BCS bowl they had. They don’t have some grand conspiracy to fuck over the Big Ten.
The Big Ten gets at least three games a week with heavy national exposure on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2. ABC/ESPN has a significant financial investment in the Big Ten as well as the SEC. Their coverage of the Orange Bowl was pretty lame, but they gave the New Year’s Day bowls solid coverage.
ESPN hypes whoever the top teams are — next year, that figures to include some B10 teams (Iowa and Ohio State are likely to be in the top 10 and Wisco and Penn State should be in the top 20) and they aren’t going to ignore us unless we fall flat on our face in the early going and play our way out of the national title picture (which is precisely what happened this year, aside from Iowa, who was always hamstrung by the unimpressive quality of their wins). BXI schools are too big and too popular for them to ignore if they’re winning. After all, it was just three years ago that they were going nuts over Michigan and Ohio State and their 11-0 vs. 11-0 meeting.
Partnering with NBC (a dying network) and Versus (a minor cable sports entity) would be retarded.
Also: outside of USC, no one really cares that much about the Pac 10.
Big junkies come from little junkies.
Nonetheless, the conference does not get the exposure that the SEC receives.
In contemporary America, if something wasn’t on TV, then it didn’t happen.
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
THE GAMES ARE ON TV.
What are you babbling about? The broad-based exposure the Big Ten has is superior to the SEC — it’s easier to see lesser games on BTN than it is on the peripheral ESPN channels or (god forbid) PPV, which is where some SEC games still wind up, even with their magical ESPN contract. And, as I noted, the Big Ten gets 2-3 games per week on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2. The SEC has the advantage of having a guaranteed CBS game every week, so I suppose if you’re dealing with people who only get network TV, they do have a slight advantage. The number of people like that is increasingly dwindling.
Nonetheless, the conference does not get the exposure that the SEC receives.
Don’t be so dense. Win big games, contend for (and WIN) national titles, get exposure. That’s the way the game has worked, the way it still works, and the way it will likely work for the forseeable future. The Big Ten has utterly failed to do the first two things since 2006, which is why they haven’t gotten as much exposure. This bowl season finally brought them some wins in big games — now they need to build off that next season.
Moving off ESPN to Versus (as you suggest) would be a catastrophically poor decision.
Likewise, partnering with the Pac 10 does nothing for the Big Ten. Outside of USC, people east of the Rockies do not care about the Pac 10.
Big junkies come from little junkies.
They do conspire...
…to make money.
Also, I think it’s funny when I hear Big Ten-ers (expecially us Hawk fans) say that no one cares about the Pac 10 unless it’s USC. It’s funny because the rest of the country is saying “no one cares about the Big Ten unless it’s Michigan or OSU.”
/Like-rain-on-your-wedding-day’d
by Eyeheartfreedumb on Jan 11, 2010 3:44 PM CST up reply actions
Please Keep In Mind
The Big Ten traditionally plays its games in the afternoon, which is when everybody else plays. Michigan, one of their biggest traditional (sigh) powerhouses, rarely (save for @ Iowa this year, @ Illinois 2007, @ PSU in 2006) if ever will play a night game. Ohio State had one nationally televised night game (vs. USC). Penn State also had one ( vs. Iowa). Now compare that with LSU, who had 4 nationally televised night games ALONE this year. Florida had 3 nationally televised night games as well.
So it’s not just media bias, but also the tradition of the conference. If your biggest teams aren’t playing often on the stage of the exclusively featured game in the nation (a la Sunday/Monday night football for the NFL), they’re going to get less exposure. But that’s what makes the Big Ten so great: Tradition, Excellence.
And I believe night games are prohibited once the calendar turns to November.
That is one reason why I want the Pac 10 involved— to usually, but not exclusively, fill the evening slot.
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
Your lead sentence nails it..
.. very well. The SEC is one of the ‘brands’ in the ESPN porfolio of entertainment offerings. They are doing the marketing to hopefully enhance their investment in one of their products, the SEC. A good example of this is the pontifications of Kirk Herbstriet. On-set, he is an SEC shill, and he regularly dismisse the Big 10 and Ohio State, which is a bit disappointing since he was an OSU captain. Herbie is just reading the script and collecting his paycheck.
Sorry, but I think this whole post is
pretty much inaccurate.
The SEC enjoys at least one national telecast during the CFB regular season. The Big Ten, Pac 10, Big XII, Big East, and ACC are relegated to regional exposure
The Big 10 has at least two, from ESPN/ESPN2 in the afternoon, and with ABC. The Big 10 also has their own network. ESPN goes into as many homes as CBS anymore, and actually, the Big 10 almost always has at lest three national games…two on ESPN, and one on ABC.
I personally believe it would be in the interest of the Big Ten to explore a partnership with the Pac 10 for the purpose of offering a Saturday doubleheader package.
That serves no purpose for the Big 10. With their own network, and coverage on ESPN, they don’t need the Pac-10.
As far as a cable package, I might explore Versus — they are starting to work out for the NHL as they get into more and more homes. Adding a Big Ten / Pac 10 package would only increase demand for Versus’ product.
NHL games on Versus lower ratings than One Tree Hill reruns on the WB. Again, with the Big 10 network, which is in 19 of the largest 20 markets in the country. I would say Big 10 Network goes to a lot more homes than Versus does. Versus reaches 78 million homes, ESPN almost 100 million. In one year, The Big 10 Network now reaches 73 million homes.
So with ESPN/ABC/B10 network, the Big 10 gets hug coverage, more than the SEC, according to the second article I linked.
Combined with the Pac 10 we would be a monster.
We are a Goliath, my friend. Contrary to what ESPN, the SEC, and CBS might want you to believe, we have been, are, and will be the Gold Standard for years to come, at least in terms of television exposure.
And keep this in mind: the whole reason the SEC and Big 8 expanded was because they were getting their ass kicked in TV ratings by the Big 10. Expansion allowed for a conference championship game, allowing for a longer season. Had the Big 10 expanded when the SEC and Big 8/12 did, this wouldn’t even be an issue.
"We're used to Favre-a-palooza now. We're engulfed in Favre-a-palooza. It's not even Favre-a-palooza anymore. He's family now."
--Vikings TE Visanthe Shiancoe, on Brett Favre
At the end of the day
I really don’t care what the media has to say about the Big Ten. I had one friend who isn’t from a Big Ten school tell me yesterday that he thought Iowa was going to win. It was even worse when I looked at our bowl pick ‘em that I do with friends from across the country, the average record of the Big Ten teams across the picks was 1-6 (with Minnesota being the favored win). The point is, no one wants to respect us, and that’s fine. I’ll let the scoreboard do the talking for us. I can’t wait for next football season in the Big Ten, it will be something special.
They took the bar, the whole fucking bar!
by recoveringfratguy on Jan 6, 2010 10:27 PM CST reply actions
Compiling Articles?
This is a good start and once we finish tonights game we’ll get more of the bowl/season recaps. What would be pretty cool is to have a repository, if you will, of articles that do eat crow.
I don’t have time to check every team’s blogs, let alone hit the sporting news, CNNSI, and so forth. Perhaps we can work to share our collective good finds?
Thanks for all the good chatter everyone,
Inflection
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