Commish Having Second Thoughts on Division Names
You can call the Big Ten powers that be a lot of things, but inaccessible isn't one of them. In a surprising turn of events, Commissioner Jim Delaney admitted during an interview with WGN Chicago that the division names released Monday "didn't connect" with "90 percent" of Big Ten fans, and that the conference might need to re-evaluate its decision in light of the negative response.
Delaney says the conference will "revisit" the issue the first of the year after the dust has settled, and will assess at that time whether the Legends and Leaders names are "sustainable."
They aren't. And although fans have every right to question how the conference ended up so far in the woods, give credit to our leaders for being willing to listen. As John Maxwell said, "A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them."
This is the second time in the past six months the Commissioner's Office has been flooded with complaints -- the first was when Gene Smith and Dave Brandon hinted that the Ohio State/Michigan Game might be moved up to October -- and in both cases the administration has shown it can be reasonable.
If you want my 10 cents on how to fix the problem, have Big Ten fans and alumni vote on the top 3 or 4 ideas for division names like we did a few days ago on this site. The conference can control which names end up on the ballot, and stage a runoff if there's no majority after the first round of voting. That way, no matter what, the new names will be accepted by most of the fans.
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Jonathan Franz
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Legends and Leaders
should be kept as a conference tagline. Good motto, bad divisions.
Show them Ohio's here.
by slidingscrapes on Dec 17, 2010 10:43 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Actually not a bad thought.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 17, 2010 11:35 AM CST up reply actions
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by Andrew Tolliver on Dec 17, 2010 10:44 AM CST reply actions
Glad to see
That the Big Ten Brass is coming to it’s senses. Sliding is right, Leader and Legends is a fine conference tagline, but as division titles, it’s a sad joke. There are plenty of other excellent other options (I’m partial to the Bow Tie and Sweatervest divisions, but that’s just me) to chose from.
People have wanted names that made sense geographically but instead we get comedy.
Why not merge those two concepts?
Kingpin Division/Tommy Boy Division
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
I still prefer Lakes and Plains
I do not yet know of a geographical name that will exactly describe the divisions, but this one is close and it does give a nod to unique Big 10 geographical features. After a few years people will ‘just know’ that the Michigan teams are in the Plains division.
Didn’t we here rumors about revisiting divisional lineups after a few years anyway?
Why not simply North/South?
If you draw a horizontal-ish line from Ann Arbor, MI to Lincoln, NE You get all the “Legends” on the North side and all the “Leaders” except Wisconsin on the South side. The Badgers would just be the B1G equivalent of the (NFC East) Dallas Cowboys.
I'd prefer East and West
Lakes and Plains won’t resonate the right way with high schoolers from outside of the Plains area; why would you want to go to the Plains and play…
Its’s true, East and West is a bit of an anomaly for us. But the SEC is split up a bit inaccurate as well, as Vandy is technically more West than Auburn.
There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.
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by Culp's Freaking Hill on Dec 17, 2010 1:52 PM CST up reply actions
West/East...
…in the Big Ten is a lot different then in the SEC. In the SEC its a smaller distance with only 1 from each division on the “wrong” side of the line. In the Big Ten you’re talking 3 “West” schools (Northwestern, Michigan State, Michigan) that would be to the East of 2 “East” schools (Illinois and Wisconsin). Using the SEC as an example makes North/South a better choice for the Big Ten where only Wisconsin (South) would be truly out of place and Nebraska (North) would be at the same level as Illinois and Purdue.
I do agree that East/West feels better given the width of the conference though.
It looks like...
a sloppy Yin Yang. Divison Yin and Division Yang?
by Scarlet Fever on Dec 17, 2010 2:29 PM CST up reply actions
i like that name
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Competitive balance?
Is exchanging MSU and Michigan in the “east” for Wisky and Illinois really worth “competitive balance”? Are MSU and Michigan really THAT much better than Wisky and Illinois?
No, I didn’t think so.
I'm with you on this...
…anything geographic has problems so I think the conference is best served picking better names using similar logic (i.e. keep the “look for things that represent the whole of the conference”). Looking at things in that light Plains and Lakes works (well, maybe not so well for Indiana/Purdue or Penn State but at least both of their states touch a Great Lake).
Isn't Lakes and Plains ...
… also geographic names, just in a different manner?
Yes...
…but they also reference traits of the conference of the whole (plains states and lakes states) and could be approached with that “traits of the conference” logic. Still not perfect, but names that are more memorable and enjoyable then bland traits like Leaders and Legends.
Land of Ten Thousand… Plains?
Only two of the six northern schools can reasonably be more plain than lake.
by Erik T on Dec 17, 2010 7:39 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Lakes and Plains doesn't really work
If we had straight E-W with Indiana and Northwestern swapped, it’d be great – but you can’t have two schools from the Great Lakes State and one on Lake Michigan in the Plains Division, and you can’t have the only two not in states bordering the Great Lakes in the Lakes Division.
N-S is the easiest. Wisconsin is the only major outlier, while going with E-W puts the third- and fourth-most eastern schools in the West and the fourth- and fifth-most western schools in the East.
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
nice touch
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The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
by Graham Filler on Dec 17, 2010 3:22 PM CST up reply actions
Black and Blue
I hate all the Lakes and Plains/Heartland ideas because they make no sense for the current “Legends” division — Michigan/MSU is a natural for the Lakes division, but Nebraska? And if you make Legends the “Plains” division, does that fit Northwestern (which is ON Lake Michigan, and in/next to a huge city) at all?
I say go Black (current Legends) and Blue (current Leaders).
1. It fits the league’s history and image. We’re tough, we play defense (unlike the Big 12 and this year at least the SEC), and we’re gonna bruise you. We’re the league of Butkus/Dayne/Fitz/Woodson (Rod and Charles), Black and Blue just fits.
2. Black and Blue is not geographical, so it doesn’t have logic problems. No school has black AND blue as their colors, so it’s not favoritism in any way.
3. Black and Blue ties seemlessly into the new logos (although it would work better if they made the blue darker, like the current/old logo). What are the division names? Oh, the COLORS of the Big Ten’s logo!
4. Easy to remember which division is which — the teams that come first alphabetically in each division feature that color. Iowa (Black) and Illinois (Blue).
5. For those that still love our anachronistic league (12 teams in the Big Ten), there is still one team in each division that would seem more appropriate in the other: Michigan (in the Black, but wears Blue) and Purdue (in the Blue, but wears black).
6. To the extent we want to appease our new Nebraska brethren, putting the Nebraska “Blackshirts” in the Black division seems right.
by Chadnudj on Dec 17, 2010 2:41 PM CST reply actions 6 recs
7. If Michigan ever gets their act together and makes it to conference championship...
they’ll get all confused cheering the Big Blue against the Champion of the Blue.
by agwbl on Dec 17, 2010 2:52 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
or Norris and Smythe
But yeah, Black and Blue really plays up the football heritage of the region, even if some of that is at the professional level.
Send this to Delaney
This seems to be getting the most love on this site (rightly so)…. so, send an official memo to Delaney at the big ten office for this. If he’s reconsidering using the big 10 fans thoughts, what better site to use than this as a reference?
I GOT IT!!
Three Yards Division
Cloud of Dust Division
The Daily Norseman
Off Tackle Empire
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"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."
by Ted Glover on Dec 17, 2010 3:46 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Our hatred has made us powerful
wait, WHAT?
We have divisions. You know what I want? Wisconsin’s all-red uniforms in a Big Ten conference game. Those things were cool, and they were last seen in 2007. Come on…
Wisconsin, Big Ten Champions for the first time since 1999...
You'll notice NCAA has no letter for the incompetence within...
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 17, 2010 5:32 PM CST up reply actions
I say honor the Vets.
Midway division
Normandy division
Battle of the Midway; Michigan vs. Nebraska (or another combo)
This is just a terrible idea from a business perspective, noble though your intentions may be.
As a historian I hate to say it, but the majority of the people who know what these names refer to will be on Social Security within five years. Current high school students and the sports-viewing public of the near future will be completely stumped.
More importantly, it jibes too comfortably with the rest of the country’s assertion that the conference’s heyday was in the distant, irrelevant past.
How about these...
US Grant (Ohio) / Gerald Ford (Michigan)
Neil Armstrong / Gerald Ford
Paul Bunyan / Ghost Train
I forgot one...
Masters of Pasadena / Rulers of South Bend
X 1,000,000
Just for this this match up:
It’s the xxx of the Sherman Division of the Big Ten to take on the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC East in the Capitol One bowl.
by MSULaxer27 on Dec 20, 2010 9:38 AM CST up reply actions 2 recs
In all seriousness
It’s good to see B10 leadership listening to the fans. They did with OSU-UM, and it looks like they’re at least looking at new names. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it, but if a vast majority of folks want it changed, the fact that Delany is considering is encouraging.
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Off Tackle Empire
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"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."
I still say....
EAST – PSU, OSU, MSU, UM, IU, PU
WEST – UW, NU, Illinois, Neb, Minny, Iowa
Ever Grateful. Ever True.
North and South fits better. Only Wisconsin breaks that rule (although by a substantial amount, to be fair). Even Lincoln is north of both West Lafayette and State College (look it up – don’t trust map projections). Nebraska is north of Penn State by a whopping 2nmi or so.
With the current divisions, yes.
But he’s suggesting that they do the sane divisions, for which those names match exactly.
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
Since splitting OSU and UM for competitive balance was soooooo crucial.....
how about Ohio State Division and Michigan Division.
Ever Grateful. Ever True.
Delaney can't handle the truth!
Wisconsin, Big Ten Champions for the first time since 1999...
You'll notice NCAA has no letter for the incompetence within...
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 19, 2010 4:25 PM CST up reply actions
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