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Thursday, 09 February 2012 16:30
To Pitt, West Virginia and Syracuse, the Big East was a stinking mess ready to collapse that offered no hope or security for the future. All three schools couldn’t get out fast enough once they saw the direction in which the league was drifting. Pitt and Syracuse accepted membership in the ACC and, seeing that, West Virginia, truly desperate to leave, landed nicely on its feet in the Big 12.
In Memphis, though, they are celebrating an invitation to join the Big East, as this column by Geoff Calkins indicates.
But as Holly Anderson writes at SI.com, it was an incredibly bad move for the dying league.
By Holly Anderson, SI.com
Football’s version of Manifest Destiny is ripping the space-time fabric of the sport asunder. We accept this new age of ceaseless, often senseless expansion, albeit with much sniping. In these troubled times, resurgent survivalist instincts are perhaps to be expected (she said, from her secret blogging lair stocked wall-to-wall with bottled water and guns). But this latest development is five or six bridges too far to be believed. Memphis? To a (technically) AQ conference? There is transcontinental conquest, and then there is straight-up hoarding, and we need to talk about the Big East’s behavior and its recent veer toward the latter.
No major-conference program is hankering to hitch its wagon to this sputtering star, so raiding the mid-majors is a necessity. But Memphis football is the stack of rotting newspapers in this scenario.
Read the rest of the story.
Comments (12)
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written by PittofDreams, February 09, 2012 - 02:51 PM
Bob, did you hear that Bob Bostad won't be going to the Bears?
If rumors of his leaving is worth a headline, news that finally confirms that he won't be leaving should be too. Don't you think?
written by PittofDreams, February 09, 2012 - 02:51 PM
Bob, did you hear that Bob Bostad won't be going to the Bears?
If rumors of his leaving is worth a headline, news that finally confirms that he won't be leaving should be too. Don't you think?
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written by FightingScot82, February 09, 2012 - 02:53 PM
written by FightingScot82, February 09, 2012 - 02:53 PM
**s incredible that football decisions are ruining some of the best basketball rivalries.
I don't think Memphis is a terrible idea for the Big East - they are only covering their butts after having their heads in the sand and maintaining status quo after the first upheaval several years ago.
I don't think Memphis is a terrible idea for the Big East - they are only covering their butts after having their heads in the sand and maintaining status quo after the first upheaval several years ago.
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written by fantasyneverends, February 09, 2012 - 02:53 PM
written by fantasyneverends, February 09, 2012 - 02:53 PM
I thouroughly enjoyed watching the Duke-UNC game last night.
Big East who? I'm ready to move on...
Big East who? I'm ready to move on...
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written by csf, February 09, 2012 - 03:33 PM
written by csf, February 09, 2012 - 03:33 PM
when you have a conference that spans the country from the northeast (UConn) to the southwest (San Diego), what's wrong with adding a school that is right in the middle ... especially with one that has such good blues and barbecue?
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written by Brashear99, February 09, 2012 - 03:34 PM
written by Brashear99, February 09, 2012 - 03:34 PM
I don't believe Memphis is a bad fit for the Big East. With the exception of Rutgers, UConn, SDSU, Boise St & Navy, every team in the new Big East was at one time in the C-USA & no one is confusing the other 4 besides Boise of being football juggernauts. If the Big East thinks they are going to keep their BCS AQ status they are kidding themselves.
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written by Jackagain, February 09, 2012 - 10:33 PM
written by Jackagain, February 09, 2012 - 10:33 PM
Just what the BE needed...another basketball school. The Big East is the only organization run worse than the Pirates and the government.
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written by Jackagain, February 09, 2012 - 10:33 PM
written by Jackagain, February 09, 2012 - 10:33 PM
Just what the BE needed...another basketball school. The Big East is the only organization run worse than the Pirates and the government.
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written by jayh63, February 10, 2012 - 07:46 AM
written by jayh63, February 10, 2012 - 07:46 AM
I hope Pitt stays in the Big East for 2012. With no WVU and the Big East still with an automatic BCS bid, this might be the Panther's best shot at a BCS Bowl game for many years.
Once they go into the ACC, it will be much tougher as they'll have to beat out Miami, Va Tech and Ga Tech just for the right to play Florida State or Clemson in the ACC title game for a chance to go to a BCS game. How often is that going to happen?
Once they go into the ACC, it will be much tougher as they'll have to beat out Miami, Va Tech and Ga Tech just for the right to play Florida State or Clemson in the ACC title game for a chance to go to a BCS game. How often is that going to happen?
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written by Imma Man! Im 40!, February 10, 2012 - 09:55 AM
written by Imma Man! Im 40!, February 10, 2012 - 09:55 AM
What does the move to add Memphis for CFB -- MEMPHIS?? -- teach us? That the hoops-first fools in Providence learned nothing from their near-death experience.
I was a little sad when Pitt first announced they were leaving for the ACC, at least for football -- in part because this whole mess was so preventable. Now? As a fan, I can't wait to be shed of them. How on earth does John Marinatto still have his job?
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, to listen in while Stevie-P dealt those shockingly-incompetent weasels. Which I imagine went something like this:
Steve-P: "Big John, put down the stomboli and solve the football problem."
Big John: "Steve, it's not that simple. What will the small Catholic hoops only schools think?"
Steve-P: "Who cares what THEY think, they wouldn't know a football from a hubcap. You should care what WE think."
Big-John: "Hey, we heard back from the small Catholic hoops only schools, brilliant! It's gotta be 'Nova!"
Stevie-P: "John, you're forewarned: if you don't get this mess fixed, Pitt will look out for our own interests. You'll get our letter."
Big-John: "Steve, I just love your sense of humor."
ESPN: "Breaking news, Pitt and 'Cuse are leaving the Big East, that disaster of titanic proportions, for the ACC."
Big John: "Why didn"t anybody tell us this was happening? I feel so betrayed!"
Steve-P (muttering to himself): "God, grant me the strength to realize the things I cannot change...".
I was a little sad when Pitt first announced they were leaving for the ACC, at least for football -- in part because this whole mess was so preventable. Now? As a fan, I can't wait to be shed of them. How on earth does John Marinatto still have his job?
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, to listen in while Stevie-P dealt those shockingly-incompetent weasels. Which I imagine went something like this:
Steve-P: "Big John, put down the stomboli and solve the football problem."
Big John: "Steve, it's not that simple. What will the small Catholic hoops only schools think?"
Steve-P: "Who cares what THEY think, they wouldn't know a football from a hubcap. You should care what WE think."
Big-John: "Hey, we heard back from the small Catholic hoops only schools, brilliant! It's gotta be 'Nova!"
Stevie-P: "John, you're forewarned: if you don't get this mess fixed, Pitt will look out for our own interests. You'll get our letter."
Big-John: "Steve, I just love your sense of humor."
ESPN: "Breaking news, Pitt and 'Cuse are leaving the Big East, that disaster of titanic proportions, for the ACC."
Big John: "Why didn"t anybody tell us this was happening? I feel so betrayed!"
Steve-P (muttering to himself): "God, grant me the strength to realize the things I cannot change...".
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I must admit that I am a pro football fan, and only a casual observer of the college game, but I have to believe that even staunch supporters of the college game are sick and tired of all of this conference switching and upheaval.
Who will play in what conference next year and beyond has surpassed the actual game and the players. Enough already, wake me when everyone knows where they are going and how they are going to get there.