BleedGopher
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Wilbon is pretty negative on Maryland's move to the Big Ten, and of course uses the Gophers a few times to demonstrate his points:
“And when I’m sitting in Chicago, I’m not excited to see Maryland come to Iowa or Minnesota, and I know people here wouldn’t be excited about that [matchup]. This had better be a windfall, as you said. Because if it’s not, it just destroys the tradition and the history of rivalries, and the competition, and just says, ‘Okay, let’s pimp ourselves out, we’re going to go for the money.’ ”
Wilbon further agreed with Sheehan that preserving the passion around the Maryland basketball program could be even harder in the future.
“Look, the Big Ten in basketball is more often than not lately really, really good,” Wilbon said. “Maryland’s not gonna come into the Big Ten next year and just sort of crack the top few teams in the Big Ten. They’re not, because they’re not good enough to do that. … And so you’re asking some difficult things of your basketball program.
“I think Maryland fans, from an emotional standpoint, are getting the worst of this,” he said. “If you’re in a Big Ten city, you get interrupted, and you’ve got to see Rutgers or Maryland in the middle of your Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State run. But if you’re here, in College Park, you get a slate of road games that includes Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue. Really? That means something to you? I live here, and these are my schools, and I’m not sure I want to go [to Comcast Center] to watch them play, because the setting seems wrong. It seems out of context, even as a Big Ten alum. So it’s just a downer all the way around, and it better be a financial boom."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...1/michael-wilbon-on-maryland-and-the-big-ten/
Go Gophers!!
“And when I’m sitting in Chicago, I’m not excited to see Maryland come to Iowa or Minnesota, and I know people here wouldn’t be excited about that [matchup]. This had better be a windfall, as you said. Because if it’s not, it just destroys the tradition and the history of rivalries, and the competition, and just says, ‘Okay, let’s pimp ourselves out, we’re going to go for the money.’ ”
Wilbon further agreed with Sheehan that preserving the passion around the Maryland basketball program could be even harder in the future.
“Look, the Big Ten in basketball is more often than not lately really, really good,” Wilbon said. “Maryland’s not gonna come into the Big Ten next year and just sort of crack the top few teams in the Big Ten. They’re not, because they’re not good enough to do that. … And so you’re asking some difficult things of your basketball program.
“I think Maryland fans, from an emotional standpoint, are getting the worst of this,” he said. “If you’re in a Big Ten city, you get interrupted, and you’ve got to see Rutgers or Maryland in the middle of your Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State run. But if you’re here, in College Park, you get a slate of road games that includes Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue. Really? That means something to you? I live here, and these are my schools, and I’m not sure I want to go [to Comcast Center] to watch them play, because the setting seems wrong. It seems out of context, even as a Big Ten alum. So it’s just a downer all the way around, and it better be a financial boom."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...1/michael-wilbon-on-maryland-and-the-big-ten/
Go Gophers!!