One Thing We Should Have Learned from Baseball

[Iceland12]

Lots of valid reasons not to like the expansion of the Big Ten and the break-up of other Conferences. Geography, rivals, travel time, familarity etc. There's plenty of posts here and hundreds of thousands of words on the net about the subject. Just like to point out a very lazy and deceptive way to attack it. There's a trend in all the stories from writers who REALLY are or pretend to be very upset. They probably got it from discussions about Inter-League Play in MLB.

You take a team, pick-out the teams best rival and then pick the lamest team from the other conference. Then say: "Do you think that Atlanta Fans want to give-up games against the Dodgers and Cardinals for games against Kansas City and Seattle!!!" "Do you think that Angel Fans want to give-up games against the Yankees and Red Sox for games against Houston and Pittsburgh?!"

These always ignore the fact that no American League Fan is excited about the Royals and the Mariners coming while no N.L. fan wants to see Houston or the Pirates come to town either.

There are differences of course. The biggest is the shear amount of games. Unlike baseball College Football has already lost a lot of those big games. Nebraska had quit playing Oklahoma on a yearly basis before they came to the Big Ten. The yearly Iowa/Wisconsin game is gone. Maryland was going to see some of rivals on the Home Court only every two years anyway. Rutgers had lost Penn State years ago and their Syracuse rivalry was gone next year.

The argument though is still being used as if none of this happened.

Plenty of Big Ten fans are saying "Do you think that Iowa Fans want to lose games against Penn State or Wisconsin to see Rutgers or Maryland come to town?" "You think Hoosiers fans want to see MSU on the Court or Rutgers?" The comparison that cuts deepest is coming from Maryland and ACC fans:

"Do you think any Terps fans want to lose games against FSU or Miami to play Indiana or the GOPHERS!! " Does anybody believe that there ar Maryland fans out there who want the NW or Minnesota uniforms on the court at Comcast rather then UNC or Clemson? Hell no!"

Yes dammit it's always US!!

Remember that before you make the argument yourself..

 

[50PoundHead]

Tremendous post. I caught a little bit of Mason on with Barreiro yesterday and they had a polite little debate about it. Barreiro sides more with the traditionalists and Mase was all over the expansion as the greatest thing ever. As a business model, it's great. More money is generated for the participants (and a bunch of middle-aged white guys get huge salaries in the process). For the casual fan, I think it kind of stinks as regional rivalries (the games which probably matter most to the casual fan) often get sacrificed to the beast. As I prepare to enter my seventh decade on Earth (one I hope to finish), I've afforded myself the opportunity to back off a bit and drop a lot of long-held prejudices and more easily let progress take its course. I hope this works. I'll watch and cheer for the Gophers regardless of who they play, but the romance of the game is certainly dwindling and I see this as another example of that.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

This is a really good analogy. As someone who enjoys watching the Twinkies play at different ballparks, I might also now enjoy seeing the Gophers play at Rutgers and Maryland. I know they were going after large population centers with these adds, but I think many fans would have preferred to see no expansion or expansion with teams that are physically closer to Chicago (kind of the geo middle ground for the Big Ten).

 

[Son of a Badger]

I always thought the lesson was, "There's no crying in baseball."

 

[RailBaronYarr]

This is a really good analogy. As someone who enjoys watching the Twinkies play at different ballparks, I might also now enjoy seeing the Gophers play at Rutgers and Maryland. I know they were going after large population centers with these adds, but I think many fans would have preferred to see no expansion or expansion with teams that are physically closer to Chicago (kind of the geo middle ground for the Big Ten).

We could still enjoy watching them play at other stadiums... if we weren't too afraid to schedule them. I don't understand how adding more teams and a probably 9th B1G conference game is any different than the dreaded home/home series with a UNC type team.

As for the OP's post.. I do happen to enjoy playing KC, Detroit, CWS more than other teams. When the Yankees or Red Sox come to town it's obviously something special, similar to when we got to play USC at home. But I never once doubted that many Maryland fans aren't excited to lose their UNC/Duke bball games, football games against FSU/Clemson/UNC in favor of far away places like MN. I posted MY viewpoints since this is a Gopher message board and I am concerned with my experience first, the experience of other B1G schools second, and everyone else third. That's not to say a resounding "ugh" from both sides of the addition doesn't add to the reason I think it's a bad idea.

 

[Iceland12]

We could still enjoy watching them play at other stadiums... if we weren't too afraid to schedule them. I don't understand how adding more teams and a probably 9th B1G conference game is any different than the dreaded home/home series with a UNC type team.

As for the OP's post.. I do happen to enjoy playing KC, Detroit, CWS more than other teams. When the Yankees or Red Sox come to town it's obviously something special, similar to when we got to play USC at home. But I never once doubted that many Maryland fans aren't excited to lose their UNC/Duke bball games, football games against FSU/Clemson/UNC in favor of far away places like MN. I posted MY viewpoints since this is a Gopher message board and I am concerned with my experience first, the experience of other B1G schools second, and everyone else third. That's not to say a resounding "ugh" from both sides of the addition doesn't add to the reason I think it's a bad idea.

That's not why the Gophers are always being mentioned.