Raetus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM1RChZk1EU

That's it.... WE'RE GETTING KIRBY SMART!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rumor mill says that Saban is seeing some medical issues arising from all of those championship rings on his fingers; he might be looking to relocate to a sunnier environment where it's also less likely he'll be burdened with more finger gold to lug around. Idk... if you think about it... I think we have a shot.

Randy Savage is dead. Snap into a Slim Jim.

Did I read that correct.... Mountain west currently receives between $8-$12 million per school? No. That's the number for the conference as a whole. You read it correctly, but unfortunately, the Times report is incorrect. charsibb is correct -- that's the amount for the entire conference. Yay for fact checking.

Earl Grey (Asiantii >>> Asian Tea >>> Earl Grey) You owe me a new keyboard. I spit coffee all over this one.

Make sense to me.

The neato thing about the internet is that you can just say whatever you want and some yahoo will believe it. Also, Huffington Post is reporting that CWT is appearing on ESPN to announce his candidacy for Space Emperor http://bit.ly/WnNHhx

Because it would be pretty tough to go 3 weeks or so without a home game ... Men's team seems to be off for several weeks... Just sayin. Suggestion: Take that turkey off your head and open your eyes before engaging your keyboard. MBB is playing at the Dome at 7 pm tomorrow (12/17), on Friday(12/21) at 7 pm, on Saturday (12/29) , at UCF on January 2, and at the Dome on Sunday (1/6) at 7 pm. This post was... awkward.

As this poll has no "Tequila shots" option, it is silly.

We could eventually "win". But winning could ultimately be a hollow victory if it takes many years to wind through the courts and years of appeals after we "win". ESPN has boatloads of money to throw at lawyers if need be. Lots more money than a public university in an economic downturn. If nothing else, they could drag it out so long that the program is damaged beyond repair. If you threaten to take a big company to a very public lawsuit, you'd be suprised at how fast they try to get out of the spotlight and avoid the problem. Ever try to sue the Government? In my Agency it's a 100% win rate. Agreed. 0% chance of that lawsuit going to trial. Especially with Disney as the parent company.

I accept your jello wrestling contest friendly amendment to my motion, and move the item. I wonder if Spuds Mckenzie is available for conference commissioner?

I'm fine with creating this awful conference, but only if we accept it and call it the Awful Conference. That or we keep SDSU and Tulane as well and call it Conference Party USA as we'll have sweet road trips. All teams are required to sell alcohol at the stadiums and our respective mascots referee coed jello wrestling contests at half-time.

That's how I read it as well. That delicious BCS bid is still around for the Big East for one more year. That's worth lawyering around for a year.

The basketball schools are not trying to dissolve the conference... they are trying to either secede so they can start their own low level basketball conference, or they are trying to kick out the football members and make the Big East back into just a small obscure Northeast basketball conference. I seriously doubt that the basketball schools can do anything bu t secede and start their own conference... if they try to kick out the football schools so they can keep the Big East name then there will be a fight. I understand that, but this article suggests otherwise: http://www.nj.com/co...ce=twitterfeed. I quote the headline: Big East basketball-only schools close to unified front to leave or dissolve conference That's what my statement was referencing.

Dissolving the conference would be an interesting move from a legal standpoint and assuredly would not be effective until after next year. If they dissolved beforehand, the schools that voted for dissolution would be hit with some hefty lawsuits as they would effectively have denied the football schools access to BCS money and an automatic bid. They'd have to open up the coffers for that one.

Did you check the PO Box? If you haven't, I can check it and let you know. Although, I did find a bunch of unused timeouts stuffed in there as if someone were hiding them with hopes that we wouldn't notice them.

That's what seems curious to me, as well. I can remember several instances where the rumors surrounded around the fact that the basketball schools were preventing someone from being added... so how do the voting majority shift to the basketball schools (drastically), yet somehow all of these schools that they didn't want to get in or are now being let in. Sure maybe that AD wasn't added to the discussions, but unless the bylaws have changed, the issue was still brought before the Marquette president to vote on. Unless something has really changed, it just sounds like posturing to me.

Do you know, for a fact, that he didn't consult the basketball schools? I personally don't know, so I'm just asking with this one. From my understanding, new additions still have to be voted on by school presidents, which (unless the bylaws have changed recently) would still include the basketball schools.

Where in what you wrote is what his primary responsibility as BEC commissioner is? Secure the best interests of the conference. Everything you've proposed is equivalent to managing the dissolution of the conference. Yes we lost two teams, and it could be argued not even the best two products the BEC had (Rutgers). The issue being raised is that the decision to add two schools which add next to nothing to the conference may be the tipping point to drive out the BB schools which have defined the BEC for decades, even more than the football product which has been mocked constantly. I was raised on BE basketball so as I see it, there is a lot to be lost here. I disagree rewarding Aresco with a fat bonus for accelerating the conference's demise by adding Tulane and ECU in the quest for TV dollars which will not come. I've tried my best to discern what you're asking with that first question and have concluded that you're asking something to the effect of "In your opinion, what is Aresco's duty as BEC?" If your argument is that he should secure the best interest of the conference regardless of situation, then would you also expect him to halt any defection if there was only one member left? Let's, for fun, just say that it is down to the Big East and its sole member... USF. Should he protect the only asset that the Big East Conference has from going to another conference with litigation? Conferences don't completely act like typical corporations. They are a weird hybrid of corporations and weird school/gang alliances. These aren't typical times. If the basketball schools leave, which they currently have the full right to do so due to a voting majority as per the bylaws, then he will be left with three current members and the new additions. At that point, I believe his priorities drastically shift and he should be responsible for still maximizing the value member organizations receive, albeit through nontraditional means. The new schools being added has little to do with the basketball schools leaving. While they may be using it as a talking point, its a small matter as opposed to the fact that they have seen WVU, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame leave their ranks (yes, I know I left out Rutgers... because who cares?) and if they wait too long, they lose their voting majority. It's time to make a decision for the basketball schools and I don't blame them. Your argument is lessened even further by the fact that ECU isn't playing basketball, so it has nothing to do with their RPI argument nor their watering down on the league -- if it was, then they would have been done with Boise State was added as their basketball isn't that great. School Defections + Voting Majority > Anger over Tulane addition

Aresco took over the Titantic after we already hit the iceberg, I don't blame him for trying to keep her afloat as long as he could. Completely agree; he's doing his best. I don't we can expect miracles from him... it's just not realistic. Any BCS school that is left out of the final round of realignment would easily have a multiparty lawsuit against almost every major conference and ESPN. That's actually the biggest positive I see in the matter for USF. Either a conference is going to take us or we're going to be able to sue to our heart's content and we can build a floating on OCS with the money we'd win in settlements, alone.

I see Aresco's job as doing his best to get each individual school into the best possible position, because with the Rutgers and Louisville departures, there's nothing he can do to keep this group together. Put a fork in it; we're done. Help the basketball schools get what they need, get the rest of us into real conferences (if possible) and help negotiate deals for those of us that have to go independent -- for that, he should be rewarded with a fat check taken from the fees collected from various departures.

I mean... he's de-committed twice, now. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me... fool me thrice... well... F***... I'm all types of dumb.

+1

Man this place can be dumb and racist. Glad we hired a coach and excited to see what he can do. I'm fading back into obscurity until the next crisis.