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| Wait...how many on each side? |
Jim Delaney and the rest of the Big Ten came to the conclusion that fans, bloggers, students, homeless people and probably even Danny Hope came to three years ago -- the existing divisions and their names are dumb and should be scrapped.
Of course, people like Jim Delaney don't quickly admit to such mistakes. My favorite part of all this was that they came up with the division names and then, accordingly to Delaney, didn't think much about it after that. He also said things about how he wasn't sure everyone didn't like the names -- just people "who hit the send button." Errr, okay.
Anyway, it was voted on and the realignment will happen, beginning with 2014, so you're stuck with Legends and Leaders for one more season. Then Purdue moves to the West and deprives me of regularly seeing the Boilermakers in New Brunswick, NJ against Rutgers.
Brian Bennett of the EsPN Big Ten Blog has a column about the winners and losers, and includes this gem towards the end that melts a little bit of my cold, dark heart (bold emphasis, mine):
Winner: The SEC
The Big Ten joins the Pac-12 and Big 12 as major conferences playing nine conference games... The SEC remains at eight games. Playing more conference games is great for fans and TV, but it also means more losses throughout the league and makes it harder for teams to go unbeaten -- the Big Ten champ will have to run a gantlet of 10 conference games, including the title game. The SEC will continue to benefit from the perception that its teams beat one another up during league play while also playing fewer conference games. That could have big ramifications on the selection process for the upcoming College Football Playoff.
Heh. Get 'em, Brian.