Maybe The Grinch Has A Heart After All: Delany To Reconsider Big Ten Division Names?
by RossWB on Dec 17, 2010 2:30 PM CST
in Iowa Hawkeyes News
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Never let it be said that Jim Delany doesn't listen to the little guy. Sure, usually that means smugly laughing while the Boise States of the world bitch and moan about unfair access to the Rose Bowl, but when the little guy (or in this case, every guy) is delivering verbal bombs excoriating the Big Ten for its new division names (and, to a marginally lesser extent, the new logo), even the Dark Lord Delany will listen:
"We've had enough experience with names and expansion and development of divisions that we know that you rarely get a 90 percent approval rating," Delany told WGN AM-720. "But to get a 90 percent non-approval rating was really surprising. It showed that we didn’t connect with our fans in a way that we wanted to. It’s humbling, to say the least, because we’re trying to build fan bases, not push them away."I've been around this business a long time, and I would say it’s one of the more surprising things. There’s a sensibility there that we did not connect with, did not read well."
Gee, you think? It's hard to believe that a decision like this wasn't focus groupped to death, which means that the Big Ten either (a) found the world's stupidest focus group (maybe they asked the ACC for references) or (b) completely ignored those findings and went with "Legends" and "Leaders" anyway.
In any event, there's no guarantee that they're going to ditch those miserable names when Delany says this --
"We’re still listening and trying to figure things out," Delany said. "We'll probably make an assessment about whether or not it’s sustainable. We’ll try to do a little education, let it breathe a bit and then probably revisit it after the first of the year."
-- but it at least gives us reason to hope that come 2011 an Iowa team led by the sturdy running of Beefy McRumbleton* won't be vying for something as dumb as the Legends division championship.
* -- Shh. We're having all the Iowa running backs change their names to help them avoid the brutal wrath of AIRBHG.
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Is that a picture of Sandra Bernhard?
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
wow...
That picture may have just replaced the whale in my nightmares.
Perpetually living between the click of a light and the start of a dream.
thank goodness
ya the focus groups definitely didn’t earn their paycheck this time around
impossible is nothing
Jesus Delany
I am sorry we don’t all carry the 3 can of FourLoko bravado that you do that would be required to refer to myself as a Legend or Leader.
"That woman was sexy...Out of your league? Son. Let women figure out why they won't screw you, don't do it for them."...SMDS
by J.R. Angle has a posse on Dec 17, 2010 3:40 PM CST reply actions
Speak for yourself.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 18, 2010 1:37 PM CST up reply actions
Instead of having the running backs change their names
I think we should list everyone not expected to be on the two-deeps as a RB. Maybe AIRBHG will get confused in such a target-rich environment.
by Ratface McDougal on Dec 17, 2010 4:06 PM CST reply actions
I prefer getting rid of RBs
Let’s just list them all as second string receivers or FBs. Make AIRBHG think we’re going 4 and 5 wide spread every down. Maybe he’ll give us a break then.
Yes.
And just have them go in motion from the slot to the standard tail-back position.
AIRBHG would never catch on!
/slips on ice, hits head on sidewalk, gets concussed.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 18, 2010 1:39 PM CST up reply actions
Don't you have some super-villains to go bust?
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
I think the division names should rotate...
based on which side the conference champ comes from. Win the championship game get a better name, lose the championship game get a shitty name, for example:
Penis and Envy
Simon and Garfunkel
Letterman and Leno
Parker and O’Keefe
Sam Adams and Natty Ice Light
by HawkeyeCocaineUrine on Dec 17, 2010 4:17 PM CST reply actions
I'm happy to report that Iowa's division would win each year and keep the "Garfunkel" label.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 18, 2010 1:41 PM CST up reply actions
I don't think
there is much danger of Iowa vying for the lead in the Legends division next season. And yes, I meant what you probably think I did.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
That there won't be Legends division after all?
I don’t see a run away favorite in whatever division next year. I’d say we’ll come out picked for 4th in the division and end up challenging for it in the end. Mandenberg still has good skill players and the O-line could (should) be even better next year. Time will tell what the D looks like, but at least there is experience at several positions, and if Sash comes back the secondary could be pretty good. All of this assumes that players continue to develop (maybe Morris will improve in coverage, for example).
Kool aid is tasty.
The other residents of Jonestown?
Not so much. Not that they got a chance to complain about the strange taste of the batch.
by PackerHawk on Dec 18, 2010 10:05 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Legends and Leaders
So does that mean the “Legends” Division are the teams that USED to be good and the “Leaders” Division are the teams that are good now?
by the_iowa_hawkeye on Dec 17, 2010 8:43 PM CST reply actions
Leaders does have 2 of the 3 conference champs from this year
And with Michigan rebuilding, I guess you could say that.
Yo!
Straight up Bitches and Hoes y’all!
How would you like your steak done, Mr Sweater Vest?
by FiveSecondRuleChef on Dec 18, 2010 7:13 AM CST reply actions
It truly makes the most sense.
It’s simple and catchy. I would support that or something like Great Lakes and Heartland. None of the current suggestive and pompous bullshit, plz.
Templeton Rye'd the Lightning.
by Smokin Herb Grigsby on Dec 18, 2010 11:13 AM CST up reply actions
Absolutely.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 18, 2010 1:42 PM CST up reply actions
how 'bout
Long Division
Division by Zero
(From an engineer friend of mine)
by GMcNhawkeye on Dec 18, 2010 11:33 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Am I the only one
who thinks that the trophy names are a thousand times worse than the division names? Talk about focus-grouped, pointless, stand-for-nothing garbage. The only thing missing is the Corso-Lynch Participation Award Trophy.
agree
The trophy names are so incredibly lame it is amazing! All the double names are dumb and too many of them represent what the honorees did after school, not while they were at school, too many of them, etc,etc – just stupid
by GMcNhawkeye on Dec 18, 2010 1:17 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
There should be exactly one double-named trophy
Schembechler-Hayes championship trophy. I hate both of those schools with a passion, but those two bastards defined the league for so long that putting anyone else on it would be unjustifiable, and putting either of them on it to the exclusion of the other would cause riots. (Not that I’m against seeing either city on fire, mind you.)
The rest: pick one name. (One downside is that the more badass defensive players that should get the nod – Nagurski and Butkus – already have national awards named after them; we’d probably have to go with a lesser player to avoid confusion.)
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
The trophy names are annoying.
But they’ll also only be relevant for a day or two every year. The division names are something that will get brought up over and over (and over and over…) all year. They really need to get division names that are at least tolerable.
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
It is as if, Delany has avoided huge mistakes for so long...
that he now thinks he is almost incapable of them. And this trunk-full-of-sh!t is what we got because of that.
The guy spent his formative years (HS and college) in New Jersey and UNC. And he began as a lawyer. NOT TO BE TRUSTED!
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 18, 2010 1:45 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Lawyers can never be trusted.
Especially when they wade into the sports blog world.
by PackerHawk on Dec 18, 2010 10:03 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
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