HSKR

The US could have a population of 10 billion and it wouldn't matter if all the kids growing up want to be Kobe, Tom Brady or A-Rod. Sure we have some high school soccer now and some college soccer but do you honestly think kids take it seriously that if they sacrifice everything they might get a $100K contract in the MLS? Or would they be better off getting drafted in the NFL or NBA for millions? I know a lot of people hate Klinsmann as coach but tonight was all about being beat by better talent. Belgium only has a population of 11 million but 99% of the kids there dream of being a soccer player. Now imagine if Ohio with a similar population to that of Belgium and every top athlete's first interest from Ohio was soccer but the reality is it isn't. If you really want it explained just look at England and their level of organization of soccer. Cities like New York would have at least a dozen professional teams. Omaha would probably have two themselves and Lincoln a team or two, professional that is. Grand Island would have one, Wahoo would even have a team. Now spread that across the whole state and country and get rid of college football, college basketball, the NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL and then we may be on a level playing field to recruit the kids. That's how serious they take it and we don't. For the US it may actually be easier to keep introducing our other sports over there to thin the talent pool out then to try to get our kids here moved over to soccer. Basketball seems to be doing that in Europe for example. I guess to sum it up, soccer in the US when compared to most of the world is A ball compared to MLB. That's how far we still have to go. Can you find me a roster from A ball that will win the World Series?

When the payroll for an entire MLS team is about the same as one average player in the Premiere League, this is exactly what you get. We have a huge talent pool of athletes in the US but they don't strive at a very young age to be professional soccer players like the rest of the world does. Guarantee you that someone like Jordan, Kobe or Lebron could have been great at it if they had lived and breathed the sport like they did hoops. In the US we have football, baseball, basketball, etc. The rest of the world, soccer is #1 and this is the problem we will always have.

I'm assuming that somehow, the free market will correct for this? Couldn't agree more. The problem is the money has to come from somewhere. I say we start diverting NSF funding to road projects. I'd much rather see construction workers getting paid building bridges then researchers getting paid to post on football message boards. It would be a good first step. Researchers tend to work long, strange hours. I doubt you know my schedule. Definitely know part of it!!

I'm assuming that somehow, the free market will correct for this? Couldn't agree more. The problem is the money has to come from somewhere. I say we start diverting NSF funding to road projects. I'd much rather see construction workers getting paid building bridges then researchers getting paid to post on football message boards. It would be a good first step.

Abort all babies and crime rates will eventually fall to zero. Problem solved.

This no call.

Well the same thing MSU got from beating Michigan 4 times in a row, the stadium sells out and you get bragging rights over your historical foe. In history, Michigan fought to keep Michigan Agricultural out of the BUG, but the series with Notre Dame raised their national profile to the point the other schools wanted them in. They'd probably be another MAC school without their football program. Purdue should be a mac school because of their football program. But they're an easy in-state bus ride so it just makes sense for the schools to play. Leave it to a domer to berate two teams as MAC quality......oh yea the same two teams they want to keep on their schedule! Classic stuff.

College football shouldn't be banned but it should be able to pay for itself, not from student fees, etc. Plus if that were the case, Nebraska would have about a one in seven chance of winning the National Championship every year, since that is all the teams that would be left.

Are you a Native American? Because if not, don't even try understanding. It's a highly offensive and derogatory term to a lot of Native Americans. No...but i guess I was raised that words like this really mean nothing to me even if I were a Native American. If this issue were simply about the word "Redskins", then I would probably understand. But, Native Americans have been complaining about names that are not derogatory like the Fighting Sioux that Walksalone mentioned about or the Florida State Seminoles. There's nothing derogatory about these names other than these groups have now decided they don't like it. Is Gothenburg supposed to stop using Swedes because it offends Swedish people? Are we supposed to stop using Cornhusker because it offends farmers? Is Lexington supposed to stop using Minutemen because it offends descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers? Native Americans have fabricated this issue. I guess the entire town of Ogallala should change it's name. Actually the best comparison would be the Fighting Irish since that was actually considered a slur when it originated. They seemed to have moved on and I have never anyone complain about that.

They would have been the wealthiest High School in the US if they had. They would have sold more gear then Lebron and MJ combined.

Seeing no answers, I went looking and found 16 times in the past ~20 years that a possible mass shooting was stopped with the help of a ordinary citizen and their trusted firearm. Between 1993-2002 ~175 people have been killed as the result of a accidental discharge of a firearm AT WORK. It seems that the chance of AVERAGE JOE RAMBO stopping the next mass shooting is just a fraction of the chance that AVERAGE JOE RAMBO will accidentially shooting a co-worker or an innocent bystander. Do tell the NRA this. The right to carry your weapon everywhere comes at a HELL OF A HIGH PRICE. Having a conversations with yourself always gets a +1 in my book.

Is this close.... When we left the Big 12 we were making about $17 mil on TV? and some smaller schools like ISU were only making around $10-12? Now just a few years later, we will be making almost as much just from our BTN cut as what those smaller former conference members were making in total? That's crazy to think about. Now I know the Big 12 isn't making that little any more and even ahead of the BIG, just barely, but we have our new contract coming up in a couple of years and I would guess it will blow the doors off of what the Big 12 makes, especially when we will have their's and the SEC's new contract to base it off of.

Never heard of this one until today. I guess this is what you get when you combine as many sports as you can. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football

Notre Dame would have been a good fit for with the BIG in athletics but I'm not sure they would have ever been a good partner academically with the CIC since they have a lot of backwards thinking as an institution in some areas of research. It's probably better off for everyone to part ways and leave it at that.

Thanks for sharing guys. Definitely makes the topic more personal and helps the rest of us relate to the concerns posted. Both of you have interesting fields of research as well.

Sounds like we have a couple on here that this would directly affect. Instead of the continual bashing of how stupid these congressmen are, I'd love to hear specifically what you research and how it contributes positively to my tax dollars being spent on you. That would do a lot more to win me over to your side of this debate compared to what I have read so far. Continue on.

I think we, including myself are all forgetting one important topic on the BIG's expansion. While it's fun to talk about the millions of TV money that will come with the expansion into large markets and the addition of new schools in those markets, we are forgetting about the BILLIONS of research money that is involved with being a part of the CIC. Sure it would be great to get a couple more top notch football programs in the BIG like a Florida State or Oklahoma but you also have to consider what schools bring in from the academic side and how bringing them in to the CIC helps the current members. 50 years from now that is most likely all that will be remembered about this, since football will likely be banned by then or reduced to flag football.

Now that I think about it, ACC can kill the Big 12 off by going after West Virginia. ACC at 16. That would be down to 9 for the Big 12. BIG takes Kansas and Mizzou, they have 16, Big 12 down to 7. Then it's up to Texas and OU to decide if they want to go to the Pac 12 or SEC. They go to the SEC and they have 15, take Okie State for 16 with the Pac 12 figuring out what they want to do orrrrrr Texas and OU go to the Pac 12 making it 14 (maybe grab Boise and Nevada for 16) and the SEC finishes 16 off by taking Okie State, Kstate and whatever scrap is left from the Big 12(Baylor, TTech, ISU, TCU). In the end, Big 12 is dead. Maybe Nebraska would have ended up in the BIG anyway if this scenario unfolds, but it's nice to already be there and not have to worry.

I would be hating life right now if I were a West Virginia fan. Seeing all your neighbors strengthening and expanding the conference you should be in while you are in a travel nightmare of a conference. Horay for that closest game in Ames.

Isnt society heading in a completely opposite direction from this? Or are you seriously suggesting an alternative? Television as we know it is going to go the way of Blockbuster, VHS and the Radio. It's only a matter of time, and the change will only gain momentum. I absolutely agree that the way we watch tv is in for a radical change, but don't for a second think this will affect live productions in a negative way. I think we can all see that internet/cable/tv is eventually going to be a single entity. Who will be left standing remains to be seen. Will Time Warner buy Netflix? Will Netflix buy Time Warner? All of that is ways down the road, but there will still be a high demand for live broadcast of news and sports. Let's say for example, Netflix survives, who says that along with the on demand choices that they won't start offering CNN/FOX News/MSNBC, etc and ESPN/Fox Sports/NFL or the Big 10 Network? If anything I see the future changes as a positive for networks like the Big 10. It makes it that much easier to become a national brand and not regional. This is also why is vitally important to be in one of the mega conferences left with their own network. With the news that came out today, I would be scared to death to be the Big 12 right now as it looks like the ACC is hammering down that fourth and final position to be a super conference.

Yep, the Little Brown Jug sounds a lot like Nebraska vs Kansas in football. It was a nice game but nobody will even remember the series 5 years after it is over.

I'll second the Summit County idea, especially in the middle of summer when the rest of the Plains is baking away. If the retirees all go to AZ and TX for the winter, Summit County would be a great place to be in the heat of the summer. I like Estes too but it can be a complete zoo in the summer. Spent a couple of days in Summit County last July and it was really quiet plus the room rates were very reasonable compared to going in the middle of ski season with lots of choices. Plenty to do in the area and the women could easily spend a day or two at the outlet mall in Silverthorne.

Ten games coming most likely for the next expansion.

ESPN losing the noon start games wouldn't be that big of a deal but losing the afternoon and prime time games on ABC would be devastating for them unless they could replace it entirely with SEC games. If they had to replace them with Big 12 or ACC games, there simply aren't enough big time programs to fill that need. You would have to try to have Oklahoma, Texas or Florida State in those slots every Saturday and that isn't possible.

Well done BIG! This is the best way to split it for travel and a favorable split for Nebraska. Now we just need to replace Iowa with Wisconsin for the day after Thanksgiving game since that will be the one that decides the division.