Manhattan

Which is why it should have been done geographically.

They say The Game will still be at the end of the season, which is a good compromise, but I cannot fathom the possibility of playing M*ch*gan twice a year. It is like the one thing that Ohio State and M*ch*gan fans wanted. Don't mess with the best rivalry in college sports. Keep it on the third Saturday of November and make sure it is once a year. That is what makes it so special. It's like a religious event in the region. The divisions are good competitively, but the split is really bad.

God Damn It. The Game is flapjacked.

There's a special on the BTN tonight that will announce the changes. I'm recording it.

When, in 2017?

Got one of my favorite slices today. It is called Contadini. It has a light layer of tomato sauce, fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, very thin sliced potatoes, prosciutto, and a mix of fresh herbs. It is out of this world. I love New York.

The USNWR rankings are bullsh#t. This year they decided to place far more importance on graduation rates due to the economy, so the rankings changed drastically, but this hurts big public schools in a very unfair way. Wisconsin, for example, is an exceptional academic institution that has been improving and gaining popularity rapidly over the last twenty years. In this year's ranking, it dropped considerably. Same with Ohio State, which has been improving rapidly under the guidance of Gordon Gee. Nebraska is probably even more of an up-and-coming institution as its research strength gains even more recognition with the Big Ten, so there is absolutely no reason why it should fall.

That's how it is for everyone, even worse for Ohio State: Ohio State has to play Penn State, probably two of Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska, M*ch*gan (let's assume they return to prominence), and then the west champ. That's at least 4 - probably 5, potentially even 6 - top teams in conference every year.

Doesn't it suck that we won't have another off-season quite as interesting as this?

Real New Yorkers don't drive in Manhattan. Of course that would suck.

The split based upon the founding date of the universities: Old Geysers Division: M*ch*gan (1817) Indiana (1820) Iowa (1847) Wisconsin (1848) Northwestern (1851) Minnesota (1851) Whippersnappers Division: Penn State (1855) Michigan State (1855) Illinois (1867) Purdue (1869) Ohio State (1870) Nebraska (1890) Competitiveness: B (68) Rivalries: B (63) Geography: C- (35) Overall: B- (56)

Yeah, I'm aware of this. I live in NYC. I sent a letter to the editor of the paper about how garbage the college football section was. In the article they had about Boise State on the 29th, it said "#2 Alabama" and "#3 Ohio State" in the text of the article. Those guys are retarded. Using their own poll as a reference? The article was also confused about what a BCS team is.

That statement makes my time wasting worthwhile, Wolverine.

As usual, you make no attempt at dialogue. No, he's pointing out the hypocrisy of the article. Person for mosque: Argument "A" Person against mosque: Argument "B" "Liberal Elite": Argument B people are bigots and we should ignore them Article: People who against argument B are out of touch and hate America

I also strongly believe that a big reason on why the Tea Party people are so angry is because their lifestyle inhibits them from having as much sex as everyone else. Basically everything comes back to sex.

Where was the Tea Party in 2001? In 2005? I agree with the former, but too many Tea Party people are bigots. It's a soft bigotry. Under the carpet. Because who are the people of the Tea Party? They used to be the most polite people in America. They worked hard and raised families and embraced the opportunities given to them to carve out a way of life in the middle of this country. Their way of life used to be the way of America. America used to be The Waltons. It used to be white. And these Tea Party people are now scared. The Tea Party is an expression of weakness. Because the reality now is that America isn't all white bread. White is not only not propriety anymore, but the trend in everything is away from white. It's about diversity. It's about our common culture and what people find cool and what people find sexy. Which isn't white. It's about values that people have now and what the new generation embraces. It isn't of days past when the white nuclear family was the be-all objective and status of Americans. Different views, different ideas, and new cultures have fused into how we define ourselves, and it isn't white. Tea Party is a statement against change, not a statement for change. It's a hurried form of nostalgia that these people want to live in. They are jealous and contemptuous that they are no longer socially relevant. That people don't care about God or the "sanctity" of an antiquated thing called marriage. That people tolerate gays or even welcome their contribute to our culture. That biology and science have taken off the blinders of senseless "tradition". The funny (well, not really) part of the Tea Party is that they are just waking up to this reality now. The "liberal elite" - stupid vilification if I ever heard one - have always looked down on them for being simple, unworldly, and narrow. But they didn't care. They raised God-fearing families in vinyl-clad homes and life went on. It took a Black President to show them that much of the country finds their existence contemptuous and irrelevant. And now they're angry and bitter. It isn't the "liberal elite". It is the elite everywhere. It's the conservative capitalist bankers laughing their asses off that the Tea Party members want to give them more freedom after screwing them over with mortgages and securities fraud. It's more than the elite though. It's progress vs. stagnation, essentially. I started out as a Tea Party supporter because I'm a capitalist and I dislike how overbearing the government has become in our lives. That is what it started out as. But it quickly got hijacked by racists, by religious zealots, by moronic Fox News drones, and the whole thing has not only made me disillusioned in the Tea Party movement, but the people of this country. I never liked the liberals of New York for their economic and foreign policy rhetoric, but I have come to realize that I also don't like the conservatives either. **** People.

I'm in.

I'm saying that it is totally random that Iowa and Ohio State have a protected rivalry, Minnesota and Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue, Northwestern and Indiana, even Wisconsin and M*ch*gan isn't that big of a rivalry. Your desire to have Nebraska and Penn State have a protected rivalry makes it so that other rivalries are totally bogus and unfair. If the divisions are split geographically, there shouldn't be any protected rivalries. The geographic separation keeps all of the important rivalries intact already. All inter-divisional opponents should rotate evenly; no protected rivalries.

Penn State is further south. The map is flat, but the world is not. With Penn State in the South, the divisions get grades of: Competitiveness: A (88) Rivalries: A (90) Geography: B- (55) Overall: A- (78) I'm not a fan of it because Ohio State and M*ch*gan are in separate divisions.

Ohio State has a pre-game ritual. Everyone - team included - gathers at the "Skull Session" two hours before the game at an arena near the stadium to see the band perform and have a motivational rally, and then everyone marches to the stadium. While the team gets ready, the band performs and does their script Ohio march, and then the team marches onto the field in the "swarm" (which Tressel brought to OSU) which is like the tunnel walk except that all the players are arms-interlocked. Tressel leads them onto the field and then the swarm breaks loose from the end zone, looking much like a swarm of bees flying into action.

To Central Michigan's credit, they were undefeated.

Agreed, except the protected rivalries are not even needed in this case. I don't understand what the point would be... Most of those rivalries don't really exist anyway.

Americans are the only tolerant, benevolent society? Yeah, we have such a history of tolerance in the United States. It's not like basically every ethnic or religious minority in this country has been persecuted or marginalized for their beliefs. Oh wait. They have. Literally, can you think of a substantial minority group that hasn't been the subject of intolerance in this country? And as for benevolent, we aren't. We are a very violent and warlike nation. I also like your use of the world "only", as if you think only Americans have the capacity to be nice to people.

I have never heard of St. Louis style pizza. I just looked it up. It is like NY Style Pizza with that interesting fused cheese they have.