kinch

It seems so much more real now! I (Ohio State alum) am so very excited! FWIW, I was just describing to my main college football friend here, a BC guy, how awesome and rational your fans are, and how you applaud other teams etc. as well. (BTW, living in NYC makes strange bedfellows for college football fans. . .) This is pretty rare for power programs. We are very psyched for the new Big Ten. Anyway, I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about college football but did not realize the Friday after Thanksgiving thing for Nebraska was important historically. As someone said earlier, what these schedules really show right now is the weekend of the games, the day can change. Ohio State plays Marshall tonight (the season freaking begins!) and Ohio State always plays on Saturdays. I think 1997 was our last Thursday game. Anyway, this seems to show a willingness to mix things up, so I bet you get your Friday game given its importance.

This would be perfect. Obviously, as you know or could guess, the Big Ten fans are pulling for you hard this year. We want you to leave as a powerhouse. If any school wins the MNC other than Ohio State, I would hope it would be you. But beating Texas, the architect and master of their league, would be fine winnings enough.

While it's true that once the action gets going the love fest will calm a bit, you can also see that we respect each other and each team in the league for their various unique qualities, even here-- it's not like suddenly things will turn to hate. Their also are no "little brothers" in the Big Ten. Every school has its qualities. A simple example: I get along most badly with Penn State, I'd say, right now. However: I recognize that there is no other school in the nation that can turn out a color game like they can, and that they are the hardest road game in the conference. I respect them, I respect their coach, and I respect their fans. I just hope to kick their asses on a Saturday.

I think you're right. I consider myself to be knowledgeable in college football and I found that I barely knew any of your traditions or history. The Big Ten has always received a lot of coverage, so your Huskers probably know more about us than we do about you.

Tufftiger = best poster ever. His post is full of win, if not proper English. I have no idea what he was saying yet I am somehow fascinated. . .

The Big Ten also gets "lesser" teams into BCS bowls because of the fan support, so typically you have a lower ranked Big Ten team facing a higher ranked "other" team. And we still do quite well.

Please, there is no reason to shout.

As a lawyer I am offended by your comment. I can often stand for as much as ten minutes at a time.

I remember reading once that two sports teams from the USA are known around the world: the Yankees and Notre Dame.

One thing is certain: you guys fit right in. I am sure at some point I will find a reason to have distaste with Nebraska about something. You'll assume a certain "identity" that others in the conference will dislike you for (you already have it, we just don't know). I'll ask the Iowans.

Hey. I am kinch. 34-36-34. Okay I made those measurements up. I am an Ohio State fan and I am impressed by your board. I am very happy to have your team in our league. I also like, for the most part, brunettes. Is there something else I should say?

Don't trust that jWinslow guy. I know him. He's shady. Trust me you'll get service soon. As Fox owns 49% of the Big Ten Network, and all of DirectTV, the ploy is to get so many people to switch to DirectTV for the games that eventually every other broadcaster adds the Big Ten Network. Shrewd and a bit callous, but that is how it has worked so far.

I do something similar. I tune in to 1460 online, a Columbus station, for Ohio State games. There is a bit of a lag, so I pause the DVR on the game and play when it lines up. Many television announcers are bad, though some are getting much better. I may be biased, but I like Spielman, who announces "lighter" match ups. He speaks much more about the Xs and Os and reality of the game than about Erin Andrew's good looks or the latest sob story going around. For what it's worth, in NYC on Time Warner we get the Big Ten Network in HD with I think four other channels, though they typically broadcast the exact same programming unless a number of events are going on at the same time.

Hey now: those teams are trying. Northwestern with Fitzgerald may be much better than people expect very soon, and Indiana wants very badly to join the "big boys" in football. They are on the way up now (not that there was any other direction to go). I was especially impressed with my visit to Northwestern. The fans are knowledgeable and the administration is trying very hard to field a continuously winning program.

I guess I meant the year of your first season in the Big Ten, which I understand to be 2011. We may, I'm not sure, just catch a game in Lincoln this year instead of going to an Ohio State game (we go to one away game a year). Ohio State also doesn't have that "one crazy weird awesome grub" place like many universities do. It may be more prominent in small college towns. And I am more than happy with a good steak, which I can only assume is better out there than here (NYC). Actually, if you want a laugh, when NYC restaurants that aren't steak only places have steak on the menu, it is usually skirt steak or hanger steak. WTF? At least NYC invented the porterhouse. I would have thought the Reuben was an NYC or Chicago thing. Good to know.

Penn State's "rivalry" games that must be included every year, in the current system, are Ohio State and Michigan State. Michigan's are Ohio State and Michigan State. Given also the geography of the East, I don't see Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State in different divisions. In all likelihood more teams will be added to make much of this discussion irrelevant, and weaker teams may be added from the East, with stronger teams from the West. We shall see. Regardless, even if we stick with the twelve teams we have now, I am fine with Nebraska being in a separate division with Wisconsin and Iowa as the other "powers." Iowa has been stepping things up the past ten years, and if a good rivalry develops between Iowa and Nebraska than Iowa will only get stronger with the publicity and action from seeming to go head to head with Nebraska. The divisions, even with the current "big three" all in the East, may even out over time. For what it's worth, I still like the idea of having no conference championship and instead having each team play one more game (if it is allowed by the NCAA). Every team plays half the conference one year, the other half the next, and then there is a reshuffle. It is fair and I don't like the conference championship games, even with a large league, and other than being a money grab (but six or seven or whatever extra games would net more), it hurts the league's chances at good bowls and serves little purpose. But hey, that's just me.

Great. There are Penn State fans here now. I'm leaving.

dont worry you're not the only one struggling with the meaning of that icon. I've been here awhile and i still don't know what it means. That bunny is Oolong. A Japanese guy trained his bunny to balance stuff on its head. Eventually, pictures of this bunny, and the ridiculousness of its existence, became an internet meme for "I have no idea what you are talking about, so here is a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head" or something similar. The bunny is now dead. The more you know. . .

Whoever above named "winning" as one of your traditions is freaking brilliant. I didn't know about most of the traditions named, even as a rabid college football fan who watches games from all conferences (one good thing about the BCS: it makes you follow the schools you want to lose). Good stuff. This is awesome to have a school with such excellence and tradition join our conference: seriously. Okay, and I am thinking wayyyy ahead now, but just for kicks I'll ask anyway: my away game traveling Ohio State buddy (who is a pilot for Delta, yay free tickets!) and I are going to see your stadium next year, even if you don't play Ohio State. We want to do the proper away game routine: one day for football, and one for local food. College areas always have the best, unique, weird but strangely awesome grub. What is the food joint for you guys? Edit: so being obsessed with the ongoing football shakeup I was just reading about Lincoln. Interesting history (especially with the name). Two things I learned: 1: it is a lot bigger than I thought and 2: my god you guys are all white.

As a die hard Ohio State fan, I would totally rip the Michigan fan that started this thread. . . but she's sorta hot. So never mind.

Oh you will have to look for them. I thought I saw one once, out of the corner of my eye, but it was just a banana walking down the street in a trench coat (I mean corn, sorry). Let's just say they don't post much. Michigan, Mich. State, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa are the posters. Illinois and Indiana mainly post about basketball. Purdue is primarily upset that they have few girls there and the ones they have have faces that could rot the skin off a cow.

Not by the long and storied tradition of this, the best message board ever the emoticon's name is "corndance" (look at the post in edit mode) Welcome back, be nice. Remember: attack the post and not the poster and things will work out great. I always welcome different view points, but tend to use the ignore function on people who let their emotions get the best of them. And I tend to use the smackdown on trolls. Apparently I will not do so here. I respect that different boards have different cultures. Some even call bananas corn. But what do I know.

Um, that's a banana. Just saying. (And yes I made amends and came back-- deal with me. )

Your warning level has been increased. Please read the board rules. No name calling and or personal attacks. Is this 1984? (*peers with fear at the television beside him*). Wow. This board is awesome. So I bash in the head of an obvious idiot a bit with, oh my god, reason (and horribly a few harsh words at the end!) and I am "warned?" Is this the kiddie room for Nebraska posters? Read all my posts. I have been nothing but respectful and honorable, and shown honor to you. This is a trip and ridiculous. Goodbye kiddie board. And welcome to the Big Ten: where intellectualism wins out over idiocy. You won't have to do this anymore. BYE!

Yes! We are honored and excited to have you in the conference. I hope the first game against you for Ohio State is an away game, if not I may have to watch some other team at your stadium, because we are pretty dead set on visiting ASAP. You have the national focus of a Michigan with the fanbase of an Ohio State (in my appreciation, anyway), and I am excited to see fans who REALLY care about their school and team. I have also heard, unendingly, about the good nature of your fans. Sorry, btw, for bashing in your trolls. I know it's your job. I can't wait to see the schedule. If you are in for 2011 for real this is going to be epic. I hope any other additions, if there are any, start a year later. And to your trolls: as you can see you are in the Big Ten now. A conference consisting of members that can not only form words but sling them into sentences, a conference befitting Nebraska's high academic and research esteem. You'll have a harder time now kids. Go away.