Big Ten May Reconsider Leaders, Legends Bad Idea

by Culp's Freaking Hill on Dec 17, 2025 1:46 PM EST

After experiencing approximately 90% of people tell Delany he’s more of an asshole than usual with the announcement of the ‘Leaders and Legends ‘ nonsense…it looks like a revision is necessary. The Big Ten might possibly consider renaming their divisions, maybe. This is nice, right? Yes.

Finally one of the most powerful people in college athletics realizing he actually might have a few bad ideas within his network of people doing literally everything they can to gain profit and make themselves look pretty.

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I'll give him this much credit

At least he’s willing to respond when we all tell him he’s a fucking idiot. The fact that he needed a few days of public reaction to figure out that these division names were a fucking disaster is evidence that he’s a fucking idiot, but it could be worse.

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 17, 2025 8:50 PM EST reply actions

Yeah.

He could be Dan Beebe.

I'm your huckleberry.

by Brizzle T on Dec 23, 2025 4:41 AM EST up reply actions

Now I have no respect for the big ten (+2)

I can’t believe they are so wishy-washy. Make a command decision and stand by it.

"Anytime, Anyplace"
"Life is hard, it's harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

by Husky nav on Dec 18, 2025 1:46 AM EST reply actions

Bullshit

I’d rather they make the right decision in the first place, but if your navigator tells you you’re driving off a cliff and there’s a sign on the road that says “BRIDGE OUT 500 FEET AHEAD”, maybe you’re better off recalculating your course.

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 18, 2025 11:22 AM EST up reply actions

While we're at it...

how about a conference that so quickly claims academic superiority with all your precious research dollars and elite grants club, learn how to count their number of members accurately.

http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/

by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 19, 2025 10:24 AM EST up reply actions

Why start now? They haven't been able to count for almost 20 years

Fire Chris Cosh!

by Sean T on Dec 19, 2025 10:28 AM EST up reply actions

Eh

I’d rather we were the Midwest Conference from the start, but Big Ten is such a recognizable brand as it is that it’s worth keeping despite the inaccuracy.

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 19, 2025 6:54 PM EST up reply actions

I dinged you on this a few days ago

but there is already a Midwest Conference, and has been since before the Big Ten was the Big Ten.

My new blog: Those Other Guys. Critiques welcome.

by jonfmorse on Dec 19, 2025 8:50 PM EST up reply actions

What division?

I knew of the Great Lakes Conference (which is why I didn’t suggest that).

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 19, 2025 10:00 PM EST up reply actions

Division III.

Beloit
Carroll
Grinnell (former member of what became the Big 8!)
Illinois College
Knox
Lake Forest (would have been a member of the Big Ten if they’d just showed up for the second meeting!)
Lawrence
Monmouth IL
Ripon
St Norbert

My new blog: Those Other Guys. Critiques welcome.

by jonfmorse on Dec 20, 2025 1:03 AM EST up reply actions

sorry but none of those schools actually exist

Quality is our Dignity; Service is our Lift.
free shipping accept the pay pal

by Old South on Dec 26, 2025 4:08 PM EST up reply actions

Not in my book it's not.

In my mind, “Branding” is a marketing term that means “what we say ABOUT something is more important than the thing itself.” The idea that the “Big Ten” is so iconic it must be used is as wrong-headed as my fellow Lutherans who are far more concerned with keeping their ethnicity intact than they are with actually being, you know, “Lutheran.”

Not a knock on you personally, SD - just my take on it.

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Dec 21, 2025 12:05 PM EST up reply actions

Meh

I get what you’re saying, but… well, Coca-Cola doesn’t have Coca in it anymore. Well, it sorta does, but not the bit that it was included for originally. And yet, it’s still Coca-Cola. Because that brand has recognition.

Branding isn’t “what we say about something”, it’s recognition and existing emotional connections to what is recognized.

Changing brands is generally a move you make when you’re escaping negative connotations. Like, say, plodding, slow, overrated… hrm. Now that you mention it…

by The Commenter Formerly Known as Not You on Dec 21, 2025 2:09 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, but Slug-O Cola is still the slimiest cola in the galaxy.

At least 43% live algae guaranteed in every bottle!

/About as relevant as Coca-cola to the discussion

by vineyarddawg on Dec 21, 2025 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

In a discussion about branding...

Coca-Cola is pretty much THE go-to example. Seeing has how it’s the most recognizable brand in the world.

/sorry, business school makes you irrevocably associate “branding” with “Coca-Cola”

by The Commenter Formerly Known as Not You on Dec 21, 2025 3:03 PM EST up reply actions

Exactly. Slug-O Cola is a prime example of branding, too.

They didn’t change their marketing slogan for over 300 years.

by vineyarddawg on Dec 21, 2025 10:38 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, but it's still essentially the same thing.

Coca-Cola. When they added cherry flavoring to it, they called that CHERRY coke because there’s no way you can ignore the new ingredient. For me, the minute the Big Ten added Penn State, they were no longer “Ten” and should have changed their name accordingly. Adding my Huskers to the mix but continuing to cling to the branding just pisses me off.

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Dec 22, 2025 2:45 PM EST up reply actions

Like the negative connotation that your conference is too fucking self-important to let go of an outdated inaccurate name?

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Dec 21, 2025 2:37 PM EST up reply actions

Whoa.

The Rev is dropping the f-bomb. Shit is serious up in hyah.

I'm your huckleberry.

by Brizzle T on Dec 23, 2025 4:44 AM EST up reply actions

Outdated and inaccurate the name is not

Why must I post about how one is not bound to base ten math/numbers so often?

by Pariahwulfen on Dec 23, 2025 11:58 AM EST up reply actions

Because no one wants your math in our footbaw

"Ah, that's repulsive, that's repugnant, that's recorrigible, that's retragnicent. These aren't even words. These aren't even wo...what am I saying, I don't even know. I can't go on, I can't go on anymore, make it stop." ~ Puppet Michael Floyd

by stempke on Dec 23, 2025 12:07 PM EST up reply actions

Plus, "The Big Twelve" was taken already.

by The Commenter Formerly Known as Not You on Dec 23, 2025 1:22 PM EST up reply actions

And I should apologize for above.

The heat was directed toward the conference, not you. My bad.

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Dec 23, 2025 11:29 PM EST up reply actions

Oh, I got it

Just felt like poking the “Big Ten has twelve teams, Big XII has Ten” button again.

IT’S SUCH A SHINY BUTTON.

by The Commenter Formerly Known as Not You on Dec 27, 2025 8:12 AM EST up reply actions

by Pariahwulfen on Dec 27, 2025 1:49 PM EST up reply actions

Fine if they want to go all hexadecimal

they can change their name to the Big C.

My new blog: Those Other Guys. Critiques welcome.

by jonfmorse on Dec 23, 2025 5:45 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

To be honest

I hope they end up with four more teams eventually so that it can be nicknamed “The Big Hex”.

by Pariahwulfen on Dec 25, 2025 9:04 PM EST up reply actions

The Big C

not to be confused with that other “Big C” a/k/a Cancer . . or is it?

CTOB
-------
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

by McDammit on Dec 28, 2025 5:48 PM EST up reply actions

Changing brands is generally a move you make when you’re escaping negative connotations.

or when “Blackwater USA” became “Blackwater Worldwide” and then “Xe”

CTOB
-------
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

by McDammit on Dec 28, 2025 5:46 PM EST up reply actions

Not everything that comes out of marketing is crap.

Most of it, sure. But not all.

(Like I said, I’d rather have a name that didn’t have to change as the number of teams did. But the good alternatives are taken now, so we’re kind of stuck.)

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 21, 2025 7:54 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe we should Douglas Adams the whole thing.

The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Big Ten Conference.

"Wer viel Bier trinkt, schläft gut. Wer gut schläft, sündigt nicht. Und wer nicht sündigt, kommt in den Himmel!" Martin Luther

by Go Big Rev on Dec 22, 2025 2:46 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Wait, I know!

They can change their name to the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.

My new blog: Those Other Guys. Critiques welcome.

by jonfmorse on Dec 22, 2025 3:21 PM EST up reply actions

Works for me.

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.

by SpartanDan on Dec 22, 2025 7:21 PM EST up reply actions

Deal with it

Omnis Vestri Substructio Es Servus Ad Nobis

by stempke on Dec 20, 2025 11:02 AM EST up reply actions

WAFFLER! WAFFLER!

by Erik T on Dec 22, 2025 6:08 PM EST up reply actions

No way. Those last few have to be made up. There’s no way someone founded a university named after Hagrid’s dragon.

by bryemye on Dec 20, 2025 10:38 AM EST reply actions

Damn it that was meant for the post above me (Division 3 schools and St. Norbert).

by bryemye on Dec 20, 2025 10:38 AM EST up reply actions

I know it was a joke, but still

The world before J.K. Rowling

My new blog: Those Other Guys. Critiques welcome.

by jonfmorse on Dec 20, 2025 10:59 AM EST up reply actions

I got recruited by St. Norbert

Also known as St. Snobs up here in Wisconsin. How they thought they could convince someone with D1-AA offers to pay them to play football in the “other D-III conference” in Wisconsin is beyond me.

Omnis Vestri Substructio Es Servus Ad Nobis

by stempke on Dec 20, 2025 11:05 AM EST up reply actions