Big Ten Expansion - Nebraska joins the Big Ten Conference

[weasel88]

Originally Posted by SteveWeiss

Was Nebraska chosen for its fine academic standing? Do the realignments taking place in conferences take into consideration who the founding members of the respective conference were? Don't think so. NU (the old one that is) doesn't fit the profile of the other "Big Ten" members. If you folks love the Wildkitties and insist that they be part of the picture, fine. Any objective evaluation would suggest otherwise, and as I said, if the conference were being constructed from scratch today I don't think that the Evanston institution would be on the short list.

Your disdain for Northwestern is well documented. Move on please.

[Illini88]

Originally Posted by dgcrow

"Fighting Rocks"? Would probably offend most geologists.

Saxa?

[3G Illini]

Originally Posted by Illini88

Saxa?

It'd have to be "arena" for us, "For we know you have sand, Illinois."

[ilphotog]

I wonder if any of the "Olympic" sports team will try to schedule Nebraska as a nonconf. game this season. VB is alreadt going to UN for a early season tourney. Good chance to scout them in person for the future.

[Illini88]

Originally Posted by ilphotog

I wonder if any of the "Olympic" sports team will try to schedule Nebraska as a nonconf. game this season. VB is alreadt going to UN for a early season tourney. Good chance to scout them in person for the future.

I'd imagine travel budgets would be a big concern; just thinking about baseball, how often does Illinois travel that far for a non-conference game (other than definite warm/good weather sites?) Golf-probably much the same.

The same travel concerns with tennis, wrestling etc. but less weather concerns once you get there.

[SaltLife]

Originally Posted by ilphotog

I wonder if any of the "Olympic" sports team will try to schedule Nebraska as a nonconf. game this season. VB is alreadt going to UN for a early season tourney. Good chance to scout them in person for the future.

Not until they have to IMO

[BananaShampoo]

Originally Posted by weasel88

Your disdain for Northwestern is well documented. Move on please.

Not as much as Bonick's.

[Groundhogday]

http://www.illinihq.com/podcasts/sat...010/06/19/2251
Ikenberry was on Saturday Morning sportsline this AM. Here are a few points:

-there were a number of advantages to adding a 12th team that made the bar fairly easy to clear. But the financial bar is much higher for a 13th or 14th team, and few schools could add enough to make it worth while (Notre Dame might be the only school to make it worthwhile).

--Missouri, Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse were all studied, but Nebraska was the best option for a single school addition (obviously if Notre Dame was interested that would be a different story).

--At present there is really no conversation between the Big Ten and Notre Dame. We are likely to stay at 12 for a number of years. If Notre Dame ever expressed an interest, the Big Ten would then look at an expansion to 14 teams.

[Serious Late]

Originally Posted by weasel88

Your disdain for Northwestern is well documented. Move on please.

Trolls... Don't feed them. No one with an ounce of intelligence would think it a smart idea to kick out our highest ranked academic institution. Just as no one with an ounce of intelligence would hate on U of I's top recruiter because he gets a lot of credit from the fanbase.

Don't feed the trolls!

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by Serious Late

Trolls... Don't feed them. No one with an ounce of intelligence would think it a smart idea to kick out our highest ranked academic institution. Just as no one with an ounce of intelligence would hate on U of I's top recruiter because he gets a lot of credit from the fanbase.

Don't feed the trolls!

OK, let's not get stupid here. Per ARWU they are behind, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota.

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

You talk like that and those arrogant scum will let it go to their heads.

[Serious Late]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

OK, let's not get stupid here. Per ARWU they are behind, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota.

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

You talk like that and those arrogant scum will let it go to their heads.

Okay, okay... valid point.

Still, as a graduate of a Big Ten institution, it would be absurd to want one of our strongest institutions kicked out of the conference.

[SaltLife]

Originally Posted by Serious Late

Okay, okay... valid point.

Still, as a graduate of a Big Ten institution, it would be absurd to want one of our strongest institutions kicked out of the conference.

Why did University of Chicago leave?

[Serious Late]

Originally Posted by SaltLife

Why did University of Chicago leave?

They didn't. At least not the CIC. They dropped athletics all together to focus solely on academics. They weren't booted from the Big Ten.

[SaltLife]

Originally Posted by Serious Late

They didn't. At least not the CIC. They dropped athletics all together to focus solely on academics. They weren't booted from the Big Ten.

Huh? They are Not in the Big ten! CIC is not athletics.

So they concentrate on academics like Northwestern without the teams

[Serious Late]

Originally Posted by SaltLife

Huh? They are Not in the Big ten! CIC is not athletics.

So they concentrate on academics like Northwestern without the teams

Semantics. What is your point? Northwestern should drop athletics all together?

The University of Chicago was not kicked out of the Big Ten, just as Northwestern never will be. That is the point being made here. This conversation is absurd and to the original point, continues to feed a troll by even discussing it.

[SaltLife]

Originally Posted by Serious Late

Semantics. What is your point? Northwestern should drop athletics all together?

The University of Chicago was not kicked out of the Big Ten, just as Northwestern never will be. That is the point being made here. This conversation is absurd and to the original point, continues to feed a troll by even discussing it.

No, I enjoy playing Northwestern and they can stay! But either they or Nebraska need to change their initials

p.s. pls let's not denigrate fellow forum members . . they are entitled to their viewpoint whether you concur or not

[EdgyInChina]

Originally Posted by SaltLife

Why did University of Chicago leave?

They didn't actually leave... They just decided that nuclear physics was more important than football.... In fact, it was underneath the football stands, in a makeshift lab, that the first sustained nuclear reaction took place - 1942 (probably before your time)....

Get schooled... It's educational....

[TellMeRonDA]

Originally Posted by EdgyInChina

They didn't actually leave... They just decided that nuclear physics was more important than football.... In fact, it was underneath the football stands, in a makeshift lab, that the first sustained nuclear reaction took place - 1942 (probably before your time)....

Get schooled... It's educational....

Great . . the birthplace of one of man's greatest achievements . . the atomic bomb . . they should have stuck to football

[SteveWeiss]

Originally Posted by TellMeRonDA

Great . . the birthplace of one of man's greatest achievements . . the atomic bomb . . they should have stuck to football

Enrico Fermi did not discover the atomic bomb under Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. He achieved the first sustained nuclear chain-reaction. That led to nuclear energy which, if utilised in the US to the same extent as in France, would free the US from dependence on Middle East oil and reduce the hazard of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico as well. Without the development of nuclear power and then enrichment to make a bomb, the Second World War would have lasted perhaps a year longer with mega more death and destruction. Thank goodness for the bomb and Truman's willingness to use it to save lives.

For more insight into this issue see the thread on the A bomb in Track 5.

[SteveWeiss]

Originally Posted by Serious Late

Trolls... Don't feed them. No one with an ounce of intelligence would think it a smart idea to kick out our highest ranked academic institution. Just as no one with an ounce of intelligence would hate on U of I's top recruiter because he gets a lot of credit from the fanbase.

Don't feed the trolls!

Is everyone that doesn't happen to agree with you classified as a troll? Are you implying that I didn't graduate from the U of I and had no association with the athletics department while there? Get your facts straight before you denounce those with views different from yours.

As to my so-called disdain for Northwestern, that is also factually incorrect. I have given credit to Northwestern as a class institution, just not on a par with other Big Ten sporting programs. One wouldn't expect a smallish, private school to compete consistently on the playing fields, and sports is not the most important matter for educational institutions by a long shot, but since most of us here do value sports to an excessive degree, it is quite reasonable to evaluate that aspect of Big Ten schools. Across the board, over time, Northwestern would have to rank at or near the bottom in sports, though among the best academically. It is not a big university by enrollment, alumni base or any other measure, so I don't think "Big" applies to it. It is an anomaly, an historic quirk.

In any case I don't carry a candle for Northwestern. I do for the University of Illinois, however. Perhaps that makes me a troll. If so, I wear the label proudly.

[SaltLife]

Originally Posted by SteveWeiss

That led to nuclear energy which, if utilised in the US to the same extent as in France, would free the US from dependence on Middle East oil and reduce the hazard of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico as well. Without the development of nuclear power and then enrichment to make a bomb, the Second World War would have lasted perhaps a year longer with mega more death and destruction. Thank goodness for the bomb and Truman's willingness to use it to save lives.

While I absolutely hate our use of and reliance on oil, I am also extremely concerned about nuclear waste disposal as well as the occasional nuclear accident. Just don't fancy a world full of nuclear plants, nuclear waste and clandestine enrichment as well. There has to be a better, cleaner, safer source or form of energy, with no environmental impact (or close to it). It really bugs me that we haven't been exploring and putting more all out effort into researching and developing better energy sources for our planet and future generations.

As far as nuclear bombs or any WMD, they are a sad commentary on our morality and humanity and there never was or ever can be any justification for their existence in connection with the mass murder of civilians.

[SteveWeiss]

Originally Posted by SaltLife

While I absolutely hate our use of and reliance on oil, I am also extremely concerned about nuclear waste disposal as well as the occasional nuclear accident. Just don't fancy a world full of nuclear plants, nuclear waste and clandestine enrichment as well. There has to be a better, cleaner, safer source or form of energy, with no environmental impact (or close to it). It really bugs me that we haven't been exploring and putting more all out effort into researching and developing better energy sources for our planet and future generations.

As far as nuclear bombs or any WMD, they are a sad commentary on our morality and humanity and there never was or ever can be any justification for their existence in connection with the mass murder of civilians.

Lucky for you your father wasn't on a landing craft waiting to be launched at Japan in the Second World War, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. It would have been immoral for Truman to extend the war with Japan for even one day when he had the means to end it at hand. The Japanese invasions and genocide in the Far East were fully deserving of any payback that that the Allies could come up with.

Yes, nuclear waste is a problem, but at present there is no viable alternative, and I am unaware of any major accidents in France at nuclear plants. The majority of electricity in France is generated by nuclear reactors. By the way, the companies doing the most research on alternative energy means are the oil companies. They know that oil will only last a finite amount of time, and they view themselves as energy rather than just as oil companies.

[SteveWeiss]

Originally Posted by WesterveltVictoryCigar

Their membership in the AAU certainly helped their cause. Was it the primary motivation? Of course not, money (football) was, as has been said over and over.



Well this is a red herring. None of the "realignments" have involved kicking teams out of a conference as you've proposed.



Yet they've been part of the conference since the beginning.





Irrelevant.

The fact remains that conferences are being reschuffled, and this re-alignment is resulting in "the end of the world as we have known it" to quote one of the editorial writers on this site.

I always thought that the Big Ten would be ten schools forever, and that that was sacred, but obviously not so. Someday, there might be more than 12 schools in the Big Ten, and then the very name of the conference would an anachronism, an historical artifact that makes no sense in the new context. If identities change, our terms for them need to change as well.

[SteveWeiss]

According to the Google information that I found, Northwestern's undergraduate enrollment is a shade over 8,000, and Iowa, the next smallest, is almost 21,000. Illinois is over 30,000. So, what qualifies as "big?"

[SteveWeiss]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

OK, let's not get stupid here. Per ARWU they are behind, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota.

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

You talk like that and those arrogant scum will let it go to their heads.

I don't know how reliable these rankings are. According to the 2010 "US News and World Report" rankings, Duke is 10, Northwestern is 12, and U of I is 39th. Even Notre Dame is ranked higher than the U of I. I suppose that there are as many rankings as there are ranking surveys. Anyway, my point never was that Northwestern isn't highly rated academically, and anyone who said so misrepresented me. My point was that it is small and private which is dissimiliar to the rest of the schools.