Monday, December 13, 2010

Big Ten proclaims division names, Michigan will never be a "Leader"



I'll assume that the Big Ten ran through lots of naming scenarios for their new divisions.  My personal preference would have been traditional--such as North and South, or East and West.   But given the fact that there appears to be no geographical relevance whatsoever in the divisions, they've decided on "Legends" and "Leaders".  "Legends" because the memory of football success for teams like Northwestern and Michigan has been lost through the generations, and is now merely "legend."  "Leaders" because Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Penn State will take turns sharing the Big Ten title going forward.   I assume.  Either way, a bit awkward, and I imagine nobody is really thrilled with the names.  Get ready for the inevitable jokes about both divisions "starting with L".

Also, the conference got rid of the "hidden eleven" old logo, in favor of a new uninteresting logo.  Like it matters.  I'm not sure where the bright blue and black color scheme came from, but I suppose that was the result of having to pick a color which doesn't appear to favor any of the ten eleven twelve teams in the Big Ten.  Better than fuchsia, I guess.

And finally, the conference announced eighteen new trophies, with such catch cringe-including, dash-including names as the "Griese-Brees" Quarterback of the Year trophy, or the "Thompson-Randle El" Freshman of the year.  Gotta say, the inability to make a decisive call on these award names, instead having a hyphenated name for each-and-every award-- just seems like the easy way out, making each member school happy.  INCLUDING NEBRASKA which hasn't had a single snap in Big Ten football play yet.  Oy.  On the bright side, as Buckeye Sports Bulletin writer Jeff Svoboda (@JeffSvoboda) pointed out in his tweet, "OSU had 5 figures among the 36 names on the new trophies, most in league. Wisky and Mich had four each. Nebraska and Chicago get one each".