OSU v. Michigan Game Moving To Thanksgiving Weekend This news is a bit stale but the Big Ten presidents recently agreed to extend the football season. The agreement adds a bye week to create a 13 week schedule. Consequently, The Game moves to Thanksgiving weekend beginning 2009.
The agreement was met with mixed emotions by the coaches. Tressel is not in favor of the move because he likes the fact his staff and players get to be home for Thanksgiving under the current schedule while others argue the extra week is needed because the Big Ten is the only conference to play 12 straight weeks.
Personally, I'm not sure it's a big deal based on the fact it's happened before and the last time was when Tressel fulfilled his promise back in 2001. What about you guys?
Oden Still Rules Bored on his long rehab, Greg continues to blog it up. Lately, he's been hawking free copies of his College Hoops 2K8 video game by way of a Q & A contest. His latest question was WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE UPSET IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL HISTORY? His answer:
I know alot of people might agree or disagree with me on this one but i think the biggest upset was Florida over Ohio State in the 2007 NCAA championship game.Priceless.
Laurinaitis Named FirstTeam AP All-American James Laurinaitis made it two straight First Team selections becoming the 36th Buckeye to repeat. Vern Baby Vern and Malcolm Jenkins picked up Second Team honors.
Comments
I went to that game in '01 and kind of enjoyed it.
As for Oden......here is another of my favorite quotes
"The city is nice. The only thing is, they don't have any Wal-Marts near my house. I go to Best Buy or Target, but those places are pretty expensive." -- Greg Oden, No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft by the Trail Blazers, on his adjustment to living in Portland.
They could play the OSU v. UM game on my birthday, my anniversary, Christmas, Labor Day, Father's Day, Festivus, etc. Whatever...I'll be watching the game with the crew & drinking Heineys.
I like the idea of Big Ten football over Thanksgiving weekend, I am tired of the boring "rivalries" during that weekend. I would love nothing more than to stuff my face for 2 days and then wash it down with Heiny's during the OSU v. Michigan game.
As a fan I think it's awesome, but it does kinda suck for the kids and coaches. I think we should have a 52 game season:-)
RE: Big Ten schedule extending to 13 weeks (including 1 Bye Week) from the current 12 weeks and "The Game" being bumped out to Thanksgiving weekend...
Some "Pros:"
1) Playoff - IMO, this is a step in the eventual [think decade] process of adding another team to the Big T[elev]en Conference and then implementing a conference championship.
2) Recuperation - For a few years at least (assuming that we will eventually have a conference championship, too) as long as the Bye Week can be scheduled in the latter half of the season, it would likely allow for players' health to improve... which is good because (a) no one sincerely wants them to be physically incapacitated, and (b) it could provide that chance for extra recovery time so that we can possibly decrease the "excuse" of "...Yeah, but the outcome of the game would've been different if some of our key players were healthy..." And yes, I know this is football, where everyone has to put in the hard, consistent work to be properly conditioned and physically resilient... I don't think a Bye Week will help those who aren't already in top condition (let alone those who experienced drastic injuries).
3) Perception - In the court of public opinion, the Big Ten has been maligned of late. Therefore, this helps our conference achieve more "perceptual parity" insomuch as we won't seem to have ended our season and stopped playing "way before" other conferences with championship games. Again, in the public relations strategy for the Big Ten, I feel this has to happen... including ultimately adding another team and a conference championship game.
4) Preparation - Provides twice as long to prepare for the post-Bye Week opponent.
"Some Cons:"
1) Family Time - Having to play on Thanksgiving weekend would decrease the amount of quality family time the players and staff (not to mention the entire Buckeye Nation) experience during that holiday. That being said, other conferences/teams are already doing thusly, so I guess now it's our time to experience that, too.
2) Momentum - This could dampen the sense of being "on a roll" if a team gets "hot" right before their Bye Week. Conversely, teams (mostly the fans) will have twice as long to mull over a loss that precedes a Bye Week.
On a personal note, I remember the 2001 edition of "The Game" well... I think my wife [my "girlfriend" back then] and I shocked and/or slightly offended some of my relatives (most of the family was supportive and even enthusiastic, though, because we "warned them" ahead of time to properly set expectations) when we opened the doors into the family room so we could view the TV from the dining room during an early-in-the-day holiday meal with the extended family.
Go Bucks!
-scaples
Nice new commercial for Ncaa Hoops 2k8 with Oden and his little buddy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yzX...
I dislike the scheduling change, because I can't eat for two weeks prior to The Game. Starting in 2009, I'll have nothing but alka-seltzers for Turkey Day.
Thanks, Big T(elev)en.