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Comments
I played football at a DoD HS on Okinawa back when Jesus was a corporal. The locals didn't play football but did have a couple basketball teams in our league. They were not competative but they worked hard at it.
Love this article! I can relate.
Do they have kickers in Japan
i assume they do, but since their main practice area is a 150x50 foot patch of dirt i did not see too much in the way of placekicking drills
"I nervously asked him who he rooted for and without hesitation he yelled “THE SPARTANS” and my belief that UM is a universally hated brand was further cemented."
$20 says he meant Trojans. No way anybody knows Michigan State football in Japan.
hahaha i promise you he meant the spartans, the kid even had an MSU sticker on his helmet
I think you may be surprised what team ends up getting put on TV in certain parts of the world. I met some people from England out in Vegas one time. They were from a small town, I can't remember the name. Anyway, I told him I was from Northen Kentucky close to Cincinnati. He said Cincinnati!?! I said yeah, he said my faorite team is the Bengals. Their games are the NFL games we get every week. He talked about how much he wanted to visit Cincinnati and go to a game. So, I wouldn't be shocked if a Spartans game ended up in Kyoto at some point in time.
Do they play against anyone or just practice and scrimmage?
I had a friend from Liverpool, England and when he came to the US he was a die-hard Penn State and KC Chiefs fan. Totally random.
An exchange student who went to Michigan would.
What was the name of the ninja from Necessary Roughness? Is he the best football player to come out of Japan?
Their splits are to wide to run the Power I..Just sayin. And even though this had nothing to do with tOSU other than a little poke up North, still love the article. I think your doing a good job, keep it up.
+1 for the "Necessary Roughness" mention.
RE: 100+ schollys offered by RichRod.
20 Bucks says he sends scouts to Kyoto after reading this article. Gotta keep those Kyoto kids in state, oh wait.
It's weird to see football fans outside of the US (assuming they're not US born), and even more so for them to know even a little bit about college football. Rugby is such a huge sport outside of the US, that football players are usually the rugby rejects. (See New Zealand's football team)
Well, the article did mention student exchange in Michigan, so you may be right.
Great article. Reminds me of that story about football being played in the arctic circle in Alaska. It's a couple years old but still fascinates me.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn...
good shizzy.
and bc i can't help myself and want to date myself....if those boys in the WHAC don't stay on the right track, they are going to end up practicing in a dirt lot down by the river.
One writer's guess: Big Ten adds five teams, including Syracuse and Nebraska
May 7, 2010
Yahoo! Buzz
Here are the details on Big Ten expansion that everyone has been waiting for: The league will become 16 teams with the addition of Missouri, Syracuse, Rutgers, Nebraska and Connecticut. At least that is the opinion of Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.
Answering readers questions, Greenstein offered his prediction of the saga that is the talk of college athletics this year.
Some of the other highlights:
He cited Syracuse's entry based on school chancellor Nancy Cantor's previous jobs as chancellor at Illinois and provost at Michigan.
The possibility of Notre Dame deciding to join the Big Ten was "15 percent."
Maryland could be considered to give the league exposure to the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area.
Nebraska has a strong chance of leaving the Big 12 because it could double its television revenue.
Please, no Syracuse, Rutgers or Uconn. I think if 2 teams are offered and accept, Delanely will be be getting a call from ND. The key to this happening is to offer 2 teams who are on ND's schedule most every year. I know Pitt is one but I can't think of another team I would want in the league.
Most excellent, thanks for the post. Two of the best years ever were spent living in Japan; I miss it a ton...except for the part of having to get up at 4am to watch OSU football. Watching games, fun...getting up in the middle of the night, not so much.
Agree. Let the ACC expand and add those schools (along with WVU). Rutgers will NOT deliver the NY market...it just won't. Neither will Syracuse. ND would deliver NY long before Rutgers or Syracuse would.
I say Missouri, Nebraska and Pitt at the very least join the Big Ten. After that, who knows (could be a two team combo between ND, Iowa St or Kansas/K-St).
I'd be happy with the 3 you mentioned. I hate to say it but ND would probably bring in at least the $$ that 2 of those would; and we all know it's about the money. If Delanely really wants to force ND's hand, he could put pressure on the BT school who schedule them every year to cease and desist.
This stuff makes for endless debate fodder until it actually becomes a reality.
Love how the title of the piece says "guesses", but then the first paragraph mentions "details".
Just don't know why everyone still talks about ND joining the Big Ten. It's not going to happen. Might as well keep talking about Texas joining. Until they are forced to join, ND will stay independent because of their tv deal.
The only way I see it is if ND continues to struggle and their tv deal is cut, because fewer and fewer viewers turn into the games (I know I quit watching them), or like I said they are forced to join a conference.
I feel the same way! I was stationed in Guam for 2 years and I would have to get up at 2am to catch the OSU games!
its funny how everyone says their take on expansion when noone has a single original point at this time... does anyone really have an opinion on how rutgers "will/will not deliver the NYC market" or does everyone just reiterate the same s**t every college football blog has said a hundred times. If you want to talk about it do it on a post meant for it. sorry, its just way past old
Why don't you call yourself "Go Blow Blue"!
what's a "noone"?
ohhhhh no (space) one.
rofl
It's in the middle of the long off-season. What else do you expect?
what people fail to realize about the Rutgers thing is it's not really about how much do scarlet knight fans like college football, etc. It's about ok well Rutgers is now in the Big Ten and in order for people to watch them they need the Big Ten Network so now Cablevision and other east coast big time cable networks need to buy the rights to carry BTN
ESPN reporting Brian Cushing suspended 4 games for steroids..... didnt we see this coming?
surprise of the decade right there....
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/...
You know that it was all natural.... JL got robbed for ROY!
Hmmm...
http://m.espn.go.com/nfl/story...
I posted it after it popped but it didn't show up. Rey next?
I know this is coming from a Bengals fan, but I highly highly doubt it.
Clay Matthews might not surprise me, but Rey Maualuga isn't quite as bulky.
Take a look at Cushing from his freshman or even sophomore year to his senior year and it will become apparent what was going on.
Rey from his freshman year to now hasn't really gotten any bigger, not that it means he hasn't taken anything.
But here's a link to a comparison of Cushing as a Fresh/Sophomore to a Senior.
http://www.thedirty.com/wp-con...
I knew exactly which two pictures were gonna be shown before I clicked on the link, I'm pretty sure those are the only two Cushing pictures in existence
Looks like Cherry Blossom season! Football during the day and drinking under the tress at night. And no better place than Kyoto that time of year.
The BTN is already on TWC/FiOS in the NYC Area. I would be surprised if its not already on cablevision/optimum
Even Miley Cyrus can't wait for fall
http://i40.tinypic.com/ohregy.jpg
Nick, awesOme Miley pic, my daughter will be happy. Tennessee fans will be pissed.
"Welcome to FOOT-ball"
It's not on cablevision/optimum...I have that and don't get BTN when I'm back in Jersey....it's a big cable outlet and they need a reason to buy it
Damn, thought ET was gonna withdraw from the draft today right before the deadline
Big Ten shake-up would have huge impact
LexisNexis Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch
Updated May 6, 2010 3:16 PM ET
The Big Ten has the power to change the face of college sports by dropping the pretense of amateurism. It wants to expand its ranks, broaden its footprint and increase its profits. Its next move will send ripples from coast to coast.
Let us imagine how this can happen.
The Big Ten was prescient enough to be the first major conference to get into the television business. The Big Ten Network went on the air in 2007 and now has an estimated subscriber base in the range of 35 million to 40 million. It is expected to have at least 60 million subscribers by 2013.
Profits are increasing. According to recent reports, the network last year earned anywhere from $4 million to $22 million for each of the 11 conference schools. Although the numbers represent guesswork, it is fair to say the network's profitability has made the Big Ten the envy of the other major conferences. Simply put, Big Ten members make more TV money than anyone else in their tax-exempt bracket.
This is a notable development in light of the fact that more than 300 of the 333 Division I athletic departments lose money, and thus require subsidies from universities and taxpayers. This point was most recently brought home in California, where Cal needed $6 million to balance its books, and other schools in the state university system announced cuts in athletic budgets and the elimination of some sports.
The divide between the Haves and the Have-nots is growing as the costs of coaching contracts and operational expenses continue to expand. The Big Ten is forging the path for the Haves, and discussing expansion. A 12-team league will allow for divisional play and a conference playoff in football, which can be lucrative.
A 14- or 16-team league will allow for television expansion, which could be a windfall -- especially if the Big Ten Network can battle its way onto basic cable in the new markets, as it has done in its current markets.
It is possible that the Big Ten will grow to a 16- or 20-team giant, with a television footprint that reaches from the heavily populated Northeast to the High Desert Plain. And if it does expand, some very large dominoes will begin to fall.
Other major conferences will have to grow in kind or be left to, say, pursue a traditional university mission. Already, there has been conjecture that there will be three or four huge conferences that will be built as a reaction to, and using the business model of, the Big Ten.
Football is the common denominator. The Southeastern, Atlantic Coast and Pacific 10 conferences are the likely candidates. They will gut lesser conferences in order to grow beyond the shadow of the Big Ten.
In college football (and basketball) terms, what will emerge are four major TV networks. Sports are merely programming -- but the business is broadcasting. It follows, then, that the conferences/networks will be thinking how to further drive their profits through their programming.
Taken to the fullest extrapolation, one can imagine these super-conferences getting together to stage their own national tournaments as TV events. It will happen with football first, for a couple of reasons. Although the NCAA lends its sanction, it controls neither the postseason bowls nor the Bowl Championship Series, and that's where the money is.
It can happen this way. The Big Ten is assembling the apparatus to make it possible. The super-conferences will drop the pretense of being part and parcel of the "student-athlete" experience.
Will that mean those who drive the revenues, the football and basketball players, will finally get their slice of the pie? That some century-old rivalries will be scuttled in the name of expansion and enterprise? That our view of college sports will change forever?
It is difficult to say. These wheels of change have been turning for some time -- now, they're just spinning much faster. A brave new world may be opening before us, just beyond the next commercial break.
Thanks a lot for the link guys, keep up the good work.
I hate USC but two thing to note here. A) The years between 18-22 is when men mature most. Different lifestyles and nutrition can do a lot for a kid. B) There is always the possibility that performance enhancing is going on.
Looking at him and knowing the transformation that took place in my life between the same age range when I entered the Marine Corps, I see nothing skeptical. There is always the possibilty that something crooked is taking place at a college where performance and expectations should be at it's highest.
The same could be said for us and Vernon Ghoulston. I just don't see the vasularity and freakish size one would attribute to roids.
And now I see why the original post was even made. Found the article about his suspected use in the NFL. I still think he looks rather small for being a "User". Possitive thing is: Beast Jr. looks like one of the best Line Backers taken in the draft now from that class if you discount Cushings stats.