Big Ten Announces New Logo, Division Names
The Woody and Bo Divisions? The Corn Side and the Rice Side? We'll know soon enough. The Big Ten Network will be covering the announcement live at noon if you're lucky enough to have access to a TV.
UPDATE: The division names and new logo(s) are out. The logo comes in a variety of formats and is a slight tweak on the existing logo with the removal of the "11" and a stylized "G" that looks like a zero at a glance (it's been pointed out that the "G" could also easily morph into a 6, should the conference eventually add four more teams).
You can see all variations of the logo here.
As for the new division names, they are "Legends" and "Leaders". And no, that is not a joke. The Buckeyes will play in the Leaders Division along with Illinois, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. The Legends Division will consist of Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern.
The division names were met with universal scorn on Twitter and will surely be hammered by the national press in the coming days and rightfully so. This is what happens when you overthink something, folks.
Finally, the league released the names of 18 new trophies to be handed out at the conclusion of football season. In an effort to honor as many "leaders" and "legends" as possible, all trophy names come in hyphenated format. The winner of the conference championship game will receive the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy, the championship game MVP will receive the Grange-Griffin Championship Game Trophy and so on.
Former Buckeyes were honored on five different trophies, while Wisconsin and Michigan had trophies named after four former players each. The trophies named for Buckeyes are: Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year, Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year, Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year, Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year and the aforementioned Grange-Griffin Trophy.
You can view the full list of trophies here.
Comments
I hadn't even thought about food-related names for the divisions. That opens up some interesting possibilities.
Like Ohio State and PSU could be in the Scrapple Division, while Minn, Nebraska and Iowa could be in the Lutefisk Division.
I'm going with the Fat and Slow divisions.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Terrible division names. West (Legends), East (Leaders)
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
Agreed, they kinda screwed the pooch on this one.
I liked the one-word comment from a board-member at MGoBlog:
Sh1t.
So, Ohio State is in the Leaders division, eh? Gonna sound weird on TV..."Ohio State is once again leading the Leaders division"
Reminds me of that Simpsons Episode where Homer gets sucked into the cult. "We love the Leader"
This horizontal one is pretty good.
Is it April 1?
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Maybe there's a December Fool's Day now.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
If they weren't going to name them Woody and Bo, and if geographic didn't fly for them, then I think that names could have been a lot worse/more kitschy than Legends and Leaders. If nothing else, its a huge screw you to the SEC and will continue to inflame their southern inferiority complex, what with the northerners bragging about how awesome and righteous they are yet again.
If we were going to do that, we should have named the divisions Sherman and Grant.
+1, I love these.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
+1000 Love the idea, especially since both are Ohioans.
wow-best comment on the board. haha. glad i randomly saw it.
Class of 2008
Now those are names I would like for the division, Awesome and righteous!
These are football divisions, yet we chose names that recognize all of our legend athletes from the other sports or leaders that have nothing to do with football. Nice thought...just doesn't make sense to me.
REALLY?!?! Legends and Leaders?
The Great Lakes and The Heartland divisions were just toooo simple huh?
Championship Game MVP gets the Grange-Griffin MVP Trophy
Championship Game Team gets the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy
Is the trophy going to have a big 18-point buck wearing glasses that are 3-inches thick?
+100
I think both the logo and the division names are weak sauce. The logo looks like it was done on a Commodore 64.
+1
I think they used the commodore 128.
Now up, new trophies:
Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy
Grange-Griffin Championship MVP Trophy
Ford-Kinnick Leadership Award
Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award
Graham-George Offensive POY
Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year
You missed the Boeckman - Sherridan most valueless player award
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Ouch, good one! FWIW, I always was under the impression that Mo Wells would be the most underwhelming player I would ever see
Why cant we just call the trophies what they are?
Championship Trophy
MVP Trophy
Leadership Award
Humantiarian award
Why not just leave it at that?
"We have always had the best damn band in the land, now we have the best damn team in the land"- Jim Tressel 1-03-03
ALL Y'ALL SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF WHINEY-ASS LEGENDS
LEADERZ-4-LIFE SONNNNN
Classic stuff Matt, nice work!
I don't understand the big production for unveiling division names and logos. Does it really matter what they call the divisions? I don't know.
The Championship trophy has paterno's name on it. While Delamey said "Why not have an active coach on it." Well then it should have Tress's since he basically owns it anyway. Not to mention the fact he has won more than Joe Pa.
great point
Calling Paterno "active" is a bit of a stretch...
Personally, I don't think Paterno has had near enough impact on the BIG TEN to have any right to be a part of a conference trophy.
Seriously...PSU has only been in the B10 for 16 years.
Why not call it the Tom Osborne Trophy?
He is responsible for ruining it, so why not put his name on the abortion of a trophy.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Last time I checked, 240 < 401. Or do you just mean Big10 championships?
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
B10 Championships
Thanks for the clarity.
JoePa is a winner, but State Penn is irrelevant in the Big Ten.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
Michigan will have to change their song to "Legends and best", assuming they will ever be good again.
The two division names mean absolutely nothing and therefore won't offend any fragile 21st century sensibilities. In fact, they went so far out of their ways to make them generic that the "leaders and best" are in the Legends division and the old legend, Joe Pa is in the Leaders. Of course, if the names had any real flesh & blood imagery behind them, someone who is anemic might feel slighted.
Thank you for capturing the vacant, bureaucratic stupidity at work here.
I clicked on it... I regretted it immediately...
10 years from now people are going to start asking, "Now remind me again, why are they called the Leaders and Legends divisions?"
And the answer: Jim Delaney's focus group said it was a good way to make bank.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
More likely, two guys from Jim Delany's focus group were crazy about "Black and Blue," but hated "Woody and Bo." Another three focus groupies loved "Woody and Bo," but hated "Great Lakes and The Heartland." Another two adored "Great Lakes and The Heartland," but despised "Black and Blue."
They were all too bored with Legends and Leaders to say anything negative about them; therefore, they won!
+1
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
This has to be it. I can't seem to muster any excitement or rage over these names. To be fair, though, I doubt anything really would have gotten me all that worked up either way.
They're kind of lame, but not as lame as say "Woody" and "Bo" would have been. The main difference between these names and every other divided conference (and possibly every league across the entire landscape of sports) is that they are not in any way related to geography. The ACC's non-directional names refer to the location the conference is named for. Baseball has the American and National Leagues, but even those are semi-geographical. Everyone else I can think of uses directional names.
And I think that's why they were chosen. Because the B1G can't stand not being different.
Here is the link to all of the new trophy names. http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121310aaa.html
From my count tOSU has more names then any other school.
Nice to see Tatum and Pace on there
Trophy breakdown: OSU has 5, Michigan 4, Wisconsin 4, Purdue 3, Mich State 3, Illinois 3, PSU 3, Minny 3, Indiana 2, Iowa 2, Northwestern 2, Nebraska 1
We're also going to hear unending jokes about the two divisions starting with L. The SEC necks will fire off endless [caps lock] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLs!!!! Just like we used to type LLLLLoyd.
I doubt the SECnecks will even care.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Really? Go over to ESPN and see what the goobers are saying.
It is hilariously bad, but no way are SECTards clever enough to even realize that Leaders, Legends, and Losers even start with the same letter, let alone make some kind of pun out of it.
But yeah, with nothing going on, the conference once again is the butt of more jokes. Delaney should have named them "Cash" and "Money".
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
LL B10. Ladies Love the Big Ten.
LOL...nice.
That's pretty good. We'll always have the advantage in the creativity department.
Great marketing. The horizontal logo is very sharp: "The B1G." Put it together with the div names and you have a great slogan line: "The Big Ten: Legends and Leaders." Brand building at its best.
I believe this allows for looking forward to the next round of expansion and that the B10 will - ultimately - comprise 10 states. I suspect that's what this year's Penn State/Indiana game was about: subtle product positioning/market testing.
I have to say, I think the positional award names are pretty cool. Lots of good choices in there. The "Tatum-Woodson DB of the Year", "Graham-George Offensive POY" and "Rimington-Pace OL of the Year"... Too bad they blew the LB POY by leaving Spielman off. Pat Fitzgerald?!?
I'm sure the folks over at linebacker U are miffed they aren't on the trophy at all.
This Just In.....
Delaney's inbox has reached its 5G limit
And he deleted all of them.
Is there suppose to be a #2 in the logo to go with the 1? If so I'm missing it.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
Yes. You are missing it.
Keep looking. You have to let your eyes go out of focus and then the "2" appears.
I see it!
They probably just forgot to include it. It was probably thrown together using Word 5 minutes before the press conference.
I've seen MSPaint logos done better than this.
How many more beers to make it appear?
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
I don't believe so. The 1 is next to the G and together it is supposed to look like a 10.
B1G = B10 It's kinda ghey if you ask me.
This is an embarrasment.... absolutely criminal. Big 10 should be ashamed---
I thought the new PAC-10 logo looked cheap in a CFL/Arena football sort of way. The Big Ten's new logo looks cheap in a 6th grader art project sort of way. The only thing that works slightly is the B10 logo. Guess it works for the Big Ten Network website. There must be graphic design students through out the Big Ten on suicide watch after this.
And Leaders and Legends? Really? It's like they settled on Legends and then had to come up with the other one. Lakes and Plains probably made the most sense, but got trampled on in meetings. "Well what happens when the lakes dry up??" "I hadn't thought of that!!"
I like the Pac-10 logo. It looks fresh. Perhaps that's why you are seeing it as Arena-like, though.
Delaney probably had a bet with his friends to see how dumb of an idea he could get accepted and just collected a lot of money.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Major failure. Embedding a 10 in the blandest logo in sports makes all Big Ten schools look incompetent. Calling the trophy Stagg-Paterno also is beyond words shitty. The University of Chicago should play no part in any of the new progressions, let alone the damned football championship trophy. And Paterno spent his first 3/4 of his career coaching an INDEPENDENT Penn State. I just don't understand how you neglect Hayes and Schembechler like that...the two guys who are the true legends and leaders in Championship Big Ten football.
Legends isn't too bad. But leaders?! C'mon!
All sorts of lame announced today. Big letdown.
I agree. The Hayes/Schembechler Championship trophy would have been tons better. Put Joe Pa's name on the COY tophy if need be. DeLAMEy and the rest of the B1G really screwed the pooch on this one.
Heck, they even could have gone with Yost and Schmidt, or...well, frickin' anybody else who rings true. These two make the least amount of sense to me. The only choice that could have been worse would be including Osborne's name on the trophy.
I think from here on out the Championship trophy should be refered to as the Mason-Detardo Trophy. It makes as much sense as having Joe Poo's name on it.
As a University of Chicago alum, I'm just glad someone gets the Stagg reference. But that doesn't make up for how much i hate these division names. I just cannot fathom what Delaney and co. were thinking. There has to be elements to the whole marketing campaign that we just aren't seeing yet. Or someone in that firm the B10 hired is actually a huge SEC fan and they just wanted to bring more embarassment upon us in the run up to what will likely be a very painful bowl season for the B10.
what about the rotel and barbasol divisions. . . ehhhh whats wrong with just one name on a trophy the stagg trophy is ok u add the paterno name to it and the trophy might as well be made in the shape of a toilet. though what can u expect from delany after all he put tOSUand scum in seperate divisions and wants to move the game and still might. douchebaggieness abounds...
Should have named it Top and Bottom IMO.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
The conference logo and division names have absolutely nothing to do with people's perception of the conference. No one will say man that Big 10 sure is incompetent, their emblem is so plain! People will laugh at the backlash this has created. I couldn't think of anything less important than the logo and division names. It has zero bearing on anything on the court of field.
Actually, we were already labeled incompetent over the name with 11 members. Now, they went out of their way to put a number 10 in the logo now that there are 12 members. This isn't rocket science, BTA. If the answer to the question "Could Big Bird explain this number thing to a 4 year old?" is "No" then you're going to get labeled as incompetent.
Wow. That's all I can say. No dis to JoePa, but come on man!
EPIC FAIL.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Boring.
I do think naming the divisions "Rotel" and "Velveeta" would at least have been funny.
WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS?
Class of 2008
This is atrocious.
They split us and Michigan. They mess with The Game. We aren't a "Legend" apparently. The division names suck regardless of that. The logo looks corny as hell. This is all bad. All bad.
I am not happy.
Class of 2008
In their defense of putting us in the Leaders division...we have pretty much led the conference the last 9 years. Maybe "Legends" implies that those teams are all has-beens and the Leaders will be the teams that continue dominance for years to come.
Colin- I thought about that too, but we're a Legend anyway you cut it. Our Program just happens to be Living Legend right now; unlike Michigan.
Class of 2008
Are you ever?
The color of the logo is really [don't be homophobic].
My eyes. They are burning.
Whaddya mean, you don't like the new logo color?
Exact match. Well done, sir.
-
Class of 2008
The Freshman of the year should have been the Maurice Clarett Trophy hands down. This shits fucking retarded. Why do all the trophy names have to have a damn hyphen in the middle it makes it sound corny as hell.
Randle-El certainly is a head-scratcher. Did he have a good freshman year? It was apparently not remarkable enough to mention in the bio explaining why his name is on the trophy. I guess Indiana needed to have someone's name on something.
Delaney - "It was tough to find names so idiotic that everyone would hate, but I think we finally achieved that goal".
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
Any fantasy football commissioner would have better division names in place in just minutes.
It's amazing to me that this has reached 80 comments.
Who's leading the Leaders Division?
The Illinois Illini lead the Leaders Division.
Really? What happened to Ohio State?
Ohio State lost the lead of the Leaders division when they lost to Illinois on the eleventh.
Bummer.
Can they reclaim the lead?
The Buckeyes can reclaim the lead of the Leaders Division by winning out. Then they will be the Leaders' leader in order to play the Legends' leader in December.
WTF?!
Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
I'm banging my head against the table repeatedly.
Dennis Dodd: With all the great history and tradition available to it, the haughty Big Ten went low brow, corporate, generic. Leaders and Legends? That's the name of the trophy store down the street. What were "Gods" and "Superheroes" already taken?
Adam Rittenberg: Sadly, my two suggestions for division names -- Delany and Delaney, and Adam and Rittenberg -- did not make the cut.
Class of 2008
80 comments and nobody has blamed any of this on Kirk Herbstreit yet?
If Denard Robinson isn't careful with spooning all that food into his mouth, he's going to end up lookin' like Whoopi Goldberg
Epic, tragic fail! I just got to Puerto Rico from my cruise ship and I saw that crap. Leaders and Legend? I think Oranjello and Lemonjello would have been better.
One bright spot is that Michigan's fight song has been prophesizing, for the last 100 years or so, that UM would end up where they belonged all along - in the inferior division. How so? Well, the UM fight song clearly states that "Leaders and best" go together
Legend: "a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical."
Yup. That's Michigan football, allright.
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
Big Ti-TEN-nic mess today with a logo created on the first generation MacIntosh, saved on a 8 inch floppy disc. I can already hear the music being cranked out on Saturday mornings using a '45 with the plastic disc in the middle to prevent the record from going off the grooves.
What is killing me is that some consultants got paid 'uber' cheddar to come up with something out of World War I. Not one thing passes the eye or smell test with this Big Ten charade. Way to help with recruiting and branding.
Somewhere the ACC conference is popping bottles!
what in the hell is this????? what kind of name is this...you spend millions, and have the potential to make millions and these so called, brilliant minds come up wit dis!!!! LEADERS AND LEGENDS r u serious??????? other conferences al ready think were a joke now no one will take us serious.....
Nobody blamed it on Herbie cause he's a fake buckeye. Can't fill my shoes with 20 pair of socks on. Put me in their offense and I would dominate college football.
lolz. If we keep winning, good deal. But I cannot wait until it's time for Miller or Guiton.
Class of 2008
well done sir
I dunno if this has been said, but doesn't the leaders conference have the most legends? Woody, Joe Pa, Paul Brown, Archie, Grange, Butkus...? I know someone already mentioned that Michigan has in their fight song "the leaders, and best"...? And the leaders...While I don't want to get in some frat-tastic argument about party schools, lets be serious...Indiana, Wisconsin, and Penn St...I'm in no way saying these are bad schools by any means, but while the leaders conference boasts these school, the legends have Northwestern and Michigan...someone screwed up IMO.
Sent this message to Adam Rittenberg...
"Legends & Leaders? Sounds terrible... The logo isn't bad but it's such a misnomer. They should have renamed the brand/conference entirely. "Tradition" went out the door when the bags of money showed up knocking.
All that aside, I can't say I'm surprised Delany chose "Legends & Leaders" given his personal arrogance. Unfortunately, now everyone affiliated with the BigTen also sounds like an asshole; athletes, students, families, fans, and administrators alike.
Thanks Jim Delany. eSECpn (+ Mark May) will have a field day with this one.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
Why do you care what Mark May and ESPN think? I hardly think Delaney is arrogant. He does what he is paid to do: look out for the best interest of the Big Ten and has succeeded brialliantly at doing just that. We got to be the richest conference because of him. The division names aren't going to make the contract with ESPN or Fox go away. As a fan I don't feel like an asshole at all. I think you're an asshole for caring what a DB like May thinks about anything let alone what names are given to the conference.
Gerald Ford = Leader
I kinda Liked the "X" and "O" divisions.
I really think anything other than those two names would have worked. Hell, name it the Tom and Jerry divisions, how about Dennis and Menace, or Jack and Jill, those are just as good if not better.
I don't think they could've picked worse names. SMGDMFH.
Here's hoping for a big enough national outcry that they rethink the names. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?
Unfortunately, I don't think they will ever consider changing the names, at least not in the immediate future. You don't don yourself the moniker of "leader" and immediately decide you went the wrong way based upon others' input.
This is total BS ... nice job fellas. Did they even listen to the professionals they hired to assist them with this? Or, did the presidents just sit around and think of the most obnoxious names possible on their own?
Wow, just wow. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. What the hell is Delaney thinking anymore?
Huge fail. The logo is crap. The divisional names are crap. Most of the trophy names are crap.
The trophy names are ok. I like some/most of them. The logo may be growing on me, expecially the B1G one.
Divisional names are s%!t though.
October 20th: National Kenneth Guiton Day
Legends, leaders, whatever. All the whining on here is much worse than anything coming out of the B1G offices. Who really cares what the divisions are called? Any naming convention was sure to draw lots of criticism. They were doomed to endure this once they mixed the teams from different geographic regions. The only thing certain is change and all the bitching it generates. At the end of the day we still play the game on a field that is 120 x 53.3 yards.
These naming conventions have very little effect on the actual game. They do, however, get the masses to complain about the irrelevant instead of the real rubbish that makes the game a travesty like the crappy officiating that we have to endure. Thanks to incompetent officials we all had a legend 98 yard run taken from us in the last game. And, OSU leads the nation in preposterous made-up unsportsmanlike penalties. If you are going to flood Delany's email box with complaints do it with something that really matters and has an impact on the game played on the field. None of us should have to endure the incompetent officiating that seems to get worse every year because there is no reliable review process for the zebras. That is something that can be improved if we could all focus our efforts on implementing real change. C'mon Delany, be a real Leader and make the B1G a Legend by improving the game for all of us.
You know what division titles would have been better saying they are doomed?
East/West (oh noes, some teams in the East are actually West of the West teams, but not many)
North/South (oh noes, Wisconsin is in the North).
Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East, no one cares. St. Louis Rams in the NFC West. Who cares?
Lakes/Plains is also at least reasonable and not completely pompous.
X and O is even respectable.
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
All these comments (mostly negative) and all the posts on the OSU Facebook page (also mostly negative) and I'm still waiting for someone to weigh-in on the obvious naming rights to follow. Who'll be sponsoring the conference championship & trophy (two money sources, thank you very much)...sponsors for each of the new trophies. I hope the brain-trust in charge of that effort is smarter than the group who designed the new logo and came up with the division names. Still love my Buckeyes - just sorry they're under the umbrella of the folks who made this call.