I hope y'all enjoyed a #BOOM-less Fourth of July. Here's hoping those get cooked up again here soon.
Word of the Day: Effloresce.
WISH LIST. The UCLA and USC thing came out of nowhere and it's got us all thinking the Big Ten could make more additions pretty much at any time.
When it does eventually pop, here are the names we should apparently be looking out for.
I was told this is - or is close to - the Big Ten's wishlist. But it's a fluid and very well-guarded process (How was the UCLA/USC news kept silent? Amazing.)
— Jeff Ermann (@Jeff_Ermann) July 4, 2022
So who knows how it'll develop.
1. Notre Dame
2. Oregon
3. Stanford
4. UNC
Source not as confident in UNC as others.
I feel like this is about the fifth time in the past three or decades that it's made all the sense in the world for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten, so I should be decidedly in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode. And yet, I'm still out here thinking "but this time it's different!"
Oregon and Stanford make a ton of sense – UCLA and USC are going to need some west coast schools to play against regularly so they aren't traveling 2,000 miles for every weekday women's soccer game. UNC makes sense, it just feels relatively random, all things considered.
But who the hell really knows because I sure didn't wake up last week thinking the Big Ten would be adding UCLA and USC. Pretty much anything could happen at this point and I wouldn't even blink.
RIP PAC-12. The Big Ten swiping USC and UCLA is pretty much a death sentence for the Pac-12 from a financial standpoint, so here comes the Big 12 like a damn vulture.
Report: Multiple Pac-12 Schools Meeting With Big 12 About Expansion https://t.co/dg8WoiDNee
— Football Writers Association of America (@TheFWAA) July 4, 2022
The report says Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado are discussioning joining the league on Tuesday.
That's kind of a hilarious collection of schools, because it's conveniently none of the ones I would have suspected the Big Ten would consider going after. Funny how that just so happened to work out!
THE REAL GOAT. The LeBron vs. Jordan GOAT debate has gotten a little tired at this point, so let's add a little spice...
And no one ever talks about John Havlichek!! pic.twitter.com/RHKO7OSbGX
— Michael Hart, RAA, CIC, AIC (@CoachMikeHart) July 3, 2022
Hey, we don't need to even have the debate if we just agree that Buckeye legend John Havlicek tops both ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
THE REAL GOAT. It's super easy to get kind of numb to Ohio State's consistency over the years, so I feel like every now and then it's good to just take a step back and ground yourself with some absurd stat.
Like this one!
#CountdownToKickoff: 55 days
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 3, 2022
When the @AP_Top25 poll comes out, @OhioStateFB will be ranked for the 55th straight season, 29 more than anybody else. #B1Gstats pic.twitter.com/DIxWHDMq5X
Ohio State's current streak of 55 AP Poll appearances to start the season is more than twice as long as the next highest school. That's absurd.
Then again, maybe it is a little presumptuous to assume the Buckeyes will be in this year's preseason AP Poll...
SONG OF THE DAY. "iSpy" by KYLE ft. Lil Yachty.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Their son vanished, then an imposter took over for 41 years... A death row inmate asks for an execution delay to donate his kidney... The modder making $20,000 a month bringing the best games to VR... Is your smartphone ruining your memory?... How cheap drones are completely changing warfare...
