PeteCalvin
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I cannot believe how she vilifies Syracuse! She's painting us as THE LYNCH PIN that has destroyed college athletics as we know it. Is she serious?!
Read here: Dana Dives off Deep End
Dana, please come back from the edge. You above all other people at ESPN should know that Syracuse is NOT the villain here. Syracuse was courted and left at the alter once already. Remember that? By all accounts, Syracuse should have been in the ACC years ago, but politics ended that deal cold. After that debacle, Syracuse did everything it could to make sure that the BE remained viable and strong. Jim Boeheim, for one, championed the conference every chance he had. Do you really think JB wanted to go to the ACC? A founding father of the original made-for-prime-time basketball conference? Hell no! But the man is also a realist and sees what's happening out there. Like many of us die-hard SU fans, he has to have bittersweet feelings about this move. But what was the alternative? A slow painful demise and possibly a prime front row seat on the outside of the restaurant looking at the feast inside?
The blame for the death of Dave Gavitt's dream lies solely in the BE offices in Providence...and that mega satellite dish farm in Bristol, CT. The BE commissioner is a buffoon. What did he do to ensure that all of the current members felt secure in their futures? Did he try to pilfer MD from the ACC? Wow. That move would have shown chutzpah. May not have worked, but hell, it would have shown he had some backbone. Why not cut some dead BBall weight? Truth is, it appears Marinatto had no plan, or his plan was to simply take the scraps that fell into his lap.
You're right, Dana. Tranghese would never have let this happen. And he certainly would have KNOWN this was going on well before the curtain fell. He would have dealt with the issue proactively. Maybe he would have returned the favor of 2004 to the ACC and pilfered them? But he's not here. And neither is Gavitt, which is a shame. Gavitt, the visionary, would truly have been worth his weight in gold in this turbulent super-conference climate.
If you really think about it, Dave Gavitt fed, raised, and unleashed the beast that ultimately destroyed his creation. That beast? None other than the mighty Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, all but a wee pup when Gavitt unveiled his creation to the world of college sports. ESPN grew with the BE. They nurtured each other for a very long time. Then, something happened. ESPN wanted to rule the sports universe; control everything in sight. Conferences, with the backing of powerful TV networks, went toe-to-toe with the NCAA and took over college football. Football became the engine that drove network profits. Eventually, conferences decided that they didn't need the networks. They could create their own. But, they had to add value to compete with, or make themselves more appealing to, networks like the mighty ESPN. How to do that? Expansion. A natural progression.
Right now the map of college sports is nothing more than a real life game of RISK. Commissioners of powerful conferences are positioning their armies, conquering their territories, all with the ultimate goal of getting the most money from ESPN...and Fox, and CBS, etc. What's better in that climate? Let yourself be conquered and possibly a casualty of circumstance? Or, plot your own course and determine your own destiny? Can you really fault an institution for taking control and putting itself in the best position possible?
Syracuse and Pittsburgh are not to blame for the 'death' of the BE. If they are guilty of anything, it's that they waited too long and put too much faith in their 'leaders' in Providence.
I, a fan who grew up right alongside Gavitt's dream, will be sad to see the BE traditions end. Much of my childhood is rooted in the battles between Syracuse and Georgetown. But, in all honesty, for many of us fans the REAL Big East died long before Sunday morning.
Read here: Dana Dives off Deep End
Dana, please come back from the edge. You above all other people at ESPN should know that Syracuse is NOT the villain here. Syracuse was courted and left at the alter once already. Remember that? By all accounts, Syracuse should have been in the ACC years ago, but politics ended that deal cold. After that debacle, Syracuse did everything it could to make sure that the BE remained viable and strong. Jim Boeheim, for one, championed the conference every chance he had. Do you really think JB wanted to go to the ACC? A founding father of the original made-for-prime-time basketball conference? Hell no! But the man is also a realist and sees what's happening out there. Like many of us die-hard SU fans, he has to have bittersweet feelings about this move. But what was the alternative? A slow painful demise and possibly a prime front row seat on the outside of the restaurant looking at the feast inside?
The blame for the death of Dave Gavitt's dream lies solely in the BE offices in Providence...and that mega satellite dish farm in Bristol, CT. The BE commissioner is a buffoon. What did he do to ensure that all of the current members felt secure in their futures? Did he try to pilfer MD from the ACC? Wow. That move would have shown chutzpah. May not have worked, but hell, it would have shown he had some backbone. Why not cut some dead BBall weight? Truth is, it appears Marinatto had no plan, or his plan was to simply take the scraps that fell into his lap.
You're right, Dana. Tranghese would never have let this happen. And he certainly would have KNOWN this was going on well before the curtain fell. He would have dealt with the issue proactively. Maybe he would have returned the favor of 2004 to the ACC and pilfered them? But he's not here. And neither is Gavitt, which is a shame. Gavitt, the visionary, would truly have been worth his weight in gold in this turbulent super-conference climate.
If you really think about it, Dave Gavitt fed, raised, and unleashed the beast that ultimately destroyed his creation. That beast? None other than the mighty Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, all but a wee pup when Gavitt unveiled his creation to the world of college sports. ESPN grew with the BE. They nurtured each other for a very long time. Then, something happened. ESPN wanted to rule the sports universe; control everything in sight. Conferences, with the backing of powerful TV networks, went toe-to-toe with the NCAA and took over college football. Football became the engine that drove network profits. Eventually, conferences decided that they didn't need the networks. They could create their own. But, they had to add value to compete with, or make themselves more appealing to, networks like the mighty ESPN. How to do that? Expansion. A natural progression.
Right now the map of college sports is nothing more than a real life game of RISK. Commissioners of powerful conferences are positioning their armies, conquering their territories, all with the ultimate goal of getting the most money from ESPN...and Fox, and CBS, etc. What's better in that climate? Let yourself be conquered and possibly a casualty of circumstance? Or, plot your own course and determine your own destiny? Can you really fault an institution for taking control and putting itself in the best position possible?
Syracuse and Pittsburgh are not to blame for the 'death' of the BE. If they are guilty of anything, it's that they waited too long and put too much faith in their 'leaders' in Providence.
I, a fan who grew up right alongside Gavitt's dream, will be sad to see the BE traditions end. Much of my childhood is rooted in the battles between Syracuse and Georgetown. But, in all honesty, for many of us fans the REAL Big East died long before Sunday morning.
