Dana O'Neil Article on ESPN.com is utter trash | Syracusefan.com

Dana O'Neil Article on ESPN.com is utter trash

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.
 
You should post that rebuttal in the Big East mailbag.. Strike that... ACC MAILBAG!
 
Wow, I wish ESPN had writers like you.
 
Nice post Pete. Bittersweet is exactly how I feel.

Dana O'Neil can **** it
 
Don't forget, if ESPN didn't have all its college fb guys disparage the BE every chance they got because the ACC had a bigger deal, maybe none of this wouldn't have happened...
 
Now posts like that one is why I love coming here...thanks...
 
Given her logic, would she be at fault for leaving ESPN for another job if ESPN were to go bankrupt next year?
 
After reading the article, my only thought was that Dana O'Neil has a fundamental lack of understanding about college sports. She should probably not be covering the sport .
 
Hey Dana do some freakin' research http://articles.courant.com/2003-06...big-east-acc-acc-president-acc-expansion-plan

But that's not to say that the idea hasn't been considered before. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told USA Today last month he twice explored the possibility of having the Big East's major football programs -- Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and Pittsburgh -- play under the ACC banner. The conference would have remained intact in all other sports. It would be a scenario similar to Temple's: a football member in the Big East -- which it leaves after 2004 -- while remaining a permanent member of the Atlantic 10.
Tranghese said he had those 1998 discussions with Gene Corrigan, the ACC president at the time. Tranghese, one of the most vocal critics of the current ACC plan, was accused last month by former North Carolina State athletic director Les Robinson of being hypocritical for having initiated the '98 talks. But Tranghese said he never suggested the ACC take Miami, Syracuse and BC as full-time members.
``What we talked about was, `Why don't you take a look at our football alignment, attach it to yours,''' Tranghese told USA Today. ``We would keep our membership for everything else. The ACC would have run football, it would have controlled collective television rights, it could have had a football playoff. They said no.
 
I saw the column yesterday and emailed her this response. I have received no reply:

Dana-

I think you went a little over the top in your indictment of Syracuse and Pitt, citing "greed and hypocricy"

Face it; The Big East has never had a problem poaching teams from other conferences. Pitt, Virginia Tech, Louisville, South Florida, TCU, and Cincy. And that's just for football. You then throw in all of the hoops-only's and there are a ton of teams that have bolted their conferences to the advantage of the Big East.

So now two members of the Big East leave and they are accused of greed and...please spare me...hypocricy? The Big East wouldn't exist if they had not been guilty of it themselves.

Sure Syracuse is a founding member. That means that they should sit back while other schools leave the Big East? Because every single football school would have done the same thing in a heartbeat. Pitt and SU should sit back while the powers that be in Providence solve the Big East's instability problems by bringing in Villanova for football????

You can blame Pitt and SU all you want, but the blame lies at the feet of the folks in the Providence office who were impotent to do anything except try to hold together a cobbled conference made up of a shaky all sports side, a bunch of non-football schools, and oh yeah...Notre Dame.
 
How about this. ESPN started pimping UConn for ACC membership immediately after the official announcement was made that SU and Pitt were granted membership.
 
Contrary to the movie, the last ones off the Titanic didn't survive. Sounds like Dana is upset that we didn't go down with our ship.
 
Dana is just worried that her job covering the Big East will evaporate along with the conference. She's pissed that she's about to be on the unemployment line.
 
There only mad because syracuse is the best sportscasting school in the country.
Sure when miami the best football school in the country left the big east with BC and VT it was ok.
Its always been us God, Buddah, Shiva, Ashtar and whoever else vs the world. We always get media crap dumped on us. Nothing New. The coward would never say it to Jim Boeheims face because he would eat her alive.

On a side note its Hard to find a school that has had more bad luck and dissapointing endings then syracuse and yet we also find ways to overachieve like 96 03 and 2010. ;)
 
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.
 
My favorite line was that Syracuse and Pitt created the uncertainty that they claimed was the motivation for the move. Thats changing the facts to fit your conclusion! Nice job Dana.
 
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.
Great post!! Send it to ESPN.
 
I hope she enjoys her alma mater in the new Atlantic 10.
 
I hope she enjoys her alma mater in the new Atlantic 10.
Dana O'Neil went to Penn State, even though she lives in Philly and is a Villanova fan.
 
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.
It sounds a lot like what Dana is doing is deflecting. ESPN and the networks are the reason why this conference realignment is happening. We are the Pawns in this game. I suspect Dana doesn't have the balls to tell her ESPN bosses that its their greed and business decisions that is killing the Big East, and creating these ugly super conferences. In the end, "twas Greed/ESPN killed the Beast".
 
Dana O'Neil went to Penn State, even though she lives in Philly and is a Villanova fan.

I hope she enjoys Villanova's renewed bitter rivalry with LaSalle.

Fixed.
 

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