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Message: [QUOTE="Townie72, post: 431906, member: 780"] The thinking press is starting to sober up after swallowing all the spin that was put out by Maryland (and Rutgers) after the B1G announcement. In today’s Washington Post, sports columnist Tracee Hamilton says,” … But in Maryland went from a league in which it can be competitive or even dominant in a short amount of time to a league in which it might never be competitive or dominant. Terps fans may find themselves outnumbered in Byrd Stadium on Saturdays ([I]because of the large number of Big Ten alumni in the area[/I])" Pretty soon even the dumbest of them will catch on to the fact that the ONLY reason Maryland left was for the B1G cash they need to balance the books given the current amount of money Maryland is spending on athletics. Maryland, unlike Rutgers, was in a stable conference. When ND turned down the Big Ten invite several years ago, SU was mentioned as a possible alternative. The guy who had chaired the Big Ten effort to corral ND said that “Syracuse certainly fits the profile we would be interested in.”. At first I thought it would be great for SU. But after considering it, I came to the conclusion that SU would never be able to compete with these huge schools with their huge athletic budgets. I don’t think either Rutgers or Maryland will be able to keep up either. Although these are big schools, both lack the deep roots in their states to sustain B1G athletic levels. Big Ten football teams are built for cold weather. They grind each other down with size and muscle. Big East teams might match up occasionally in a rare OOC game or a bowl. But a steady diet of Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin and Penn State (once PSU regains its footing) will relegate both of these new entries to the bottom of the standings. Both SU and Pitt, I think, can compete at the highest level in a number of sports in the ACC. That’s a good place to be. Switching conferences because you need the money doesn’t sound like a strategy. It sounds like desperation. When you are swimming in red ink even after cutting sports and if you are stuck in an awful conference (like Rutgers), you don't give a lot of thought to the downside risk associated with joining a conference filled with schools with many times your resources. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?