04/25/24
February 26, 2012
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
The Daytona 500 is as exciting as watching concrete dry.
posted by rcade at 04:42 PM on February 26, 2012
The 19-year-old son of sports broadcaster Chris Myers has died in a car accident in Southern California.
posted by rcade at 06:05 PM on February 26, 2012
The Daytona 500 is as exciting as watching concrete dry.
posted by MeatSaber at 06:05 PM on February 26, 2012
Mary J. Blige just screeched her way through a terrible national anthem.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:34 PM on February 26, 2012
If you think Blige has a tough time in the pm, you should see her bright and early on the Today show. (shiver)
Haven't read the Posnanski piece on the MU-KU game, but I'm wondering when the wholesale marching in the streets is going to begin over the deep sixing of numerous great collegiate rivalries by all the dollar chasing conference realignments.
Those schools have to find a way to keep playing each other, and if not, there ought to be hell to pay for it from the hordes at large who are going to continue to give a damn about it.
Some of those rivalries date almost as far back as that battle 900 years ago that Serbs are still pissed about.
posted by beaverboard at 07:48 PM on February 26, 2012
You guys thought Blige was awful?
Agreed that it wasn't great, but.....what the fuck was that butchering of O Canada all about?
Awful.
posted by tommybiden at 08:25 PM on February 26, 2012
Best. Exaggerated Hand Shake. Ever.
posted by grum@work at 10:16 PM on February 26, 2012
Haven't read the Posnanski piece on the MU-KU game, but I'm wondering when the wholesale marching in the streets is going to begin over the deep sixing of numerous great collegiate rivalries by all the dollar chasing conference realignments.
I wonder how many rivalries it's broken up and how many it's made more stable. For instance, Virginia's biggest rival is Virginia Tech, but up until a few years ago, Tech was in the Big East. Now it's a conference game when they play, and thank goodness Tech finally got halfway decent at basketball so that those games aren't jokes. I imagine that situation doesn't occur most of the time.
posted by LionIndex at 11:17 PM on February 26, 2012
I think that's the entire list. You could possibly add Miami-Florida State, but I don't think either school considers the other their biggest rival. On the 86'ed side of the list, however, are:
Texas-Texas A&M
West Virginia-Pitt
Nebraska-Colorado
Syracuse-Georgetown
I'm sure there are more, but I don't feel like looking them up right now. It's a shame, though. I hope ome of these schools make an effort to keep playing each other. If my school (Ohio State) was suddenly not going to be playing Michigan every year, it would greatly diminish the entire season for me.
posted by bender at 11:48 PM on February 26, 2012
It's a shame, though. I hope ome of these schools make an effort to keep playing each other.
I don't think that really would sustain a rivalry long term. As a Jayhawk fan, I agree with Bill Self that even if they play it won't be the same. Being in the same conference adds dynamics that just aren't present in noncon games. When I was growing up KU had a big game or two against Arizona, who was great at the time. Haven't thought about them much in years, and im pretty sure most KU fans are the same. Same with the huge noncon game against Florida a few years back. Not to disparage Mizzouri, but usually they aren't this good, so if playing classic games against great programs doesn't sustain a rivalry, then why would a great team vs. a more often than not mediocre one be able to?*
So, though i admit the MU-KU might have a longer shelf life than most, by not sharing a conference it is hard to see a rivalry lasting, even if they play a neutral site game once a year. I hate to say, but re-alignment really does just kill rivalries.
Of course, this response follows on the heels of digesting about everything i could find after the game, so no doubt i am regurgitating here, and could be totally off base.
*Seriously not trying to kill MU, just trying to be accurate. MU is awesome this year, and i'm fine not playing them again until the pressey's & denmon are long gone.
posted by brainofdtrain at 12:08 AM on February 27, 2012
It may not be the same, but there are, however, some well established rivalries outside the bounds of conference play:
your aforementioned Virginia-Virginia Tech Florida-Florida State Georgia-Georgia Tech Notre Dame-USC Clemson-South Carolina
These games (I'm talking about football here, which is admittedly a bit different from basketball.) are played at the end of the season and are pretty important to the fans/alumni of these schools. If the schools commit to them, they can stay alive.
posted by bender at 08:17 AM on February 27, 2012
Notre Dame-USC isn't always the last game of at either team's schedule. The games in South Bend are almost always in October, so USC doesn't have to play a late-November game in a cold climate, while the games in Los Angeles are often the week before USC-UCLA or even earlier.
It also helps immeasurably that Notre Dame doesn't have to worry about a conference schedule -- "The Pac-12 wants to choke up USC with Arizona State and UCLA and Oregon in November? Yeah, we can move our game back to October. We'll have to reschedule that paycheck game against Temple, but I think they won't mind."
posted by Etrigan at 09:06 AM on February 27, 2012
Gah. Double. Sorry.
posted by Etrigan at 09:06 AM on February 27, 2012
Missouri and Illinois play an annual "Bragging Rights" game that, while not either team's biggest rivalry game (it only dates back to 1980 and Missouri, at least, has a bigger rival in KU), certainly shows that a nonconference rivalry game can work (particularly in basketball, where the greater number of games leads to some schedule flexibility that is not present in football). But I agree with brainofdtrain that much of the meaning is killed by taking this out of conference play.
posted by holden at 10:13 AM on February 27, 2012
Though a part of me thinks this is FPP material, I think I'll put it here 1st: Posnanski's column on the incredible KU-MU game last night and the end of the "Border War."