GP1

It is for a lot of reasons the BCS teams want it as it is. Instead of a BCS team playing one other BCS level team and three cupcakes at the beginning of the year to fill their pockets, they would actually have to compete against top level competition every week. Look at the winners of the SEC, PAC10 and Big 12....does anyone really think they would want to play one another the first three games of the following season? Close to home, does tOSU want to play USC, Navy, Can't and OU? Or do they want to play Alabama, USC and Texas the first three games of the season. They want the cupcakes because it gives them three practice games played at home before conference games. Is it fun to go to bowl games? Yes, we almost never go so I almost forget how fun it is. The bowls could remain in place for the non-top 40 teams if it makes the fans feel good. From the looks of the stands in MAC bowl games, I don't think people are too excited about the games we go to anyhow. Nobody goes. Is it fun to play Big Ten teams every year? No, it is a complete waste of time serving only to pad the pockets of the schools and giving MAC schools 1-3 starts to seasons. If the NCAA is interested in competition in lieu of money, the Top 40 conference makes sense. Are upsets fun? Yes, too bad they are few and far between and getting worse.

you know what, now that LeFevour is no longer a MAC rival, I wish him the best of luck. How lucky to be able to play for the team you grew up watching. I expect him to compete for Cutler's starting position within a couple years, especially if Cutler has a year like he did last year. I don't understand why guys are making fun of him here. We should want conference members to make it to the NFL. It brings cred to the MAC. We need all the cred we can get the MAC. So do you root for #7 from Pittsburgh? 2x Rapist, 1x motorcycle stunt man, all-time douchebag no, but I don't dislike him because he is from the MAC. I dislike him because of his character. I dislike him too. I also know my Steelers need him to win. I'll take winning over losing...it makes the fall go faster. There is a writer for the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh that wroted a good article this week about the long term disaster that would be getting rid of Ben. His name is Ron Cooke and he wrote the article on Friday (I think). What day did you readed it? Good catch. I just noticed it. Too much typing while drinking.....

He should fit right in at tOSU then. He should get three days in the bank right now for when the inevitable DUI hits. It will save him the time of serving the three days once he gets there. Signed Chris Jaquemain.... The last time I checked, Chris Jacquemain never made the police blotter. OK, LOL Maybe I should have signed it with one of many other names that I could have used. Which Zip has made the police blotter in the last five years? Every year, a Buckeye graces the pages of newspapers around the country with his off the field exploits involving drinking and a car. It's really OK to admit you are OK with the off the field exploits as long as they win. I would feel that way if I like tOSU, why can't everyone else just admit it?

Very responsible response by TW. There is no reason to build a bigger arena if only 3,500 are going to show up. A new arena is a want, not a need. True. But then fixing up the JAR becomes a need, not a want. I agree. There is no need for people who buy GA tickets to have to visit a doctor for back pain the day after going to a Zips game. Less potential crowd size, more comfortable seats is what I'm talking about. Make the game day experience one that at least doesn't result in physical pain.

you know what, now that LeFevour is no longer a MAC rival, I wish him the best of luck. How lucky to be able to play for the team you grew up watching. I expect him to compete for Cutler's starting position within a couple years, especially if Cutler has a year like he did last year. I don't understand why guys are making fun of him here. We should want conference members to make it to the NFL. It brings cred to the MAC. We need all the cred we can get the MAC. So do you root for #7 from Pittsburgh? 2x Rapist, 1x motorcycle stunt man, all-time douchebag no, but I don't dislike him because he is from the MAC. I dislike him because of his character. I dislike him too. I also know my Steelers need him to win. I'll take winning over losing...it makes the fall go faster. There is a writer for the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh that wroted a good article this week about the long term disaster that would be getting rid of Ben. His name is Ron Cooke and he wrote the article on Friday (I think).

He should fit right in at tOSU then. He should get three days in the bank right now for when the inevitable DUI hits. It will save him the time of serving the three days once he gets there. Signed Chris Jaquemain.... The last time I checked, Chris Jacquemain never made the police blotter.

Please go back in my posts and find my brilliant explaination for how they should divide up college football with the best teams of the past 40 years.

Very responsible response by TW. There is no reason to build a bigger arena if only 3,500 are going to show up. A new arena is a want, not a need.

In full agreement! Along with that, when this big conference thing shakes out, I would not mind the thought of adding Navy and Army as football schools only (mostly b/c I doubt they would do more than that). Akron, Toledo, Buffalo, Temple, Army, Navy, Marshall, Western Kentucky (nice b-ball program, newer/renovated stadium), Troy, ECU, Southern Miss, UAB, etc. Again, it is so tough to predict right now what these leagues will look like. And really, I, like GP1 (or at least similar) have been calling for perhaps a Tier 1 and Tier 2 FBS schools type situation. A lot is going to change in the next 4 to 5 years. We need to be ready to pounce on the best opportunity available. Make fun of NE Ohio all you will, but it is still a large population pool and relatively big market when considering the whole picture. Not to mention the talent pool football wise (b-ball and soccer not bad either!) that it can help to bring into a conference with Akron on board. Both good points. Temple is not long for the MAC. I would go as far as to say as if the Big East had teams leave, they would take a long, hard look at bringing Temple back regardless of what happened in the past. The ACC now has a team as far north as Boston College. UCONN and Temple would make excellent choices for the ACC. It would round out New England and bring in a HUGE media market in Philadelphia. As far as Army and Navy, whatever conference we are in needs to be an "all or nothing" conference. Either schools are committed to being in the MAC or not. If they aren't, then no thanks. If they are, then they would be good additions. Separating D-1A is the best way to make college football better and schools better able to compete at their own level. My brilliant and foresight full commentary on this issue in the past year is the kind of reading NCAA leaders should be reading if they really want to reform college football in a meaningful way. If the choose not to take my brilliant advice, then let them wallow in their own stupidity. I don't know why everyone has to suffer because people involved in college athletics are so stupid.

He should fit right in at tOSU then. He should get three days in the bank right now for when the inevitable DUI hits. It will save him the time of serving the three days once he gets there.

While it makes more money for the pimps at the NCAA, it does not make the quality of the tournament better. One could even say it devalues the tournament. This is no different than the expansion of professional sports leagues. When the NHL first started, there were six teams. Was the day in and day out play better, yes. Did they make more money, no. The majority of players playing in the NHL today would have played in the minors when the league first started. If you know anything about hockey, you would have been highly entertained by Olympic tournament. The best players in the world were on the ice for the top level teams every SHIFT. Imagine MLB with half the teams they have now. The excellent starting rotations would be able to be matched by excellent hitters. The quality of long relievers would be great. Bench depth would be outstanding. Fielding would be better. The game would be better. As the NCAA "builds" itself, the quality of play is diminished. Does anyone really believe all 135 odd D-1A football teams are equal? Does anyone believe adding five more teams to D-1A will make it better?

Triple play.....

Explain why dinosaurs and humans only existed on together in television programs and in Creationist indoctrination centers..........I mean, museums.

Probably not. Paul is to intellectual to believe that. The "Earth is 6,000 years old" crowd, while it has been around forever, is now populated by the home schooling types who are complete lunatics. Neo-Christians are a large part of this group.

GP1, How do you see a split between the BCS and non-BCS schools bringing in $$$ for the non-BCS schools? I don't. It was a mistake. It would bring in a ton of cash for BCS schools.

Ron Paul is sort of a super hero fighting for truth, justice and the American way.....

This author uses the word genome in his article. It reminds me of the guy who mapped the human genome and wrote a book called The Language of God. Like many great scientists, he believes in God and is a Christian, but not in a way in which many neo-Christians believe in God. Many new-Christians are like that smiling, creepy preacher (I can't think of his name right now...Joel Olstein, sp?) from Houston who believes if you pray enough, God will reward you with riches...literally. This guy believe much more in the idea that God created the Universe and with the free will we have been given by Him, can do whatever we want with it. Sometimes we do good and sometimes we do bad. Neo-Christians believe they have a "personal relationship with God"..whatever that is supposed to mean. I actually think that type of thinking is for people who really believe they are God and want to look down their noses at others. The thinking is very anti-intellectual. The Bible is clear, "I am who am".....Not, "My name is Joe". The point being you will never truely know me, but you should spend your life trying to get to know me by doing good works and praying. We should use our free will to do those things and post on ZipsNation.

Maybe. A little too early to really know. The problem real conservatives have is they are being pushed aside by the the noise maching that is Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Palin, the lunatics on the religious right who believe the Earth was created 6,000 year ago and that crazy woman from Minnesota. Sane people like Ron Paul are beginning to be heard because people pay attention, but they can easily be painted with a broad brush by the media and discounted as something the are not when they will ultimately have to associate with the noise machine. FOX News, which is actually a liberal network because of their embracing of neo-conservatives, has duped many in this country to believe their brand of conservatism is the only one out there. They are a bunch of stupid people, who happen to look nice, for the most part, playing the ratings games and a lot of people can't see through that because the "conservative" option is FOX News and the "liberal" option is MSNBC. It's moronic and childish. Ron Paul holds adult ideas and is a smart guy...there is no room for him on FOX News. As much as I like Ron Paul, he has to much of a public record to run for office. People who get elected today are lightweights like Obama and GW Bush who had little in the way of accomplishments prior to being President. Compassionate Conservatism, what the Hell is that? The Audacity of Hope, what the Hell is that? It's nothing. Great one, I think your thinking is misunderestimated because you are often counterintuitive! And so is Ron Paul. Paul is an "anti-politician". He speaks his own mind too much to be taken seriously by any "serious" (i.e., American "mainstream", or establishment) party. This is why Paul receives support not just from the political Right, but from populists across the spectrum, not unlike Ralph Nader, or even (at times, though not much recently) Patrick Buchanan. Another anti-pol politician who gets support from Left and Right in his home state is Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. People support leaders who aren't afraid to speak (and vote) their mind. Sanders started his career as Mayor of Burlington, a city with a heavy student and Lefty population, and to appeal to that crowd, he called himself a (small 's') socialist and formed the Vermont Progressive Coalition to get elected Mayor for 3-4 terms. When he ran for Congress first in 1988, a (moderate) Republican was elected, showing the Dems that if they run their own candidate, they only split their own vote, but joining in a broad-based coalition gains votes and wins elections -- and Sanders has voted with the Dem Caucus since going to Washington. But, my point is, he claims conservative and Republican votes (at least 10%) because of his frankness. I would not hesitiate to say that Bernie and Ron have a lot more in common with each other, than they have with the establishment pols of the Dem or GOP parties. Check out Paul's recent comments at the Southern Tea Party convention -- or whatever they called it. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0410/ron-paul-...es-like-empire/ Good post. I think one of the main differnces between Paul and Sanders is Sanders is embraced by MSNBC and is a regular on their evening line-up. He is slowly becoming part of the mainstream left. The word "sellout" comes to mind. On the other hand, the neo-conservative talking heads like Fred Barns, Bill Kristol and Brit Hume on FOX News giggle at Paul because, among many other reasons, he does not hold their "military intervention at all cost" view of the world. In reality, Paul cares about the people in the military and does not want unnecessary harm come to them. Neo-conservatives could care less about the people we send off to war and could care less if they are killed fighting for an elected dictator in lieu of a run of the mil dictator who may have come to power through a military overthrow. Some cultures lend themselves to dictators. We are not going to change that with bombs. Neo-conservatives bashed Colin Powell because he told GW Bush, "If you break it, you buy it." Iraq is like a case of Herpes, it just won't go away. Bush wasn't looking past the first wave of bombs in Iraq. If you listen to a guy like Kristol speak even today, he wants to drop bombs and then see what happens. Neo-conservatives have no idea as to what to do after they drop bombs other than more bombs. That's the problem witih neo-conservatives in a nutshell. Their ideas are very shallow when you see them in action. Deep down, they are a bunch of liberals. It's hard to have ideas like Paull because ideas such as freedom from government are difficult to describe and he is not the most well spoken guy. One of my favorite things Paul does is ask the obvious questions about topics many have neglected to discuss in years? Does the US still need troops in Germany to protect the Germans from the whore chasing, alcoholics in Russia (OK, I inserted whore chasing, alcoholics only because they are whore chasing alcoholics)? We don't have enough troops in South Korea to adequately defend S. Korea against N. Korea, so why do we keep troops there? Paul's comments are actually much smarter though, because they center around what the Constitution says about wars and where troops should be. If there is no declaration of war in Europe, why are there troops there? If there is no declaration of war in Korea (there never was one), then why are we still there? It was actually a very conservative Republican who warned the country of the "military industrial complex". Look where we are today. Sorry for the long paragraphs, but Sanders is becoming more mainstream every day on the liberal MSNBC and Paul is not becoming mainstream anywhere.

I would bet the Big Ten makes a lot off of their network. It doesn't seem to me though that having your own network would be that difficult. If the Big Ten can do it, the SEC, Big 12 and PAC 10 could do it as well. Speaking of lucrative, the split between the BCS and FBS would rake in a ton of cash for the non-BCS schools. College football needs to do something. Simply leveling the playing field financially will not work because the non-BCS schools wouldn't know what to do with a pile of cash if they had it. The big schools got big for a reason....they knew what to do and they did it. The smaller schools sort of know what to do and can't execute on a plan because anyone with any vision goes to a big school and becomes the AD there.

I would be interested to know what the opinions of the current Big Ten teams are. I would like to see WVU in this group in lieu of Rutgers. If ND says no thanks to the Big Ten, which I think they will because they don't want the competition, then Rutgers makes sense. My guess is tOSU will lobby heavily against the expansion of the Big Ten. Games involving Pitt, WVU and PSU instantly become more interesting than the tOSU vs. Michigan game. Not only that, but tOSU would have to play WVU, PSU and Pitt every year. I doubt they want to do that. Kansas and Nebraska will never join the Big Ten. They are already in a better conference than the BT. It doesn't make sense for them to leave. Texas will NEVER join the Big Ten. Some of you give the BT more respect than it deserves. It's a good confernce, but it isn't better than the PAC 10, Big 12 or SEC. My guess is all of the speculation will amount to nothing by the end of the summer.

Sometimes when a person is wrong, they should just admit they are wrong and just move on. Digging the hole deeper is not the best thing to do.

That's because football has become a passing game with the QB in the shotgun. The game moves too fast to put the QB under center unable to focus downfield. Nope. I think Lee Corso has had too large an influence on your football knowledge. The are disadvantages and advantages to both. For example, the QB gets a better read on the secondary when under center as opposed to being in the shotgun. So you are saying a QB gets a better read hunched over with his hands on the sweaty ass of a center than he does standing erect in the backfield with a wider range of vision? It's amazing anyone would even type that. If that was the case, wouldn't every QB have his hands under center on 3rd and 10 so he could get a better read instead of in the shotgun...they could always run that play action fake on 3rd and 10 running from under center. We all know how well that works. Are you also saying football has not become a passing game? That would sort of fly in the face of reality. Football has not just become a passing game, the rule changes have made it so you almost have to pass to take advantage of them. Not sure where the Lee Corso comment comes from.

Try to look at it philosophically....the day you are conceived is the day you start to die. Buildings are the same. The day they are finished is the day they start to die. Think of the replacement of the concrete as a sixth toe. It does happen, but can easily be fixed the first couple days after birth. UofA is just removing a sixth toe.

That's because football has become a passing game with the QB in the shotgun. The game moves too fast to put the QB under center unable to focus downfield.

If you go back and read some of my posts from when the stadium was built, I predicted this would happen rapidly. The problem is they installed the concrete during the winter, which is the worst time possible to pour concrete. If I remember right, it was extemely cold when they poured it a couple of winters ago. Some cracking should be expected during the first year as the structure settles, but large scale replacement should not be required. I'm sure the subcontractor who installed the concrete has a trail of letters they wrote about pouring concrete in the winter protecting them from lawsuits. The pressure to get this job done on time was pretty big. Contractors know risk and when a problem will happen so they protect themselves. Contracting is actually a form of legalized gambling. You gamble on material costs, labor, weather, etc. There are three ways to get a construction project: good, fast and cheap. What most people don't understand is you can only get two of them. The stadium was finished fast and cheap ($64 million really isn't that much). Because of that, some problems should have been expected. There are probably more problems out there waiting to happen, but drywall covers up a lot of potential problems until they show themselves and it is too late. In gerneral, the stadium is probably an extremely safe place, there were just some things that had to be rushed and now they have to fix those things. It should have been expected.