“All because the leagues that make up the sport have been rearranging themselves like a cheap date at the end of a long night of drinking, trying to get the attention of Mr. TV.” -Dr. Diz
FORT WORTH, TX – One of the sucky things about the increasing commercialization of all sports has been the chucking of tradition for the almighty dollar. Or Yen. Or Euro.
Rugby used to be all amateur. It was kinda cool to watch Wales play England and the TV announcers would also say the chap’s profession as they announced them at the beginning of the game. “Halsey works at the apothecary but he hopes to one day be a barrister.”
No more. They professionalized the game and changed a bunch of rules to make it more TV friendly. Resulting in much more rugby on the tube. The day of the amateur is long gone and with that comes a marked reduction in club players at all levels in all rugby playing countries. This is good for the advertisers… and bad for the average rugby playing schmoe.
The NHL? Those idiots are committing sport relevance hari kari over the money.
And in college football, hallowed rivalries have gone the way of truthful politicians, sacrificed to the altar of mo’ moolah. Penn State versus Pitt is no more. Texas against Texas A&M…nada.
Oklahoma versus Nebraska…see ya later. All because the leagues that make up the sport have been rearranging themselves like a cheap date at the end of a long night of drinking, trying to get the attention of Mr. TV.
No league has been pillaged as much, however, as the Big East, aka the Big Least.
BC, Virginia Tech and Miami left a few years back. West Virginia exited this past year. Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse are leaving this next year for the ACC. Rutgers is going to the Big Ten (where they will get their ass handed to them). And now, the seven non-football schools, which make up the bulk of the leagues basketball powers, are also leaving.
The Big East will thus be reduced to a league that has only two members actually in the Northeast; Temple and U Conn. And watch the Huskies and Cincy go… probably to the ACC and Big 12 respectively.
Wow.
One of the most prestigious conferences in college has been disassembled, with the other conferences feasting on its carcass and picking it clean. Yummy.
So now Eastern football has faded from relevance on the national stage. All of the programs are lesser actors to entrenched regional rivalries in the leagues that have picked them up.
Which is kinda sad.
