In an attempt to explain away the Big 10's weak performance on the recruiting trail and the national title game, the Big 10's commissioner issued a "Letter to the Fans" this week.(Image: Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany)
Rather than address specific issues regarding the Big 10's alleged recruiting problems, Commissioner Jim Delany tries to tear down the SEC in a belittling, condescending piece. In his "letter" he states:
I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics. Each school, as well as each conference, simply must do what fits their mission regardless of what a recruiting service recommends. I wish we had six teams among the top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process. Not every athlete fits athletically, academically or socially at every university. Fortunately, we have been able to balance our athletic and academic mission so that we can compete successfully and keep faith with our academic standards.He all but calls the SEC member schools a bunch of redneck football whores who will do anything to win.
For his part, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive took the high road in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. When asked about the Delany's stats showing relative parity between the two leagues, Slive stated:
"I can appreciate why the Big Ten wants to compare itself to the Southeastern Conference. This is a comparison we welcome in the spirit of wholesome intercollegiate athletic competition." He went on to point out, "Slive responded by pointing out the SEC has five national titles since 1992, and those were won by four different schools: Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and LSU. The Big Ten has two titles during that span: Michigan's in 1997 and Ohio State's in 2002."
Slive took a much higher road than I would've taken. My response would've been:- "I'm sorry, but I couldn't hear you over Troy Smith's cries of pain. If you could be so kind as to tell Maurice Clarett and Chris Webber that I said hello, I would appreciate it.
- -- One of the Best Minds of the 18th Century - EDSBS
-- Big 10 Commish: Honorary Tech Fan - Dawgsonline
-- All Blog Articles About Delany's Letter - Technorati
-- A Buckeye Perspective - Around the Oval
-- Delany's Letter - Big 10 Official Site
-- The Most Powerful Man in College Football - Yahoo Sports
PWD
19 comments:
Pairing "speed" with what kind of "social fit" players have on campus sounds like something you would have heard from an Ole Miss apologist in 1971.
Slow defensive linemen today, slow defensive linemen tomorrow, slow defensive linemen FOREVER!
Redneck football whore doesn't sound like an insult to me. ;-)
Seriously, his comments are condescending and borderline racist, and directly insult players on SEC teams (and others) that he feels would not meet his sthletic balance ideal.
Would love to see a detailed difference in the academic requirements between the 2 conferences. I suspect both use the NCAA minimums and then some schools may have a committee that student-athletes have to get by. Just don't think he should get away with making such comments without listing specific numbers illustrating their higher academic standards. Maybe a blogger with some free time can research this :)
Besides Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin...... I'd say the SEC is comparable academically to the Big Ten.
Vanderbilt- better than Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Georgia- better than Indiana, Ohio State, and Iowa.
Florida- better than Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa, and Penn State.
What the hell is this big ten commish talking about?
Shouldn't the Big 10 commish go after the ACC? After all, Reggie Ball was a student @ Tech.
Didn't Troy Smith take money from a booster a few years ago? Maurice, Webber, the list goes on and on.
SEC football = Chocolate Milk / Big 10 football = Yoo Hoo
There is no comparison.
PS: Didn't I see a story on ESPN Sportcenter about a Michigan D-lineman named Branch. They said if you walked into the breakroom, you might see him with a box of crayons and a coloring book. I kid you not.
Is that their arguement for academic integrity?
When did it become acceptable for people to talk about someone else's team?
It's like if I went around blabbing my mouth off about another university's English department. Unprofessional and inappropriate.
Good job calling him out on it.
It takes a special kind of scholar to handle Andy Katzenmoyer's class load.
I read EDSBS' commentary on this a couple of days ago. Brilliant.
The little 10 commissioner made his comments on the 10 having a 13-13 recorde against the SEC the last 10 years. What he failed to explain was that in these bowl games majority of the time the sec sends it's #4-#6 teams to face their #2-#4. I think that the sec having a .500 mark the last ten years in bowl games versus their best and we are sending our middle of the pack is telling them they still suck. and our talent level is still much better. Why is it the SEC seems to always play up against its competition, cause we will play any one. The big ten played Vandy and Kentucky last year. Don't see them Scheduling anybody but the ball states of the world. Like Lewis Grizzard onces said, "Watching Big Tenn Football was like watching 2 hogs fight over a turnip" Who Cares!!!!!
Didn't Eddie George almost quit football at Ohio St because his coaches weren't allowing him to study? Also, who was the LB from OSU that was taking 5 PE classes, then skipped out to go to the NFL...this guys is a moron.
I think Jimmy the Greek got fired from broadcasting for making similar type references!
That's especially funny coming from the conference Ohio State resides in, The Buckeyes being bar none THE most crooked University in America for my money. The sad thing is they also have thebiggest AD budget in the country too if I'm not mistaken and they're still plagued/benefited by rampant CHEATING. Smith, Clarett... hell anybody remember that exposé Real Sports did on all those foreign hoopsters 5 or so years ago? Those guys did ZERO work of their own, got paid gifts every other day, all this was proven and NOTHING CAME OF IT. Gotta love that, man I wish WE were a media darling.
I woulda said yankee media darling, but somehow Tennessee always seems to get away with murder too - GATA Slive.
I know that kind of stuff makes us mad but it is the truth. Everone knows that the SEC is the best football conference no question. But lets face it there is a reason we can offer so many scholarships a year because we know a good number will not make the grade or flunk out. The SEC is not a national power in academics. To fix some of OSUs problems they now have academic standards that are as difficult as Notre Dame. Maybe we should up our standars or just enjoy the level of football we have. I say we keep football just the way it is. Another National Championship please.
I know that kind of stuff makes us mad but it is the truth. Everone knows that the SEC is the best football conference no question. But lets face it there is a reason we can offer so many scholarships a year because we know a good number will not make the grade or flunk out. The SEC is not a national power in academics. To fix some of OSUs problems they now have academic standards that are as difficult as Notre Dame. Maybe we should up our standars or just enjoy the level of football we have. I say we keep football just the way it is. Another National Championship please.
I know that kind of stuff makes us mad but it is the truth. Everone knows that the SEC is the best football conference no question. But lets face it there is a reason we can offer so many scholarships a year because we know a good number will not make the grade or flunk out. The SEC is not a national power in academics. To fix some of OSUs problems they now have academic standards that are as difficult as Notre Dame. Maybe we should up our standars or just enjoy the level of football we have. I say we keep football just the way it is. Another National Championship please.
The majority of NFL players are from SEC states. You can talk about academics all you want too, but the fact remains that SEC teams will continue to rank higher in recruiting than the Big Teenie teams regardless of the academic standards set forth by each conference.
My newborn whines less than this guy!
WHAA WHAA WHAA WHAA
Big Ten (11) Academics according to the ONLY official Football Comparison:
929 is what Ohio State thugs have as a NCAA APR (Academic Progress Report) this morning.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/518_2005_apr.pdf
952 for Michigan.
950 for Iowa.
910 for Purdue.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/559_2005_apr.pdf
918 for Illinois.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/301_2005_apr.pdf
931 for Indiana.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/306_2005_apr.pdf
961 for Northwestern.
957 for Penn State.
914 for Wisconsin.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/796_2005_apr.pdf
907 for Michigan State.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/416_2005_apr.pdf
918 for Minnesota.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/428_2005_apr.pdf
What the hell is so bloody great about that ?
SEC :APR :
966 Florida APR.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/235_2005_apr.pdf
981 Auburn.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/37_2005_apr.pdf
916 Alabama.
940 Arkansas.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/31_2005_apr.pdf
950 Georgia.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/257_2005_apr.pdf
926 Tennessee vols of Phillip Fulmer.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/694_2005_apr.pdf
911 South Carolina.
957 Vanderbilt.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/736_2005_apr.pdf
958 Ole Miss.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/433_2005_apr.pdf
920 Mississippi State.
940 Kentucky.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/334_2005_apr.pdf
935 LSU.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2005/365_2005_apr.pdf
8 SEC Schools are above 935 in the APR.
4 Big Ten (11) schools are above 932 in the APR.
The SEC is twice as good academically speaking than the Big Ten (11) ever will be for Official NCAA Academic Comparisons in Football between the Big Ten (11) schools and the SEC schools.
There is ONLY 1 measure of Academics Officially for an NCAA spokesperson to speak to on this day about his conference. This takes no more than 11 minutes to look up and report.
931 Big Ten (11) Average APR in Football.
941 SEC Average APR in Football.
There is NO comparison Academically of the two football conferences in Academics.
It is as one-sided as it has ever been either in the Classroom, in the Recruiting Rankings, in the NFL Players, or on the Football Gridiron between the Big Ten (11) and the SEC.
The Big Ten (11) have also Won the Worst Percentage of their football games against The SEC at only a 42 percent Winning Percentage :
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/multi-conference.pl?start=1932&end=2006&team=Illinois&team=Indiana&team=Iowa&team=Michigan&team=MichiganState&team=Minnesota&team=Northwestern&team=OhioState&team=PennState&team=Purdue&team=Wisconsin
On the Road, The Big Ten (11) wins only 29 percent of its games against The SEC.
And, in Bowl Games the Big Ten (11) wins only 38 percent of its games against The SEC.
Football Academics the Big Ten (11) Commissioner wants to talk ?
BS.
Where is his URL Link to such BS ?
Post a Comment