This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Legends and Leaders – Seriously?
Dec
14
2010
The Big Ten announced the names of the new divisions today, and they also unveiled the new logo. I would have been very surprised if they had used the logo I designed for them, since I don’t even know that I did that.
Reaction to the new division names and the logo has been fairly consistent – no one likes them. Well, no one other than Commissioner Delaney.
I agree with all the fans out there. The Big Ten would have been better off keeping the temporary names of X and O. The new names, Legends and Leaders, are way too cheesy. They are meaningless and therefore worthless.
They are meaningless in that the teams were arbitrarily assigned to one side or the other. There’s no reason why one team is a Legend as opposed to a Leader. The names can have meaning, but they were not used that way.
For instance, Michigan State is a Legend although they are the third most recent addition to the Big Ten.
And Michigan uses the word “Leaders” to describe itself in its fight song, but it is not in the Leaders division.
For reference, here are the divisions:
X: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin
O: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Northwestern
Here’s my suggestion for the division names:
Potayto / Potahto
Just as meaningful and just as arbitrary as Legends and Leaders. Come on, Big Ten – they’re division names not a marketing slogan. I suppose over time people will just accept the names, but they will still setup some corny sportscasting situations.
“Leading the Leaders division is Penn State, and leading – or would that be Legending – the Legends division is Michigan State.”
“The worst team in the Big Ten is in the Leaders division and the newest team in the Big Ten is in the Legends division.”
“Looks like the Leaders are losing today, and the Legends are leading.”
Can anyone say why two of the three newest additions to the Big Ten are in the Legends division?
I know it’s too late and will not accomplish anything, but I put together several new divisions for the Big Ten. These divisions have names that mean something and the average sports fan will be able to tell you which teams should go in that division, given just the division names.
North/South
North: Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue
South: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Wisconsin
East/West
East: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, and Ohio State
West: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin
This is my favorite – look how cleanly that divides.
Red/Blue
Red: Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Wisconsin
Blue: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Purdue
This is based off the school colors. I know that Iowa and Purdue are not really blue, but they have to be honorary Blue members because Red is full.
I-M/N-W
I-M: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, and Minnesota
N-W: Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin
Rich/Poor
Rich: Michigan, Northwestern, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin
Poor: Indiana, Penn State, Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa
This is based off the schools’ endowments (divisions are in order). Let’s bring class warfare to college sports! Here are the numbers, in $billions:
Illinois (1.11), Indiana (1.23), Iowa (0.93), Michigan (6.00), Michigan State (1.05), Minnesota (2.07), Nebraska (0.96), Northwestern (5.45), Ohio State (1.65), Penn State (1.23), Purdue (1.46), and Wisconsin (1.37)
Large/Small
Large: Ohio State, Minnesota, Penn State, Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue
Small: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and Northwestern
This is based off the schools’ enrollments (divisions are in order). Could also be called David/Goliath. Here are the numbers, for undergrad:
Illinois (30895), Indiana (32490), Iowa (20907), Michigan (26083), Michigan State (36072), Minnesota (38645), Nebraska (24100), Northwestern (8284), Ohio State (40212), Penn State (38630), Purdue (31290), and Wisconsin (28690)
Old School/New School
Old School: Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Northwestern
New School: Michigan State, Penn State, Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, and Ohio State
This is based off the schools’ founded dates (divisions are in order). Here are the dates:
Illinois (1867), Indiana (1820), Iowa (1847), Michigan (1817), Michigan State (1855), Minnesota (1851), Nebraska (1869), Northwestern (1851), Ohio State (1870), Penn State (1855), Purdue (1869), and Wisconsin (1848)
Old School/New School
Old School: Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin
New School: Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, and Nebraska
Did you know the Big Ten originally had six members? This division is based off the dates that the schools joined the Big Ten (New School division is in order – all the Old Schools (Original Six) joined the same year). Here are the dates:
Illinois (1896), Indiana (1899), Iowa (1899), Michigan (1896), Michigan State (1950), Minnesota (1896), Nebraska (2011), Northwestern (1896), Ohio State (1912), Penn State (1990), Purdue (1896), and Wisconsin (1896)
That’s all I could muster for now. If the Big Ten ever comes to their senses, they are welcome to use any of these division suggestions.
Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;
Luke 12:51
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 12:33 am and has been carefully placed in the Sports category.
December 14th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Yeah, they did pretty much everything wrong. The logo looks like a seventh-grade design project; somebody on a Michigan blog said he was able to recreate it in Powerpoint — Powerpoint! Not Photoshop or Illustrator or even Paint, but Powerpoint! — in roughly three minutes. And the division names start with not just the same first letter, but the same first TWO letters, making them hard to differentiate.
They should ask for a refund from the company that designed the logo, and they should rescind the division names and pretend they never happened. The Big Ten embarrassed itself today.
December 14th, 2010 at 7:05 am
Yes, it is bad. I’m embarrassed for the B1G TEN.
Note: Some of the universities will change their names to comply with the new logo: for example, 0H10 ST4TE and P3NN 5TAT3.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Exactly! And then they can change the name to the Big License Plate Conference.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
I am dumb-founded that anyone cares. I know college football is BIG money, but…who cares? Apparently, a whole lot more people than I.
December 15th, 2010 at 11:47 am
College football is much more than just big money; it’s also big emotion. People tend to be much more emotionally attached to college teams than to pro teams these days — which is one big reason college teams can draw 100k+ on a regular basis — and the conference’s image affects its schools’ images at least a little bit.
So that’s why people care about the new logo and division names: it reflects badly on their schools, and that makes them mad.
December 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Not everyone lives in Apathy.
For example, I live just outside Careville. It’s probably closer to Opinionburg than to Careville, now that I think about it.
November 3rd, 2012 at 4:06 pm
We all know why the divisions are so messed up. Michigan and Ohio st sat down and said we want to play each other in the big ten championship, not regular season. The committee probably made them sand lot football captains and then drew names out of a hat until they had 6 and 6. Nevermind the fact that many of the teams had 70+ years of trophy game rivalries that are now completely dissolved (Iowa vs Wisconsin) just because Nebraska wanted to cash in on the TV contract. But have no fear, the big ten allowed for rivalry games… And Iowa gets Wisconsin .?.?.. Nope the cut throat rivalry of Purdue. Rivalry has never been spoken in the same sentence with Iowa and Purdue. What a joke.
November 3rd, 2012 at 4:11 pm
North and south would have been perfectly simple
November 4th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I like East/West because it puts Michigan and Ohio State in the same division. That way their game during the regular season is more meaningful and it guarantees that one of the “little 8” teams will be in the championship game each year. With the way Michigan has been playing lately, though, that’s not going to be a problem getting a team besides them into the championship.