do you care

[bilsu]

I would of never cared about the game before. Today Louisville plays West Virginia. I will be rooting for Louisville. I have much more interest in a game where I either want a team to win or a team to lose. I want West Virginia to lose.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

By the same token, I'mm rooting for UConn over Syracuse this afternoon in what they are dubbing locally as the "Pasqualoni Bowl".

[GGGG]

I would of never cared about the game before. Today Louisville plays West Virginia. I will be rooting for Louisville. I have much more interest in a game where I either want a team to win or a team to lose. I want West Virginia to lose.

Even though both would have chosen the B12, but only one was issue the invite?

[brewcity77]

Louisville wins! Suck it, WVU!

[Dawson Rental]

Even though both would have chosen the B12, but only one was issue the invite?

This doesn' really negate your point, but at least Pitino was out there publicly advocating ways to make the Big East a stronger basketball league while all the speculating was going on.  

[forgetful]

As an added bonus, UCONN beat Syracuse.

[bilsu]

Even though both would have chosen the B12, but only one was issue the invite?

I was not rooting for Louisville to win. I was rooting for West Virginia to lose. In college sports there are a lot of teams I root against. Kentucky is a good example. I want them to lose more than I want the other team to win. In otherwords, I want Kentucky to lose no matter who they are playing. That does not mean I like their opponent.

[RyanConroy]

I don't really harbor any animosity towards WVU for their decision to leave. The Big East is a sinking ship, any school would have done that.

UConn and 'Cuse are a different story.

[brewcity77]

I don't really harbor any animosity towards WVU for their decision to leave. The Big East is a sinking ship, any school would have done that.

UConn and 'Cuse are a different story.

Honestly, I don't think WVU's decision was very smart. They had to be involved in the early meetings about Big East expansion, and have a decent idea that these offers were coming. A Big East with Houston, SMU, UCF, and Boise State becomes a much better football league, yet not one so good that WVU doesn't have a hope of winning it. And adding those schools certainly means a renegotiated TV deal that will be worth at least $10-12M per full member.

Granted, the Big 12 pays out more, but is WVU ever going to compete for a BCS bid again against the likes of Texas and Oklahoma? And what about travel expenses? Not for the football team, but what about their other sports? Soccer, Rifle, Cross Country, Wrestling, Swimming...it's simply ridiculous that all of these sports will be traveling 800+ miles at the minimum for their competitions.

Lose the hope of going to a BCS game and increase the expense of all your non-revenue sports? If it were for Big Ten money, sure, but for the difference of $3-4M per year once all is said and done? Doesn't seem like a very smart decision.

And I wouldn't compare their decision to Pitt or Syracuse...the circumstances of Big East expansion were totally different when they left.

[Hoopaloop]

You can't blame WVU for their decision.  The Big East is in a world of hurt. It was very smart in my opinion.  They guarantee themselves into a BCS conference while the Big East is likely not to retain their status.  Furthermore, Louisville and UCONN are begging out.  Why wouldn't WVU leave or try to leave.  It's a game of musical chairs and if you don't move, the chairs will be gone.  This is about self preservation.  If Louisville was offered, they would have been gone in a second.  If the ACC invites UCONN, they are gone in a second.  Rutgers, gone in a second.   Is this a pessimistic viewpoint or a realistic, objective viewpoint?

That being said, great win for Louisville.  Anyone that has been to a game in Morgantown knows those fans are terrible.  Louisville didn't send their cheerleaders, mascot there today (not sure about the band) because their fans throw batteries and other projectiles at the students.  It was good to see

[77ncaachamps]

Since Pitt, Cuse, and WVU said they were going to leave the BE, their combined record since then is 6-9.

Suffer losers.

[Litehouse]

Can't wait until Big East football can unload this dead weight.

[bilsu]

I think West Virginia jumped the gun. The SEC would have been a better conference for West Virginia. Now if Missouri decides to stay in Big 12, West Virginia has given up their chance to be reconsidered by the SEC.

[chapman]

Supposedly Mizzou will formally make the move next week. 

Big East schools with the trifecta on the traitors today, Cincy improves to 7-1 with the win over Pitt.

Got to say the new conference will be a big improvement in football and not half bad, especially if they also get BYU.  Would definitely like if we could try to get one or two good basketball programs in though.

[Warhawk Warrior]

West Virginia has a rabid fan base.  The U kicked the fans in the groin by leaving.  According to their blogs a lot of them will no longer be following their team on away games, just to far for weekend travel.  That will equate to lost alumni revenue over time.

[Dawson Rental]

I think West Virginia jumped the gun. The SEC would have been a better conference for West Virginia. Now if Missouri decides to stay in Big 12, West Virginia has given up their chance to be reconsidered by the SEC.

There is no way - period - West Virginia would ever have gotten into the SEC.

[karavotsos]

I could care less about college football and I cared about WVU losing today.  I happened upon the game and rooted against WVU so that they would lose the meaningless number 23 next to their name and so that all their home fans would go home unhappy.

I don't care that they're leaving the Big East.  It bothers me immensely that they filed that lawsuit.  I hope that philosophy for success for a middling team is not ultimately rewarded.

It's a disappointing commentary on the decline of college athletics that I can't simply enjoy trolling the Milwaukee bar scene for Bobby Huggins on New Years Eve, looking to harass him for his failure to graduate players at Cincinnati and his departure from said university for a DUI before MU plays a 10AM New Years Day game against WVU for television purposes, and instead I have to decide how hard to boo WBU based on a decision about conference affiliation that is based completely on a sport that I care nothing about.   

I

[MUBasketball]

I could care less about college football and I cared about WVU losing today. 

It's I couldn't care less. Why do so many people say "could care less". Think about it, that doesn't make any sense.

[brewcity77]

You can't blame WVU for their decision.

I don't blame them for wanting out, I'm just not sure the Big 12 is a good fit for the reasons I mentioned. They left at a time when it seemed like the Big East had a shot at turning things around and likely getting a similar TV deal to what the ACC and Big 12 have, and they will be spending a ridiculous amount of money on flying or busing their non-revenue sports (Can't even imagine 800+ mile bus trips on a bi-weekly basis).

If it were the SEC, Big Ten, or especially the ACC (where they might get to a BCS game), I could see it. It'd make more sense for Louisville, but that's still a geographical stretch.

[wildbillsb]

  I could care less how many people say....wait a minute, wait a minute, what I mean to say is that in my opinion a much more serious usage faux pas involves the problem of the run-on sentence that just never stops people from talking like the ones you hear at Starbucks declaiming into their cell phones how important we're all supposed to think  these so-called movers and shakers are while sipping their lattes which I personally don't much care for as I'm a 50% decaf 12 oz. customer myself because coffee prices have gone through the roof, don't you think?

[Dr. Blackheart]

I don't blame them for wanting out, I'm just not sure the Big 12 is a good fit for the reasons I mentioned. They left at a time when it seemed like the Big East had a shot at turning things around and likely getting a similar TV deal to what the ACC and Big 12 have, and they will be spending a ridiculous amount of money on flying or busing their non-revenue sports (Can't even imagine 800+ mile bus trips on a bi-weekly basis).

If it were the SEC, Big Ten, or especially the ACC (where they might get to a BCS game), I could see it. It'd make more sense for Louisville, but that's still a geographical stretch.

+1...I was arguing this with MUHS but hard to get into all the financial reasons why this is a bad deal. I did a quick payout look at this deal for WVU. If you consider (and this is all based on assumptions, of which, may be wild but rumored):

WVU will have to buy their way out of the BE today, rumored to be $21mm. They have to pay the B12 a $2.5mm entry fee. It will cost WVU about $2mm more in travel for all their sports (now all plane) per year. The football schools passed on a $11mm per year football+basketball deal with ESPN coming in. But, WVU would get about $17mm per year coming in now--or $6mm more in revenue. 

Not considering the cost or return of capital or any lawsuits, subsequent opportunity costs (donations to make up for deficits, budget shortfalls, harder to earn a BCS bid and thus $$, cannot take tax write-offs for transition, B12 equal revenue sharing, etc.).  It would take at least 16 years for the B12 deal to be better financially for WVU than where the proposed BE deal from ESPN would have left them--just on the face value. 

So the lawsuits/negotiations to leave now, leave at $5mm not $21mm, waive the B12 fee, need to earn back now, need beer sales, need naming rights, need major booster outlays, ask ESPN for more $$, etc are imperative, but all in the support of football. Yes, "they" can do what they want, but they do answer to taxpayers, alumni, and donors as well.

[Hoopaloop]

+1...I was arguing this with MUHS but hard to get into all the financial reasons why this is a bad deal. I did a quick payout look at this deal for WVU. If you consider (and this is all based on assumptions, of which, may be wild but rumored):

WVU will have to buy their way out of the BE today, rumored to be $21mm. They have to pay the B12 a $2.5mm entry fee. It will cost WVU about $2mm more in travel for all their sports (now all plane) per year. The football schools passed on a $11mm per year football+basketball deal with ESPN coming in. But, WVU would get about $17mm per year coming in now--or $6mm more in revenue. 

Not considering the cost or return of capital or any lawsuits, subsequent opportunity costs (donations to make up for deficits, budget shortfalls, harder to earn a BCS bid and thus $$, cannot take tax write-offs for transition, B12 equal revenue sharing, etc.).  It would take at least 16 years for the B12 deal to be better financially for WVU than where the proposed BE deal from ESPN would have left them--just on the face value. 

So the lawsuits/negotiations to leave now, leave at $5mm not $21mm, waive the B12 fee, need to earn back now, need beer sales, need naming rights, need major booster outlays, ask ESPN for more $$, etc are imperative, but all in the support of football. Yes, "they" can do what they want, but they do answer to taxpayers, alumni, and donors as well.

Those numbers have changed more positively for WVU because of the revenue sharing agreement by the Big 12.  Also, the BE ESPN deal is dead so why are you comparing it to a deal that will never happen?  WVU is acting the here and now.  Knowing that ESPN deal will never happen since Syracuse and Pitt have left, WVU is going for stability and known dollars.  They are looking at what they get from the Big 12 vs what they could get from a new BE ESPN deal that will be far less now that conference is in such a dire position from a football perspective. 

They owe it to those same taxpayers, alumni, donors to be viable in the future.  Playing in the Big 12 with Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma state means they are in a viable league.  Playing in a conference where Pitt and Syracuse have already left, where UCONN is begging out.  Rutgers is publicly asking anyone to take them.  Louisville leave in a heartbeat if offered by the SEC or Big 12.  That is not a viable, stable situation and they have a fiduciary responsibility to those parties you mentioned to put themselves in the best long term situation.

[ringout]

You can't blame WVU for their decision. 

Yeah, you can't blame them.  The administration is a bunch of toothless hicks with 75% intermarried 1st cousins.