Starting in 2024, two signature Pac-12 programs will ditch the Pacific for the frozen tundra and schedule-padding victories over Illinois. A century plus of tradition, and a basic understanding of United States geography is flying out the window.
As a Wisconsin Badger and Big Ten graduate, I offer an overly chatty hello to my new colleagues—and I look forward to seeing their sun-tanned faces when they step off the plane in Madison and feel a blast of minus 11 howling off the isthmus. It will make a night game in Pullman seem like Bora Bora.
I hope their athletic directors have baked in the cost of flannel underpants, heated benches, and Jägermeister. I hope they’re OK with 40,000 flabby Midwest snowbirds packing into their stadiums and drinking all their beer. They ought to legalize Spotted Cow on tap.
Can you imagine the future conversations among traveling Big Ten fans?
OK, Pop Pop, we have room in the budget for one road trip this year. We can either take the Winnebago to the Purdue game or the USC…
(Pop Pop rushes to his bedroom and changes into shorts.)
It’s all ridiculous. Yes, there’s a grain of DNA to the move—the Pac-12 is the historic rival to the Big Ten, and I’ve heard supporters say “It’ll be like a Rose Bowl every week!” but there’s a reason you don’t have a Rose Bowl every week, and it’s the same reason you don’t eat fried Double Stuffed Oreos for breakfast. Too much of a good idea is a bad idea, and the novelty will be tarnished within months.
As a Wisconsin Badger and Big Ten graduate, I offer an overly chatty hello to my new colleagues—and I look forward to seeing their sun-tanned faces when they step off the plane in Madison and feel a blast of minus 11 howling off the isthmus. It will make a night game in Pullman seem like Bora Bora.
I hope their athletic directors have baked in the cost of flannel underpants, heated benches, and Jägermeister. I hope they’re OK with 40,000 flabby Midwest snowbirds packing into their stadiums and drinking all their beer. They ought to legalize Spotted Cow on tap.
Can you imagine the future conversations among traveling Big Ten fans?
OK, Pop Pop, we have room in the budget for one road trip this year. We can either take the Winnebago to the Purdue game or the USC…
(Pop Pop rushes to his bedroom and changes into shorts.)
It’s all ridiculous. Yes, there’s a grain of DNA to the move—the Pac-12 is the historic rival to the Big Ten, and I’ve heard supporters say “It’ll be like a Rose Bowl every week!” but there’s a reason you don’t have a Rose Bowl every week, and it’s the same reason you don’t eat fried Double Stuffed Oreos for breakfast. Too much of a good idea is a bad idea, and the novelty will be tarnished within months.
