The quest to make the Big10 a real conference again.

The Big10 has slowly been losing relevance in college sports. While many of its schools remain near the top in the nation in academics and research (and don't get me wrong, these are SUPER important), unless something happens in the near future to change the current trend, the Big10 will fade into obscurity. In a time where government funding is harder and harder to come by and private donations are likely to fall off in a declining economy, the revenue generated by sports will be increasingly important. 

The Big10 should expand to include one more team. It's obviously not concerned about the name, as it's already eleven school (although it would be harder to hide a 12 inside the logo than an 11). An attempt to add a 12th team has already been made with an offer to Notre Dame in 1999. Notre Dame declined the offer - good for them. So I propose that the Big10 adds NDSU. I can't imagine there are too many people who will agree with me on this, but I stand by the idea.

NDSU has proven it's ability to play football at a high level. They're consistently ranked near the top of FCS schools. They played tough against Minnesota last year (not that that was a huge accomplishment). The foundation for a solid football program is in place, and taking their program to the major conference level would allow them to recruit and become a very competitive football team.

They have also proven their ability to play basketball at a high level. They went in and beat Wisconsin in the Kohl Center - no easy feat for any team, much less for NDSU.

NDSU can play ball, the Big10 should give them a roster spot.

At that point, the Big10 would be in a better place to play for two more weeks; you know, like everybody else.

Rivalry Weekend could be:

Illinois v. Northwestern (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)

Iowa v. Iowa State (Cy-Hawk Trophy)

Minnesota v. Wisconsin (Paul Bunyan's Axe)

Michigan v. Ohio State (No Trophy, but the best rivalry in the Big10)

Michigan State v. Penn State  (Land Grant Trophy)

Indiana v. Purdue (Old Oaken Bucket)

NDSU v. South Dakota State (Dakota Marker)

Admittedly, Iowa and NDSU could start a new rivalry, but the above schedule would be of more interest, with all of them having a lot more history.

ALSO, having a 12th team in the Big10 would mandate a Conference Championship game. The Big10 would probably be split into East and West, looking something like this:

East: 

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Penn State

Purdue

Indiana

West:

Northwestern

Illinois

Wisconsin

Iowa

Minnesota

NDSU

Granted, the perennial powers tend to be in the eastern part of that alignment, so you could run into the same issues the Big12 is having this year, but it just makes the good teams prove themselves in a couple more games so we're likely to see fewer "Ohio State blown out in the National Championship" situations.

Certainly there are some holes in my idea. As usual, I'm not interested in them. I'm only interested in my ideas and thinking that they are right. Actually, I am interested, but they'll get the response "Yeah, but..." or "I don't care that it won't work, I still think it's a good idea."

And there's my two cents.

My reasons to be excited.

1. I'm excited for Mills. Dude bought a condo. I'm stoked for him. And a bit jealous.

2. I love riding bikes. Even in a trainer in a basement. That's how much I love riding bikes.

3. My shoulder is getting better. It's not better. Far from it in fact, but it's GETTING better. I've ridden in the trainer the past few days (see point number 2), including standing up and pulling on the bars a bit, and it doesn't bother a bit on the bike, which is AWESOME.

4. I'm going to Australia and New Zealand for the winter. What's not awesome about that? All totaled I'll be in each place for about six weeks. Most importantly, I won't have to deal with the unreasonably cold that happens in Minnesota.

5. At the end of Australia and New Zealand, I'm going to Japan! Freakin' sweet.

6. Tonight is going to be rad. I'm going to hang with a TON of great people that I don't get to see nearly often enough.