DaytonBlue

I'm sick of ESPN announcers saying Mizzou shouldn't leave the Big 12 because of tradition. The traditions are being ripped away anyways and Mizzou needs to get out from under the Longhorn shadow. The names and geography of the conferences when this is done might make the 90s and earlier NFC West (STL, NO, ATL, CAR, SF) look logical.

Does anyone know if the Winnipeg Jets hung banners to honor players from Jets 1.0? I read they weren't retiring numbers (makes sense), but I was wondering if they were going to have a ring of honor or something a la St. Louis Rams (whose ring of honor honors old St. Louis Cardinals and Rams of any era).

Reminds me of this.

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/pnc-park-threatens-to-leave-pittsburgh-unless-bett,2003/

Has there ever been an MLB stadium that supported two teams simultaneously? I wonder if someplace like DC, Atlanta or LA could add the Rays in an extant park. There many obvious obstacles to any of those cities, and scheduling would be a nightmare, but I'm just wondering if there's precedence to that kind of arrangement.

The biggest problem would be that the field would get torn up in a hurry. I think a lot of teams re-sod their grass (at least, the infield grass) around the All-Star break. (I know St. Louis did this, as I saw them doing so while standing outside their stadium back in July.)

I think the province is chipping in a little on the new QC rink, and very begrudgingly. I don't see them underwriting two sports projects at once.

As a lover of all things French-Canadian except gravy fries, I would love to see baseball back in Montreal, but I fear that Loi 101 and the Loria/Selig conspiracy have ruined baseball there forever. Shame.

I love me some poutine. I had to get an order when I went to Windsor a couple months ago.

After living down here awhile, my thoughts on attendance:

- there are a lot of transplants and old people down here, most seem to be Yankee/Chicago/Boston fans first...Rays fan second.

- the stadium is ugly and personally doesn't make sense for the beautiful surroundings. Yeah, it rains...but an open air stadium would draw more fans I believe.

- another knock on the stadium is location. it's an hour trip for those that come from anywhere east of downtown Tampa...same for those in north Tampa or Tarpon Springs area.

I've made this comparison that Atlantans can relate to when it comes to attending Rays games: It's comparable to leaving your downtown Atlanta job at 5pm, picking up your family in Roswell, and then driving to Duluth to go to the game. A ton of traffic, and no way in hell would you do that on a near-daily basis. You'd get there in time for the 3rd inning, and would have to leave in the 7th inning before traffic jams up so you can get your kids to bed and yourself to bed before 11pm (which is the time you might get home if the game ends at 10pm).

St. Louis resodded the field because of the U2 concert they hosted. For baseball purists, this was a big controversy and any misstep in fielding for the first few nights of the new turf was very much overanalyzed.

MLB, in their infinite logic, decided to put the Rays game Tuesday at 1 and the Cardinal game at 4 (CT). That should have been flipped. The Rays fans would have had more time to get there and the Cardinals wouldn't have had to play in the shadows. Oh MLB.

Or TBS could put more games on TNT and they can all start at 5 or 6 eastern.

One of the TBS announcers said at the Rays first home playoff game that it was the first sellout since opening day. I still think the issue is the location of the ballpark. Of course getting a new one built will be quite a struggle I'm sure.

As far as two teams sharing one park, I don't see that happening again. See how the Scranton Yankees are vagabonds next year because no IL team wanted to host 140 games and have their field damaged.

I still think the Big 12 is far from rock steady. It's safe for at least the 2012 season.

Missouri to the SEC and how about Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State to the Pac-12.

Basically everyone tells Texas to goes "F" themselves.

I like this plan.

Oh and the Mizzou is not southern idea is kind of right, kind of not. IMHO, driving from Memphis to St. Louis, the south ends around Sikeston, MO (halfway point) at Lambert's Cafe where they throw rolls at you.

But when did geography and counting become important in naming college football conferences. My alma mater plays in a 14-team basketball league known as the Atlantic 10.

As a Mizzou fan in Memphis, I'm stoked about this possible move to the SEC. I'd love being able to go to Starkville, Oxford, Fayetteville, etc. to see Mizzou play! Mizzou must go if they get an offer; they cannot wait around for OU and Texas to make up their minds. And they cannot wait for the B1G to come calling (we all know how well that worked out last time).

As George W. said, "Fool me once, shame on, shame on you...fool me...you can't get fooled again."

I like the Tucson Padres logo, even though it was slapped together and was supposed to be temporary.

7-team divisions

6*6 36

23*2 46

82

8-team divisions

division 38

4 teams 5x, 3 teams 6x

22*2 44

82

Yes it's not the most balanced, but it does help teams like Detroit and Columbus who would only have to play 8 games more than one time zone away. The rest of their road games would start at 7 or 8 et. This would keep them from whining as much about staying in the West, which I think they both would have to do if Phoenix moves to Quebec. And if Phoneix moves East, they only have to play 7 games in the Pacific time zone.

Of course, what I think would be easier would be to stay with 6 divisions and move to an NBA model of scheduling:

-2 games against other conference=30

-4 games against divisional teams=16

-remainder of games against intraconference teams=36 (some would be 3x, some 4x, on a rotating basis)

This would give CBJ and DET 13 games in the pacific time zone, give or take, depending on what intraconference teams they are playing 4x that year.

The drawback to the NBA model is playing your divisional rivals less times.

Florida should be in the Atlantic. The formatting was messed up. Thanks for pointing that out, don't want to give the NHL any ideas!

NHL 2013

Pacific Midwest Northeast Atlantic

CAL WIN TOR NYR

EDM MIN MON NYI

VAN CHI OTT NJ

SJ DET BUF PHI

LA STL BOS WAS

ANA DAL PIT CAR

PHX NAS CLB TB

COL FLA

Top 4 in each division make playoffs.

If Phoenix moves to Quebec

Columbus to Midwest and Pacific is 7 team and MW is 8 team.

Play everyone outside of your division 2x. Division foes are 5 or 6 times depending on division size.

First two rounds of playoffs in division only to reduce travel. Then division banners mean something. The Blues won the division in 99-00 and raised a banner though they didn't win a playoff round. In 2000-01, they made the 3rd round but no banner because they didn't win the division. This would resolve that.

I feel like Houston would only work if Les Alexander owned them, just like how an NBA team would only work in St. Louis if they and the Blues were owned by the same person.

Never heard jobberdome before. I love it.

It's always bugged me that the Pacific Coast League has four divisions but both divisions in each conference play the identical schedule. Therefore I would get rid of the divisions and have the top two from each conference make the playoffs, with the semifinal round being a crossover format (1st from one conference plays 2nd from the other).

Coastal Conference

Tacoma

Reno

Colorado Springs

Salt Lake

Fresno

Sacramento

Las Vegas

Tucson

Central Conference

Memphis, Iowa, Nashville, Omaha, New Orleans, Round Rock, OKC, Albuquerque,

Doesn't wild card winner sound appropriate? After all, they won it, but it's not a championship.