Still MIGHTY

From all the reports I've seen and read, it won't be Boise. Utah is on the top of the Pac-11's list right now.

Boise State has defected to the Mountain West.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5276064&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Matter of time really.

But what truly bugs me about all these articles is that none of them explicitly says when the conferences will realign in their new forms.

I know most have said that the new Pac-10(16?) and the new Big 10 would go into effect in 2012. Now, what about Boise? Will this be this year or next?

Ultimately, you could theoretically have what would amount to a 16 team super playoff. 2 divisions of 8 teams each for each of the 4 conferences. At the end of the season, you have the top 2 teams in each division play each other, then the winner of those games play in your conference championship game, which does exist in some conferences now. Then, you take all of the conference champions and put them up against each other in a national semifinal, with the winners the meeting in the national championship game.

I was rehashing this same scenario at work today, minus the Division Champ Game, but the problem remains here that the Mountain West would still gripe.

Nobody other than the 4 Megaconferences (Pac 16, Big 16, SEC, Big East/ACC conglomerate) could compete for the title. Ever.

I would say the 4 Mega conference champs, then 2 at-larges. Either the highest ranked Megaconference runner-up and the highest ranked Non-Megaconference team, Or just the two highest ranked teams outside the 4 champs.

The most clean cut way to do it would be just the 4 conference champs, but like I said, the little guys will gripe more than they do now about the BCS. Now there is some small shot at it. In the other way, they don't even have the opportunity.

Nope. The Clippers have absolutely nothing anywhere in the rafters at Staples.

The only things that ever say Clippers at Staples Center are the interchangeable signage around the arena that switches between the Lakers, Kings, Clippers, and Sparks, and the Staples Center upcoming events marquee off the freeway.

And for the Clippers... well... you get the point haha

If/when the Clips get LeBron/DWade/Joe Johnson/Dirk/etc. and a competent coach, they'll be shining the spotlight at their games real soon.

You keep thinking that.

Fantasyland is 40 miles down the freeway, man.

Random question that occurred to me while watching a Lakers playoff game the other day. Are the Lakers' banners covered up when the Clippers are the home team at Staples Center?

No, what they do is shine spotlights on the banners and retired numbers depending on who is playing.

There aren't many lights up by the banners so its darker, and they shine lights on only the Lakers banners when they are playing, only the Kings banners when they are playing, only the Sparks banner when they play.

And for the Clippers... well... you get the point haha

Staples also shines projections of the logos for the team playing up into the corners.

Being close to Bal and WAS, and having been to both cities / regions quite a bit, I feel that they are two separate markets. If Baltimore vanished from the Earth, the Washington market would be largely unaffected, and vice versa. If Los Angeles vanished from the face of the Earth, I have a hard time believing that Anaheim wouldn't be incredibly affected.

You'd be surprised.

There are a large amount of commuters from Orange County to LA of course, but then there are a ton from Riverside, Thousand Oaks, Valencia, the Inland Empire, etc. So yes Los Angeles is the hub between Santa Barbara to Orange County, with Camp Pendelton serving as a buffer between Orange County and San Diego. But while it is the hub, there are equal, and maybe just slightly less, business taking place in Orange County. LA is so packed with it now, that Orange County is almost equal in business terms. All of SoCal is one huge urban sprawl, but the only thing that is really different between LA and Orange County is that LA has its clearly defined downtown. I'd say they are almost on even terms at this point. Plus there is equal traffic going in either direction on freeways in the morning in most places, that's a good enough indicator

Basically if LA vanished, then things would shift easily to Orange County. They'd be affected sure, because initially everything spread out from LA from large to small, but now everything is the large urban sprawl. Things have built up to be equal entities, but there are the dividing lines of course. Trust me, they're connected, but they are separate enough.

To bring this example back to the sports teams, a majority of Angels/Ducks fans come from Orange County, Riverside, and I know the Angels at least extend into the South Bay. They do draw from LA (the Angels more than the Ducks for sure), but not as much as you would think.

Really the comparison of SoCal (minus SD) is analogous to the Bay Area (SF,SJ,OAK). Yes they are connected via urban sprawl, but they are different areas.

So then it's not just that picture.

Nope. The Tank is quite bright.

The outside is white piping. The inside is white piping and white floors and white lights and, of course, white ice.

The only colors off-setting it all is the few grays and a few black seats in the arena.

That San Jose arena feels oppressively bright.

That's because it kinda is.

What's Rutgers supposed to say - "yeah, we really hope they ask us, 'cause we can't wait to leave this crappy league we're in now!"

Means absolutely nothing.

Well, yeah. That was my initial reaction, too.

I saw it, so I thought I'd throw it in there.

In fact, all that means to me is that they are considering it. That's what that sounds like.

Narrowing down the field officially...

Chicago Tribune - AD Swarbrick says Notre Dame isn't interested in joining Big Ten. Irish content as football independent and in Big East

Newark Star-Ledger - Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti on Big Ten conference expansion plans: 'We are a proud member of the Big East Conference'

Which of those two angels ones is correct?

The first one is the real ring.

I posted the other one to show the side panels.

2006 Carolina Hurricanes:

2007 Anaheim Ducks:

2002 Anaheim Angels:

2007 Super Bowl XLI Indianapolis Colts:

All Los Angeles Lakers Rings:

Anaheim Ducks Banners at the Pond

After the '03 Banner raising:

During the '07 raising:

Banner Position at the beginning of the season:

Banner position 2/3 through the season:

Scott Niedermayer and a couple of the other players thought the Cup banner should be the centerpiece

And as soon as #8 Teemu Selanne retires, he'll be immortalized in the rafters of The Pond as well

Also if you were wondering, last year GM Brian Burke wanted to shed any trace of Disney in the building or the organization that wasn't needed. So, the "Mighty Decade" banner was taken down. It was donated to the Newport Sports Museum where it now hangs on a big wall.