Saint Zephyr III

If I recall, I think that the original realignment idea was that Buffalo was going to be in the North and Baltimore was going to be in the East but Buffalo made a huge stink about maintaining its rivalry with the Patriots and the Dolphins.

I just brought up Biloxi as a way, way, way, WAY in the future kind of city, one of those random upstart cities that pop up time to time like what Austin, Raleigh, or Provo are going through. The Southeast, even though it's not what one would call a flagbearer of economic growth, still has a huge population boom going on and, who knows, the next generation might change the dynamic of certain cities as potential expansion markets.

You REALLY think that a Fort Worth NBA team is even feasible? Dallas hardly even supported the Mavericks until Cuban came along. If it's going to be another Western team I would think Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Kansas City, or even another California team like San Diego or San Jose. Even Biloxi or Louisville if you want to stretch what would count as a "West" team.

Is it me or does the $5 million dollar amount actually seem...small? I mean, I understand that it was the African countries but, I mean, these are Arabic royalty with oil money regarding one of the largest sports event, if not THE largest, in the world; you'd think you could get them up to nine-digit figures or something. Hell, if $5 million is all it takes, I'm surprised America doesn't just come rolling with the dough the next time around.

NFL - New Orleans Saints: Grew into it; family's from New Orleans, born in Louisiana...unfortunately I grew up in Texas so had to deal with growing up a Saints fan in the middle of Cowboys country. I can't tell you how much I love it when the Saints beat the Cowboys; it's like an annual Christmas. NBA - San Antonio Spurs: Grew into it; lived in San Antonio, and I haven't looked past since. College Football - Texas A&M, LSU, USC, UTSA - Let's sit for a spell... I was raised an Aggie (thank my Papa for that) and for the longest time I always expected to go to A&M. Unfortunately, application didn't work out and I had to go to UTSA. They didn't have their football game at the time, and since the Aggies were struggling so much, I aligned with LSU since my Dad went to one of their affiliates and it was home-state pride. NOW, in a weird coincidence, the same year UTSA gains its football team, I was accepted to USC. So USC was my first true personal college football game; of course, now that I have two universities to my name, the Aggies are all of a sudden an A-list team so...it's been an interesting journey!

For giggles, I think the following would work a bit better: ATLANTIC Brooklyn Nets Philadelphia 76ers Boston Celtics Orlando Magic Washington Wizards New York Knicks Miami Heat Charlotte Hornets The Atlantic Division of old is kept intact except for the addition of the reincarnated Charlotte Hornets. CENTRAL Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks Memphis Grizzlies Chicago Bulls Toronto Raptors Cleveland Cavaliers Atlanta Hawks Switching out New Orleans with Memphis for geographical reasons. MIDWEST San Antonio Spurs Dallas Mavericks Minnesota Timberwolves Utah Jazz Houston Rockets New Orleans Pelicans Denver Nuggets Oklahoma Thunder Curiously, this setup creates two mini-divisions within the same division: the modern Southwest teams versus the Midwest teams. PACIFIC Sacramento Kings LA Lakers LA Clippers Portland Supersonics Phoenix Suns Seattle Supersonics Golden State Warriors San Jose Startups Not only does this makes sense for the future Seattle team but, for me personally, the next NBA expansion is going to be on the western side of the continent. It'll either be Las Vegas, San Jose, or even longshots like San Diego and Vancouver.

So reading an article about how the Big XII really wants a larger presence in Florida through their bowl tie-ins but I imagine it goes deeper than that. Could they make a play now for South Florida???

I read that as part of their agreement to rejoin the Mountain West, they're allowing Boise State to keep any and/or all non-conference opponents. They already have a series of matchups against both Utah State and BYU, who may yet return to the Mountain West with a similar type of deal.

So if I understand it right, the seven schools may simply take the Big East name with them and leave the new football-only members to their own devices, right? And the other alternative is simply dissolving it and joining another conference. Or is it the other way around?

The death knell may be imminent. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8742607/seven-catholic-schools-leaning-leaving-big-east-sources-say Even if they don't dissolve the league, it's looking like it'll lose 15-20% of its current television deal with the Catholic schools leaving. I can't imagine the other schools staying put so that of course begs to question...what happens to the schools who signed up?? Should Houston, SMU, Memphis and the others join the Mountain West?? Go back to the C-USA to make a giga-conference?

That $40M is insane; that's a new building a year per school!! That'd be up there with Texas/Texas A&M; just heartbreaking.

If anything, the less teams the more dominant it is and the more it can dictate.

I suppose what I can say is that it'd be interesting to see some carryover into the Texas League or why Texas is such a bare-spot for Triple-A.

That board does bring up a great point...if Big XII DOES acquire Florida State and another eastern team (Clemson/Virginia Tech)...how would the divisions be set up?? I imagine OU, OSU, Tech, UT, and Baylor staying together to retain the divisional rivalrys but that means that Florida State and Clemson would have to share a division with IOWA STATE and KU/KSU. Now what would work is if you did a North/South division. UT, Tech, Baylor, TCU, Florida State, and Clemson/VT in the "South" and OU, OSU, KSU, Kansas, West Virginia, and ISU in the "North". West Virginia would be the odd man out sadly but hey, THEY'RE the ones who went ahead with the Big XII.

Yeah I think many of us are underestimating that $50M amount; at the end of the day, even though they're acting like corporations, these schools can't just foot that much money without some severe ramifications.

So at this point I have to think Boise State and San Diego State defect back to the Big East as, somehow, it seems slightly more pathetic than the C-USA... To help everyone out, here's how the "Group of Five" are looking in 2015...the EXCITEMENT. C-USA (14) - Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP, UTSA Mountain West (10) - Air Force, Colorado State, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Fresno State, Nevada, Hawai'i, San Jose State Sun Belt (9) - Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, LA-Lafayette, LA-Monroe, Troy, Texas State, South Alabama, Georgia State, WKU Big East (13) - Cincinnati, UConn, South Florida, UCF, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Boise State, Navy, SDSU, East Carolina

That always was a fashion jersey like the gold 49ers, yellow Packers, silver Raiders, and navy Dolphins that were all out at various times in the 1990s and 2000s. On ESPN NFL 2K5 it was listed as their alternate jersey. If I'm not mistaken, 2k5 had a few of these jerseys for teams as alternates, but were never more than fashion jerseys, like this cardinals one. I seem to remember that they had a bizarre yellow alternate for the Vikings...

So, is there anywhere that actually shows who's where and what and gah...it's all dreadfully confusing. What's funny is that if Texas and Oklahoma had gone to the Pac-12, the Big East may have at least had some credibility by bringing on Kansas, Kansas State. Although would that have meant that West Virginia would've ended up in the SEC with Missouri?? There's so many alternate re-alignments that could've occurred if Texas didn't act like the King of the Universe.

The curious thing about the article was the statement about the Mountain West leaving two spots open for San Diego State and Boise State in case they wanted to jump back to a surprisingly stable conference.

...Incidentally raysox I LOVE that profile pic. Adorably epic.

Isn't it especially embarrassing for the Big East that even with all the upheavel that's happened to the Mountain West and the C-USA they've at least maintained their regional identity and a supposed "top-tier conference" looks like one of the more raggedy aligned conferences I've ever seen?

Well, true, likely never going to happen but it would make competition in the bottom of the league compelling in its own right. To be fair, some of those teams I had to kinda stretch in their marketability. Upon reflection, 16 teams would be WAY too much. Just taking it down to 12 might make it more efficient since it'd be a 17% changeover as opposed to a 8% change. PRO LEAGUE WESTERN Seattle Supersonics Sacramento Kings St. Louis Archers San Diego Missions Ciudad de México Águilas Albuquerque Coyotes EASTERN Charlotte Bobcats Baltimore Monuments New Jersey Knights Kentucky Colonels Alabama Rebels Providence Jackets

Here's my idea for the NBA...essentially convert it to a two-tier league, with the regular league shrunk down to 28 and a 16-team lower-tier league. Basically, if a team in the premier tier has a lower winning percentage than the highest team in the lower league after four years, then the two teams would switch places til the following cycle. So a team like Charlotte or Sacramento would switch out with two of the teams in the lower bracket. This would prevent tanking as well as keep the quality of play at a high level. So here's how the premier league would look: EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC Washington Wizards Miami Heat New York Knicks Brooklyn Nets Boston Celtics Orlando Magic Philadelphia 76ers CENTRAL Milwaukee Bucks Atlanta Hawks Cleveland Cavaliers Chicago Bulls Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Toronto Raptors WESTERN CONFERENCE MIDWEST Houston Rockets Denver Nuggets New Orleans Captains (personal favorite for new name) San Antonio Spurs Dallas Mavericks Memphis Grizzlies (switched with Minnesota) Oklahoma City Thunder (switched from Pacific with Utah) PACIFIC Phoenix Suns Los Angeles Clippers Utah Jazz (switched from Midwest with OKC) San Francisco Warriors Los Angeles Lakers Portland Trailblazers Minnesota Timberwolves (switched with Memphis) Now under this scenario, Charlotte and Sacramento have been relegated to the new Developmental League, which I'll dub the Pro League. This would be the breeding ground for other markets that haven't had an NBA team; basically they'd be fighting for the right to join the Premier League. WESTERN CONFERENCE Sacramento Kings Seattle Supersonics San Diego Missions San Jose Digits Albuquerque Coyotes Kansas City Riders Las Vegas Lights Mexico City Eagles/Ciudad de México Águilas EASTERN CONFERENCE Baltimore Monuments Jacksonville Snappers Charlotte Bobcats Cincinnati Gladiators New Jersey Elites Kentucky Colonels Providence Jackets Birmingham Rebels So, with this setup, let's say that over the next four years Toronto and San Francisco bottom out in the Premier League and the New Jersey Elites and the revived Seattle Supersonics do the best in their respective conference in the Pro League. The teams would switch, putting New Jersey in Toronto's place and Seattle in San Francisco's place.

Which number 4 do you mean? Brett Farve John David Booty Is It Me, or does it look like JDB had a Booty Nameplate sewn over the Favre one. IDK who was there first though. Booty came first. The Booty always comes first. Gotta love Boondocks references...