pianoknight

That was largely because of the gimmicky, wrestling-style action of making everything "extreme" and "ultra-2000s." In terms of gameplay and presentation (at least execution, not style), the XFL did a good job. If McMahon can be believed, and the 2019 XFL has a straightforward, non-gimmicky presentation, it'll have at least a little bit of success, IMO.

I don't know why I'm even trying to polish this turd, but the helmet part of the logo has potential. Drop the eye pupils, thicken the keyline and add some shading to the right half and it's not a terrible start. Obligatory 5-minute hack job below:

Have you seen Green Bay? Or Dallas? Or the Giants?

I'm biased, but Nebraska has a great, timeless look. But the numbers of the back of the helmet don't match the jersey numbers. The helmet uses a rounded font, while the jerseys use traditional block numbers. I'd actually be okay with the rounded numbers on the jersey, but please just make them match.

I like that they chose a rabbit as well. Hat - Magician - Trick - Pulling Rabbit out of Hat.... Took me a minute to make that connection, but it's very well thought out.

I am campaigning for any new team to be named SharkBears now. Bravo.

I always liked the cover that BS&T did

Unpopular opinion - after a day to process it, I like the new Michigan State uniform colors. Not a fan of how big the STATE wordmark is, but if they reduced that to fit within the chest area, I'd actually like the whole thing. The neon green and forest green aren't as ugly as I initially thought.

Not a fan of the yellow. I liked Baylor's older football uniforms from around 2008.

My first thought. Maybe during the next round of expansion they can realign into nWo Wolfpac and nWo Hollywood divisions.

They have to come up with some kind of name. In 2019, all the "classics" - warriors, tigers, bulldogs - are totally overused. I'm sure people laughed at names like Athletics, Packers or Magic when they debuted.

I want a Springfield Isotopes shirt with that logo.

Kannapolis Kangaroos? Seems like a good opportunity for alliteration. -edit- I'd never heard of Kannapolis before this thread. I'm sad that it's not near Indianapolis, Annapolis or Kansas.

"Support Black Colleges..." by buying my illegally produced merchandise, none of which actually provides any financial benefit to a Historically Black College or University.

That's not lost on me. But the bigger point is that football is driving everything in the current landscape. There are really three criteria for major conference alignment. A potential school needs to offer one (or more) of the following: A brand name and/or nationally competitive football team A large national fanbase Access to a new, major media market Look at past Big Ten and SEC expansion and this is painstakingly clear. Nebraska brought a major brand name and while current struggles have been documented, is still considered a traditional football power. Omaha and Lincoln aren't major markets, but the Huskers have a large, nation-wide fan base who will watch games. Rutgers and Maryland, conversely, aren't really seen as traditional powers, but they bring access to the NY/NJ Metro and the Baltimore/DC Metro, respectively. Same thing in the SEC, as A&M brings a brand name, a national following and access to major Texas media markets. Mizzou may not be on quite the same level in regards to historical success, but opened up the SEC into St. Louis and Kansas City. One of the interesting things to remember about the Big Ten deal is that BTN can bill higher rates for subscribers within the leagues footprint. In other words, as a Nebraska fan in Oregon (outside the B1G footprint), BTN only makes a small portion of what I pay for my cable bill. Subscribers within the footprint generate a much higher return for the conference. So in effect, the Rutgers/Maryland pickup wasn't purely about Scarlet Knight or Terp sports, but the millions of NY/NJ/Baltimore/DC residents who are alumni of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, etc.

At the risk of activating the Title IX Social Justice Warriors, women's basketball is a no-go for conference realignment. Men's basketball is a considerably bigger financial success, but pretty much every major basketball program runs at a deficit and has to be subsidized by football or the university/academia/taxpayers. The top five revenue-earning men's basketball programs are Louisville ($46m) Duke ($31m), Kentucky and Syracuse ($27m each) and Indiana ($23m). By comparison, the top five NCAAF programs are Texas A&M ($148m), Texas ($133m), Michigan and Alabama ($127m each), and Ohio State ($120m). Notice that the football teams are earning roughly ONE HUNDRED MILLION more in revenue per year. Granted, football has A LOT more expenses. But even the 25th ranked team for football revenue (Texas Tech) is raking in $60m per year. And remember that schools in the Big Ten and SEC are earning about ~$50m/year just for existing. Indiana might make $23m in basketball (and an untold number from football), but just for playing in the Big Ten they rake in another $50m annually. In other words, Indiana as a Big Ten "brand" is more financially lucrative than actual Indiana Basketball.

The AAC is talking about a grant-of-rights deal that might play into the bigger P5 realignment talk. https://www.tampabay.com/sports/usf-bulls/2018/12/10/report-aac-trying-to-lock-up-schools-through-grant-of-rights-deal/ While a grant of rights deal isn't 100% ironclad in forcing teams to remain in their current conference, it certainly is a damper. Plus, you wind up needing an army of lawyers to navigate the ensuing fallout should a school decide to bolt for the P5. That's not an impossible task if you're, say, Oklahoma and you want to bail on the Big XII, but it's a far bigger concern for a mid-size school in the AAC with fewer resources. A grant of rights deal could prevent the Big XII from bolstering their ranks with the likes of UCF, which means the Big XII could also be ripe for the picking should Delaney and the Big Ten want to continue pursuing Oklahoma and Texas.

Could just be some speculation, but Sports Illlustrated and 24/7 Sports are running with it: https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/12/06/jim-delany-big-ten-divisions-realignment-playoff https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/Article/Big-Ten-targeting-Oklahoma-Sooners-Texas-Longhorns-125965141/amp/ Here's some thoughts I shared on another site: You gotta think about the long-term ramifications of this. Grabbing OU and Texas is as much preemptive as it is expansionist. Yes, it's a great financial move, but it's also an SEC-killing move. If the Big Ten DOESN'T grab OU and Texas, guess what? The SEC will.If the SEC goes to 16 teams, the ACC and B1G will have to follow suit. And remember that our other would-be suiter -- Notre Dame -- is already locked up into the ACC. All their non-football/non-revenue sports are already in the ACC and they currently share a whackjob New Years Bowl arrangement with the ACC, where bowl selectors essentially pick an ACC and/or Irish team to fill their slots. Notre Dame is basically the Puerto Rico of the ACC. It's all but a done deal.So, the ACC legitimizes the Irish Shotgun Wedding and perhaps grabs someone like Cincinnati or maybe UCF. What does that leave the Big Ten with? Baylor? TCU? Iowa State?Kansas is marginally non-barfy consolation prize, but they'd likely come coupled with KSU in that state and really the Jay-Cat combo doesn't move the needle much. It's a certain failure against the SEC swindling OU and Texas and the ACC grabbing the Golden Domers. Delaney is FAR too shrewd to lose this chess game. If he preemptively grabs OU and Texas, he cuts off the SEC at the knees. The Irish go ACC anyway -- they were never gonna be an SEC team -- and it forces the SEC into a couple of terrible moves. They either double down on the Lonestar State with TCU/Baylor/Tech or grab what, Oklahoma State? UCF is a rising star, but they're no Gators. The most likely move here is an SEC raid of the ACC, grabbing a pair that includes FSU, Miami, Clemson, UNC and/or Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels and Hokies open up two new states into the footprint and the SEC has been VERY strong about not wanting to repeat states they already "own." Really, the only way they would even consider doubling up is for a blue blood like Texas, FSU or Miami. MAaaaayybe Clemson. West Virginia is still a wild card. They either fill a gap in the ACC or maybe there's an outside chance the SEC makes a play. But the Mountain State doesn't really bring any new television sets (do West Virginians even HAVE cable?) and it certainly doesn't bring any recruiting ground. The Mountaineers have made a push in recent years, but they're still a bridesmaid and not the Sooner/Horn/Irish Bride in this whole mess.

That's a really cool concept. It's like a modern version of the British Empire slapping Union Jacks onto the canton of everyone's flag.

Fun fact: Nebraska is one of the top 5 states for total river miles. A lot of them are flat, shallow rivers, but the Platte River alone adds up to over 1,000 miles with all its tributaries. That's about a third of the distance across the continental US. Add in the fact that the Missouri and Mississippi are the two biggest and historically important rivers in the US (plus, they make up the NE/IA and IA/IL borders) and American Rivers is a decent enough name.

A lot of these. In particular, Green Lantern, SHIELD, Captain America, Avengers and Spiderman.

What is that? Like Schnapps-flavored enemas?

This isn't their current set (or name), but it should be.

They're basically Bing.