Leaders vs. Legends? Laughable!

Tonight the first Big 10 Football Championship game will be played between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Michigan State Spartans. They are the champions of the two divisions which the Big 10 created when the University of Nebraska split from the Big 12 Conference, resulting in the irony of having the Big 12 comprised of ten members and the Big 10 comprised of twelve. The two new Big 10 divisions are called the Leaders Division and the Legends Division, but don't ask me which of tonight's two combatants comes out of which division. Heck, I don't know for sure which division our beloved Gophers are in. What I do know is that the powers that be in the Big 10, after consulting with the television smarties, decided that merely dividing the conference into West and East would not do, even though geography could not have made it much easier. Simply put Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois and the three schools west of them (Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa) in the West, and place the other six schools in the East. But no, the conference honchos apparently recalled the days of yore when the Big Ten was known as "The Big 2 & The Little 8," referring to Michigan and Ohio State's dominance, and modernized it by giving Penn State and Nebraska special consideration, in effect looking at the conference as the Big 4 & the Little 8. Heaven forbid that three of the four conference big boys would be in the same division. So, instead of splitting the two divisions geographically, they tried to use a competitive balance; hence, leaders and legends.

Somebody forgot to let Bucky Badger and Sparty in on the rationale. Even though they are among the "Little 8," they spoiled the master plan and won their respective division championships. Now the FOX Network can cry in its beer. Instead of getting Nebraska vs. Ohio State or Michigan vs. Penn State, the viewers will be treated to Wisconsin vs. Michigan State. We know from the first time they met in October, a game decided by a review of a last-second Hail Mary pass, that the battle tonight will be worth watching. It's just not the game that was predicted to occur on December 3. I congratulate those two teams. I always like it when the suits in the conference and network offices have to eat a little crow.