You beat me to it, Terry. I just saw the news. It certainly does not sound like we are keeping the door closed.
We can see the difficulty that Swarbrick is having putting together the 2011 schedule. I'm sure that at times like that having 8 or so games taken care of every year is a comforting thing.
You know a long time ago back on Prodigy the now departed AJ the Lion, aka Andy predicted that eventually the Irish would be forced to join a conference because of scheduling issues. I guffawed at that prediction. But maybe he was right. I'm not sure exactly if our current schedule predicament is due to the new 7-4-1 philosophy or the fact that we aren't in a conference. Back when I guffawed the Irish played home/home with everybody. Now we are more like a conference team that has a set group we play home/home with ...Purdue, Michigan, Mich. State, Stanford and USC. ...the rest we are trying to get to come to our place for 1 game or go to a neutral site game where we are the home team for 1 game. Maybe that has something to do with our current schedule problems.
I agree. The neutral home game is just too awkward to schedule. I'd much rather see a 2 to 1 with Boise St., UConn., and SMU or similar teams. 2 neutral site games with teams like FSU or Miami in Orlando and Soldier Field would be great. I think that the present schedule plan is a bad idea although I think the games that they've scheduled so far are good choices.
ND <t>Well if ND is going to be in a conference the only one that make sense to me is the Big 10. I'm not saying I like the idea of being in a conference but if it's gotta be for the sake of the program ND needs to be in the Big 10. I don't even want to hear the Big East talk. I can't believe the day has come when we are seriously discussing this but I would hate to see ND pushed away from the table when it comes to the BCS etc. who knows, we might have a team capable of making it to one of those bowl games again someday.</t>
Well animosity towards the B10 runs pretty deep in a lot of ND fans. I read a comment yesterday that if Mizzouri joins the B10 that ND should take their spot in the B12. I don't believe that Texas is going anywhere unless there was a major shake up, such as Neb and/or Missouri going to the B10 and Colorado going to the Pac10. Supposedly the Pac10 really would like to add Utah and Colorado.
Expanding the PAC 10 and Big Ten conferences is really about money. Times are changing and I think Notre Dame has to be realistic about the situation. May take a while to sort things out, but personally I would love to have Notre Dame in the Big Ten conference. Only problem is how do you change the name to make it work? Or does the name actually need to be changed?
I'm a lifetime Notre Dame fan who has no idea what the animosity toward the Big Ten is about or why I should carry a grudge now. I'm also having trouble recalling what winning a big game feels like. 8)
It comes from back when Sid was a freshman and Rockne and the 4 horseman wanted to join the Big 10 ( I think called the Western Conf). Many think it was Michigan and Fielding Yost who black balled the Irish setting up the long animosity between ND and Michigan and their conference brothers. However I happen to know that Sid was getting a nice chunk of change working as a barber out of his room. This was against the B10 rules so Sid called Rock and told him it was a no go. :wink:
I respect the Irish fans desires if they want to stay out of a conference. However as a neutral observer it seems to me that they would be better off in a conference full time instead of part time in the Big East. The Big 10 also seems like a natural to me.