U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[FVD]

Frank. I can only assume Osborne and patterno had something to say about that.

Bah - how long have they been in the league?

[LightninBoy]

agreed .... Legends & Leaders? Absolutely stupid. beyond stupid actually. It's embarassing. I'm embarassed for them.

Great Lakes. Plains.
North. South.

I thought of lakes and plains too. Team memberships don't line up well so I went with colors, but Lakes/Planes, North/South, East/West are all still 1 milion times better than Legends/Leaders.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Any other midwest exlusive terms we can think of?

The verners and the squirts?

The olive burgers and the deep dishes?

[gjdodger]

Now that we've all guffawed, I'm going to take a step back and say this probably isn't stupid. I'll use one of my own experiences. 25 years ago, a trade association I work with unveiled a new slogan; for the first time, they had enough funding to mount a national ad campaign. I and all my colleagues thought it was the stupidest thing we'd ever heard; they were trying to tie their product to a successful competitor, and it seemed like they were going after the opposite audience we thought they should.

It was pork, and the slogan was "The Other White Meat." Most successful tag line in commodity marketing history. Everybody in the world knows it.

This is the Big Ten, and those of use who say the Big Ten is unique should, if not embrace this idea, recognize that they're trying to capitalize on a century of history. Their old time players are among the most famous--Grange, Harmon, Nagurski. They're naming a whole bunch of awards after famous people from their history. And they're naming their divisions, rather than North and South or something equally tedious, to denote the fact that their contribution to collegiate athletics is near unprecedented.

Sure, laugh at 'em. Guys here have ridiculed my notion that the Big Ten is different and certain practices should be frowned on. And they almost never win titles in the two biggest men's sports; maybe they're living in the past. But when your past is the most impressive thing about you, perhaps you should play to your strength.

[gibby]

Any other midwest exlusive terms we can think of?

The verners and the squirts?

The olive burgers and the deep dishes?

You've almost nailed it!!

I go for thin crust or deep dish!!

[nhwbrooklyn]

Now that we've all guffawed, I'm going to take a step back and say this probably isn't stupid. I'll use one of my own experiences. 25 years ago, a trade association I work with unveiled a new slogan; for the first time, they had enough funding to mount a national ad campaign. I and all my colleagues thought it was the stupidest thing we'd ever heard; they were trying to tie their product to a successful competitor, and it seemed like they were going after the opposite audience we thought they should.

It was pork, and the slogan was "The Other White Meat." Most successful tag line in commodity marketing history. Everybody in the world knows it.

This is the Big Ten, and those of use who say the Big Ten is unique should, if not embrace this idea, recognize that they're trying to capitalize on a century of history. Their old time players are among the most famous--Grange, Harmon, Nagurski. They're naming a whole bunch of awards after famous people from their history. And they're naming their divisions, rather than North and South or something equally tedious, to denote the fact that their contribution to collegiate athletics is near unprecedented.

Sure, laugh at 'em. Guys here have ridiculed my notion that the Big Ten is different and certain practices should be frowned on. And they almost never win titles in the two biggest men's sports; maybe they're living in the past. But when your past is the most impressive thing about you, perhaps you should play to your strength.

I don't think it can ever be good here though.

"So who's leading the leaders division?"

[Mainevent]

This is more along the lines of New Coke.

[gibby]

Actually, I'm a bit hard pressed as to why there needs to be 2 divisions. Other than the extra money from a championship game, that is

[nhwbrooklyn]

"Boone" division and "Records" division. They make for good relevant puns and are actually the names of two early widwest pioneers, Daniel Boone and Spencer Records.

This is the best I got.

[gjdodger]

Actually, I'm a bit hard pressed as to why there needs to be 2 divisions. Other than the extra money from a championship game, that is

To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, money isn't everything. It's the only thing.

[mason reese]

You've almost nailed it!!

I go for thin crust or deep dish!!

Coneys and butter burgers!!

[FVD]

Actually, I'm a bit hard pressed as to why there needs to be 2 divisions. Other than the extra money from a championship game, that is

So there's no more 3 way ties for first, along with it bolsters the strength of schedule parameters for the BCS, for example, if there had been the divisions this year, Michigan State and Ohio State could of played each other to determine the Big 10 champ.

[LightninBoy]

Now that we've all guffawed, I'm going to take a step back and say this probably isn't stupid. I'll use one of my own experiences. 25 years ago, a trade association I work with unveiled a new slogan; for the first time, they had enough funding to mount a national ad campaign. I and all my colleagues thought it was the stupidest thing we'd ever heard; they were trying to tie their product to a successful competitor, and it seemed like they were going after the opposite audience we thought they should.

It was pork, and the slogan was "The Other White Meat." Most successful tag line in commodity marketing history. Everybody in the world knows it.

This is the Big Ten, and those of use who say the Big Ten is unique should, if not embrace this idea, recognize that they're trying to capitalize on a century of history. Their old time players are among the most famous--Grange, Harmon, Nagurski. They're naming a whole bunch of awards after famous people from their history. And they're naming their divisions, rather than North and South or something equally tedious, to denote the fact that their contribution to collegiate athletics is near unprecedented.

Sure, laugh at 'em. Guys here have ridiculed my notion that the Big Ten is different and certain practices should be frowned on. And they almost never win titles in the two biggest men's sports; maybe they're living in the past. But when your past is the most impressive thing about you, perhaps you should play to your strength.

Branding and slogans are subjective and often sound bad to those closest to it. But Legends/Leaders is just bad. A conference with tradition and history shouldn't need to flaunt its tradition and history with gimicky names.

[gjdodger]

So there's no more 3 way ties for first, along with it bolsters the strength of schedule parameters for the BCS, for example, if there had been the divisions this year, Michigan State and Ohio State could of played each other to determine the Big 10 champ.

You can still have three way ties in the division, which determines who plays for the title.

[Newbomb Turk]

It was pork, and the slogan was "The Other White Meat." Most successful tag line in commodity marketing history. Everybody in the world knows it.

only because of all the dick jokes it spawned