THE STATE OF THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE

by Isaac, The World of Isaac

After yet another disastrous loss in a BCS game, I sat down with Jim Delany to get his feel for the sorry State of the Big Ten.

Delany: Ohio State represented the Big Ten well. We still feel as a conference we can compete with anybody including the SEC.

Me: But Ohio State just lost two consecutive times to SEC teams.

Delany: We are a strong conference with our depth.

Me: The Big Ten had a bowl record of 3-5.

Delany: Those were three big wins. And even so, as much as we are a football conference, we have strong basketball teams. We win titles in the Big Ten.

Me: But MSU was the last team to win in a national championship in basketball and that was eight years ago. Since then the SEC has won twice including back to back titles with Florida.

Delany: That might be true, but the SEC cheats and has a number of compliance problems with the NCAA.

Me: Isnt it true sir that your conference was involved with one of the biggest scandals with the Fab Five and a Michigan booster named Ed Martin.

Delany: That was a long time ago and those records have been vacated.

Me: What about the recent problems with Maurice Clarett?

Delany: Maurice was a troubled youth. I stand by our conference. We have our own Network that carries only Big Ten games.

Me: How many people can actually watch those games since Comcast does not carry it?

Delany: We are working on that. Its important to note that we are also a strong academic conference. All 11 of our universities are top 80 academic institutions

Me: Um ok. So let's get this straight. Since becoming Big Ten commissioner in 1989 you have overseen the worst scandal in college athletics, were embarrassed by Maurice Clarett, have only produced 2 National Championships in football and two in basketball, carry a network that less than half the people in the Midwest can see.
Is that correct?

Delany: Yes. But under my administration we also added Penn State which was important for the athletic well-being of our conference.

Me: Ok, thats good but how many Big Ten championships has Penn State had in the two biggest sports?

Delany: Well, two in football and zero in basketball.

Me: Would you consider your reign as commissioner a success?

Delany: Absolutely

Me: Do you believe you are delusional?

Delany: Absolutely

Me: Why do you still have a job

Delany: I have no idea

Me: Yea, neither do I

Picture Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images