Burn Providence to the ground

That, is my only reaction, and the only possible sane reaction, to the news that the Sun Bowl is backing out of its supposed done deal with the Big East to partner with the only-somewhat-less-mediocre ACC. Once again, the Big East is blindsided by a deal that supposedly was close. Just like they were four years ago when the Liberty Bowl backed out at the last minute. Just like they were in response to the initial ACC raid. Who else would place their trust in a bowl game that basically did everything in its power to break its contract and bring in ineligible Notre Dame instead of any Big East team?

The Big East conference needs to split along football lines, yesterday. The basketball-onlies are a complete albatross across football’s neck when it comes to making the gridiron a priority. It doesn’t even matter at this point if the Big East could somehow salvage this by say, swiping the Music City Bowl or the Liberty Bowl. Does anyone trust John Marinatto at this point to prevail in a power struggle with anybody? He can’t even steal candy from the Conference USA baby. Anyone left at this point who is still counting on the Big East to improve its bids from the current crapfest is a pure sucker.

That’s what we get. The eight Big East football schools sat idly by last year when when Marinatto followed Mike Tranghese, and Dave Gavitt before him. The very concept that a tiny school in Rhode Island, a school even less important to conference success than freakin’ DePaul, could have such a stranglehold on the Big East commissioner’s office to the point that other, far-more candidates didn’t even receive fair consideration last year would be downright comical if that sad state of affairs wasn’t wrecking such wanton destructon on Big East football. When that’s the only criteria for the job, it’s pure cronyism. That’s no way to run a business (which, is exactly why they always end up getting the short end of the stick).

The Big East conference, at its core, is nothing more than a glorified social club for a select few con artists, and it makes me sick to my stomach. Those clowns seem to be actively sabotaging the football schools at every opportunity through their sheer incompetence, if only for the purposes of leaving the likes of Syracuse, UConn, Louisville, and Pitt ever more dependent on the conference’s television revenue from basketball. Which, I must add, comes from a much smaller pie than it ought to because Mike Tranghese opted for reupping a long-term deal with ESPN, instead of shaking down the cable companies like the SEC and Big Ten are these days.

I’ve had it. Either the eight football schools split from the parasites, or Rutgers needs to leave the Big East conference at the first possibility opportunity. Not because of a belief that RU is on a pedestal above the other football programs; but, rather, we were forced out, browbeaten even. Rutgers was screwed out of decent bowl games in 2006 (the Big East bungled negotiations with the Meineke Bowl, and let Navy steal their bid for a year, even though Rutgers blew them out that season) and 2008, and are likely to face similar misfortune in the future.