The Folly of Suits and Sports

Last night, the Big East, the real Big East came to an end.  When the lights were turned off at MSG, the vision of Dave Gavitt that had prospered and given college basketball fans great memories took its last breath.  Waxing nostalgic is one of the more silly things we do as sports fans.  If we can separate ourselves from rooting interests and realize this is just entertainment and our diversion from whatever we choose to divert our attention from, sports is so much simpler.

The Big East was created to bring together like-minded institutions to play sports.  And make buckets of cash.  And it did that.  The college basketball glitterati and talking heads bemoaned the end being the result of college presidents and commissioners chasing eyeballs for fat TV money and the such.  Truth is, the Big East perfected this first.

The Big East was a perfect combination of location and timing.  Created at roughly the same time as ESPN, the Big East provided content for this network from day one.  The Big East put itself on the map with great basketball and owning Monday nights on ESPN with Big Monday.  It was must see-TV for college hoops junkies.  It lust it's luster as the years went by and the conference had its ups and downs.  Nonetheless, classic matchups drew attention.

The pinnacle of the conference came early.  What it did in 1985 hasn't been equaled.  It put 3 teams in the Final Four with St. John's, Georgetown & Villanova.  In the 80's, nearly all members made a Final 4 appearance.  People younger than me probably can't conceive Providence or Seton Hall making a Final 4.  Yet, there were the Friars in '87 coached by a hot shot named Pitino.  Seton Hall was mere seconds from winning a national title in 1989.

The 90's weren't as kind.  Legendary coaches such as Carneseca, Carlesimo, Pitino, Massimino had retired or moved on to the Association.  The one program that ascended was UConn and its coach who would join the ranks of those legends in Jim Calhoun.  While UConn found great regular season success, it would take until '99 to reach a Final 4, eventually winning it all.  Other than that, your only Final 4 appearance were the John Wallace-led Syracuse Orange of '96.

At the turn of the century, the basketball behemoth had seen better days and the league had made its choice to be a football and basketball league.  I wrote about the history earlier and wont rehash but what they accomplished was establishing was a shaky foundation.  The conference  re-established itself as a force with Syracuse finally cutting the nets in '03 and UConn tasting their 2nd title in '05.

In 2006, the conference expanded to 16 teams.  Some scoffed, others were intrigued.  Unquestionably, the final result was the conference was as strong as it had been since its heyday in the mid-to-late 80's.  Ultimately, it couldn't hold.

The Big East found itself in a world of TV eyeballs and University Presidents hoodwinked by league commissioners promising great things based solely on TV revenus and exposure.  With a fractured membership of football and basketball schools, it was evident their member schools would be targeted.  One-by-one, the football schools left.  Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia followed BC and former football add-on's Miami & Virginia Tech out.  By the way, how's that worked out?  Lots of dream matchups between FSU & Miami in ACC title games?  BC isn't a complete wreck, is it?  ACC has become that football power it dreamed of right?  The basketball is as great as ever. I'm sure.  A school like Maryland can't be losing money, can it?  Whatever.

Gone are the great rivalries and matchups of Big Monday.   Sure, Syracuse will have heated games on Tobacco Road.  And someday, if the ACC still exists, Pitt will have develpoed rivalries as well.  Same with Louisville & Notre Dame.  Or the ACC will be the next classic conference to drastically change.  Diamond Jim Delany dreams of Carolina in the B1G with Virginia or maybe Georgia Tech.  And then maybe FSU & Clemson bolt for greener dollars in the Big 12.

But I've accepted the end of the rivalries I grew up with and brought me into the world of college sports.  I grew up in an era where our local teams were laughingstocks, afterthoughts.  I found greatness on Monday nights and in March from those teams on the east coast.  The sports will go on, banking crazy money and will be as competetive as ever and great moments will ensue but as is often the case, it just can't be as good as it once was, right?