(Well, in honor of PURDUE HATE WEEK we kind of need to front page this. -- Ross)

Pictured: The Land of Lincoln Trophy (est.) via www.laprogressive.com

A year after the Illinois-Northwestern rivalry was rechristened the "Land of Lincoln Trophy", another effort has been growing in the Big Ten to properly honor America's Grandest Rivalry: Iowa-Purdue.  The Presidents, Board of Trustees, Athletic Directors, and local boosters have gathered in the states of Iowa and Purdue to explore opportunities to celebrate this storied tradition.

Below are some of the candidates:

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From Bleacher Report of course: on programs that were "disrespected" by the new coaches poll.

The biggest surprise must fall upon Penn State.  Perhaps the coaches are sending a message to Joe Pa?

The AP Poll has the Nittany Lions in the top 10 at No. 9, but slip five spots down to No. 14 in the USA Today poll.

All fine and dandy, except the AP Poll won't be released for several days.  He's using the AP polling information from last year and doesn't even notice it.  The whole slideshow is a farce.  Shoddy, shoddy, shoddy--even for BR.

[Bumped, and make sure to read through to Akron's fictional name.--AJ]

I downloaded a demo of a game from 2005 called "Bowl Bound College Football."  I'm not promoting it, not getting money from it, in fact I haven't even played it.  Why I'm posting is because of the rare opportunity to see farcical leagues and team names.  Before EA Sports was wise enough to come to exclusive agreements with the NCAA and all of the professional sports leagues, video game companies had to invent team names that didn't violate licensing--which led to some ridiculous names for players and teams.   With the licensing, gamers didn't have to spent hours setting up all of the names and teams to match reality.  This is largely why there are almost no other companies that make sports games.

Not the folks behind Bowl Bound College Football -- they cast caution to the wind and put out this football manager-style game sans licensing agreement.  The results remind me of the days playing basketball on the 8-bit Nintendo as the Los Angeles "Waves" against a friend who always picked the Boston "Greens."

Without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I present you the license infringement-bending MIDWEST TEN!

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Attrib: timsamoff via Flickr

Kansas City--the Western Frontier of the Big Ten. As the picture clearly shows, the sun always shines brightest on KC--which probably explains my air conditioning bills.

As one of the 903,540 households in the KC region (and paying an extra $4 a month to get BTN on Time Warner cable) I feel the need to provide a counterpoint to Kevin’s great post about how New York City is a far better market than Kansas City.  On the surface it looks obvious that NYC should be grabbed, but if it was so clear the Big Ten would have made a strong move by now.  I'm trying to explain why the Big Ten is seriously considering Missouri as a highly viable option for the Big Ten, and why the TV market prospects in the Show-Me State may be better than you think.

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[A fine way to end the afternoon.  We are officially living in The Cairo Decade. - RUTS]

Five-star recruit Wayne Lyons has been submitting questionnaires to a number of prestigious football programs to aid in his selection process.  These programs have been eager to respond to see if they can secure this vaunted recruit.  Fortunately for us, BSD has acquired a number of these returned questionnaires and enclosed are selected answers from a variety of institutions.  We applaud these programs for their openness and honesty. 

1. What are the typical weather conditions during the football season?
Minnesota – Warmer than our chances to be in the Big Ten title race come November.

2. What type of summer program/schedule do you have for the football players?
Colorado – Whatever we damn well please. If I have to hear another parent complain about our summer program in Boulder I’m going to go postal. Again.

3. Are players required to attend summer school?
Texas – Players are not required to attend summer school.  Fall and spring school are also optional.

4. If my mom had to fly to see me play, what is the best airport to fly into from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.?
Iowa State – Sioux Gateway Airport in nearby Sioux City, Iowa, which goes by the airport code of SUX.  We have e-mailed you an example itinerary for your parent titled “Your mom: SUX”