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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Big Ten has bigger problems than Pizza Express

Things are not great for the Big Ten Conference right now.

The conference is living up to the low expectations set by the national media in the first two weeks of the football season.

So far, it looks as if the once-mighty league is picking up from its poor showing in last year’s bowl season with lackluster performances by Illinois and Michigan State in key inter-conference matchups.

Expectations are also low on the hardwood, as the conference will likely get just four teams into the 2009 NCAA Tournament and will take its annual beating in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Add in the ongoing battle between the Big Ten Network and various cable companies, one would think Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney would have enough on his plate. Well, there is room for at least one more problem.

Delaney and the Big Ten brass in Chicago thought it would be a good idea to make Pizza Express, a favored Bloomington late-night pizza delivery service, stop using the conference’s name for its famous “Big Ten Bargain.”

The Big Ten said in a cease-and-desist letter that Pizza Express was using the conference’s intellectual property and needed to change the name of the deal, which includes a pizza, breadsticks with dip and two drinks.

While I think it’s important to protect intellectual property rights, I don’t see how this deal, which started more than 20 years ago when it cost $10 including tax, hurts the Big Ten. Doesn’t Delaney have bigger problems to fix? Here are three things Delaney should have tried to fix before going after Pizza Express:

1. Adjust the conference football schedule: With the Big Ten football schedule ending in mid-November, teams have a long rest before a potential bowl matchup. Other conferences, most notably the SEC, end their regular season later and have a conference championship game. Last season, LSU had two more weeks of game experience than Ohio State, and it showed as the SEC champs defeated the Buckeyes for the second consecutive year for the national championship. The Big Ten needs to push back the season to be competitive in top bowl games each year.

2. Adjust the conference basketball schedule: There was one game left off of the Hoosiers’ schedule released last week – a home date with rival Purdue. With only 18 conference games, there are two teams each conference school plays once. While I think the conference should go to a 20-game conference schedule, Delaney and company should at least guarantee that teams get to play their top two conference rivals twice each season, like the ACC does. Don’t all IU fans want to play Purdue and Illinois twice each season?

3. Basketball officials: I have two words to describe the quality of the Big Ten’s officials – Ed Hightower. Frankly, the quality of officiating in the Big Ten has become a joke. Delaney needs to clean up the game and allow for teams to open up and play an exciting brand of basketball.

Hopefully these changes get made, but I doubt they will. However, I do think there is a simple solution for you, Pizza Express: Change the name of the deal to the Big Eleven Bargain. Then, in case Delaney and the bigwigs ever decide to officially recognize Penn State, you’ll be the one issuing cease-and-desist orders.

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