2011 In the Rearview Mirror

Enjoy the simplicity and beauty that awaits in 2012.

As the final minutes of 2011 tick ever so slowly towards the stroke of midnight, I always like the fresh start that a new year brings. It generally hits me when the Times Square ball finally lights up to display the numbers of the new year.

A fresh slate, a new outlook that makes you want to dig right in and be a better person and that good luck is sure to follow. 

While there are many good things to look back upon as we bid adieu to 2011, I think its a general consensus by many that it was a year to forget.  We lost a loved member of our family (be sure to pour a cup of tea for Deborah, Hope!) 

The sports world had quite the rocky year, with college teams abandoning conferences, horrendous campus scandals and cowardice in Syracuse and State College, Pa, professional teams demanding more millions of dollars, and the loss of a coaching genius in Mr. Dave Gavitt.  

Just Do It Already

There's a simple line, but a good one, in Ocean's Eleven when Elliot Gould (Reuben) and Casey Affleck (Virgil) were at McCarron Airport in Las Vegas toying with Terry Benedict's goons and the remote controlled van:

"Just do it already."

Well, that brings us to the current state of the Big East. My favorite league of all time. Or is it the Big East-West?  The Big USA? The Big Country?   

College sports has entered a new era with the recent new conference alignment.  Schools are throwing away long time tradition and rivalries for the promise of greener (as in money) pastures.  Television and football are the driving forces behind these moves. 

The lure of a big payday for the opportunity to play in one of the four coveted Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games has schools looking like a teenager in love. Forget your conscience, forget your long-term goals, forget your family (hello student-athlete welfare), it’s a dream date that so many schools are hoping for the chance.