Indy gets B10 football title, Chicago gets share of basketball

"It's our home, and to me, it's the best sports city in the country."

That is what Big Ten comissioner Jim Delany said about Chicago right after his conference decided not to give the Windy City the Big Ten title game. Instead, they are giving it to Indianapolis from 2011-2015. Indy provides certain advantages, like an indoor field at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts. Also, Indiana is obsessed with college sports.

Naturally, however, I feel the need to challenge this. Now, the Big Ten Tournament has been held in both cities in the past. Recently, however, it has been held much more often in Indy. This always angered me, but it made sense. After all, Indy was always the closest to the geographic center of Big Ten schools. With the addition of Nebraska, however, you can see on the map below that the geographic center becomes the Illinois-Indiana border, which Chicago lies on. Not to mention that Chicago is also roughly in the north-south center of the Big Ten and Indy is very far south.



If you want to ignore which city is the geographic center, go ahead. There are other reasons Chicago should get the title game. One, Chicago is very close to some major football schools. Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan State are all within a few hours of the Windy City (Sorry, Illinois and NU fans). The closest big-time football school to Indianapolis is Ohio State, a three and a half hour drive. The other Big Ten schools around Indy are Indiana and Purdue, both of which are laughing stocks of Big Ten football.

Another reason that Chicago should get the game is pretty obvious. The Big Ten is headquartered in Chicago. I really don't understand why you would put your title game in a different city than you chose to be headquartered in. If Indy is so much more of a Big Ten city, why not be headquartered there?

Lastly, here in Chicago we have a ridiculous amount of Big Ten alumni and fans. We've got so many Illinois and Iowa alumni, plus quite a few from all the other schools. On top of that you've got NU and Illini fans who cheer for the local schools. All of these alumni and fans would love a chance to go to the title game. But, I guess we're giving it to Indy.

On the upside, Chicago gets to host the basketball title game in 2013 and 2015, while Indy gets it for 2012, 2014, and 2016. Not much to say about this other than that I am happy they're giving Chicago a little love. All I have to say is that it would have been smarter to just give Chicago the football games and give Indianapolis the basketball games considering that Indy is surrounded by powerhouse basketball schools in Ohio State, Purdue, and maybe someday IU will regain their strength.

All in all, though, I am excited for these title games to take place, especially the football game. I am also excited to see Nebraska in the conference. I see them playing very well and making a run for the title.

In the near future, look for an article on changes that need to be made within the Cubs organization, and as we approach football season look for more articles on the Bears, Irish, Illini, and this year we'll be doing some on the Cats as well.