Big East knows not to talk back.

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
Big Thursday Has a Ring to It. Sure.

Mid-majors status is something akin to owning a bakery in Little Italy circa 1935. Maybe you want to stay in your small shop, bake your panettone, earn a humble but honest living. But when La Cosa Nostra comes calling, asking for just a small favor here and there that they promise will lead to greater riches for everyone, you accept. You know it means you no longer control your shop, your destiny, your dreams. At first, you try to push back a little, but in the end you accept it for what it is. You lie to yourself, say it is for the children. And so life goes on, your community profile larger but more gray, and your sleep much more short.

Whoa, sorry – got caught up in a metaphor there. Long way of saying – when tWWL yells “Jump!”, mid-majors answer, and we whistle because we consumers don’t care about making the sausage so long as we get 10 games a week.

Case in point: the West Coast Conference (a favorite around these parts) got added onto tWWL’s Big Monday package three years ago in a deal that pretty much worked for no one but the Mouse. Well, the WCC tried to fight back a little – saying that the late Monday start times were bad for fans and players alike in a refreshing bit of truth – and they got Bristol’s attention. So much so that tWWL is now considering moving its contracted WCC games to Thursday nights in the same time slot.

Let’s review: no gain for fans – since Thursdays are only better than Mondays for single 25 year olds with jobs that don’t require thought five days a week; no gain for players – ditto; no gain for schools – ad revenue dips on a much lower profile night, where they will fight against more football early in November / December and more pro hoops in January / February. Meanwhile, La Cosa Nostra gets what it wants – a freed up Monday schedule ready to snatch up the Pac-10, a conference more willing to screw its fans, when its contract with FSN expires.

Don’t lie to yourself, WCC. Don’t say you didn’t know this is what it was. You knew their business when went into this thing.

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The weekend digest will be up later this afternoon – it was one hell of a weekend – but having missed out on giving proper respects on Memorial Day, we wanted to throw up a quick post in honor of the troops whose hard work and sacrifice allow us to eat Doritos, play Rock Band, and drink Purple Drank. (America – fuck yeah.)

For serious, however, and because we always search for the nexus to college hoops before throwing up a post unless it involves mustache fury, we present you with Sam Tolbert, the 6′7″ seaman and star of the All-Navy basketball team:

Tolbert joined the Navy for the same reason as many a young man – he wasn’t ready for college and wanted to grow up. Also, that David Robinson feller made him think Navy + basketball != fail. Now, he hopes to follow the footsteps of another All-Star big man by attending an HBCU in the Commonwealth to keep playing and finish his education when his deployment is done.

We’ll be looking for Seaman Tolbert in a Trojan uniform in the coming CIAA seasons while humming Anchors Aweigh. A tip of the cap and best wishes to him and all servicemen, not just on Memorial Day, but every day.