TCU to the Big East? No thanks

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By Mary Paoletti
CSNNE.com

Welcome to the Big East, TCU.

Go ahead and read that as a sarcastic greeting. It is. Nobody wants you there.

This is a football move. Understood. But first of all, being sort of located in east-ish Texas doesn't qualify you for membership.

And secondly, you Horned Frogs are joining in all sports so this affects Big East basketball and that's a problem. There are already too many teams and the beloved home-and-home series concept has been all but wiped out. Which is garbage.

Syracuse beats UConn in the Carrier Dome? The Huskies want a revenge match in front of their howling home crowd.

And this is just one more move toward the ruin of the best basketball conference in the country. Yeah, I said it. Am I biased? You betcha. But am I right? Generally always. See for yourself.

1979 -- The Big East is born when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse add Seton Hall, Boston College and Connecticut to its band of brothers in basketball domination. Choirs of angels sing, all war briefly ends (Bonjour, Cold War dtente) and Michael Jackson releases Off the Wall.

1982 -- Pittsburgh joins just two years after Villanova. The conference has reached the apex of awesomeness. Just take a moment to let this sink in.

1984 -- Georgetown wins the National Basketball Championship.
1985 -- Three Big East teams -- Villanova, St. John's, and Georgetown -- make it to the Final Four. Villanova wins the whole darn thing. Just another testament to pwnage.

1991 -- Somebody decides that the Big East needs more football schools. Stupid idea. Miami, Temple, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Rutgers all pile on. Clearly, this is when things start getting faily.

1995 -- WVU and Rutgers change their football-only contracts. Notre Dame gets a non-football membership.

1999 -- UConn wins. Everything.

2001 -- Virginia Tech decides it wants to play basketball with the big dogs. This is a mistake.

2003 -- Syracuse wins the National Basketball Championship.

2004 -- UConn wins another title. NBD.

2005 -- Virginia Tech realizes its mistake and runs away to the ACC. Miami and Boston College run right along behind the Hokies. Thus begins the new era of hatred for Boston College, no longer as an opponent but as a dirty traitor New England school that whored itself out for football money.

Five teams move to the Big East from Conference USALouisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, and DePaul. The idea of bringing in big name train wrecks like Rick Pitino and Bob Huggins is kind of exciting. And Tom Crean's Golden Eagles are doing good things so bring 'em on.

2006 -- The Big East sends eight teams -- yeah, that's a record -- to the NCAA Tournament. Pat Forde has a nervous breakdown. Doug Gottlieb turns to P90X in his confusion.
2008 -- Eight teams go to the tournament again. For one shining moment, ESPN appears on the verge of imploding. Nothing happens. Bummer.
2009 -- Instead of the top 12, all 16 basketball teams are invited to play in the conference tournament. This is ridiculously dumb. The top four teams now get a double-bye to the quarterfinals. Who thought that people want USF to have a chance for an early round upset? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

2010 -- TCU is slated to join the Big East in two years. This announcement is made barely a week after North Korea hits Yeonpyeong Island with shelling. Coincidence? No way.

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