Assuming the Big XII implodes, losing the Big XII tournament in KC will be a tragedy
- Thread starter isubeatle
- Start date
It's only ten minute drive to wicker park/bucktown where I used to live and fav neighborhood in Chicago. Also close to downtown.
What sucks is nothing great walking distance, plenty of fun areas a very short drive. Also that it's not near a red or blue line train.
Yeah that’s the problem. Of course there is a lot of fun things fairly close. But the whole point of these things is that you don’t need to drive around.
The arena itself it is not bad but the location is horrible and you have to drive through some rough parts of Chicago to get to it. Remember going there in HS in the late 90's to a Bulls game and my uncle who was driving us told us all to not look directly at anyone when we had to stop at at intersection as it was not a good part of town.
KC is such a great town for a tournament. P&L right across the street and hotels within walking distance. Even if you get a hotel just outside of the P&L its still in an area you feel safe going back to at night. So frustrating to see all the great things about the Big 12 possibly getting ruined by 2 schools that think things are greener on the other side of the fence. Texas could essentially become the SEC version of Nebraska in the Big 10 with a program who once was a powerhouse still living in the past and is just mediocre now thinking a move will result in them returning to dominance.
I realize this is all about money but from a competition standpoint it makes no sense for them leaving a conference where they have been catered to and have more power than any other schools to a conference where Alabama is king and they are just another fish in the pond. Highly doubt the SEC is going to have a "horns down" rule for Texas just to keep them happy. Give it 5 years or so and Texas could very well be the malcontent and PITA of the SEC like Nebraska is in the Big 10. No one in the SEC will care about the 2005 National Championship when Alabama has won 6 since then just like no one cares about Nebraska and their last championship in 1999 anymore. I was at a point that I thought the Big 12 was onto something with a 10 or 12 team model where the competition was not watered down and with the round robin format there was no team that could benefit from not playing the top schools in the conference in a given year. In the Big 12 not only do you have to run the gauntlet in the regular season but you have to play the other top team in the conference a 2nd time in FB or in BB sometimes a 3rd time. Going to be really interesting to see what happens when the dust settles on this mess.
In all honesty I don't know why we keep catering to Texas other than their $ base. I posted some of this in another thread but if you go back and look over their FB and BB records over the past decade or so they have been very mediocre. Since Mac Brown was forced out after 2013 they are now on their 3rd FB coach and went 48-39 and not even making a bowl game 2 of those year. Take out a 10 win season they had in 2018 and they haven't won 10 or more games since 2009. Basketball has been a mess too. They last time they finished ranked in the top 25 was in 2010-11 and have not been to the Sweet 16 since 2008. Yet this is a school that still thinks they are a blueblood program and have bullied their way into getting favorable deals over the years.
I'll respectfully disagree with that statement. They tried it and it didn't do well. I could have seen the women's tourney moving Baylor would draw well in TX. The people that went to Oklahoma City said it was a good town for the tourney way better than Dallas was.
Ah, so not even close to any area I am talking about? Cool.
Chicago is great. The location of the United Center in Chicago is god awful
Besides location\convenience, there's something to be said for smaller cities where the tournament is a big deal within that city. When the big 12 tournament was in dallas, it wasnt the major event for that city that it is in KC (or even was in OKC). Chicago I imagine would be more similar to Dallas in that way.
Having been to Indy for other events, I imagine it would be more like KC, but still not as good.
Having been to Indy for other events, I imagine it would be more like KC, but still not as good.
Whoever upthread floated the Milwaukee idea, I liked that. Milwaukee was a fun town when ISU played there in the NCAA's a few yrs ago.
The West Loop area was desolate when I lived and worked in Chicago (20 somethign years ago), but there was a green line stop that was walkable. However, the last time I was there to see Iowa State in the Sweet 16, the area (at least Madison) had gentrified some what. I just walked back to the Loop from the United Center after the game(s).
I went there for the Duke game when we played a one off when McD was the coach and I went there for the Sweet 16 game as well. I agree the part of town is fine. It's not great but I didn't feel unsafe over there or anything.
We spent a bunch of time just roaming around Michigan Ave. in ISU shirts. Saw a bunch of other ISU people. I was probably asked literally 10 times by Chicago natives why ISU people were there. They had no idea the Sweet 16 was even happening right around the corner. That's why Chicago sucks as a location, they do not care. KC cared, and that was what was special about it.
Banker's Life is the best large basketball venue in the country and it's not close.
Such a difference between being built for basketball instead of hockey.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Totally this.
We know who they are. We knew this was coming. Let's press on to (hopefully) a better future.