The Big 10/11/12 has announced its plans for what the conference will look like when Nebraska joins the party next season, and it's odd:

Division 1                                       Division 2

Iowa                                              Illinois

Michigan State                               Indiana

Michigan                                        Ohio State

Minnesota                                      Penn State

Nebraska                                       Purdue

Northwestern                                  Wisconsin

Notice that the divisions do not have titles since geography clearly didn't come into play here.  If you look at a map of the Midwest and plot the locations of the twelve schools, Division 2 essentially makes a Nike swoosh around Northwestern and the Michigan duo.  Rivalries have been split up (Ohio State-Michigan being the biggest one, but Paul Bunyan's Ax bounce between divisions as well).  Commissioner Jim Delaney said this is in the best interest of competitve balance in the conference.  That's what I don't understand.

Things fluctuate in college football.  Powers fall and new powers take their place.  Right now, it's Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin in no particular order.  But outside of Indiana, every school in this conference has had success in the last handful of seasons.  Add in Nebraska, who is a Big 12 favorite this year, and basing divisional alignment off of competitive balance doesn't really apply to me.  Sure, if the Huskers were in the Big 10 this season you'd have two powers in each division.  Will it look like that next year?  Who knows. 

The Big Ten is a great conference, certainly in the dicussion for the country's best.  All of these teams (minus those precious Hoosiers) have been good in recent years, and any one of them can be in the near future.  So, wouldn't creating divisions based on geography still keep competitive balance in place, and make a hell of a lot more sense?

Oh, and if the Big Ten isn't on the phone right now with Nike to name Division 2 the 'Swoosh Division,' then they need a new marketing team.

College football is nearing, which means the discussion of a college football playoff system is also nearing.  It's a topic that generated some steam over the summer, but everyone seems set on starting at either eight teams or sixteen.  Not me.  I'm more creative than that.  Journey with me:

24 teams.  Yes, 24 teams make it into the Corey Gloor College Football Playoff Systen (which will now be referred to as CGCFPS...catchy, eh?).  Eleven of these teams will be automatic bids awarded to the eleven conference champions.  The remaining thirteen bids will be at-large bids determined by a committee, similar to March Madness.

Now, think of how the NFL structures their playoff system (top two seeds in each conference get bye weeks, 3-6 battle in Week 1) and double it.  Four "quarters" to take a page out of tennis with six teams apiece.  The top two seeds (determined by the committee) will get a bye week, the third seed plays the sixth seed while fourth and fifth matchup.  After the first week is complete the brackets are re-seeded so that the top seed plays the lowest remaining seed, the second team plays the highest remaining seed.  The first two weeks of games will take place at the highest seed's stadium (think NIT).  Still with me?

When the Elite 8 is reached, neutral sites will be used.  But not just neutral sites, oh no, friends.  The four BCS bowls (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta) will be your Elite 8 games.  Let's face it, those four bowls are the bowl games that people still want around, with a possible fifth being the Cotton Bowl.  Finally, the Final Four and Championship game will be played at wherever (I've never been a fan of it rotating amongst the four BCS sites). 

There you go, the CGCFPS.  It will take five weeks to complete, which would probably mean scaling down the non-conferences schedule down a week.  This playoff system will still allow the big boys to prove themselves, but also give the mid-majors their long-desired shot.  It will eliminate the hideous month between the end of the regular season and the BCS games.  And best of all, it will give the college postseason meaning.  No more Meineke Car Care Bowl or GMAC Bowl...unless, of course, schools want to keep these bowls around as their own version of the NIT.  Frankly, I don't care about that.

Now, this is all contingent on the current conference structure staying the way it is, which is in doubt.  But this is my idea to make college football more interesting in December and into January, because the current system just ain't cutting it.

There's a lot I don't understand about people in this country.  For instance, why are 'Two-And-A-Half Men' and 'Glee' popular while 'Damages' and 'Treme' are barely watched?  What is a Justin Bieber and why is it popular?  Last night I saw something that made me wonder just how stupid the masses can be sometimes.

Before last night's Dodgers-Brewers game, the Milwaukee Brewers unveiled a statue of MLB Commissioner and former Brewers owner Bud Selig.  It was a terrific ceremony attended by giants from around the world of baseball, and a great moment for Selig and the club.  Yet those outside of Wisconsin wondered why.  Why is this man getting this type of honor?

First, let's go through "the people's" argument before I squash it to death.  They're blown away by the Brewers doing this for Selig.  This man has presided over a strike, a rampant use of steriods and a financial structure that...well, let's face it, there's no real financial structure.  And Selig has seen all of this happen and really not shown much care.  He's been a bad Commissioner to most people, myself included.  Why on Earth would the Brewers honor this man?

He's my argument; the winning argument in this.  This statue isn't for Commissioner Bug Selig.  This statue is for former Brewers owner Bud Selig, pure and simple.  Does him being commissioner help with this type of honor?  I'm sure it does, but the Brewers aren't commending him on his work with Major League Baseball.  Without Selig, there is no Milwaukee Brewers.  He brought a bankrupt Pilots team to County Stadium because he, a Milwaukee native, was crushed when the Braves left.  He loved baseball and wanted to see it back in the city he loved.  If Selig doesn't do this, then who knows if baseball even exists in Milwaukee.

ESPN's resident dope Rick Reilly made one of his ever-so-clever bits on this topic this past weekend on Sportscenter, chastising this statue and other statues around the country.  Some dweeb on Bleacher Report has called the statue "an insult to Major League Baseball."  But here's the thing...IT WASN'T BUILT FOR YOU.  This statue isn't for baseball fans around the country, it's for Milwaukee baseball fans.  If it was for you they would have consulted you.  But thank you for your concern.

So the statue's up and the first and most important owner in Brewers' history has his honor and I couldn't be happier for Selig.  My opinions of him as commissioner don't apply here, and nor should yours.  Without Selig, would I even be a baseball fan?  Or would I be a Cubs' fan?  Because that thought just made me dry heave.

Congrats, Bud.  You truly deserve it.

The title of "toughest man in sports" is thrown around here and there, usually referring to some sort of football or hockey player.  Hell, last season, a New York Islander played a game after getting HIT BY A FREAKING TRUCK earlier that day.  But there's one man who makes Brendan Witt look like a baseball player...and he is more powerful than you can ever imagine.

That man is Jack Roush, founder of Roush Fenway Racing.  Roush is one of the most successful NASCAR owners in history and is a lock for NASCAR's newly created Hall Of Fame.  But it's not his work as an owner that has grabbed my attention.

A couple weeks ago, Roush was involved in a plane crash near Oshkosh (his second plane crash in the last decade), leaving him with a fractured back, broken jaw and no left eye.  First off, he walked off the plane, which is absurd in its own right.  Then, he showed up at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan this past Sunday, less than three weeks after nearly dying.  That, friends, one of the most insane things I've ever seen.

I love my job at ESPN 1380.  But honestly, if I broke my back and lost one of my eyes in a plane crash, I'd take at least a month to recooperate.  But not Jack Roush, who in one pit road appearance on Sunday told America to get off their butts and get back to work.  He even decided to leave his trackside suite to be with his four different teams.  But I suppose telling one of the most prominent figures in NASCAR to "slow down" isn't really going to work, is it?

So there you go...the toughest man in sports resides in NASCAR, and his name is Jack Roush.  Now get back to work.

Where to begin with yesterday's debacle at Whistling Straits, where Dustin Johnson grounded his club in a "bunker," penalizing him two strokes and knocking him out of the playoff with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer.  Well, how about this...everyone involved was at fault.

Dustin Johnson admitted he didn't read the rules prior to the tournament, which clearly stated that all bunkers, regardless of their location, will be played as bunkers.  It was Johnson's fault for flat out not reading the rules of the course.

The problem here is that where Johnson's tee shot landed can't legitmately be classified as a "bunker," and that's where the PGA and Whistling Straits come in.  This "bunker" was outside the ropes of the course, allowing thousands of fans to trample it throughout the run of the tournament.  Whether the PGA and course officials didn't believe anyone could hit a ball into this "bunker," or they just didn't care if someone did, it is incredibly foolish for this to be allowed.  Dustin Johnson's wild tee shot on 18 didn't land in a bunker, it landed in a grass-filled, matted-down viewing perch.  It was indistinguishable as a bunker.  If that's a bunker, then so is the parking lot.

Last but not least, Dustin Johnson's caddy needs some blame.  Where was he in all of this?  There's a PGA official walking with each pairing, you would think the caddy would have asked about the land the ball was on just in case.  It's only the PGA Championship.  Might want to make sure your guy isn't doing anything illegal when he has the opportunity to win a major.

Johnson did ground the club, but it clearly didn't give him an advantage.  His shot landed clear past the green and down a hill.  It also wouldn't have given him an advantage since thousands of feet had trampled it to death already.  You ground the club in order to get more space behind the ball to strike it, but since the sand was so packed down as is, the ball might as well have landed on an airport runway.

Everyone has some blame here, but it never should have happened to begin with.  The rule itself is irrelevant.  The course should have never let patrons stand there when it was apparently in play.  The PGA shouldn't have assumed Johnson knew it was a bunker, and Johnson shouldn't have assumed it wasn't one.  It's unfortuante that such a terrific tournament will be remembered for this, but imagine if Johnson made that par putt to "win" the tournament.  Regardles, we find ourselves talking about golf for yet another bad reason.

By the way, Martin Kaymer won.

I've briefly mentioned my displeasure with what the NBA has spiraled into the last couple of years.  Recently it has dealt with David Stern's willingness to let the stars become bigger than the franchises, the only commissioner in sports who lets that happen.  It dove deeper last night in another TV special, this one probably none of you saw.  And it was for the better you didn't.  Last night, NBA TV had a program which unveiled the marquee games in this year's NBA schedule; games like Opening Night, Christmas Day and MLK Day.  It turned into the "Heat and Lakers Variety Hour with Special Appearances by the Celtics, Magic and Bulls." 

I get it to a point.  These teams will be on national TV because they have the stars and will be very good.  But, similar to the LeBron fiasco, it's the TV special that should be talked about.  It's not a bad idea to have a program unveiling the schedule of the upcoming season if it's done correctly, but this was not.  It was made very clear that this wasn't about the new season, but about a handful of teams that the NBA cares about.  This special sent a message to the rest of the league...you don't matter.  As long as these five are on the airwaves, the NBA is happy.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it's hard not to.  The correct way to run a schedule release special was to release the Opening Night of every team in the league followed by the marquee games.  Then, you detail some other key matchups during the season, with the full schedule being released at the conclusion of the program.  Tada!  You make everyone happy. 

But that wasn't the way it was done.  It was done with careful consideration to omit the majority of the NBA.  Another misstep for a league that has been taking many recently, carefully exhibited at the end of the "Heat and Lakers Variety Hour."  One of the show's hosts asked the question "Are there any teams we've forgotten?"  Yes.  To say the least.  But that's what happens in a league happy with five teams.