As you know, I'm a big sports fan. I like sports, my wife likes sports, I encourage my kids to play and follow sports, sports are a nice diversion from thinking about things that hurt my head all day long, like the environment and economics and administrative stuff. As you also know, I grew up in Maryland, lived there for 25 years and went to the University of Maryland for graduate school. In my 43 years, Maryland sports and the Atlantic Coast Conference have been synonymous. When I moved to Ohio, and started working at Ohio State in 2000, I felt a little icky starting to follow Ohio State sports. But I have grown to like Buckeye sports as much as I like Terrapin sports, my kids are Buckeye fans--and not Terp fans. And since they are local--and they pay me--it is easier to follow Buckeye sports. I have justified my sports bigamy on the grounds that Ohio State is a Big 10 (i.e. 11, 12,...) conference school so my two schools will rarely meet (and so far so good) and I won't have to make a choice.
The University System of Maryland's Board of Regents will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to vote whether to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference, a source told ESPN.
...If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East will then follow suit, a source said. The Rutgers announcement could be as early as Tuesday, sources said. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.
