NEWPORT, R.I. — Who would have thought that the Backyard Brawl could become any more intense than it has been, but even before the first coin was flipped on the 2010 season the guns began firing.

It started with something that usually is harmless enough, the Big East preseason media poll, something that has as much meaning as a pageless dictionary and as much value as a share of Enron stock.

The media picked Pitt first, as expected, with West Virginia tied for second with Cincinnati.

Hardly worth fussing about, considering that by December it will be forgotten and as meaningless as yesterday’s news.

Except you never know how players are going to take such things and West Virginia’s proud senior Jock Sanders, who lived through the misery of losing the monumental upset to Pitt three years ago, took offense and now there’s fuel to fire this year’s Brawl.

“The crazy thing about it to me is, Pitt got everybody back and we got everybody back and we beat Pitt — so those polls to me don’t really mean anything,” Sanders said, when approached on media day. “Hands down [we’re the best team in the Big East], and we’ll show that this year. It is all about politics. For Pitt to get all those [first-place] votes and we got just as much back as them, it is crazy, but, like I said before, at the end of the year after we play them, they’ll regret [being the favorites]. They’ll regret it all.”

After saying that, Sanders was asked about how much that upset loss to Pitt hurt as WVU was on the verge of playing for a national championship.

“It didn’t really hurt,” he said. “I was so young.”

But …

You knew a but was coming.

“Before that, I never had a hatred for any team,” he said. “But now, being in Morgantown, seeing how the fans hate Pitt, I mean, now I have it.”

It’s something that’s contagious. J.T. Thomas, the WVU linebacker, was at media day also. He, too, was around for the 2008 Brawl … and he understands what Sanders was saying.

“The Pitt guys, we don’t like,” Thomas said. “There’s a nasty rivalry going on between us, and once you wear the blue and gold for so long, you develop a hate you can’t get rid of. I don’t like even walking next to the Pitt guys.”



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A couple of weeks back I wrote a column suggesting that the Big East was situated perfectly to have its own TV network.

Since the conference raids by the Big Ten and the Pac-10 were about TV markets and the Big East was a target because it had desirable markets, I asked at the time:

“Well, if the markets are so desirable, why doesn’t the Big East form its own network?”

Know what came out of media day on Tuesday?

The Big East is seriously studying the prospect of starting its own network.

“I think growth, in terms of our potential, is television,” Commissioner John Marinatto said during his address to the media. “We have much more potential than anybody because we represent more of the population than anybody.”

This is how Marinatto saw it.

“We have looked at how other entities have been able to monetize their assets. The Big Ten created their network, showing you don’t necessarily have to go to ESPN to create an environment of exposure and a good financial environment for you membership,” he said.

“We talk about our assets. As a conference, we represent 25 percent of the population of the United States. Seven of our schools are in the top 13 markets. From an asset standpoint, we have more potential than anyone because we have more population than anyone.”

If they can prove that the population will adopt the product that the Big East puts on the field, it could be the start of them either cutting back on or severing their long and successful relationship with ESPN.

The problem right now is they are tied in contractually with ESPN for three more years in football and four more in basketball.

“We plan on honoring those commitments,” he said. But he also knows that there are now alternatives that weren’t there when those contracts were negotiated.

The current contract with ESPN pays each Big East football school about $3.67 million per year. By comparison, the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big 12 re-alignments figure to bring in $13 million to $20 million per school.

“So much has evolved in the terms of evolution and technology to create that environment that we have to balance it in terms of tradition, history and, most importantly, our values,” he said. “Our growth rests with our television potential.”



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Big East expansion is still a hot item, especially for a ninth team to allow the conference to play a balanced football schedule.

“I think nine (schools) presents a lot of opportunity,” Marinatto said. “But when you look at growing to nine, you have to balance whether or not that ninth team brings enough to the table. We will not add a ninth school just for the sake of a balanced schedule.”

The conference also is looking at a championship game, which requires a 12-team conference at present.

“We’ve talked about it. Right now the rule says 12 members. We have talked if that number is legitimate. Do you need a number? There’s no number of teams in basketball. With the events that have happened recently, we’ll look again,” he said.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.