It feels like "The Fall of the Roman Empire"

[Palatine]

At the end of the classic 1964 epic film, the vacant chair of the emperor is being auctioned off as Stephen Boyd and Sophia Loren walk off one the greatest sets ever built.

"Two million dinars for the throne of Rome....two million, five hundred thousand dinars ...."

Cue the voiceover guy "This was the beginning of the fall of Rome...."

How all this conference realignment will play out is anyone's guess. But it stinks as bad as the burning bodies in the background of the auction scene. What a mess. College sports were never innocent. But this naked money grab and fighting over positions while the bodies are still warm is pretty disgusting. Publicly funded institutions of higher learning acting with the conscience of Caligula. It's pretty sad.

 

[RS9999X]

I'm happy the Big Ten made the Rutgers announcement and ended the drama.

Interesting how Delaney credits Notre Dame for spurring this move.

 

[mattp]

the funny part to me is that after this big money grab, most ADs will still be running in the red

 

[Palatine]

BTW, the plot of the movie the Fall of the Roman Empire is the basic story line used by Ridley Scott in Gladiator.

 

[Nostical]

Since we are way off topic, my friend Burt's good buddy David Franzoni wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for Gladiator. During Oscar night we all babysat for their kids. David's wife Nancy once roomed with Nicole Kidman and Kelly Preston. She's told us some "interesting" inside stories.

 

[ZooCougar]

Gladiator may be the last movie Ridley Scott made that was any good.

 

[Palatine]

Since we are way off topic, my friend Burt's good buddy David Franzoni wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for Gladiator. During Oscar night we all babysat for their kids. David's wife Nancy once roomed with Nicole Kidman and Kelly Preston. She's told us some "interesting" inside stories.

They borrowed quite heavily from TFotRE in Gladiator. Right down to using the little square made by soldiers where Boyd fights the emperor. Of course, Boyd lives and Crowe dies.