prebilliken

I have to agree to disagree here. I came to SLU in 2006 and left in 2010 and I am consistently stunned with how much nicer and more fluid the campus appears to be getting each year. My uncles also attended SLU in the early '80's so I was reminded often about how much nicer it was in 2006 compared to when I was there. I believe that part of our 200 year anniversary preparations that began when Pestello came on board was the development of a long-term master plan which included plans for the main campus, med campus, and SLU owned property that was separated of both, I think only parts of the plan have been shared publicly though.

Technically, the Maroons did move. Prior to the 1929 season, the Pottsville owner sold the team's rights off to a Boston based ownership group, where they then became the Boston Bulldogs, and then folded a mere season later. I'm biased because I'm the lifelong fan of Packers, being raised by two natives of the Badger State, but this is what I love about the Pack. You can tease the Shareholder model and how obnoxious it makes the fan base, but it guarantees that the Green Bay Packers will be in a town of 104,057 in Northern Wisconsin until kingdom come, instead of constantly being held hostage to the whims of an old, billionaire owner with an ego issue. Also to @Pistol's point, it also guarantees that the finances that fund the team's stadium come out of willing consumers, rather than public money that goes to schools, police, first responders, roads, etc. The fact is, owner's demands seem to be getting more daring, rather than less, this issue was once isolated to small market towns that were desperate to hold onto their team, now owners are willing to hold cities like Minneapolis, San Diego, and Oakland hostage as well.

Jon Rothstein tweeted about it last night.

There was also a great moment yesterday (twitter link here) of French speaking at a SLUnatics meeting where he had a great reaction what someone said Hargrove was going to win the dunk contest. French and Goodwin have really endured themselves as leaders of this team and its been enjoyable to watch.

This is where I'm at, yesterday I thought it was ok. Today I like it.

I believe this is the link to the interview. Segment 5 - Travis Ford.

I'm not even sure this can be considered a politically correct answer at this point, I think it is literally the only answer. Regardless on where you fall on the spectrum concerning this issue, all the way from "Kid is totally soft and he deserves nothing" to "we should support college athletes in literally every little emotional whim they have," this young man is clearly on a self-destructive spiral and if you don't hope he figures it out you're pretty heartless. With the benefit of hindsight, I am OVERJOYED he's not in our locker room anymore, but I hate to see a kid piss away so much God given talent and reject all adult guidance at every turn over seemingly nothing.

Your team looks dope and the recruits like them.

You know that's not 100% true.

Speaking of Duquesne, has anyone seen their new rebrand? I don't love it.

Pistol, I think you've been missing out on a career in consulting my friend.

Great meme usage. My bad. Here is the photo.

French posted this number on instagram the other day - the kid looks like Apollo F***ing Creed.

The President of the Bizz school that I'm getting my MBA at (UT Austin) had a quote that I believe perfectly encompasses how I feel about rankings: "Rankings should not be what drives Universities, we know that so much more goes into building an institution than the strange math that produces these numbers, that being said, rankings matter to incoming students, they matter to alumni, and they matter to boosters, so they matter to us. It should also be noted that we only take into official consideration the criteria that encompasses the USNWR rankings, we only cite other ranking systems when it serves us well." It was such a frank and honest answer, I couldn't agree more. With Dr. Hartzell's wise words in mind: Its good to see us back in the top 100, even if we are still not at the peak of 76 (I believe) when I applied to SLU for undergrad in 2005. 58% acceptance rate is incredible, the fact that isn't driving our rankings higher is crazy. It also shows how the standards for getting in to SLU continue to elevate. According to a news release from SLU, the current GPA for the incoming class is a 3.92, and their test scores place them within the 90th percentile of all incoming classes in the US. It blows my cot d**m mind that Marquette is ranked higher than SLU. There is no explanation for it. I covet our $1.2B endowment, it is so impressive for a school our size. That alone should also bolster our rankings as well. (Twice the size as Marquette's endowment - we are well endowed... Sorry, I couldn't resist.) I hope SLU focuses in on a few key grad programs that over-index in how a university does in National Rankings, namely their MBA, I'm hopeful this is an area of focus with Chaifetz's continued involvement in the business school. These programs don't just boost rankings, but they are also high margin programs that enable a lot of financial security for other areas of academics. Heading in the right direction - good work by Pestello and Co.

This ruined my weekend.

ALL CAPS ENERGY. I LOVE IT. I TOO, WOULD ALSO LOVE HOW MUCH STL FLAVOR THE TEAM WOULD HAVE.

SAINT LOUIS SPORTS KARMA IS REAL RIGHT NOW. BOOK THIS. T FORD HAS THIS ON LOCK. WE ARE IN ALL CAPS STATUS FOR THIS VISIT. ALL CAPS Y'ALL.

This game is awesome, I don't care if they aren't "The" Dunk City team, they are still dunk city. Its a far better opening opponent from a name standpoint than we have had in year's past. It should do a good job of filling The 'Fetz. I'm pumped, Ford and Co. are clearly working at the schedule.

I liked the new Billiken logo when they premiered it and I loved it once they fixed the costume mascot issue. I think it looks more similar to the statue. I also think it looks better on merchandise because of the simpler lines, the previous logo was a little "too detailed" and if the image wasn't large enough I didn't think it came across well on some merch. For me though, any Billiken is a good Billiken. Something I would change over the years: I'm not in love with the new "SLU" or "Saint Louis" or "Billikens" word mark/font. Its ok, but it didn't blow me away. You could easily change the word mark without changing the Billiken, I kinda hope this new Billiken is around for a long time. I actually LOVE the University's academic re-brand that came out around the same time, I think the new fleur-de-lis logo is way, way cleaner.

Yeah, man. There are a lot of solutions out there. Look at little ol Wofford. You have control over how many seats you put in there. You can make it looked packed. Wofford's stadium only has 1,000 seats and it looks like a great crowd.

I think what a lot of the baseball supporters on this site ask for is actually pretty rational. You can create pretty dynamic and good looking baseball stadiums for reasonable costs these days. A sturdy red brick facade that matches the style of the Chaifetz is not a massive capital project. No one is asking to build something like what Arkansas or Texas play in. Take a look at Campbell's stadium (Go Fightin' Camels!). Its essentially bricked in bleachers, but it looks tremendously more aesthetically appealing than what our boys play in.

I believe you have SLU's awful and easy-to-mix-up conference history a little off my friend. SLU was in the CUSA from 95-05 before we left for the A10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_USA#Membership_timeline Its a terrible trip through history, I don't recommend it... Are we in the Big East yet?

Simply put: This is either the best thing in the world or the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world: If the rumors are true that the Big East wants to remain at 11 then we are f***ed for life. A10 forever. The best thing in the world: If the Big East (or Fox) says that there has to be a 12th team. You could then have a 22 game conference schedule, which is the trend that the B1G and the ACC are heading towards. There is not logical or rational reason that the 12th team would be anyone but SLU. No way that X is letting Dayton in. I believe that my bias towards the situation is making me imagine their is a possibility at the latter scenario when truly only the first exists. Our mismanagement of the situation has finally come to kill us.

I've been hurt so many times by Bills soccer hype... Not sure I could handle the heartbreak again.

I'm in complete agreement, I love the design, and I love the logic/engineering behind the viewing angles. I heard some initial suggestions that wanted the stadium to have a brick facade so that it would be a reflection of Busch but I really love what they ended up doing in the design. I also think its cool how the stadium is almost entirely enclosed yet still incorporates the St. Louis skyline via some of the gaps in the stand. EPL stadiums are hard to compare to the new MLS stadiums (even outside of scale of seating) because most well known EPL stadiums have gone through multiple iterations that produce a very hodge-podge looking stadium. The EPL is sort of like the South Eastern Conference of Soccer Leagues in terms of stadiums, a lot of hallowed grounds started as humble grand stands and instead of building entirely new stadiums as they expand, they just keep building on top of those grandstands or by grand stand at a time. Afield is a pretty good example. Stadiums like Cardiff City Stadium buck that trend. Also, there is no branding crime more miserable than naming MLS teams in the European Style like "Real Salt Lake" and "Sporting" KC. I'm fine with SC St. Louis, but I think FC is silly as well. Come up with and original name. Last I checked there was never a King of Utah that gave his personal blessing to "Real" Salt Lake. Its awful.