How else can you explain the opening sentence that state: “The Big Ten Conference…includes world-class academic institutions such as Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin–Madison.”

Now how often do Ohio State and Michigan State lead the list of “world-class academic institutions” with no mention of the University of Michigan?

If that isn’t an intentional insult, by the folks at Pentagram, I don’t know what is. My guess is that “Michael Bierut (“husband of 30 years to an Ohio State alumna”) was trying to make some points with his “Buckette” by leading the sentence with OSU and leaving out U of M entirely.

I believe that this is proof positive that this Big 10 redesign and Pentagram itself is a joke.

You have once again made me laugh out loud while I’m supposed to be writing away in a cafe.

After I received your note a good friend of mine sent me a similar question. And, I confess, only then did I realize I might have a problem. It might be a generational thing, I’m not sure, but most of my peers think first of the game I described, not — um, something else. Otherwise, I would not have paired it with euchre, which would have been even weirder.

But since I read your message, I have come to realize your interpretation is a lot more common than I had thought. I can assure you, next time I am tempted to cite that game in a piece, I’ll probably think twice, and be a little more careful.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

I might share your mock outrage, but my gratitude is sincere.

-JUB

I trust *you* are aware that “cornhole” has a much longer history as a euphemism for certain acts, and its use as a comic term for the venerable beanbag toss is a relatively recent, risque innovation. I guess in a world where “you suck” and “that blows” are accepted, nothing is too awkward.

Yours in mock prudishness,

Mr. Johnson

The logo, using the link in one of the commenter notes above, is black and blue, so I think the divisions could reasonably be named that way. Of course this brings up the possibility that other colors may claim discrimination and we would be locked in legal proceedings for so long that the the 12 teams could become 14 in that time, obviating the need to resolve this “crisis” altogether.

We could just settle for The Fellowship of the Ring and the divisions could be Hobbits and Dwarves……..Oh……..I’ve been informed that’s already been done :(

I trust you are aware that Cornhole is a game they play at tailgates, wherein they toss bean bags (filled with corn kernels, I imagine) at a tilted board with a hole at the top. Ergo, cornhole — a game played predominantly in the Midwest, just like Euchre.

For Beguiled, I might go for that — JoePa’s got the most wins, of course, plus two national titles and three Big Ten titles — but Bo and Woody won 13 Big Ten titles each. (Woody also added a handful of national titles, more than Paterno’s two.)

For ABC, best line of the day: “While the TENness of the league might change from time to time certainly the BIGness is forever.”

So very very true. And really makes ya think, doesn’t it?

Thanks to all.

-JUB

You clearly are a rube. You failed to grasp the subtlety of the design. The word ‘TEN’ below ‘BIG’ is dropped out of the field of color; a clear reference, to those who do not eat corn, to the ten teams from yesteryear that are now missing. Hence the word TEN is also ‘missing’, taking on a ghostly presence in the color and material of whatever the logo is printed on be it turf, wood, fabric, etc. The word TEN is no longer a number, but a memory.

You also missed the architecture of the logo; a critical theme to fully appreciate the magnitude of the design. BIG sits on a base and rises up as strong block letters. TEN is within the base that BIG is built upon, buried below it.

This design brilliantly seizes on BIG as the operative and enduring word allowing TEN to morph and change with its medium. Over time the TEN may even go away all together, dissappearing into the BIG’s blue. Pentagram captured the essence of the league, it is BIG. While the TENness of the league might change from time to time certainly the BIGness is forever.

BTW if Iowa traded places with Wisconsin the divisions could be the ‘Vowels’ and the ‘Consonants’.