Listened to “I think we’re alone now” by Tommy James and the Shondells … Got me going on the way to practice … Great Song!!

Bill Stewart continues to tweet ahead of the pack. I don’t want to put words in his 140-character limit, but he fired that off Friday just as things got a little more interesting in this conference expansion drama. Children behave. That’s what I say when you’re together.

Nothing really “happened,” but people continue to write it and devour it. There were a few pieces of news and opinions to note from the weekend, beginning with a backhanded assessment, of sorts, from tennis connoisseur and Special Advisor Paul Tagliabue.

Tagliabue wondered if the Big Ten expanding to the New York area by adding Syracuse and Rutgers would really make a difference. While the plan with the Big Ten Network has seemingly been to add the most populated areas, such as New Jersey with Rutgers or St. Louis with Missouri, Tagliabue disagreed with that strategy.

“One of the real challenges for the networks is to provide value, but you only provide value in markets where you provide traction,” he said. “Is Minnesota and Rutgers going to get a big rating on Long Island? Give me a break. Every game isn’t Michigan and Michigan State.”

He added, “Am I going to rush home from a tennis game on Saturday to watch Minnesota and Rutgers if I live on Long Island?”

Hmmm. I don’t think that’s a very good debut for Tagliabue. You can imagine how happy Greg Schiano was to learn of Tagliabue’s thoughts. Apparently “livid” was the choice word behind the scenes. In public, it was more like “diplomatic.”

“Oh, I don’t know. People get worked up about that,” Schiano said. “Sometimes things get said. But not everyone knows everything. I don’t put a lot of stock in it. Remember, my target audience is 15-16-17-18-year old young men. What I find is they don’t even know who these people are who are being quoted.”

Oooh! Return of serve by Schiano! Tagliabue’s comments may have done something. May have done nothing. I’d like to think this situation is serious enough that one side isn’t going to be offended by a quote that, contextually, probably isn’t as bad as it can be presented to be. There’s some truth in what was said … and we’ve said some of the same things here. However, what it’s done is put a little more spotlight on the situation and, whether by design or by coincidence, there seems to be an opinion Rutgers has to go now.

“You are in a situation where the fundamentals are changing very dramatically,” Tagliabue said of the Big East. “You shouldn’t just sit back and try to anticipate a future created by someone else. You are in a position to shape the future. Let’s figure out how to do it.”

It all sounds good, but it begs the question: Why hasn’t the league done that already?

It’s too late now. The Big East can hire all the consultants it wants, but if the Big Ten decides to grab a few of its teams in the coming months or years and decimate it from a football standpoint, it will.

This is no longer about what is right or wrong for Rutgers or preserving its long-standing relationships. This is about survival. The landscape in college athletics is about to change dramatically, maybe in ways that nobody can predict now. But it will certainly change.

Rutgers has no choice but to change with it.