Kirk Wessler's article this morning rails on and on about how the BU-ISU rivalry isn't a rivalry any more...
and he tries to put the blame on Jim Les again by pointing to the JL era for when the rivalry died off....and then back to the 90's for the last time both teams were solid contenders at the same time (I guess to heap a little blame on Molinari, too)
Well, someone has to straighten him out and point out the facts.
The BU-ISU game was still a solid rivalry right up until just a few years ago...
2010-2011 - Jim Les' final year - BOTH BU-ISU games were 1-pt thrillers with near sellouts (the BU game was 10,600!)
2009-2010 - even the game over at ISU sold out at 10,200 - they've really never packed the place like that since!! The game HERE was a 1-point thriller again with 11,300 (only 100 short of a sellout!!)
2009-2009 - the BU-ISU game at Carver was one of the most exciting rivalry games in memory..BU held off the Redbirds despite a really great performance by Osiris Eldridge, [B]attendance was 11, 592 - the BIGGEST CROWD EVER at Carver
Arena!![/B] - ...the game over at Redbird Arena was also a SELLOUT that season
...and etc., etc...
..all the games in the Jim Les era had the UNDENIABLE feel of RIVALRY games...
I have no ideas where Kirk Wessler was during that era - he obviously was so consumed with his irrational hate for Coach Les and his desire to smear Bradley during that era and try to "beat the drum" to get Les fired (those are KW's own admitted words for how he felt from 2003 on.....)
So once again - we MUST correct a total rewrite of history -- the BU- ISU rivalry DID NOT DIE during the Jim Les era...
it is NOT Jim Molinari's fault, it is not Jim Les' fault, it is NOT Ken Kavanagh's fault...
The fault lies clearly and directly with the administration that took over in 2007-2008, then cleaned house, hired Mike Cross in 2009, then fired Jim Les & hired Geno Ford in 2011.
the numbers simple do not lie...this rivalry still has a pulse and it's still possible to revive it - but it was sent to its DEATH BED by Joanne Glasser, Mike Cross, Geno Ford and even Kirk Wessler himself - who got exactly what he cheered for and beat the drum for in that span of the latter half of the Jim Les era...
Kirk got EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED and now he sees it's a mess, it's undesirable, it's a disaster...and he's looking for someone else to blame.
Check the mirror and your locket that you wear with Joanne & Mike's picture in it.
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