We start the show with a little tease about tomorrow’s 300th show. Then we get into the news that the Big Ten is becoming the Big Tenlve. We dissect the situation and break down each team that has been rumored. Clearly, and this is not because I worked there, Rutgers is the best fit for the Big Tenlve. It has the New York market. It’s a state school with a great academic reputation. And, unlike the last time rumors came out that the Big Ten would expand, they are a perfect fit from a football standpoint for the Big Tenlve. In other words, they are competitive, but aren’t quite at the level to challenge the top programs every year.

Sure Pittsburgh makes a lot of sense, but why would the teams who recruit in that area want to compete against them? Why would Penn State, specifically, be okay with Pittsburgh coming into the Big Tenlve? And schools like West Virginia or Cincinnati just don’t have the academic reputation that the other schools prefer.

This is all Notre Dame’s fault, by the way.

Talkin’ Baseball:

Kevin Kaduk from Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show to talk about the Hot Stove. Clearly nothing is hotter than the Roy Halladay - Cliff Lee trade, and while we’ve talked about it already from a local perspective, we wanted to get ‘Duk’s national take on it. 

We discuss how the information is broken now, and ‘Duk explains his disdain for those who break news exclusively on Twitter, with no follow up or back story. Just Tweet news and then move on -- is that the new journalism? And are the same standards for sourcing, fact-checking and, simply put, being RIGHT the same on Twitter as they are on a website or in print?

We discuss the Winter Meetings and how that event has changed over the years, both from a coverage standpoint and how the GMs handle their business out there. And speaking of GMs handling business, is Matt Holliday really going to get a seven or eight-year deal? Is that the right thing to do for a guy at this point in his career and in this economy? We discuss how the economy has affected the second-tier players as well. Does it make more sense for players to take shorter deals with less guaranteed money in hopes that when that deal expires, the economy will have turned back up.

And we talk about what other deals will be coming down the line. We heard nothing would happen until January, but clearly a lot has already happened. So what’s next?

Housekeeping:

Ben Bernanke is the Time Person of the Year. That’s a safe choice. RATS update. And we preview tomorrow’s big show.

Thanks as always.