Paul Finebaum blasts Big Ten for shots at SEC, calls media days a 'bust'

During their media days last week, the Big Ten took some very clear aim at the SEC while in Las Vegas. Because of that, Paul Finebaum has since responded to those criticisms as only the Mouth of the South could.

Finebaum discussed Big Ten Media Days during his weekly appearance on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on Monday. He said it did come across as a collective message against the Southeastern Conference by the Big Ten, which Finebaum didn’t care to hear from them as part of his thoughts on, in his words, the “bust” of their own event at Mandalay Bay.

“You know, you walk out of conference media days, and what was the buzz a week ago about the SEC? Well, maybe it wasn’t as exciting, you know. There were one or two stories that occurred about this time two weeks ago that seemed to lead the conversation. But no one said it was anything but a successful four-day event,” said Finebaum. “I’m looking back on the four days of the Big Ten, and I’m going to tell you right now. It was a bust. It was a bust from the beginning and it was a bust all the way to the end and it was a bust because it seems to me that Tony Pettiti and his minions, whether it was him directly or indirectly, tried to hand-deliver a specific message that went over terribly.”

Again, Finebaum thought it was a bad week from the very beginning for the Big Ten. That started with the opening statement by Pettiti and even went before that to the conference’s decision to move their media days from Indy to Sin City.

“Pettiti started it off,” said Finebaum. “Again, this is someone who has been on milk cartons all summer because we haven’t been able to find him, and finally he comes out and, instead of broadening his approach – which is what Greg Sankey said two weeks ago today that, you know, (he) talked to Tony Pettiti four or five times last week, I talked to Jim Phillips, I talked to (Brett) Yormark, meaning I’m trying to work within my commissioner base? Pettiti was a lone wolf.”

“That’s on one hand. The biggest problem with last week wasn’t what Pettiti said and wasn’t what the coaches said. It’s where it was being said,” Finebaum continued. “Other than hoteliers, nobody liked the idea of taking this media days to Las Vegas. You heard James Franklin. I don’t agree with that much from James Franklin but he was dead-on. What benefit did they get out of going to the strip in Vegas? What benefit did they get to doing it out in the middle of the desert? None. Few people could go. One thing about media days? It’s not for us at ESPN or the SEC Network. It’s for the smaller radio stations that make money on that event. They sell advertising so they can afford the hotel and all the bills that go with taking your show on the road, and that didn’t happen last week.”

Then, Finebaum did turn to the coaches and programs who took specific shots at the SEC, such as Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Illinois’ Bret Bielema, and Penn State’s James Franklin. He thought the messaging was off throughout their respective comments about scheduling within the two leagues as he found it to be a bit hypocritical by those in the Big Ten.

“The biggest issue all week was the messaging,” said Finebaum. “Curt Cignetti – like him, appreciate what he’s done, appreciate what he’s done in the past but he made a complete fool out of himself trying to draw parallels. So did other coaches. I mean, it’s like Bret Bielema came up with the game plan about five weeks ago and handed it out to his coaching buddies and none of them delivered it well.”

“If you’re going to go after the SEC, there are places you can attack, but don’t try to attack on the strength of schedule and don’t try to attack on the non-conference games,” Finebaum said. “We all know that Michigan two years ago played one of the most embarrassing non-conference schedules in the history of the game and Penn State is playing the most embarrassing non-conference schedule for a contender this year that I have ever seen.”

The Big Ten spent a good bit of its three days justifying itself, especially in comparison to the SEC. In turn, Finebaum went back at them in full with his response to what was said last week in Vegas.