BroadwayVik
Active member
This is an idea from the Oregonlive forum posted by parkavenuvik (some corrections included):
"This is not an original idea. I saw a shirt which said "UC-Eugene" for the UO and this is just an analogy of that idea.
Joining the Big West (for every sport except football) would create the absolute best fit solution for Portland State conference affiliation. Being the Vikings, our team identity says we're from the far north and this would exactly be the way in which we would be viewed from within the conference: The team that "invades" from out of the mysterious NORTH(west). That perception of geographic positioning gives PSU a serious identity boost.
Another plus is we would be in the same conference as our old friends Cal Poly, Sac State, CS-Northridge and UC-Davis. And these are the ones with whom we share depth of identity as like-minded universities. The big sky would be good as a "football only" conference, from which I certainly hope that PSU [will] realize grow[th] spurts to burgeon forth as a football power in more highly-regarded D-I conferences. We need to be playing VB, SB, BBall, tennis, baseball, etc. with the BWC teams as they are often become national powers. We can then perhaps become one ourselves. This is plausible. We can always schedule some big sky games in basketball at our discretion.
This move in conference affiliation (all sports other than football) will have the effect of significantly raising the university's status, institutional self-esteem, strength of sense of self (social identity), quality of social engagement and sense of mission, etc.---which will then serve to make PSU markedly more attractive for purposes of association by the entrepreneur[ally]-minded, perhaps even a billionaire (our own Phil Knight-type person). Let us therefore make Portland State into something beautiful [this way]."
"This is not an original idea. I saw a shirt which said "UC-Eugene" for the UO and this is just an analogy of that idea.
Joining the Big West (for every sport except football) would create the absolute best fit solution for Portland State conference affiliation. Being the Vikings, our team identity says we're from the far north and this would exactly be the way in which we would be viewed from within the conference: The team that "invades" from out of the mysterious NORTH(west). That perception of geographic positioning gives PSU a serious identity boost.
Another plus is we would be in the same conference as our old friends Cal Poly, Sac State, CS-Northridge and UC-Davis. And these are the ones with whom we share depth of identity as like-minded universities. The big sky would be good as a "football only" conference, from which I certainly hope that PSU [will] realize grow[th] spurts to burgeon forth as a football power in more highly-regarded D-I conferences. We need to be playing VB, SB, BBall, tennis, baseball, etc. with the BWC teams as they are often become national powers. We can then perhaps become one ourselves. This is plausible. We can always schedule some big sky games in basketball at our discretion.
This move in conference affiliation (all sports other than football) will have the effect of significantly raising the university's status, institutional self-esteem, strength of sense of self (social identity), quality of social engagement and sense of mission, etc.---which will then serve to make PSU markedly more attractive for purposes of association by the entrepreneur[ally]-minded, perhaps even a billionaire (our own Phil Knight-type person). Let us therefore make Portland State into something beautiful [this way]."