Mid-Continent Conference is The Summit League

Some huge news this week, The Mid-Continent Conference has announced that they will be re-naming themselves The Summit League as of June 1st.

This coincides with the addition of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State (and the loss of Valparaiso to the Horizon League).

What this blog thought was really amazing though, was this information released on the conference's website. Let's break it down:

• The Summit League provides a mental image to reach for the top

Pun City: Well, yeah, this blog supposes. It also provides a mental image of a mountain. And Summit Credit Union.

• Aspirations of greatness

PC: True. They really want to be great again, especially since their last winner in the NCAAs (Valparaiso in 1998) just bailed for the Horizon League.

• Summit is a word that describes looking up, moving up, striving to go up, and reaching for the top.

PC: Uh, not sure on that one. This doesn't really mention those. Summit actually seems to describe the literal top of something, such as a mountain. It's more of a noun.

• Reach the Summit in academics and athletics.

PC: Sir, yes sir!

• Quick and easy to say.

PC: Yeah, I guess the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference didn't really factor this in during their decision-making process.

• Provides a sense of movement forward.

PC: Alright, seriously, could they get any more "markety?" Couldn't they just combine the last few statements into something like "Focus Groups Love It!" or "Buzzwords!"

• Visionary and contemporary.

PC: In Pun City's estimation, The Summit League begins as the 4th-best "League" in the NCAA. (Behind the Horizon, Patriot, and Ivy. There are no others). This is actually fairly visionary since the Mid-Con used to be the 19th-best "Conference" (out of 27).

• Summit is what lies ahead. It embodies vision and purpose and represents the possibility of creation, innovation and opportunity.

PC: I really can't imagine anyone writing that other than this woman:

• Embraces the potential of a vibrant future.

PC: But, the Mid-Con's old sunrise logo was already vibrant though!

• Positive direction, conveys momentum.

PC: This blog would have preferred "The Inertia League" for this point.

• On first reference, refer to it as The Summit League. Future references may be shortened to The Summit.

PC: If this blog is going to talk about The Summit, it's going to call The Summit League whatever it wants.

• Do not refer to the league as TSL or SL.

PC: This blog wasn't really thinking about that, but now that you mention it...

• A student-athlete who is voted to the conference's first team is referred to as first-team All-Summit (or an All-Summit League selection).

PC: Really a lot of housekeeping you have to take care of when you make it a "League" instead of a "Conference."

• Do not refer to a student-athlete as a member of the All-"The" Summit team or first-team All-"The" Summit.

PC: This blog isn't sure who its picks for All-TSL are going to be, but this blog's sure that the All-SL team is going to have the same members.

• It is acceptable to refer to a student-athlete as an all-league or all-conference selection.

PC: This blog doesn't know about that, they don't sound too enthused.

So basically the Mid-Con hired a consultant and they told them that losing Valparaiso and Chicago State in the last 2 years and replacing them with some Independents didn't look great. Changing the logo will definitely go along with the whole "fresh start" theme and all, and the Mid-Con's logo was pretty old school. (Although charmingly so, in this blog's opinion).

Pun City does like the new name and logo though. The key points with the logo are that they didn't choose trendy colors that would look tired in a couple years, and the logo is basic enough that anyone could draw it. (This blog is a fan of basic logos, when kids can draw a logo it makes it more fun for everyone).

The change presents an interesting quandry for this blog though. Since this blog has already been to the Mid-Con tournament in 2005 when Chicago State and Valpo were still around, it technically could make a case that it needs to add The Summit League back onto its conference tournament checklist, especially with the new name and all.

This blog isn't really going to sweat it though. The Big XII, Missouri Valley, and Conference USA each have tournaments near The Summit League's Tulsa venue, and Tulsa's within feasible driving distance from Pun City's home office, so this blog will probably get there even without making it a priority. Given the cool logo, this blog will want to get there eventually anyway. But since the Mid-Con explicitly became the Summit League, this blog considers them the same conference. Still 16 tournaments to go. Any thoughts? Leave a comment.