In the daily business of life we missed a few things lately which we meant to
mention, so forgive us while we backtrack.
- Durham was picked by The Sporting News as
the best town for college basketball. UNC fans stuffed the ballot box,
impressively outpolling UK fans by a wide margin, but the editors chose
Durham. Ha! -
Tom
Butters, Mark Alarie, and three others were nominated to the Duke Hall of
Fame.  All are deserving but perhaps Butters most of all. One
could argue that the job changed enormously by the time he retired and it
would be an ok argument. But when he got to Duke he turned things upside
down and inside out - especially in terms of fund raising.  He
saved Duke athletics and that should never be forgotten. - Quin's been drawing a lot of attention - here's
an update on his situation sent to us by Erin. - A tipster tells us that C-well may be the cover boy of ACC Handbook.
Finally, an observation, delayed somewhat, which came to us tonight: for
those of us disinclined to expand, Minnesota played a significant factor in
preventing same. How? Easy.
To expand the ACC requires 7 votes out of 9. Reportedly, Duke, Wake,
and UVa voted no. Had Holland left, certainly the balance of power in the
department would shift. George Welch was on tv arguing for an expansion to
12 teams for football purposes, which would, of course, gut basketball and would
mean going to divisions. We'd likely stay with the Big 4, but would have to give
up great home and home rivalries somewhere. Virginia, Maryland, Clemson and Tech
would be among the candidates for the other division. Wouldn't that just
suck? One trip every two years to U-Hall? One trip every two years to
Maryland? To the Thriller Dome? These football people must be stopped! End
liberal substitution in the name of athleticism and Title IX!
There's no telling what would have happened had Holland left, but the
instability itself is, to traditionalists, frightening. We want our
traditions kept intact! And anyway, it's not exactly a panacea. Aside from
the joys of getting a women's lacrosse team from Tallahassee to, say, Syracuse,
Mega conferences aren't holding up that well. The Big East is on the verge
of death, Arkansas is supposedly thinking about bolting the SEC for the Big 12,
which would then be an unwieldy Big 13, and the WAC, or what's left of it, is
thinking of suing the members who left and left them holding the bag. The
Big 10/1 is doing ok, but it's a long-standing conference with one new member.
They are so chintzy they didn't even update the name. But on the other
hand, they respected their roots. Would that we wouldn't be so money hungry, but
clearly the football guys want more more more. Too much too fast too soon!
Bad strategy. If the football geeks are so determined to raise tons of money,
why not quit being such wusses and get serious about post-season play? That'd
generate a king's ransom for the NCAA and member schools, and as much as they're
getting sued (and
the BCA is making noises about suing also), and losing their asses lately,
they could use some new money.Â
For that matter, they could do a challenge weekend with another conference
and schedule all ACC-SEC games, for instance. We'd get our butts whipped, but
we'd own the TV and the advertisting world and make an ungodly amount of
money. But the ACC needs 12 teams like Lawrence Taylor needs to be around
crack. Just say no!