Sayonara Tobacco Road

Hello All,

So, there isn’t much to say about this Bethune Cookman game except for that we should kill them. Period. No excuses. I know that they are a good team for their level and have some guys that can play. I do not care. This should be the type of bloodbath that the third stringers get to play in. Nothing less.

What I do have something to say about this week is conference realignment. I have been trying over the past few days to figure out how I feel about the expansion of the ACC to “super-conference” levels with the addition of Pitt and Syracuse and the continued pursuit (it might not be in the headlines but you can bet your ass it is happening) of Texas and Notre Dame. And here is the only real conclusion I can draw, which is superficial yet at the same time meaningful: call it whatever you want, just don’t call it ACC.

I grew up on Duke basketball (I know, I know, make whatever joke you want) and, in a larger context, the legends of Tobacco Road. Duke-North Carolina is the rivalry that the entire world revolves around when it comes to college basketball, a sport that I love nearly as much as its older brother, football.

The ACC I was raised on worked like this: Duke and North Carolina ran the show in basketball, Florida State in football. Maryland was the northern border and Florida’s panhandle was the southern most. The conference went as far west as Atlanta. It was the conference of David Thompson and Ralph Sampson and Len Bias and Michael Jordan and Coach K. It was the conference that embarrassed those Yankees up north over and over again and where REAL basketball was played

It was college basketball’s version of the current SEC in football…however, no one ever annoyingly chanted “A-C-C!” after a win.

It all worked. It was nostalgic and yet dominant in real time.

On the other hand, when it came to Miami, I came of age as a ‘Canes fan while they were routinely destroying the Big East. Having the father I have, I heard every Saturday how much better things were as an Independent. How much better the schedules were and how we could tell anybody we wanted to kiss our ass. As a Miami fan, I thought conferences were stupid and therefore had no loyalty to one over the other. Kill or be killed. I didn't care who won the game if Rutgers or Temple were playing an out of conference team. It did nothing for me. Miami's goal was championships and their conference made no difference to me.

Ironically for me, Miami joined the ACC in 2004. I was initially very happy. Suddenly I had the best of both worlds: I had my football and baseball teams in the same tradition rich conference as my basketball team. Little did I know this was the death knell of a conference I loved dearly.

In that moment, the ACC became something else entirely, because by adding Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, they traded their “Tobacco Road” image in for a big old pile of cash. That’s fine…it is part of business. The college landscape was changing, and as in any changing landscape, you must adapt or die. But you cannot have it both ways. When you move forward, you leave the past behind. You do not allow emotion to affect you. That is how effective corporations are run. They make cold, calculating decisions and leave emotion out of it. They evolve.

(That feeling of detachment has penetrated the conference to the field/court, by the way. The league has not felt right since it expanded for the first time.)

That is exactly what this new round of expansion is: evolution of a business.

Pitt and Syracuse aren’t the sexiest choices (not exactly Texas and Notre Dame). Scott Van Pelt said it best the other day on Bill Simmons’ podcast when he said this reminded him of 3AM at the bar when the lights come on and everyone who hasn’t left yet grabs the first person they think they have a chance of making out with.

“Man, I can’t remember anything from last night... What? I made out with PITT?!?! No!!!!!!”

It helps expand the ACC brand however, and therefore will lead to a bigger TV deal.

Super conferences are the way of the future, and I am glad that the conference that Miami is in was one of the first to strike instead of being left with the dregs (Pitt and Syracuse are powerhouses in basketball…they certainly get me more excited than the UConn – USF - West Virginia – Louisville Poo Poo Platter would have). The possibility is left to grab Texas and Texas Tech, which would give the conference a frontline of FSU/Miami/Texas/VTech in football and Duke/UNC/Texas/Syracuse/Pitt in basketball. It makes good business sense.

(I would throw the farm at those good ol’ boys, and if not I would make a run at Notre Dame and Penn State. Why the hell not?)

However, I do feel sadness, even if it took me 7 years to realize it. The ACC I grew up with is now dead and gone. Tobacco Road is now a cute name for a bar and a title for a documentary. Do me a favor as a realist who understands the present but also as a sentimentalist that will always have a soft spot for the past: just change the name to the Old Money League or Capitalist Football Conference. Just call it what it is, not what it used to be.

Last week I went 8-0. That’s right, I am the law bitches. 8 and mother effing 0. 22-10 on the season. I need a cigar. And maybe to retire. And yet, here we go again…

Arkansas (+3) over Texas A&M

Just can’t get behind the Aggies Pass D against a Petrino team at home.

UGA (-7) over Miss St

Vag Tech (-7) over Clemson

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer over UiF (+4)

Hopefully this gets ugly. And by ugly I mean I hate UiF a lot.

Nebraska over Wisconsin (-9)

Upset special number one. This is more wishful thinking than anything. And the thought of all those douchers in Madison at night in their stupid stadium filled with people who overrate their intelligence (not talking about you Doug, you’re a flicker of hope) as the seconds run off the clock and this Nebraska victory comes home to roost, punishing the Badgers for their annual romp through a joke of a non-conference schedule. Chalk one up for karma.

Auburn over Cackalacky (-9.5)

The Gamecocks have been unable to stop bad teams with any sort of oomph. Now I am supposed to believe that they are going to stop this Auburn offense. If there is a prop bet that this game will have the most points scored in any BCS conference matchup this weekend (and gambling were legal), I would bet it.

Always guard the inbound passer.