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Just say no Miami, Va. Tech might as well turn backs on groveling ACCPosted: Wednesday June 25, 2003 1:54 PM
It's not too late, Miami and Virginia Tech. You still have time to do a great deed for yourselves, for college football and for every self-respecting human being who's ever been the victim of blatant, mind-numbing ineptness. You can still say no to the ACC. Sure, this is what you've wanted all along. Sure, it's your NCAA-endorsed right to join whatever darn conference tickles your fancy, lawyers and Connecticut attorney generals be damned. But you have to stop and ask yourself one thing, 'Canes and Hokies: The ACC may in fact be a better conference on paper, but do you really want to associate yourself with people who have conducted the most pathetic charade of senselessness and groveling since Ahmad Rashad did sideline interviews? Join me for a moment, won't you, as we look back at the ACC's ultra-suave expansion process:
"Hmm," says ACC commissioner John Swofford. "Information that could have been brought to my attention yesterday."
So you're saying that after all this, ACC, you're going to stop one team short of getting a championship game? You're willing to water down your prestigious basketball league with two traditional non-factors while excluding the reigning national champion? You're going to invite one school, Virginia Tech, that sued you, while, after two months of courtship, kicking Syracuse and Boston College to the curb and basically stomping on their faces? Note to self: Take ACC off Christmas card list. A month ago, there was little reason to balk at the ACC expanding. I'm not naive enough to think college football is any different than any other business, where the players involved have the right to do whatever it takes to better their respective positions. And while the ramifications would be unfortunate for the Big East's remaining teams, I've never bought into the Tranghese-fed company line that the state of college football is somehow dependent on a healthy Big East. But at this point, it's as if the ACC doesn't deserve Miami and Virginia Tech. Nor, it would seem, should the league be all that appealing to them. From the start, the Hurricanes had aligned themselves with Syracuse and, to a lesser degree, BC. Are they really prepared to cut all ties with their Northeast counterparts? Furthermore, the Orangemen and Eagles were much less of a threat to the 'Canes' annual BCS hopes than will be the Hokies. And with no championship game, any financial benefits from a new league no longer seem obvious. And while it's understandable that Virginia Tech didn't want to get left behind in all this, does the school understand just how silly it would look to jump ship at this point, having first lobbied the ACC for inclusion, then turning against it, then pulling a power play of its own? Even before the ACC unveiled its last desperate hand Tuesday night, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski -- one of the few reasonable voices throughout this mess -- had summed up the past two months quite aptly when he said, "Obviously, we haven't distinguished ourselves in how we've gone about this." Krzyzewski also added his hope that the two leagues could soon begin "mending fences" torn down in this fiasco. Well, here's one good way to get the ball rolling: Let's everybody go back to where they came from. Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com. To send a question or comment for Stewart's Mailbag, click here. |
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