Which one is worst?
I voted for the ACC, but then I realized you probably didn't mean morally. :eek:
Marc,
Do I detect a hint of bitterness?
Duckman
{SIGH} You could have at least let us earn our last place rather than doing it by acclamation.
I voted Conference USA simply because I've never heard of it.
One problem with voting CUSA as the worst conference is that the team that has been consistently the best in the MAC over the past few years (although not this year) is leaving the MAC for CUSA. Although losing Louisville hurts the conference, if it can manage to keep TCU and a few others, it has a decent shot at rebuilding.
Still, it is definitely one of the bottom three. But still not as morally bankrupt as the ACC. :help:
I do think, though, that the fact that the MAC and CUSA are heading in opposite directions leaves the possibly mistaken impression that the MAC is the better conference.
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (marc @ Jan. 10 2004,8:27)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Still, it is definitely one of the bottom three. But still not as morally bankrupt as the ACC. :help:[/quote]
What moral problems are specific to the ACC?
Let's just say that East Carolina's mascot would feel right at home in the ACC.
And yes, other conferences shifts have followed, but these have been done in the open. The ACC's piracy took place in secret, with the teams preparing to leave the Big East professing everlasting fealty to their soon-to-be-former conference.
Also, the ACC's moves were done with no concern as to what they would do to college football as a whole. The other conference shifts have little effect on the overall stability of the NCAA's structure.
But the ACC is, at least, paying a price. By adding VA Tech, Miami and BC while the Big East adds Louisville, Cincy and DePaul, they are forfeiting supremecy in the sport that has made them: basketball.
Nobody's voting for the Mountain West?
Isn't it the remains of the old WAC?
Back when the late lamented Southwest Conference broke up, there was some talk of Texas Tech joining the WAC, because they had always played New Mexico anyway. Some people thought we would tear that conference up. Maybe so, but it's better to be mediocre in the Big 12.
I voted for the Big Ten just for the fact that they can't count.
Ken
Sure they can. Indiana doesn't count for Football. Northwestern doesn't count for basketball.
All right; who are the other two people who voted for the ACC? :D
Certainly not me! Ok, Marc... I'm an FSU alum, so let me add my horrendously biased perspective on the ACC expansion:
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Also, the ACC's moves were done with no concern as to what they would do to college football as a whole. The other conference shifts have little effect on the overall stability of the NCAA's structure.
[/quote]
It was precisely the moves that the ACC noted were happening across the country that led them to expand. They are simply repeating the steps initiated by the Big XII/Southwest conference many years ago (all ya'll Texans can jump in here any time.) The SEC was already pretty big, but adding Arkansas (not State!) and the USC Chickens helped them round out the twelve team roster needed for conference divisions and a conference title game.
Enter the BCS and the move to mega-conferences. The ACC simply saw the writing on the wall and decided to follow suit. Now, because it's truly "all about the money" they are by no means pure as the driven snow. There were hard decisions to be made, battle lines were drawn, smoke-filled back room deals were made, and all that. There were TV market considerations to be made (the Northeast, are you kiddin' me??) and, as you implied, the North Carolina schools balked because they saw the watering down of one of the premier basketball conferences in the country.
It's simply another chapter in the signs of the times. The FSU message board was an interesting read this summer as it all unfolded. There was a pretty even split amongst the "for" and "against" crowd and even more division about who would we "have" and who would we "have not." It's kinda sad, but certainly not evil.
Oh, by the way, except for my Seminoles and their schizophrenic quarterback, every ACC football team won their bowl game.
Politics aside, it's been a lot of fun to watch NCSU, Maryland and Virginia's programs grow and win. I was even a little smug when Clemson beat FSU in Death Valley this fall. Here's to an uneventful offseason for everyone's favorite team until it's time to tee that tater up again.
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (Jeff @ Jan. 20 2004,5:46)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]It's kinda sad, but certainly not evil.[/quote]
But we do have DEAMON Deacons and Blue DEVILS. :disco:
heh, heh, heh.... yeah but no GATORS who are by their very nature so serpentine. (That's why we like to crush them with our heels (apologies to UNC.))
Conference USA got the most votes. We must have known what we were talking about. 5 of their 6 teams bowed out of the NCAA before the sweet 16. What an over rated conference!
Kevin
Um....except, of course, the poll was about football, not basketball.
Anyway, it looks like the WAC is going to be the odd man out once the reshuffling is done, while CUSA is turning itself into a decent, while not particularly impressive mid-major conference (if the term is appropriate in football).