From the sidelines
By Marty Gordon
Have you ever been on a blind date and didn’t want to be there? That’s the feeling the Atlantic Coast Conference got going as of this weekend. The University of California, Southern Methodist and Stanford are now a part of the ACC.
It’s hard to understand who needed each other more. The three newbies were looking for a home, while the ACC just needed to stay above water. The problem, there is no lifeguards in the deep end of the pool to save anyone from this new relationship.
Problemo number one is the fact two of the three new members are from the west coast. The other is from the great state of Texas and is only remembered for its “Death Penalty” a few years back. Cal is still an unknown. Stanford brings an outstanding women’s basketball program and a lot of similarities to UVA.
Then there is the fact about travel.
Believe it or not, Virginia Tech is the closest school to all three of the newbies.
SMU is the closest at 1,080 miles. Cal is 2,706 and Stanford 2,381. The latter means 39 hours in a car. Of course, tennis teams and others won’t be making that trip by four wheels. They will typically fly, meaning 10-11 hours. Whoopsie.
Long distance relationships do not work.
There is talk of playing at neutral sites. So, Virginia Tech might wrestle Stanford in Iowa. It still seems a lot of extreme to play the “non-revenue” sports.
Again, the con outweighs much of the pros. We also have to examine how many Hokie fans would be in the stands for West Coast dates. Hokies travel well but might be lacking on this one.
Mark the calendar, Virginia Tech plays football at Stanford on Oct. 5.
Now, back to this date. There is always a feeling-out period. I guess there can be lots of late-night phone calls, and those non-revenue sports will be staying overnight on a more frequent cycle.
Of course, Florida State and Clemson do not want to be on this blind date. They keep looking across the room at the likes of Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
Sorry Charlie, you have to dance with whoever is at your party. The Southeastern Conference might be flirting with you, but they were not invited on this date.
The dance card is still out on the ACC’s move. We will just have to wait it out and see how this date turns out.
Maybe, the ACC should’ve tried Match.com before locking itself into the arrangement.
I guess we will be watching those 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. games on the ACC Network.
