Rumblings

I am jacking the title of this Blog from Chop Culture to provide a few random thoughts to start 2009.

* To start things off I want to send a shot across the bow to the previously mentioned Blog, Chop Culture. A few weeks ago Chop Chiz made the statement that the ACC was "solid" as a football conference in 2008. He also attempted to at least make you wonder if the ACC was comparable to the SEC this year by providing stats on the number of bowl teams the ACC produced and the number of head to head wins they had against the SEC.

Come on Chop. People actually read your Blog and you can't make statements like that if you want people to keep appreciating your Blogging talent. The only thing you got right when you sat down on your computer on December 4th was that the ACC had parity this season. Unfortunately for everyone watching their games most of the teams were so mediocre they beat up on each other. The SEC was top heavy. So top heavy that by the end of the season the Top 5 teams in the SEC would have won the ACC Championship. I am going to save you the boring comparison of teams and lame stats and lets just eyeball this one. Who really thinks the ACC is in the same breath as a football conference as the SEC?

* A depleted West Virginia secondary did one of two things on December 27th in Charlotte. They either saved the ACC from having to watch Hakeem Nicks rip apart their secondary next football season or they created hype for another average receiver who will disappoint fans when their NFL team selects him too early in the draft. Nicks had an unbelievable game against WVU in the Meineke Car Care Bowl with 6 catches for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns but the Mountaineers were missing 2 starters in the secondary and after halftime adjustments Nicks only had 2 catches for 27 yards. I think he should have gone back to Chapel Hill.

* In looking over the recent issue of The Sports Business Journal, I came across a column by John Ourand where he looks at some of the news he believes will be made in sports media in 2009. The most interesting item in this commentary comes when he says the NCAA Tournament will be expanding to 96 teams because the NCAA sees how much money the BCS was able to get in TV deals by expanding to five games. To be exact that was a 5o percent increase over their current deal to $495 million over four years. Ourand says the TV influenced deal will not go into effect until 2013.

* Bob Huggins calls the Big East in 2008-2009 the "best basketball conference in the history of the sport." Strong words. With a record nine teams ranked in the Top 25 he has an argument. It will be very tough to tell if he is right over the next two months when watching these teams beat up on each other. No matter what though New York City will be exciting in March for the Big East Tournament and we won't know if Huggins is on point until the NCAA Tournament starts.

* Tony Rettig has a new nickname. Tony the "Tiger" seems a little to cliched and makes us think he actually breaks 100 on the golf course, so he now going by "Big Cat". This plays on his former Tiger nickname but adds a little creativity.

* To close things out Tony Rettig told me this weekend that his sister's fiancee (I forget his name so we will just call him Johnny Naval Academy) was in a class at Walsingham Academy that threw a birthday party for Coach Caccetta during Gym Class. Genius! I can see it now as he unwraps a Eli Manning jersey and cuts the first piece of cake with the words "Balls In" written in icing. Great job Class of '05 and I wish we would of thought of that.

Happy New Year Everybody!