BLOCKBUSTER TRADE !

BobLee
October21/ 2006

….. Forget ARod and Torre, we found a better one.  With the popularity of recent column subjects, I ran a poll among the Platinum Pals yesterday.  The 673 member Elite Corp of BL Buddies voted in record numbers and the results were not unpredictable nor without obvious “skew factors”  It makes for ideal Tailgate Fodder even for non UNCers (aka “regular normal people”)….. Toss this out to your mad dogs and Englishmen and let’em gnaw on it.

Here was The Deal as posed on Thursday to The Platinum Pals …… 

 Do you make this deal ????

    Here’s a head scratcher for you. Remember the old baseball Blockbuster Trades?  One team trades one of its stars for another team’s headliner for reasons deemed advantageous to both teams.  ….. do past (or present) results guarantee future sucess for either ?

    The best example I recall is Rocky Colavito for Harvey Kuehn … HR Champ for Batting Champ. One for One deals. 

    Earlier today I was in a meeting in Chapel Hill.  Attending were 40+ men … all were “baby boomers” or slightly beyond.  All are definitely NON-loonie.  All follow sports avidly and are either UNC grads and/or fans. ….   I approached five different men individually with this “Your call?”  Each one went “wow” then smiled and gave it some thought, and all five gave me the same answer.  None knew the others’ answer.

    YOU are General Manager of Team Tar Heel

... this deal is “on the table” and it’s your call to make …

Butch Davis for Jim Grobe

   Current contracts transfer along with all known background info … resumes, personalities, coaching styles, etc etc etc .. assume that staffs will follow the Head Coach

 Do YOU make the deal?

 (Yes, we realize that regardless of what any UNC fan might do, NO WFU fan would EVER do this deal.  Like trading Ol’ Roy!)

 >>><<<

  Of 673 ballots sent out ….. 538 were turned in as of noon Friday.  The polls will stay open indefinitely and people can vote as often as they like (we are quite “Democratic” in how we operate our voting here !!!).  No “tombstone voters” please!

The results ….  72% to DO THE DEAL …… i.e. They would trade Butch Davis to get Jim Grobe. ….. based on each voter’s own Due Diligence as of November 1, 2007.   All five men at the Chapel Hill meeting did the deal with lots of head scratching involved. ….  Everyone who has participated agrees it was great fun to speculate on such silliness.  That’s the part we liked the best of course. ….. A bit of background as we evaluate this incredibly scientific poll.

(NOTE:  Since posting this to the general audience and announcing the earlier vote …. much more Butch support has emerged.  Just more “skew factors” in a fun exercise.)

There ARE a handful of semi-Loonies among the Platinum Pals.  At least six of’em were in the vigilante lynch mob that went over to West Derm last February to “Get Gerald Henderson”.  Twenty-four of ‘em still have a thimbful of Dawn Bunting’s bathwater on their bedside table …. And 58 fully expect Dean to “roll away the stone and rise again on the 3rd day”.   The rest are as well-adjusted as 7-8 years of over 1,000 BLSays columns might effect the human brain.

This poll was a snapshot in time when recent events have definitely skewed the emotions of anyone interested in this subject.  The “lately factor” always effects sports popularity votes.

  • Jim Grobe just whuppped the stuffins out of Butch.   WFU is well into a season and two thirds of the sort of on-field success that Tar Heels hope Butch WILL bring to UNC sooner not later.
  • Tar Heels are frettin’ and “oh me oh mying” about the imagined possibility that Butch might vamoose to Arkansas.  Meanwhile Jim Grobe has purchased cemetary plots in Camel City for himself, his staff, their families and grandchildren.
  • At least 28% of the voters are non UNC fans so they may not have The Old Well’s best interests at heart.

As we have been discussing for the past week plus …..

  • Butch Davis is a mercenary “Rock Star” Coach.  What he has for breakfast makes Sportscenter headlines.   He gets to go backstage at The ESPYS.  That’s cool.
  • Jim Grobe owns the most popular hardware store in Lake Woebegone and EVERYBODY just loves the guy.  He is the honorary God father for every baby born in Forsyth County. 
  • With Butch the ongoing maintenance ain’t cheap.  Take him in for a tune-up, it’ll cost somebody $5,000,000 and yet another new weight room.
  • Jim Grobe shops at Costco and pumps his own gas.
  • Executive Chef Butch prefers working with Kobe beef and Dom Perignon
  • Head Cook Jim wins Gourmet plaudits using hamburger helper and Cheerwine (and Texas Pete!)
  • Butch is building a McMansion in “The Oaks” (Actually he has yet to break ground on that McMansion …. Uh oh!) 
  • Jim Grobe lives over yonder “in the nice house on the corner”. 
  • Both men obviously possess excellent Leadership Skills and are seemingly comfortable with “the face in the mirror”.

The reason this is such fun to speculate is that it is simply another ….. Ginger vs Mary Ann conundrum.   Glitz & Glamour vs NoFrills Sweet.  There are no wrong answers …. At least none for which any of us will ever be held accountable.  God invented Dickie Baddour so all the rest of us can have someone to blame if this Butch Thing does indeed go kaflooey down the road.

    Certainly …. This poll if taken right after the UNC – Miami game skews totally different.   This poll, removing “the 500-lb Razorback hog in the middle of the room”, skews differently. …..

By the same token ….. if events over in Carter-Finley next Saturday should go in the toilet for the Tar Heels and some nutjob swears he hears Butch say “soooo-weeee pig” as he leaves the field ….. that 72% For Grobe could ratchet up REALLY HIGH REALLY QUICKLY!

Regardless ….. for the time being Butch – The Mercenary Rock Star is bookended on the East and West respectively by:

  • TO’B – The Crusty Marine Who Built the #2 Team In America & Recruited/Trained The Heisman Frontrunner …. 
  • Jim Grobe – Good Neighbor Sam who built the defending ACC Champions out of leftovers and walk-ons in a cozy little stadium in dreary Dash-Town ….

And, THAT dear friends and lurking loonies guarantees us a juicy little petri dish chock-ful of all sorts of squiggky What-Ifs and Whys and Stoopid Refs and Dumb Announcers and Greedy Fat Cats …. and ghoulies that go bump in the night. …..  Grab ahold and hang on …… 

***

  If you want to vote on The Deal you are welcomed to do so thru the Reply Function here.  If you want to write-in Algore, send it to Broward County FL.  I’m sure the polls are still open down there too.

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