After The Storm ... could emerge

July 15, 2022

After The Storm … could emerge

Grab ahold and Hang On … BobLee has yet Another Great Idea !!

Its hard to believe after BobLee’s Boutique ACC ... which is sooo Awesome that the suits at the local “sleeping giants” can’t wrap their “it’s al about TV deals” minds around … But I’ve got a very cool follow-up to that one.

Whether its next week, next month or next year … A Category 10 Storm is going to hit landfall at a college football program close to Your Heart.

The ACC Is Doomed. Both the nice orderly one we all grew up with in the 60s – 70s and the not-so-orderly aberrations that emerged under The Little Johnny Swofford Theory of “If Expansion is Good Then More and More Expansion Must Be Even Better.

… like when they tore down that favorite drive-in burger joint in your home town to put up another bland strip mall. The ubiquitous “they” are determined To Fix What Ain’t Broke thereby violating one of Nature’s basic tenets.

Miami, Florida State and Clemson ARE GONE For Sure. 99% certain to the SEC but MAYBE joining Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State and Gonzaga in the Four Time Zone Trans-America REALLY RIDICULOUS Conference.

Anything is possible when common sense is not allowed in the room.

Pitt, Syracuse and Boston College are pretty much GONE too … probably B1G but who knows … who cares. Other than most of you hate Jim Boeheim almost as much as you hate Coach K … did anyone ever care about “Syracuse” which hasn’t been relevant in Football since Ernie Davis died in 1963.

So now we’re left with “The Four Sleeping Giants” – UNCCH, NCSU, UVA, and VaTech all packed up and ready to go TBD. Nationally no one includes NCSU for whatever reasons … The Wolfpack will likely be “a school to be named later” – to use a baseball phrase.

Maybe as the 20th team in the SEC joining Missouri and Vanderbilt in the cold dank, rat-infested basement. O Joy … O Rapture.

UNCCH and NCSU going as a two-fer will be DEMANDED by The UNC Board of Governors under orders from harrumphing vote-whoring politicos in the NCGA.

My After The Storm Great Idea assumes UNCCH, NCSU … as well as UVA and VaTech are all gone somewhere sooner than later. UVA might get left behind … which I can easily accommodate into My Great Idea.

So here’s … BobLee’s After The Storm Conference – BLASC. It’s just a working title for now. We’ll run a Name The Conference contest with the winner getting Free Bojangles Bo-Biscuits For Life.

Here are the Member Institutions in BLASC … in no particular order … THIS IS A For Football Only Conference … “Basketball” is totally another deal.

Duke

Wake Forest

Georgia Tech

ECU

App State

Navy

Charlotte

Coastal Carolina

Liberty

Georgia State (??)

I’ve got back-up possibles we can substitute – Old Dominion, James Madison, East Tennessee, NC Central, and, certainly, UVA – if the Hoos get left out of the Big Boy Table in a post-STORM world).

But BobLee … Whatabout Academic Compatibility?

Oh for Heavens Sakes … if you mention that silliness again, I’m banning you from this website.

If you think “Academics” has ANY relevance to modern day College Athletics you probably think Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are all virgins. Grow Up!

The BLASC is a 10-member conference so Every One Plays Everyone Every Year … plus three OOC opponents so Duke and Wake can easily play UNCCH and NCSU every year if everyone involved “has a lick of sense”… which could be a deal-breaker for sure.

My #1 criteria in assembling the BLASC is Geographic Accessibility. Is it reasonable for fans to actually follow their teams each week. That bizarre concept might be foreign to some of you but it used to be quite popular … its kinda fun to do.

There are a handful of hooligan hairballs around Dowdy-Ficklin but the hottie coeds in cowboy boots make up for those pathetic losers. The vast majority of Pirate fans are darn fine folks. I grew up with lots of’em.

NIL deals in BLASC will be uniform with all conference members … a recruit can opt for – Plan A – Tuition / Room / Board / $3,000/mo for pizza and bus tickets to Grandmamma funeral … and a used Toyota Celica – OR Plan B – $50,000/year plus Room/Board with “a college education” optional … and a used Toyota Celica.

Wake Forest is “pretty darn good” right now under Dave Clawson. I love Clawson’s program strategy. Even assuming Dave Clawson stays as HFC at WFU for 10-15 more years … he can NEVER assemble a deep enough roster of 4-5 star athletes to consistently beat Big Boy Schools … as proven last year versus Clemson and Pitt.

WFU will always be at the mercy of key injuries to key players in late October / November. Sorry Deac fans … all 20,000 of you who STILL don’t fill your stadium except for Rivalry games.

Same with Duke. Dave Cutcliffe – bless his heart – had a 2-3 year run of “good but not great” teams but eventually fell victims to “not a deep enough roster”-itis. Just like Wake Forest.

The current Duke Whozit HFC could remake Duke to a 5-6 W team MAYBE IF no injuries and a lot of good referee calls … but don’t bet the milk money on it. Again, those 18-20,000 hardy souls that wander into Wally Wade – if the weather is OK – harbor no illusions beyond maybe we can “Get That Damn Bell Back”.

The CFB Playoffs will have to expand to 32+ teams for a Duke or Wake to even dream of ever sneaking in as a “bubble team”.

ECU and AppState fans don’t even dream of such a thing.

The alternative for the Dukes and Wakes – and really UVA and UNCCH and NCSU – is to be “a homecoming game punching bag” like Vanderbilt is in the SEC.

Vanderbilt – and Rutgers and Maryland – get their multi-million $$$ share of the SEC / B1G billion $$$ TV deals to be punched-in-the-face 9/10 Saturdays each Fall by the Big Boy Bullies.

… basically streetwalking hookers saying “Hey sailor, for $100 I’ll do ANYTHING you want … I mean Anything.”.

THAT is what your dear old Alma Maters are being reduced to.

Whatabout TV for the BLASC? There are umpteen streaming channels and more everyday with more folks accessing them. They all need content! The Swofford Channel can cut a deal with one of’em. MAYBE a few Thursday nighters but NO Tuesday nighters. It’ll be OK.

Put aside your old paradigms and “used-to-be” memories of a world that simply does not exist any more.

What I am proposing is The Best Deal you’re gonna get. And it really is not a bad deal … if you can handle Reality. Which I realize is a stretch for some.