A Faustian Bargain for Tobacco Road FB Fans ... & BL on "Swifties"

September 29, 2023

Die-Hard fans of the four Tobacco Road college sports programs share certain commonalities in addition to a close geographical proximity. A primary one being – The Elusive TEN WIN Football Season.

Traditional good but not quite good enough programs like NSCU and UNCCH have sniffed at that elusive mark on occasions but fallen short particularly in recent decades. Less traditionally successful programs – Duke & Wake Forest – approach the hallowed total during the Up Cycle of their Up / Down cycles.

It is assumed by one and all that a 10 Win Season by “your team” will convey bragging rights at the Mens Grill of your Country Club … your church pew … the office … the loading dock … your Bojangles Breakfast bunch … Rotary Club … or wherever it is that your self-worth is determined by the success of “your team” versus fans of your hated rivals.

As of this posting … The Tobacco Road Four have a cumulative 2023 season record of 14-2. UNCCH and Duke being an unblemished 4-0 and NCState & WFU both a 3-1. Mathematically, all four COULD achieve 10 Wins this season. October, alas, poses many obstacles to that goal, beginning this weekend. October tends to be rough on offensive linemen’s extremities.

Suppose a Guaranteed 10-Win Season for “your team” could be assured? Whether this season or any / every season? Interested ? …… HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

I have it on solid source that a fella named “Dan Scratch” … AKA “Beelzebub” … AKA “Lucifer” can indeed offer such a Guarantee. He has done so throughout history. Most famously to a “Dr Faust” in Christopher Marlowe’s play in 1592.

A “Deal with the Devil” AKA “A Faustian Bargain” can bring one all sorts of immediate carnal pleasures …. $$$ – Power – Success …. 10 Wins for “your team” … … … … at a price.

In this particular deal … that price will be:

Those TEN WINS will come with Two Losses ….

Those Two Losses will be “beat downs” by your Two Most Hated Rivals !!!

Still interested?

If you are a frustrated Franklin Streeter … is a 10 Win season worth beat downs by NC State and Duke?

If you are a terminally paranoid Wolfpacker … is a 10 Win season worth beat downs from UNCCH and Duke?

To a Blue Devil loyalist … is a 10 Win season worth beat downs from UNCCH and NC State?

To all you Deacons out there … will you trade wallopings by UNCCH and either Duke or NCState for 10 Wins?

I’ve already run this by a small focus group of area fans. I have yet to have one take longer than three seconds before saying emphatically – “HELL NO”

Lets hear Your Thoughts!

As it stands now … each program can reasonably expect 7-8-9 Wins and a Whozit Bowl – and their fans have every right to think they are more than capable of defeating their local Hated Rivals any time they “tee t up”.

So is this status quo sufficient ??????

Certainly, my contention is that Traditional Rivalries are more important to local Tobacco Road fans than pretty much ANYTHING else … Mega Media Bucks … Power Conference status … being everyone else’s bitch / Homecoming opponent.

YOUR – and MY – Opinion of Taylor Swift does not mean SQUAT

I’m pretty familiar with the demographics of “you people”. You skew BBoomer with a generous sprinkling of “middle agers” and darn few if any millennials. Based on that solid assumption …

The Taylor Swift Marketing Behemoth – and/or her Accountant – does not give a Tinker’s Damn what you think about Her … Her music … Her enormous Cult of Swifties … or ANYTHING having to do with Taylor Swift. Your (and My) opinion – good or bad – means ZILCH.

That does not prevent you, however, from going on social media and in ALLCAPS express how much YOU don’t care about Her and The Phenomenon that is Taylor Swift.

Doing so makes you come across as “a crazy ol’ coot yelling at clouds” or “You darn kids get off my lawn”. But if that does not bother you … Go For It.

I’m going on-the-record to say DON”T DO IT. FWIW …

Is Taylor Swift Mania any different from bobbysoxers swooning over Frank Sinatra … or Elvis … or The Beatles … or Michael Jackson … or assorted Flavors Of The Month in Country Music? That Answer is YES … it is different.

Different because of the universal reach and influence of Social Media.

BUT BOBLEE … I don’t “do social media”.

To paraphrase the Immortal Dean Smith … 8,000,000,000 girls /young women on Planet Earth between 12-35 do … “DO SOCIAL MEDIA” … and they worship All Things Taylor Swift … exchanging information around the world with keystrokes. …. and those 8,000,000,000 gals don’t care what you think.

If you stumble into one of their Cult of Swifties discussions and are perceived to offer the slightest affront to Queen Taylor … “Swifties” will hunt you down and GUT YOU leaving your entrails for the buzzards.

America and The World is currently overrun with gangs of whackadoodles and oddballs of every descriptions. NONE more passionate to their “purpose” than The Cult of Swift.

You CAN express your uncomplimentary opinion about her looks … her music … her ______ … but do so at great risk to your well being. I’m serious.

I might have attended 6-7 concerts in my entire BBoomer life … the last being Scottie McCreary at the PNC center 8-9 years ago …. with none other than The Bob Kennel. I think there was a Neil Diamond and a Paul McCarney / Wings … and maybe a Beach Boys in those 6-7. And a private Wayne Newton concert at Texas Motor Speedway.

So I don’t even HAVE an opinion on musical entertainment or “music” in general. Much less Taylor Swift.

Does Seigfried & Roy or Cirque Soliel at Las Vegas count?

I cannot even name one “famous rapper”. A feat I’m kinda proud of. I know they all have gianormous Mega Mansions and at least 20 cars and, of course, Instagram model WAGs???.

EVERYONE I’ve spoken to or been spoken at says – Taylor Swift Concerts are phenomenal spectator experiences. I guess that means lots of pyrotechnics and really loud music and huge speakers with woofers and tweeters the size of Buicks. Nothing about any of that lures me to want to attend one … but that’s just me.

Me, I won’t spend $500 on a concert ticket … BUT I will spend $500 with a fishing guide for a day on a river. Am I any less passionate about my avocations?

Given a choice of sitting in a bazillion decibel concert for even 10 minutes much less three hours ???? YUCK … I’d rather spend those three hours eating Skyline Inn cornbread. And you know how I feel about THAT.

I AM fascinated by the obsessive Fascination for Taylor Swift because I’m a life-long student of How Come Human Beings Do _____ ….

Heck, I absolutely understand why X number of people – a handful of whom might qualify as “normal” in the broadest definition of the term – REALLY Don’t Like Donald Trumo … but their level of Obsessive Hatred is kinda scary. Brrrr….

I acknowledge Taylor Swift as an entertainment savant of epic proportions, but I do take serious issue when entertainment / sports savants present themselves as socio-political experts. That has serious repurcussions with a vapidly clueless electorate.

Who would ask Victor Davis Hanson how to “hit a 1-iron”? …. or seek advice from a Malcolm Galdwell on defending against an air-raid offense ??? Nobody. Genius in one field does not translate across cultural landscape.