Notre Dame Moving All Sports But Football and Hockey to ACC

I googled and only thing I find is BBQ in Athens Georgia.

 

Tim,

The reference was made in jest regarding Sid's comment and involves a long-running string of notes I have had with Sid and Terry about crossing the state line to Indiana to buy cigarettes at a reduced tax rate at a store near Angola, Indiana called the Butt Hutt, close to where Sid used to have vacation property. Basically, my response to his ambivalence was a threat to cease subsidizing the economy of the State of Indiana by my purchases.

 

Tom, Because of Michigan's high "six taxes" and Indiana's traditionally low tax rates, the Butt Hut is ( or was) one of hundreds of Indiana gas, cigarette, and liquor stores located inches south of the Mich-Ind border, whose parking lots seemed to have an incredibly inordinate amount of cars bearing Michigan license plates. Basically, if you are traveling south from Mich. to Indiana, the last 3-5 miles or so of Michigan are destitute of any sign of commercial life. Then, once you cross the state line, BOOM-stores and factories galore. I'll end my thoughts here since that subject belongs on the other board

 

Butt I don't smoke.

 

ND

<r>Bobda,<br/>

<QUOTE><s>

</e></QUOTE>

Understood. No harm done. Just didn't know what you were talking about.</r>

 

This is probably the best thing to come out of this move by ND, Bobda will give up smoking!!

 

Uh....in that case, I change my position. I sure hope we continue the series with Michigan.........and I sure hope Bobda continues to by his cigs at the Butt Hut, albeit a long trip from Milwaukee. :lol:

 

No, No, No...Bobda is a brother...we want him around a long time...we want him to quit smoking!!! Think Nicorette gum, the patch!!

 

They got cigars?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

I resemble these remarks.

I agree with them also.

 

Excellent point. I go back to my original stance. If we discontinue the Michigan rivalry, so be it.

 

No one asked but:

1. I like this move, a lot. Aside from all of the obvious 'fit' reasons that we've seen listed, I think this will help us in recruiting. We can now go into the Deep South/Atlantic South, and we can now tell kids that their families will get to see them play within driving distance. (this really is something that helps the SEC). It's funny, but I was now able to notice exactly who is a Notre Dame fan after this announcement (other than Carson or I) because this means that ND will be playing games in Atlanta, South Carolina and along tobacco road. This means instead of getting to see ND every 20 years, we'll get to see them every 2 to 3 years. This is a good, good thing.

2. For people who are paid to know so much about college football, things like this always showcase how little anyone at ESPN actually knows about Notre Dame football. They are the showcase for the incredibly stupid sports fanbase that exists out there. All this arguing about 'who will stay' on the schedule. If you don't know that Navy isn't going anywhere on our schedule, you don't know anything about our program. Ditto that for USC. Michigan, while most certainly a sexy game, is not a true annual rival.

 

Of course this has been a hot topic with some very against the move, saying we sold out our history for nothing. Some esp don't like that we now "have" to play 5 games a year against the ACC. But it is a respite from constant arguing over grass vs some type of artifical turf in the future or whether or not we'll get a Jumbotron.

Certainly we could have stayed with the Big East, even without Pitt,Syracuse, and ND it's still one of the top Basketball conferences and the other sports don't really matter all that much, sure womens soccer has been great in fact probably womens soccer and basketball are the 2 top sports in terms of achievement at ND. But they will not be hurt by the move to the ACC, it will enhance them I believe.

I really think the whole thing comes down to figuring out a way to get us some better post season football options. As an independent we were in a tough spot and there was rancor in the Big East football about allowing us to take any spots from them. So it looks like we now have a much better set of post season options for football when we don't qualify for a BCS bowl game. I think that is the bottom line on this move. It was a concession of in season series of games to get a concession of post season games.

Plus I don't think the teams going into the Big East were schools ND really wanted to be associated with, not sure if this played into leaving at all nobody of course has commented on that.

 

One of the great worries for Swarbrick the past few years is, where do our non football teams go if the Big East implodes. The Big Ten and the Big 12 would have taken ND but would have insisted that our football team be part of the bargain. Swarbrick who recently made sure that ND was included in the new playoff system, found a stable conference that would take us in and leave our football team independent. Anyone who doesn't think that this is a big plus cares only about the football team and doesn't care about the school or its other athletes.
We're used to traveling in the east between Boston and Miami since they were until recently Big East locations. I'm not sure that traveling to Boise or Lubbock is nearly as convenient. And as you pointed out Doc, there is the academic association part too.

 

The B12 would have allowed us in on essentially the same terms as the ACC, play some football games every year and the rest of the teams get to come. Of course the B12 does not have mens soccer, or mens/womens lacrosse.

But clearly we are a better cultural and academic fit to the ACC than the B12.

I do think that in the end it all came down to staying in the Big East would hurt football a lot in the post season when we aren't in the BCS. Currently our only option is the Champs Bowl can pick us 1 time in 4 years. After that we only have bowls who can't fill their game with the affiliated conference teams...which of course means that it's either BCS or all the way down to the worst bowls games for the football team.

 

There always are going to be contradictory opinions, and those opinions tend to be expressed in a loud and negative manner. I just consider the source(s), and 98% of the time I find them to be white noise. Of course, I always pay close attention to and respect the intelligent and well thought out opinions expressed here.

 

Sid,

Reference the intelligent posts posted here on the Skybox, is there more than one Sports Topic??

 

Wait a minute... Don getting a "dig" in??? Who has hyjacked Don's computer and what have they done with Don? :lol:

 

Could not resist that Tom, must be Friday afternoon! :lol:

 

LOl...Don must have cracked open a Pabst early!