ACC Conf: Cutting travel team while spending way too much

I am amazed and confused, not wait, I am not confused, I am truly ticked off. In a day and age where we are always thinking about the budgets and the economic problems the Atlantic Coast Conference is hosting their meetings in Florida. So what’s wrong with being in the sunshine state, it does have two teams in the ACC. Nothing, if not that the conference is being held at the Ritz-Carlton resort. And to that all I can say is this: are you kidding me? This is absolutely absurd, and I do not give a damn that the conference has a deal with the resort can’t break it as commissioner John Swafford pointed out in an article.

“We have reduced to some degree the number of attendees from a conference standpoint to this particular meeting, and also the length of the stay and number of room nights to a degree,”

Wait, stop, what is the comish saying here? That before there were people that came to these conferences that could have stayed home? Say it isn’t so, but saying or not, we all know that it is so, very, very much so! But there is more said:

ACC commissioner John Swofford said the conference, which pays expenses for the spring meetings to be held Monday through Wednesday, indeed has a multi-year contract with the resort. He said it would have been difficult to cancel on short notice.

To all of this I say: please let’s get real here. Let’s begin to cut some of this extra baggage and maybe other things will follow along. Doing this is truly the old saying “do as I say and not as I do”. What you are doing is telling the fan base and the schools to tighten up when you are going to one of the most expensive places. Sorry that does not make any sense to me, and it does not fly either.

As far as the excuse that the conference could not break the pact, I can live with that if not for this. If it was too late to break the contract, it was not too late to get less rooms (which if I had to guess in the contract a number, even if ball park, is in the contract), so that makes me wonder. But more is what is not said by the commissioner. If it was too late to break the contract for this year, but the conference had already found another place (less expensive we hope) for 2010 you don’t think that someone would have said that? But there is not a word about it, nor a hint of it. Which leads me to believe that the ACC tried to smooth this over and hopes that either the economy bounces back next year or that people will forget about this, so that they can have their luxury get away wherever they want.

Well, this blogger is going to care and going to check up on it, because this is ridicolous. Especially when at these meetings the teams/conference is looking at a way to cut expenses when going on the road. From by a post from Heather Dinich at ESPN Blogs, it seems the travel roster would be cut to 72. Basically, some of the kids on the team will be sitting at home, but don’t worry Jonny, your head coach and athletic director are off to a luxury resort to see what better ideas they can come up with. Sorry if I do not stand and applaude this.

Am I taking this a bit bitterly? You bet I am! Because once again either the NCAA or a conference is going to take these young men, you know, the people that play the game, and punish them while they do not punish themselves. And what bothers me, truly bothers me, is that no one cares. It’s ok to say “xx number of players won’t be going with the rest of the team”, basically alienating them, because of the economic crunch, but there was no way to get out of a contract to stay at one of the most expensive places that a conference could have been held. If that makes sense to you please let me know, because it sure does not make any to me.