How Good is Parity???

Everyone in the media picked 2 schools from the same state to battle for the ACC title. Just who would have thought they would both be from the state of Virginia!!!! Craziness abounds.

The are pros and cons to this scenario. On one hand, people should look at the ACC and say - man, this league really is tough. UNC and Clemson beat Miami???? Wow. FSU loses to Maryland, who is having a down year. Wow??? Georgia Tech, who most people wrote off, is in 5th place with road wins against MD and NCST and Clemson. Wow??? UNC beats GT, Miami and almost VT. Wow!!!! Wake Forest has almost beaten everyone. You get the point.

In fact, think about this. There is a scenario that is possible where the ACC ends up with 7 teams all tied with a 5-3 record. Stranger things have happened. Well, maybe not. But you get the point.

Parity is good for morale of the mid-level teams in the conference. It gives everyone hope. Of course every mid-level team thinks this is their year to head to the top of the conference.

However, parity is not good for the pocketbooks of the teams in the conference. The best monetary scenario is that two teams dominate the league, head to the BCS and the rest pick up the scraps. Then the media thinks the conference is a "power" conference. But have parity and no clear cut national championship contender and guess what people say - "Miami is having a down year. They're not the same team", or "FSU isn't the same team this season", or "The ACC is not really all that it was cracked up to be". And of course you make less money by not sending teams to the BCS.

Here's what I say. Screw the BCS. Screw Miami. Screw FSU. I want OUR shot at the title and if those guys are dominating all the time then we don't get our shot. So let them be good, but let us get better. Let's all beat the crap out of the out-of-conference teams we play. Then let's just beat the crap out of one another.

After all, that's the level of perception we have reached in hoops. The Jackets are #5 in the nation in some polls but only #3 in the conference. That's the model we need to follow in football. It's just harder to do in football since there are only 11 games, and losing one means you could be out of the NC picture.

It is fitting that Miami came into the ACC and got humbled. Remember the t-shirt they are now selling that says "We may be in your league, but you're not in ours". Well Canes, think again.

Here's more on the craziness....... Here's a look at the bowl chase.