Post Tax Day Sunday Thoughts

In news that is no surprise to anyone, the ACC was unwilling to enforce extra penalties on the University of North Carolina. The Tarheels' transgressions were extremely serious and place the UNC AD in the "rogue institution" category. Still, your favorite commissioner and North Carolina graduate ensures that his Alma Mater doesn't get what Clemson got back in the day.

Here is the line I really love (per the ACC website):

"The ACC's balance of academics, athletics and integrity will continue to be the cornerstones by which this league operates," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. "As I have said previously, it is disturbing anytime one of our member institutions has NCAA infractions issues. Such issues are counter to the goals and aspirations of our conference."

What he forgot to include was that none of this crap really applies if your commissioner attended your university. The ACC really showed its concern about academics when it barely slapped UNC's wrist following blatent academic fraud within its football program and enabled by the program's head football coach and staff members-allegedly. Let Clemson or Virginia Tech pull this crap and see how far under the bus Swofford throws these schools.

Hell, look at Georgia Tech. Their kids got a couple watches and t-shirts and the NCAA declares their ACC Championship null and void. The ACC did nothing to defend one of its institutions. If this were a Research Triangle school you can bet your ass the league would have raised all kinds of hell in their defense.

Long and short-the favoritism received by North Carolina is nothing new. It is also nothing new that institutional members take it from the league and don't fight back. Make no mistake about it, a message was sent and that message is UNC is the bell of the ball and will receive favorite son treatment no matter the level of impropriety. Everyone else in the league (particularly schools located outside of the state of North Carolina) should just bow down to the Tarheels and let them do whatever the hell they want.

Here is the contact information we found:

Atlantic Coast Conference 4512 Weybridge Lane Greensboro, NC 27407 Phone: (336) 854-8787 jswofford@theacc.org

I want to highlight an S&C video PenthouseTiger posted earlier this week. Here is the video if you missed it:

I am not sure why the Batson and the Athletic Department released this fine piece of cinematography. What we see here is extremely poor technique and an overall lack of intensity we see out of other programs. We can debate S&C strategies all day but one thing that is unquestionable is the crap in that video is a disservice to the players in the program and a hindrance to moving forward in the fall. My guess is "Coach" Munson just rolled into the weight room and started filming. As soon as it hit the net, I am sure the S&C folks were concerned.

As a comparison, here is the a video released by the school in Columbia highlighting their S&C

Which team looks to be on a better course based on these videos? Until there is a major shakeup within CU's strength program, we will keep getting outperformed in the weight room.

Moving along to the baseball. Every week I run into some yahoo raising hell about his school losing a mind-week game to a lesser opponent. This is the game of baseball. They play a ridiculous number of games and that sort of stuff happens. Should South Carolina lose to Francis Marion or Clemson to PC? On paper, no way. However, these smaller schools place a bullseye on the larger ones and will do whatever it takes to make a splash by beating them. Clemson is concerned about winning weekend games. Thus, rotations are centered around Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This means that a #4 or #5 guy starts mid-week. The smaller schools typically throw their Ace against a bigger school. As you all know, pitching wins baseball games and smaller schools typically have at least one quality starter. This combination means, inevitably, even the best teams will drop a game or two mid-week under the previous scenarios. Are these optimal? No. Are these frustrating? Yes. Are these the end of the world and should you jump out of a window when your team loses one of these? Absolutely not. Baseball is a long season and there is talent outside of the largest universities.

Thursday night features this year's NFL draft. This should be an interesting time for schools within the state of South Carolina. Clemson fans will be waiting to see where Dwayne Allen lands and will pay attention to the fate of others like Thompson, Sensabaugh, and Moore. The idea of moving this event to a Thursday night was obviously an excellent decision by ESPN. They will make tons of cash marketing this as a prime time event and treating it as such. I am a little disappointed with the move, though. Back in the day when the draft kicked off around noon on a Saturday we had an all-day event. Fire up the grill and get ready for a great afternoon.

The golf today is at TPC San Antonio and televised on CBS. Golfers will use the next couple tournaments as a tune up for the Players down in Ponte Vedra Beach the second week in May.

One final note: We are always trying to expand the site and make it better for the STS readers. We are now looking to augment our writing staff with someone who is passionate about recruiting--particularly football recruiting. If you have an interest in discussing this topic send me (figurefore@gmail.com) or Dr. B (shakinthesouthland@gmail.com) a message for a good discussion. This role also allows other opportunities within the site, so let one of us know if you or someone you know are interested.