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I recently read the chat transcript with Mike Tranghese at ESPN.com (link to actual transcript not found). I also re-read his interview with Bill Roth in the first Hokie Huddler of the year. I then perused the HokieCentral Message Board and found some first hand accounts of some posters who ventured to the Orange Bowl to see Tech beat Miami in a thriller. All of these things got me to thinking about our conference situation. Where we are, who we are associated with, and how we are treated by our 'conference' and some (not all) or our fellow members. How did I feel after contemplating these things? Well, I had to get some Zantac and some Tylenol.

I try to be a man of reason, of history, of reflection. I don't feel that I could properly write this column if I did not enlist a dear friend to help me. 'Network' Hokie and I go way back and I think he can offer some perspective and venom that I cannot. Without further adieu...here's 'Network' Hokie!

Thanks Brother Go...

I'm not here to rehash all of the details line by line of what Mikey Trainwreck has said or done to alienate many of us. He's a buffoon and that's all there is to it. After reading the Huddler mentioned above and then the chat transcript I had to go to my window and open it. I leaned my head out and screamed at the top of my lungs, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

Before I get started I must say that I like Jim Weaver and I believe that he has done a great job so far since he has been wearing that snappy maroon blazer. I do believe that he will lead Tech athletics to higher heights than we have ever seen. I just think he is wrong on one issue (well...maybe one more but that is for another column). Conference affiliation.

Let's look at the options and then I will tell you where we should try and go.

The Options

1. The Big East

2. Independent

3. C-USA

4. The ACC

5. The Status Quo

6. The SEC

The Big East

Pros-Similar budgets, traditional rival WVU

Cons- TV Deal, the Commissioner, past treatment by the league office, the Commissioner, leadership or lack thereof, the Commissioner, big cities that don't care about their programs or the league, the Commissioner, Miami and their 'fans', the Commissioner, Rutgers, the Commissioner, Temple, the Commissioner, the ND situation, the Commissioner, the coming implosion, the Commissioner,...

Thoughts- To be honest this conference, with the exception of football (and that could be debated last year), is not really respected in anything anymore. One question that will not be answered for a few years (and waiting that long will be like getting our collective bunnies caught in a lawn mowers blades) is whether the Big East Football Conference will even survive a conference reshuffling. We need to look at our options and get more than just feelers out now.

The Big East conference (with the exception of football) is pretty much equal to...

Conference USA

Pros- We would be in one conference (with the exception of wrestling)

Cons- Louisville, number of bowl bids, those scumbags from Louisville, respect, those backstabbing liars from Louisville, geography, those deserving the death penalty cheating bastards from Louisville...

Thoughts- No *$#!ing way.

A better bet in my mind would be to be an...

Independent

Pros- make your own schedule, a commissioner who is looking out for Tech's best interest

Cons- playing the schedule you made to get a bowl bid, recruiting, a TV deal unless you own your own network or have one slobbering all over everything you do

Thoughts- The more I read or hear what Mike Trained Geese says the more I start to think that this is preferable to full Big East Membership or even...

The Status Quo

Pros- we are in a really good wrestling league

Cons- All the conferences we are in remind me of a puzzle you can't complete because not all the pieces fit together.

Thoughts- Our football conference hierarchy doesn't respect us, our baseball and basketball (men's) programs are withering on the vine in the A-10. Does anyone like the watch an A-10 basketball wrestlefest? If we could recruit and sign Stone Cold Steve Austin we might be OK for a while. The fans at WVU (golf balls, whiskey bottles, trash cans, and cups of urine are things that they think should be on the field or on opposing fans it seems), Miami (no explanation needed), Syracuse (they seem to think it is okay to spit on their own players), and Temple (what fans? well those that do arrive don't mind fighting with anyone in the stands) are not my idea of who I want my school associated with.

I would mind being associated with some members of ...

The ACC

Pros- geography, decent conference overall, decent leadership, FSU, GT

Cons- too North Carolina centric, do we really want to be in the same conference as some school in Charlottesville?, the way they have treated us in the past

Thoughts- Screw 'em. I want bigger and better.

Bigger and better (and who Weaver should be talking too the whole time) is...

The SEC

Pros- the best overall conference in the land, geography, leadership, boatloads of fellow land grants

Cons- NONE

Thoughts- What no cons? Read on. I don't buy the Dreams cons of budgets and competition. Membership in the SEC would be a boon to our budgets as there would be a whole bunch more sellouts and even bigger sellouts with an expanded stadium! Georgia, USC, UT, UF, et al. would bring people and would generate more interest from the locals. You would have to buy season tix to go to any games. Add a non-conference schedule that includes WVU (note there is an omission and it is on purpose but that is another column).

They have one of the best men's basketball conferences, and the best women's basketball conference in the country. These teams would visit the Cassell and our fans would come to see a decent representation of what basketball really is.

In regards to the competition issue. I have a two word response. Cream rises. We wouldn't start out at the top but we didn't start out there in the BEFC. If you have confidence in our coaches like I do than have nothing to be afraid of. I want Tech to be associated with the best. I want Tech to be the best of the best. The SEC has the best football, the best fans, the best women's basketball, and many other fine programs.

Jim Weaver has done a fine job so far but his tenure at Tech will eventually be remembered for how our conference situation shakes out.

I'm not saying any of this will happen this is just where I feel Jim Weaver should put our eggs. We deserve the best. I'm tired of leaning out of my window and screaming. I'll bet you are also.

Network Hokie

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