June 18
It has been a wacky time for the Big East and the ACC. The expansion bid for the ACC looked like an absolute slam dunk, an automatic for ACC commissioner John Swofford, ahead of the pack slam-bam-jam!

Forget about it -- now it's a Maalox Masher. It looked like Miami, Boston College and Syracuse were going to the ACC, and conference presidents were excited about expansion. Tours to the three Big East schools were positive. All that was needed: seven of nine votes.

Geographically and logically, it makes some sense for Miami to be in the ACC.

But now it's become a nightmare for the ACC. North Carolina and Duke said they wouldn't vote for it. Then Virginia felt some heat when governor Mark R. Warner said he was upset that Virginia Tech wasn't included in the plan.

This thing has been dragging out, and it's becoming an embarrassment to Swofford and his people. If this doesn't go down, will the ACC look like a failure or a major disappointment?

I see another scenario playing out. Miami goes to the ACC alone, with Syracuse and Boston College staying to keep the Big East happy and almost intact. That would give the ACC 10 schools instead of 12, ending chances of that league putting on a conference championship game in football, at least until it gets two more schools from elsewhere (the NCAA requires a 12-team conference to hold a football championship game). Gone would be the ACC's opportunity for mega-dollars at the end of the season.

One source told me that the Big East might try to help push legislation for a rule change to allow conferences with 10 teams to be eligible to host a football title game. Wouldn't that be exciting? It would affect a number of other conferences. Imagine the Big Ten and Pac-10 having a title game! Nothing will shock me at this point. There are still talks of the Big East expanding to add the likes of Louisville in football and basketball, with other possibilities for the league's growth.

If Miami goes to the ACC, so be it. Geographically and logically, it makes some sense for the Hurricanes to be in the ACC.

But I do have a problem with Boston College and Syracuse going to the ACC. I have said since day one that the presidents and administrators at those schools should have stood up strong when this was being bandied around and said they were going nowhere. They should have talked about loyalty to the Northeast and to the Big East. They should have considered the stress and strain of the extra travel on the academics of their student-athletes.

Respect would have gone up, but the temptation of the big dollar and the football-related greed took over. That scenario seemed exciting. But now it's backfiring.

Something tells me Miami will move, but Boston College and Syracuse will stay put. Maybe Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese and Swofford should come to Orlando, where I am speaking to a group from GNC. The two commissioners could use a positive ride in Disney's land of magic instead of the roller coaster they've been on lately.