(08-24-2022 09:46 AM)esayem Wrote: (08-24-2022 09:01 AM)TerryD Wrote: I don't think that it is North v. South.
It is just that ND fans don't accept or even understand the concept of "loyalty" to a 501 ©(3) North Carolina corporation nor the concept of "conference mates".
It is a foreign idea that is resisted by ND fans.
Watching conference schools bail on long term conference relationships for more lucre only reinforces this. No one really has that much "loyalty" to a conference, do they?
(If there was no ACC GOR, how many "conference brethren" would run for the nearest exit?)
Loyalty to a conference or "conference pride" are alien, bizarre things to ND fans. Its been a football independent for 135 years, only a member of a conference for one year due to a pandemic.
(Basketball and baseball and other sports don't really count, not really a factor regarding mindset here. A conference is just somewhere to park these sports. Even then, ND basketball has only been in a conference for 27 of its 130 or so years)
Other fellow conference schools are viewed as athletic opponents and temporary business partners, that is the mindset. Not "brethren". This isn't a college fraternity or a combat unit under fire.
(Hell, Domer and I may be the only two ND fans who even come to this or any other ACC website. The rest don't even bother. Where are they ?)
We might end up at any time as adversaries. No reason to form close, personal relationships or any emotional loyalties.
This is just a cold, calculating business arrangement that works until it doesn't. Nothing more. A contractual arrangement. A transaction.
No need to re-fight the Civil War.
North v. South is irrelevant to Domer's comments. Its merely an ND thing, due to history and experiences.
It may be ACC specific for Domer, but for most ND fans it doesn't matter which conference is involved. All are alien, third party things.
IF ND joins the Big Ten, there will be similar thought processes involved.
This is one big reason that I keep saying that ND is not a "good fit' for any conference at all. History matters.
I just figured Notre Dame fans would be grateful they can:
A) Keep on playing as a football Independent
B) Play in the best basketball conference on the East coast
C) Garner bowl tie-ins
D) Play traditional powers of the south, like Clemson, Florida State, and Miami, exposing their program to recruits
E) Be members of an excellent Olympic sports conference with like-minded institutions for non-revenue sports
I'm not fighting a civil war; my northern brother-in-law is a HUGE Notre Dame fan and loves ACC basketball, even attending the tournament in Greensboro with me. He and other fans I've met enjoy the arrangement and see its benefits.
Maybe it's just the ND fans here, because it doesn't seem to be an issue with any others I've met. They don't like the Big Ten and this deal works in keeping with that tradition.
I live two hours from Greensboro and have never had any interest in attending the ACC basketball tournament.
I have little interest in non-ND ACC sporting events. I rarely watch them. To be fair, I don't understand non-ND ACC fans wanting to watch an ND game, either.
I only watch ND games on the ACC Network. Nothing else. I watched Packer & Durham in 2020, but only because they talked about ND then.
I am a lifelong conference agnostic. I stop by here because the topics may involve or affect ND.
Grateful? Its all just business. The ACC didn't offer ND because it cared about the Irish or their goals.
The ACC got something in return in these bilateral contracts. ND played the ACC off against the Big Ten to stay independent. The same with 2020, it as a good business deal for both sides.
Both sides got something. It was a good deal. I just don't get the emotional attachment other people have for conferences. Its all just business and conferences are fungible. One collapses, form or join another one, if necessary.
For the record, I have despised the Big Ten with a white hot passion since the mid-Sixties. I won't be any more interested in the Big Ten even if ND joins.
I won't have any warm feelings for the Big Ten even if ND is a member and will ignore all non-ND Big Ten games. I won't mind if the Big Ten collapses if ND joins. Its just another conference.