The ACC Tournament Downsizes

I think I dislike ACC commissioner John Swofford even more than Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato. The errors of those two jackasses, you see, can one day be righted. Swofford's follies are irreversable. Letting in Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami ruined the ACC and, so far there has been no benefit, other than that it pleased Mark Warner. Now Swofford's actions are hitting the ACC where it counts, the ACC tournament. Because of sagging attendance, the 2012 ACC basketball tournament will be held at Philips Arena in Atlanta and not the Georgia Dome.This isn't about the recession as much as its about people not wanting to commit to buying four full days of mediocre basketball games. The Thursday games have ruined the tournament, forcing bad match-ups and, sometimes, worse quarterfinal games upon a group of fans used to seeing high-quality basketball in a three-day stretch.Back in the day an ACC fan could buy a book with little uncertainty. They'd show up Thursday, go to the games starting on Friday and know they'd see their team at least once. It was a great way to spend a weekend.Now because of the full day of games on Thursday, people have to leave earlier, stay longer and watch Seth Greenberg. Who the hell wants to do that? I love ACC basketball more than anything, but that's too much even for me.It makes much less sense to buy tickets in advance now unless you know you're team is going to get a bye. And if your team doesn't, there's a 50/50 chance they won't make it to Friday, making your trip meaningless. Plus, the Friday slate has become so diluted with teams that pull Thursday upsets that the quality of basketball has diminished greatly. Before you were guarnanteed to see at least five compelling match-ups at the ACC tournament. Now you're lucky if there's two.Thanks, John.