Yeah, Buddy.
Outside the Lines is a fluff show.
It's the sports equivalent of 60 Minutes and has been a staple of ESPN Sunday Morning for 23 years. Do you know how many peoples' Sundays begin with OTL, Sports Reporters and the 1.5 hour Live SportsCenter? You can't count that high...That's called exposure. When the goal is to gain AAU status, increase the endowment and gain a Big Ten invite, being mentioned on OTL in a research capacity is huge. How do you know there are no plans? How do know Warde Manuel isn't playing lip service?
Conference realignment is a fluid situation. Louisville was tabbed by the ACC not because of Tom Zurich vs. Warde Manuel, per se. Manuel and Herbst had already put their best foot forward. Louisville was tabbed because of a number of factors already detailed on this board (1. BCs continual smear campaign. 2. FSUs travel concerns, 3. FSUs potential defection. Another prevailing rumor was that the Big XII was pursuing Louisville. If the ACC offered to UConn like they had already hinted, they would lose Louisville, who went on to win the Orange Bowl and reach the College World Series. There was something else as well...oh yeah...They made 2 Final 4s and won the Men's Basketball National Championship!!! UConn was coming off probation...
I wrote the following in another thread regarding UConn and the ACC: