Dis & Dat: Labor Day Edition

It would make sense that somebody would need to be in my advanced age bracket, or close, to remember A&P grocery stores, recall tagging along to one with your mom and whining when she wouldn’t buy another box of Oreos.

At one time, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company was the largest retailer in the nation (From 1915 until ‘65). And remained the biggest grocery chain for another decade.

Then, as things do, it faded away in the midst of competition.

Kind of like the PAC12, 11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2.

Why have I led with this?

Because the leading snarky moniker for the expanding now bicoastal ACC among the talking heads at The World Wide Leader (Non-Spectrum Edition) and other college sports pundits is All Coast Conference.

Which is cute. And logical.

But this expansion into Big D and the Bay Area needs a new branding, a new logo. So I’d opine.

I’m thinking Great Atlantic & Pacific Coast Conference.

GA&PCC. Though that’s a smidge unwieldy maybe. A&PCC is slightly better. A&PC is easier to type, though it doesn’t have the same spoken rhythm, when you drop that last C.

Anyhow, it’s here. Or shall be starting next academic year. So best to deal with it.

And, the opinion of one guy who happens to have been a barrister at the bar once upon a time, the GA&PCC ain’t goin’ nowhere.

The Grant of Rights appears dang solid. And, difference maker Notre Dame is as locked in as all the full members, though for a somewhat smaller buyout.

So, how did the pigskin squads of this new confederacy fare in the opening weekend(s) of the ‘23 season.

Very well, thank you very much.

12-2 against non-conference foes, if my arithmetic is correct, with Ws over a couple top shelf SEC schools. Including victories by SMU, Stanford and California. Only UVa and BC fell to non-conference opponents.

So, maybe the catchphrase of the expanded league should be, “Others may care more, but we cost less.”

* * * * *

Trivia Time:

Six P5 and one P6 schools have produced both an NBA MVP and an NFL MVP.

Name ‘em?

* * * * *

A lot of folks in my neck of the woods don’t especially care for for former C-J columnist Pat Forde, now at si.com.

But his extended profile of Jeff Brohm and how he landed at U of L is excellent. A great look at the dynamic, and take on why Louisville is why it is.

Read it here.

* * * * *

PG Ty-Laur Johnson remains in NCAA purgatory.

Enrolled. Able to practice. Waiting for a decision on the “process.”

* * * * *

As pissed and out of sorts as I am over the Disney/ ESPN vs. Spectrum, I’ve found a suitable way to watch. As many more savvy have done long before me.

I’m a sports nut.

Here’s what I love about ESPN’s college football coverage. The theme music.

Which is Ronnie Hawkins version of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love.”

Using Hawkins’ take is really cool in a way. The guy was deep seated in rock & roll and its origins. Plus he had a few pretty good musicians in his band. Not only Levon, Garth, Richard, Robbie and Rick, but also at one time, Roy Buchanan.

But it ain’t Bo.

* * * * *

Remember last week when I wrote in one of my pieces of shtick that Sam Hartman would win the Heisman?

Fuggedaboutit.

Oh, he’s still the unanimous fave among the coeds in South Bend, but there was a true statement of football transcendence over the weekend, a proclamation of who is truly the best pigskinner in the land.

Travis Hunter, that’s whom.

In heat so searing, the soles of one TV camera operator’s shoes melted after standing on the turf in Fort Worth, Hunter played 129 snaps. Both sides of the ball. 11 catches from QB Son of Prime. Stalwart D, including one of The Great Picks of Forever. No cramps.

He was the country’s #1 recruit, at any position, a few years back when Deion flipped him from Florida State, but wowie zowie, that dude is a stud.

* * * * *

Trivia answer. Sorta.

Louisiana Tech is the smaller school.

U of L is, of course among the P5(4) who can make the claim. Johnny U, Westley Unseld and Lamar Jackson. So too, Michigan State, North Carolina and Texas.

I forgot the names of the other two.

So sue me.

— c d kaplan