In a world consumed by $EC football and the NFL, I sometimes feel like a cappuccino swilling, hipster beatnik with my lifelong affinity for ACC hoops. I invested large quantities of my childhood Saturdays humming the bars to Jefferson Pilot, Holly Farms and Food Lion commercials (Seriously, the ACC needs to give the “Where are they now?” treatment to both Dinah Shore and Tom Smith). Having stumbled across a relatively free weekend afternoon, I posted up on the couch, grabbed my bowl of popcorn and trusty remote control and declared jihad against productivity. The nostalgia brought on by this fleeting moment of freedom inspired me to play a memory-association game with the various ACC arenas. Please feel free to weigh in with your own contributions. In terms of rules, think of a school and tell me the ACC moment you most associate with a memorable moment that happened on their home floor. Honor system on using your memory.
With an assist from our friends at Youtube and with no help from early onset dementia, here are the ones that first came to mind for me:
@ Boston College – Given the meager sample size, I select the late Tim Russert taking in the first B.C. v. Dook game from the student section. Like I said, slim pickings.
@ Clemson – Wayne Ellington crushing the hopes and dreams of those in attendance in Littlejohn.
@ Dook – The Capel shot (the mythology of which has been hard to contain) is tempting, but the judges settled on the time that Stackhouse happened over Cherokee and Eric the Meek.
@ Florida State – FSU beats then #1 Dook. What an odd contribution to ACC history FSU basketball has been. There was a time when they didn’t even bother to heat and cool their arena, and now they’re pschizo giant killers who get blown out by Clemson and then become unstoppable.
@ Ga. Tech – Dennis freakin‘ Scott.
@ Maryland – Yep.
@ Miami – As many people know, Miami is not actually in the ACC for basketball. Instead, we’ve decided to fill the bye created by their ostensible presence with an honorable mention entry that couldn’t find a home elsewhere.
@ NCSU – A clear case of “I was there” bias on this selection, but some NC State Sheeet reversed mojo’d on to Wake Forest.
@ UNC – Don’t make Vince Carter angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry.
@ UVa – I immediately thought of John Crotty or Bryant Stith. Man, I hated those two guys. I couldn’t place a specific memory, so I did a generic youtube search and found this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgKh7eY7_A Good stuff.
@ Virginia Tech – I appreciate what great ACC fans the Hokies have become in their short tenure in the League. Too bad they don’t have a basketball team to get excited about.
@ Wake Forest – I spent approximately 80% of my childhood at Wake games. Among a host of others, I think the great Rodney Rogers’ 360 against the Heels takes top billing. You may have heard a little about this game recently. Get well soon, Torro.
Your turn, Thee Bloggers.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.theesportsblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
In no particular oder here’s what I recall from those days:
Carolina’s manual scoreboard in the corner at Carmichael
Whatever that rubber looking floor was at Reynolds
Lefty
How kong Mark Price’s white undershirts looked under his uniform shorts
@ dook, Hans-BRAH making JJ cry on his senior night
ACC Tournament – Hansbrough’s last second shot against Va Tech
UNC vs. Dook – Montross bleeding, Dook losing
@ Ga Tech, Wake Forest, NC State and Maryland: Guys like Cremins, Odom, Valvano, Prosser and Gary Williams on the sideline
@ The building named after him: Dean Smith
why were you looking under Mark Price’s uniform shorts?