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The Debate
February 21, 2000 LOS ANGELES - Following a road trip to Southern California with the women's basketball team I found myself in an airport restaurant watching the Arizona State men's basketball team flog the USC Trojans to further their claim to a stake in March Madness. My flight was not scheduled to leave for another two hours so I had some time to kill and wasn't in a real hurry to get to my gate. Not only that, but in the booth directly behind me, a conversation between two sports fans was brewing that caught my attention. Apparently, the two acquaintances had been there for awhile and the adult beverages that they happened to be consuming were beginning to kick in just a bit. I'm not normally one to eavesdrop on anyone's private conversation, but the volume of their voices was becoming almost impossible to drown out with any chip and dip crunching so I couldn't help myself. It became even more difficult to ignore when the man in the sky blue "North Carolina Tar Heel" sweatshirt piped up..... "The Pac-10 is just gawd awful basketball." To say my interest was piqued at this point would be a severe understatement, especially when the gentleman in the UCLA hat retorted... "Friend, with all due respect to your Atlantic Coast intuitions and inhibitions, you have no idea what you're talking about. There is no comparison between your Atlantic Coast Conference (he said in a sarcastic "holier than thou" tone) and the Pac-10. Top to bottom we have better crowds, better coaches, better teams and better hoops on the West Coast." And from there, the debate was officially on - and I was all ears. "Shoot fire," said the North Carolina, and for that matter, ACC fan, "how can you sit here and tell me that you have better basketball than we do on the Eastern Seaboard? Here, let's do this, you name me a facet of the college game and I'll prove to you that the ACC is better than the Pac-10 in it." "Fair enough," said the Bruin, and for that matter, the Sun Devil, Beaver, Husky, etc...(as he had the entire conference on his shoulders at this point), "let's begin with coaches." "Coaches!!! Are you kidding me?" replied the man with the distinct North Carolina drawl. "That is an easy one. We've got Deano, Coach K, Jimmy V., guys that don't even need a full name. And I haven't even mentioned Norm Sloan, Vic Bubas, or even the legendary Frank McGuire..." "I have two words for you," the man from the west interrupted, "John Wooden. He's the Wizard of Westwood, one of the greatest coaches of any sport, professional or collegiate, and he was employed on the West Coast at UCLA. Go ahead, add up all of Dean's, Jimmy's, Coach K's and anyone else's national championships (he said slowly and emphatically) and see if you can sniff Wooden's accomplishments. You can't." The argument took the ACC fan aback, but only for a moment. Nonplussed, he took a southern swig of his mug of drink, wiped his mouth and continued the conversation. "Heck, I don't give two hoots and a holler, who's on the sideline during the games. Let's talk about the guys on the floor, those are who the fans are coming to see anyway." "Players are an easy advantage for the Pac-10," said the westerner, with a coy smile on his face. "Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, AC Green, Gary Payton, just to name a few. Jason Kidd is lighting things up as a Sun, Sean Elliot has had a great NBA career, and you name me one player in your league that can guard Eddie House, because no one on that North Carolina State team sure could a couple of weeks ago." "You know, all those are names of great players, men who have contributed greatly to the game of basketball."
And then he paused, obviously for effect. A purposeful, pregnant, pause.
He had him there. "You've got me there," replied the Pac-10 pontificator. Things were all tied up. "Fans," said the ACC follower, "how about fans? We've easily got the rowdiest in the land." "Rowdy? We invented rowdy. Mac Court in Eugene is an absolute jewel. The floor at Stanford shakes because the students are so boisterous. When (ahem) Wells Fargo Arena is packed, there isn't a louder arena around. Even in Tucson, the McKale Center is as imposing as it gets." "The McKale Center?" piped the Southerner. "The McKale Center doesn't even have a student section. We've got the Cameron Crazies at Duke who have invented more chants that a campfire girl scout troop. Daggum buddy, haven't you every watched an ACC game on the talking picture box? If you want atmosphere, you go down South where every arena has a home court advantage." "What about Florida State?" Gulp. "Well, what about Washington State?" Gulp again. "I'll arm wrestle ya for that one," said the ACC fanatic, rolling up his sleeves. "Whaddya say we call that one a draw?" the Pac-10er said. "Fair enough." They were both conspicuously quiet for awhile, but I could still hear the wheels in both of their heads turning. "I've got one for you," said the Pac-10 guy. "Rivalries. Sure, you've got Duke/Carolina, I'll give you that. But after that, what do you have? The Pac-10 has five fantastic natural rivalries. There is no doubt who Arizona State's rival is - Arizona. And you can't talk about Cal without mentioning Stanford. Have you been to an Oregon/Oregon State game, dude, when those schools play spades it gets heated." "Son," said ACC, "haven't you ever heard of Tobacco Road? Each team doesn't have one rival, they've got four rivals. NC State, UNC and Duke are all within a half-hour of each other. With L.A. traffic, it takes you three days to get from USC to UCLA." He was right on that one, I had just come from those schools. "Wake Forest isn't that far away either," he continued. "Except for Florida State, and we don't really pay attention to them in hoops anyway, all schools are within a day's drive of each other. The only people from Tucson that could go to a game at University of Washington would be the Griswolds." "Yeah, but who is Virginia's rival in the league? Maryland? That's real sexy. What about Clemson? Who boils their blood, Georgia Tech? They aren't even in the same state. Hence the Pac-10's "in-state" rivalries." The conversation was becoming heated at this point, as the ACC believer was obviously trumped on the fan file. It took him a second to figure his retort, when it finally dawned on him that he had an ace-in-the-hole. "Here's a question for you," he said. "What does the Pac-10 do on the weekend of March 10-12?" "Business as usual," he began to slow down his cadence, "why?" "Because, chief, it is that weekend that the greatest display of basketball is played in the entire world. It is the ACC Tournament, the best four days in college hoops. You can't get tickets, generations upon generations have been going, players absolutely leave it out on the floor in a chasm of fan frenzy, high-flying dunks and single elimination sweat beads. And what are you doing out west that weekend? Two games. Two games that no one west of Tempe cares about." He was right. "You know, you're right. I think all Pac-10 fans hope for a tournament like that. It is a place where dreams come true." "So, we are tied at two a-piece." "I guess we are." Out of the corner of my eye I saw some of the ASU Women's basketball players begin to board our airplane. It was time for me to go. As I was leaving I heard the Pac-10 fan bring up something about uniforms and the ACC fellow mention something about academics. They could argue all night at it may never be settled. And considering the traffic at LAX wasn't letting anyone go anywhere that day, they probably did.
Robby Robinson is the Associate Director of Broadcasting for the Sun Devil Sports Network. He is the voice of ASU Women's Basketball and the Host of "Off the Bench with Charli Turner-Thorne". Robby can be reached at robby.robinson@asu.edu
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