you think that VT has more electoral weight than wealthy UVA with a greater share of out-of-state students and a smaller number of in-state students? If you can net shift 3 or 4% of voters into your camp that will win you an election, especially in 2011 when VA was more toss-up or republican. That's why Mark Warner bet his ass off on getting VT an ACC spot in the first place. It either inoculated him or helped him electorally with more rural and conservative football-oriented voters and didn't change the minds of many who were going to vote for him anyhow. VT could have broken with UVA and the politicians would have had to get in line. A similar situation occurred in Texas, a very red state. No one one had the balls to piss off the A&M fan base. That would get you torched in the primary, whereas in VA it would play out in the general election. But here's the rub. You have to have fan base that is mean and has the balls and really wants to win at the highest level, not a bunch of people that are taking bus rides to games in their regional footprint. This still makes me sick watching this play out. We were too clean and nice to take it when it was there, in which case, we really don't deserve it. This isn't meant to trash people, it is just meant to point out a reality. Reading the board back in 2011, I could just tell that a LOT of people didn't want to face the harsh possibly existential reality that was coming. And if a lot of people on this board didn't want to rock the boat, the political brawl wasn't going to happen either. I'd prefer we'd have bet the ranch and gone to war to leave. I go to a LOT of SEC games and love that conference and still think the 2002 home game against LSU was amazing.