Our old friend Conor O’Neill stopped by to preview both Duke and Wake Forest. We cover strength of schedule issues, a new coach in Winston-Salem, and turnover in Durham. The Blue Devils get high marks from Conor, so we’re telling you there’s a chance. Also, don’t schedule weddings in the Fall people. Just don’t.
And we discuss the most painful Duke losses in the last twenty-five years. Which are your most painful Blue Devil losses?
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
Duke legend Lee Rodio returns to the podcast and provides us with his win-loss prediction for the Blue Devils this season. We go through each game and tell you who we think will win and why. We also check in with Richlandia to get an update on the status of the OG Optimistic Duke Football fan. You’ll like all our predictions as we’re very optimistic about what the Blue Devils can do this season.
One thing you’ll notice as we go through Duke’s schedule is how much time we spend discussing the differing degree of schedule difficulty the Blue Devils’ opponents have. This is one of the unfortunate side effects of conference restructuring – unbalanced schedules providing easier paths to a conference championship game. Sorry for an old man rant here, but there really is an upside to small conferences.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
As you know, Bull City Coordinators is part of the College Huddle Network. As part of that, and as an attempt to try and bring our country together in these trying times, I reached out to my colleagues The Heel Brothers and asked them to come on and talk about the upcoming season for the Heels. You can follow them (if you want to) here.
Sorry for the audio not being normalized. I’m not sure what happened, but we had issues from the very start.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
Dr. Amy Pistone from basketball powerhouse Gonzaga stopped by to talk about sports in Ancient Greece. Before we delve into Antiquity, we cover Dr. Pistone’s background, her ties to new ACC member Cal, her career as a football and basketball official and her experience running marathons. As you might guess, we take a number of sidequests including one about The Aeneid. If you’re bothered by our detours, remember that the name of the podcast includes “SIDEQUEST”, so, let me just say, “Sorry, not sorry.” In all seriousness, this was a lot of fun.
In regard to Ancient Greek sports specifically, we cover how ancient Greeks competed in the Olympics in the nude and learn that women weren’t allowed to participate in the Olympic Games with the exception of owning horses in carriage races. Women did have separate games they could participate in, however. The Greeks also had a form of MMA.
Given Dr. Pistone’s connections The ACC, I’m cross-posting this on the Bull City Coordinators podcast. So, let me just say, as always, Go Duke!
Returning to Classical Antiquity, if you want to learn more about Dr. Pistone’s work, check out her website which includes links to a lot of other podcasts she’s been on. Those are very informative and I recommend them to you.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments or on Twitter.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
Our old friend Conor O’Neill stopped by to give us his thoughts on Wake Forest and Duke as the programs head into 2024. Conor covers both programs for Rivals. He’s got a good thing going over at Devils Illustrated – sign up, folks!
Before talking football, we took a few minutes to discuss the legacy of one of the greatest recording engineers (also known as a record producer) in music history, Steve Albini, who, sadly, passed away recently. He was a member of influential industrial rock bands like Big Black and Shellac. Albini’s career as prominent independent musician gave him an opportunity to start recording for other bands and he made the most of it. During his legendary career, Albini worked with a wide variety of bands including the Pixies, Nirvana, The Breeders, The Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey and Man or Astro-man?. The story behind the initial recording of Nirvana’s In Utero is worth the time to read about. I enjoyed Albini’s sound as a young kid living in a fairly boring town. RIP, man. RIP.
After discussing what the Deacs can expect, we spend some time talking the Duke QB battle and how we shouldn’t overlook what Grayson Loftis might be able to do if he gets a shot. While we’re both high on Maalik Murphy, it’s hard not to think that Loftis might be able to make a name for himself in Durham. Oh, and Murphy has a canon for an arm and will showcase it as the Blue Devils will run a variation of the Air Raid. All right, all right, all right!
Conor and I also discuss the portal, NIL and how the NCAA needs to let schools employ athletes. And we get into a little basketball, too!
This is another good talk with a guy who is close to the program. I know you’ll enjoy it.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
Our old friend Matthew from All Sports Discussion stopped by to recap the 2023 ACC football season and give his thoughts on the upcoming season. During our 50 plus minute talk, we cover the disappointments of 2023 (beyond The Snub, we mention UNC and Miami), the bright side of last season (looking at you, Virginia Tech) and what to expect from our beloved conference this year. While the Hoos could be looking at hiring a new coach if things don’t go well in Charlottesville, the Hokies look primed to be this year’s Louisville as a result of winning the schedule lottery. All things considered, this could be a fun year for The ACC (while it still exists).
Oh, and we talk Conference Restructuring for a little bit because of course we did. Also, my audio was a little off. I got a new set of headphones and apparently didn’t select the input properly. It happens.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
My friends over at Saturday’s Warrior asked me to stop by and talk about FSU-Clemson-The ACC, which is what I call the unholy triangle of sadness. Take a look at my interview with Trevor. I hope you’ll learn something. Or at least be mildly entertained by the Blues Brothers reference. The bar is kind of low at this point.
This was another appearance on a podcast that is part of The College Huddle Network. This has been a lot of fun and reminded me that I’m due for another post on the site about the litigation that is still ongoing.
I stopped by The College Huddle with my friends from The Cavalier Connection to talk about the uncertainties facing The ACC. Give it a listen / watch, folks! Thanks to The College Huddle and to The Cavalier Connection for having me on. This was a lot of fun.
As you all now, Bull City Coordinators is now part of The College Huddle network. This is a fan-led college sports podcast community. We look forward to future collaborations with members of The College Huddle and to continuing to (hopefully) inform our fans!
News & Observer columnistLuke DeCock stopped by the pod to talk about the problems facing The ACC. Looking at you, former Big East teams and FSU. We also discuss the “legally interesting” (which is a kind way of saying “dubious”) lawsuit filed by FSU against The ACC. Having read FSU’s most recent Complaint, I don’t think very highly of it. I had initially planned on doing a more detailed discussion of it, but that would be a waste of time. Which is pretty much what that lawsuit looks like to me. But I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again.
Luke also discussed the future of The ACC and how we got into this mess. This involves a hopefully interesting discussion about the pros and cons of Notre Dame’s involvement with the conference. We also both comment on how we don’t see an exit strategy for FSU. If another conference wanted the Noles, the TV overlords would’ve moved the school by now. Also, and this should be obvious, the TV partners running college football want a strong Grant of Rights. They don’t want GoRs to be found unenforceable. The TV deals just won’t work if member schools can invalidate them. Just sayin’!
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
Bull City Coordinators - A Duke Football and Roman History Blog 