JUST IN: TO SPITE FACE, ACC CUTS OFF NOSE

Lord knows, I love the ACC. Always have, always will. But these recent delusions of gradeur are getting on my nerves.

First, the nation's best conference basketball schedule was ruined by the additions of Boston College and Virgina Tech. Then, the ACC hopelessy decided that it was a football conference and planted its championship game in Jacksonville, Fla., to the surprise of the locals and the disdain of fans, neither of whom bothered to put their rears in most of that cavernous stadium's seats.

That prompted a move to Tampa, which was even less of a draw and even more of an embarrassment on live TV. In between, the ACC haughtily announced that Charlotte could no longer host its basketball tournament because 19,000-seat Bobcats arena just wasn't big enough for this world-class event, so now we're blessed with 28,000 fans (maybe) in 70,000-seat football domes every March.

Great call.

But just when I thought I understood commissioner John Swofford's motives - feeding his nest of greedy, chirping baby chicks otherwise known as the 12 school presidents - he goes and makes a bizarre decision that seems to have nothing to do with money but everything to do with the rest of the ACC keeping Clemson in its place.

How else can you possibly explain Greenville, S.C., not getting the ACC baseball tournament in favor of Myrtle Beach, S.C.? Here's a hint: You can't.

The ACC baseball tournament is not exactly must-see TV. It excites the masses almost as much as an adult softball double-elimination bracket, so long as the bracket is being played out at Disney World. But years of paltry attendance and sagging interest can be traced almost totally to the league's decision to keep moving the competition to as many backwoods locales as possible; the only common denominator being nobody who cared lived anywhere near the field, nobody knew where that field would be the next season, and Greenville was never in the running.

Since 1996, the ACC baseball tournament has been in Durham, N.C. Also, St. Petersburg, Fla. And Durham. Durham again. Fort Mill, S.C. Back to St. Petersburg. Don't forget about Salem, Va.

What did all of these places have in common (besides Waffle House being the only place to eat)? None of them approached what the league drew for baseball during its nine years in Greenville from 1987 to 1995 (with the exception of St. Petersburg the first time). But none of them were close to Clemson, either. That apparently was more important.

This year was supposed to be Fenway Park in Boston, which sounds awesome until you realize the only reason anyone would go to the games would be to throw things at those hillbilly colleges roughing up the sacred Sox turf (Maryland, at nearly eight hours, is BY FAR the closest team to Boston besides Boston College).

But a "scheduling conflict" (told you the ACC has no sway in Boston) forced a move to Durham, and now "travel concerns" have canned Fenway in 2010 for Greensboro, N.C. OK. Travel concerns are what matter now. Only, that still doesn't make Myrtle Beach make sense.

Myrtle Beach is closer than Greenville for SOME schools - namely the only ones that seem to matter: North Carolina, N.C. State and Duke. Because Myrtle Beach is not signficantly closer to, well, any of the rest and is much farther for many.

Maryland (50 miles), Boston College (75) and Miami (30) join UNC, State and Duke in being closer to Myrtle Beach if you drive, but when you start getting into thousand-mile trips that kind of distance really doesn't matter - especially since anyone who can afford to go that far will be flying anyway.

Of the schools that are within reasonable driving distance, Myrtle Beach is actually much more of a pain in the rear to get to. Wake is closer to Greenville. So is Georgia Tech. And Virginia. And Virginia Tech. And Florida State. And, of course, Clemson.

So whose "travel concerns" are really being addressed by the move to Myrtle Beach? Almost nobody's, as far as I can tell. But, again, Clemson won't be able to get there easily, either. Again, that seems to be the biggest - and only - strike against Greenville.

Let me explain. I was at Furman when the ACC tournament was held at the G-Braves old stadium south of I-85, and that was also around the time that the tournament became relevant - thanks almost solely to Clemson fans, the best baseball fans in the ACC.

Before 1987, the ACC's record attendance at its baseball tournament was 22,638, the year before in Durham. Greenville never drew less than 30,000 and four times cracked 40 as raucous masses of orange clogged the exit ramps off of 85 and the stands at Memorial Stadium.

Tickets were tough. The atmosphere was often electric. But if you listened hard enough between people having fun you could hear the whines about Clemson's unfair "homefield advantage." Nevermind that this advantage doesn't seem to bother the ACC when every single basketball tournament ever has not been held in the states of South Carolina or Virginia and nearly every one has been in the cozy confines of Charlotte and Greensboro - about as big a homefield advantage and the Big Four could ask for outside playing on their own campuses.

But against all logic, the ACC yanked the tourney in 1996 for Durham's crumbling old park and promptly saw attendance plummet to 22,000. By the time it reached Salem in 2003, the numbers were down to 18,000 and whatever momentum the event had gained was lost.

A three-year run in Jacksonville marked a resurgence of sorts, and on paper it looks like that was a better home than even Greenville. But while the league claims attendance numbers of 66, 73 and 59,000 from 2005-07 (you could have fooled me by what I saw on TV), a comparison with Greenville's heyday is apples and oranges because the move to a round-robin format keeps teams from going home (and fans spending money).

At the G-Braves old park, a double-elimination bracket was constantly culling the fan base, and ACC also hasn't been held at Greenville's magnificent new Fluor Field, right in the heart of one of the most underrated downtowns in America.

Come on, ACC. This is getting ridiculous. Why do you keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Greenville is big enough. It's interested. It has a history of success with your tournament nowhere else can match. And, believe it or not, South Carolina is ACC country even though you've been ignoring that for the better part of 60 years.

Greenville is where your tournament belongs. Tell Carolina and State to get over it.