Brownlow's Twitter Mailbag: Rehoming ACC teams, MLB in the Triangle and delaying the start of A/C

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan contributor

Another week, another off-season Twitter Mailbag! Although to be fair, Duke is still alive in the college baseball NCAA Tournament, so there's that. This week, we'll get into trying to give ACC teams a new home when the league (seemingly) inevitably blows up, a song to sum up the Hurricanes' season, potential for MLB in North Carolina and when to turn on your air-conditioner (sort of).

So let's get to it!

@MattKrausNC wants preditions for ACC teams' conference affiliations in 2033

I have slightly more insight into where teams might end up than I do into what the ACC should do, but only slightly. With that caveat aside, here's what I'd feel comfortable predicting:

Clemson: SEC

Florida State: SEC

Duke: Big Ten

UNC: Big Ten

Virginia: Big Ten

And that's it as far as my predictions go. For Boston College and Wake Forest, I have a hard time seeing them in a major conference just because I don't know that there's a lot of appeal for either on the television side. (Remember, Wake fans: this isn't merit-based! We all know that at this point!) And let's not forget that we still don't know what the future of the PAC-12 or Big 12 will be, and whatever those schools become could also be a league that picks up stragglers. But will North Carolina as a state be able to force the Big Ten to take NC State too? Or would NC State feel like it has a better home in the SEC? And wouldn't it be great for the SEC to have a team from North Carolina! Culturally, I think it's a better fit.

Teams like Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Pitt are wild cards to me. Miami is plenty appealing to any league, and no matter what anyone thinks about them, they're still a TV draw. But are they Big Ten with their strong academics? Or does it just make more sense for the SEC to grab them? Does Virginia Tech want to follow Virginia or go to a place they fit in better culturally like the SEC? So there are a lot of questions to answer, for sure.

I will briefly touch on what the ACC should do, though, because honestly, there's not a whole lot it *can* do. ESPN could decide it wants to invest in the future of a league it did put a lot of money into, and a network it put quite a bit of money into, and redo the television deal. So I guess the ACC needs to convince ESPN that the gap in revenue will literally kill the league. But ESPN is not stupid and I'm sure is aware of that. Even Notre Dame joining wouldn't close the revenue gap enough, I don't think. Could they add more teams? Probably, but who could they add that would close the gap substantially enough? I'm not sure it would be anyone. and so it would be up to ESPN to decide hey, let's fix this deal before it's too late.

@IAmTheGoony asks: What is the song that best describes the Hurricanes' season?

As much as I try to think of other songs, all I can think of is "Almost Doesn't Count" by Brandy.

I'm not even one of those people that thinks if you don't win at all it's a failure, but hockey's postseason seemingly is so much about either having a goalie that gets hot or a team that gets hot, or both. Why can't the Hurricanes ever be that team? So maybe another song would be something about needing some heat. All I can think of is "The Heat Is On" and now that saxophone riff is playing on a loop in my brain and I think I need to move on now.

@jwckauman wants to know about MLB in NC

I think the chances we eventually see one in North Carolina are more than 50%, which is not nothing. But I also feel like it's something that I've heard is inevitable for much of my life and it still hasn't happened. As to where it should be, Raleigh has the same issue it's always had and that's downtown logistics. Charlotte is better equipped to do it right now, and it'd probably be in Charlotte if I had to guess. Selfishly, I'd love it in Greensboro because I do feel like it's easier for everyone to get to. But that's not likely either, even though Greensboro is an underrated baseball town. I grew up going to watch the Greensboro Bats (as they were then known) and it was an excellent experience and the city loves baseball. This STATE loves baseball.

My only question is would the lifelong Braves' fans in this state be able to switch allegiance, just like that? I mean, I guess if they could drop the Washington Commanders, maybe. But not everyone did and I feel like the Braves are more deeply entrenched around here. Still, it's a great baseball state and there'd be understandable interest from all sides I think.

Finally: It's been a cool spring, but what's too cold?

I know that this question is not about heat or air-conditioning, but I'd like to address it and this is my Mailbag. I have not had either my heat or my air-conditioning on since ... mid-April? I think? To be fair, my A/C runs colder than any I've had before. But with long COVID, my temperature fluctuates a lot so I just kind of have to deal with that as best I can. I've had to balance my body randomly overheating for no reason with my desire to not pay for air-conditioning when I don't need it. My frugality has won the day.

As for if I've ever been that cold at a game that I'd get into a mascot costume? It would take a lot for me to do that for several reasons, but one of them is how much it would smell in there, especially if someone had already been wearing it. While I have been to colder games than this, I don't sit outside very often and so the only time that comes to mind for me is the 21-inning NC State-UNC marathon baseball game in the ACC Tournament. That was 10 years ago now, and the high that day was like in the mid-70s. But it was lovely and sunny until the sun went down, and it got into the low 50s and I was dressed for the warmer weather. The press box was outside and I got so cold that I was shivering too hard to type without hen-pecking my keyboard.

That was a night where frugality lost out, I think in part because I thought the game would never end and thus my cold would never end. So I went to the DBAP gift shop and bought a blanket and wrapped myself in it the rest of the night. I have never felt so cold at a game before or since.