The Otto-Man Empire Returns: ACC Considering European Games

Syracuse Orange football had a hard time getting a good crowd in New Jersey. Imagine how hard it's gonna be to get fans to show up when SU plays in Jersey...the England one.

New York's College Team may soon become York's College Team if the ACC follows through on ACC Global, an initiative to expand the reach of the conference and it's sports internationally.

It only sounds absurd if you haven't been paying attention to college sports in the last five years. The Pac-12 already scheduling basketball games in China, college football games are being played in Ireland and there are exhibition tours that take college basketball squads from Canada to Europe to Asia and elsewhere. So, really, it was only a matter of time before we started considering the possibility of Syracuse playing Wake Forest in Dubai.

The author of the initiative says a football game somewhere in Europe is the most likely scenario. There's also early talk of doing...something...in Cuba, though we're guessing Miami calls dibs on that.

Questions of attendance, awareness and overall relevance aside, where does it make sense for Syracuse to play basketball or football in Europe? If you ask me, Syracuse reeeeeally should sidestep any trips to Ireland, it's just asking for trouble.

While Sicily would be too perfect, I'll take Italy as my top choice. Give me Jim Boeheim wandering the streets of Rome and Milan, sampling authentic Italian food and remarking to reporters that he doesn't see what the big deal is, Pastabilities is just as good. I'm basically demanding this.

Turkey works as well, since it's the perfect fit to break out our Otto-Man Empire gear. I'm sure they'll love that. They seem to open minded when it comes to historical references.

And if we really want to expand our footprint, we can always head to New Zealand and pick up where Eric Devendorf left off. We've got our eye on you, Christchurch...

Of course, it doesn't really matter where Syracuse plays. We all know what everyone will say about it. "Syracuse has yet to play in Asia or Australia this season. Ridiculous!"