First let me say that I like UAB. Charlotte has been in two conferences with the Blazers (Sun Belt and C-USA), and Gene Bartow was the man! I spent about 5 days in the 'Ham at the 1999 CUSA 1.0 Men's BBall Tournament watching Charlotte beat Houston, Southern Miss, Cincinnati and Louisville to win the Championship. I have enjoyed many, many great games against the Blazers, and they run a terrific program. I can see many reasons for the AAC to want UAB, but if the market has anything to do with it, Birmingham is just not that big. I get that fans from USM and Marshall might think it is a big city, but it is half the size of Charlotte (city or metro area), and about 1/3 smaller than the Norfolk area (ODU).

That said, Charlotte is a terrific big city, but we haven't won beans in 10 years in the sports that count. Our success in Olympic sports, while notable, means little. If the AAC looks at us it will not be because of our performance on the field.

ODU is putting a ton of money into a brand new football stadium, and it will not be much larger than Charlotte's was configured for the App State game (19,151). That stadium (and Charlotte's), just do not measure up to the AAC.

So, all of the schools that the AAC might consider have pluses and minuses. Nobody is a slam dunk. Like most things in life the trick is to pick the one with the best minuses, and don't worry too much about the pluses. Everybody loves the pluses, but can the AAC live with the minuses, and does that school have the resources and will to work on those minuses? That is the key.

Half the schools in the AAC are going to end up with a losing conference record in every sport. It cannot all be about winning, but it has to be about trying to win.

I am going to enjoy watching this unfold, but as a 49er, I would like our chances a lot better if we had won some games lately. Good luck to everyone.