Who balled out hardest at conference Media Days?

Hello and welcome to the fifth edition of FOIAball. Today’s newsletter is entirely free to read.

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As always, if you have something you think we should look into, hit us up: [email protected]

In this issue, we got a lot:

• The ACC ditches diversity.

  Race is no longer a consideration for the conference's racial justice award.

• Media Day splurges

  Who balled out the best in Vegas, NOLA, and ATL?

• UNC on Bill Belichick’s debut
  Emails and an internal after-action report from his Week One loss. 

• Carbone at home

  This week’s FOIAball Food tackles Spicy Vodka Rigatoni.

Diversity is now unity at the ACC

At the ACC Board of Directors meeting earlier this month, the new league schedule wasn’t the only change. But it was the only change the conference probably wanted publicized.

A meeting agenda obtained by FOIAball from a university’s faculty liaison to the conference shows that the ACC is planning to update the criteria for the UNITE Award.

It was annually given to students at each school who had an “impact in the areas of racial and social justice.” 

Now, instead of advancing equality, it’s about the much more nebulous concept of bringing people together. 

Out, according to the university document, are “pioneers for minorities at their institutions.” In are “individuals with a significant impact in the area of unity.” 

The prep document also noted that the conference's DEI Education would be swapped for UNITE Education. 

The conference took the PR win for its schedule shift this week, but the award change didn’t appear to make the news. 

An ACC official told FOIAball that while the language hadn’t been finalized, the conference is “leaning into our broader UNITE umbrella.”

Speaking of ACC talking points, FOIAball obtained talking points the ACC wants its ADs and head coaches to impress upon the public. 

They are:

“ACC Football demands excellence - every week from every team.” 

“Our league is as deep as any - with exceptional leadership and talent.”

“At the conference of QBs, we lead the nation in elite QB talent.”

We could put quippy rejoinders after each bullet point, but you already did that in your head.

Steaks, sandwiches, and suits: Breaking down Media Day expenses

The best part of work travel is eating out on your company’s dime. 

There are two ways to do it. Explore the unique cuisine of the city you’re in or splurge at a classic high-end steakhouse.

Put another way: Are you a Michigan State or are you JMU?

This summer, the Big 12 and Sun Belt held media days in two of America’s best food cities. And we at FOIAball wanted to know what they ate. So we asked for receipts. Literal receipts. 

College Football Media Days have grown in scope and size as the sport bulldozed its way into the national consciousness. 

In 1985, the SEC’s first media day was held at a Holiday Inn in Birmingham, Alabama. This year, it took over the entire College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia for three straight days. 

Now, every conference (save for the PAC-2) hosts one, where coaches, athletic directors, players, and journalists descend to deliver and transcribe packaged sound bites. In fact, those ACC talking points come directly from ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips' Media Day address.

This year, the Big Ten swooped into Las Vegas, while the Sun Belt traveled down to New Orleans. 

James Madison took eight reps from the team. Head coach Bob Chesney, a couple players, as well as some administrative and communication staffers. They seemed to have a blast. 

The group took over two rows of a flight down to NOLA, all seated together, and (at a reasonable price), pigged out on some of the Big Easy’s finest. 

A couple of administrators crushed oysters at Dragos, an institution famous for charbroiling the bivalves in garlic butter and parmesan. 

Chesney took two players out to Emeril Lagasse’s eponymous restaurant.

For the one meal they shared, the octet split four muffalettas at Cafe Maspero. Those come with pastrami alongside salami, a sandwich twist new to us. They also got beignets at Cafe du Monde. 

The filed food expenses, outside of per diems, came in at a sensible $560. 

Meanwhile, the Spartans went to Vegas, where they stayed at the Mandalay Bay. 

Their group dinner, according to expenses released to FOIAball, was an eight-person splurge at Michael Mina’s StripSteak inside the Mandalay Bay. To which we say, leave the dang hotel. 

They kicked the meal off ordering crab cakes with Old Bay tartar sauce and a Caesar salads with white anchovy dressing. For steaks, the group ate filet mignons with bone-marrow black truffle butter and cowboy ribeyes with half-lobsters added on. 

All told, they rang up a $1,300 check, pre-tip.

Not everyone was living large in Sin City, though. A request to Iowa for Kirk Ferentz’s expenses shows him spending $33 on dinner one night and $16 for breakfast, an incredibly austere trip to America’s temple to indulgence.  

We’re still waiting for receipts from most SEC schools. But Kentucky got back to us for their trip to Atlanta.

The Wildcats ate at Hudson Grille. According to a review, "the ranch is so damn good it should be put on the drink menu." 

The group got one extra ranch, at 75 cents. 

Pricier was the $4,500 spent on suits for the three players who attended. 

The school purchased new looks for its athletes at Mac and Clay, a Lexington, Kentucky-based suit shop. The boutique men’s retailer isn’t shy about noting its affiliation, featuring an ad on its website. 

When contacted, Kentucky told FOIAball the expenses were allowed as part of NCAA regulations that let universities cover costs for student-athletes to represent schools at media days.

The invoices also show they flew private to the event. But we can’t be mad about that expense, because look at the company Kentucky uses for non-commercial air travel. 

Mooses can’t fly planes.

Other than that, how was the play, Ms. Hudson? 

What did UNC like about Bill Belichick’s debut? 

That it didn’t rain.

A post-game operations report obtained by FOIAball kicked off by noting the “historic and special day for Carolina” had “unbelievable weather.”

The email, from a staffer to UNC’s top athletic brass, detailed the hiccups and headaches of hosting a highly anticipated Week One game. It also featured the debut of the school’s newest amenity, the Kenan Skybox, a luxury suite that seats up to 200 VIPs  

It was, like Belichick’s tenure so far, a mix of highs and lows. 

“Sky Box - generally a success,” the report stated, adding shade at a UNC bigwig. “Staff reports that BOT [member] was disrespectful to staff and called [a UNC C-Suite] to complain that they couldn’t open the doors. Elevators continually shut down.”

Elevators were apparently a problem throughout the premium seating, shutting down “repeatedly.”

We swear we are going somewhere with this, but we need to digress a sec. 

To see who might be at such a historic event, FOIAball also asked for the attendee list for the school’s Chancellor’s box.

Over two dozen members of the North Carolina state legislature appeared on it.

UNC’s senior director of media relations Kevin Best told FOIAball that all 170 members of the legislature were invited to purchase tickets for the game, both for seats in the stands and in the luxury suite.

The school said “invitation was extended by the Office of State Affairs, in partnership with the Office of the Chancellor.”

You can see the full list of who attended here, but we’re concerned with one person. That would appear to be North Carolina Labor Commissioner Luke Farley.

He ran on an entirely elevator-themed campaign, which, yes, is called MEGA. 

Farley’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the irony, but we have to assume he wouldn’t have been pleased with the chaotic lift scene. 

UNC students and alumni were furious about another matter, though, emailing complaints straight to the AD. 

“This appears to be another example of the corporatization of college sports. It’s sickening.”

“The new family dynasty ruling UNC football doesn’t understand the Carolina family and its tradition.” 

The issue? That Ramses the Ram, the school’s real live… ram, was not on the sidelines during the game. One even sent a photo, scrawling a MISTER POLICE-style message on it. 

The after-action report deemed the new location “a hit.” 

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A simple, but decadent vodka sauce

Speaking of pricey meals, despite 12 years in New York City, I’ve never been to Carbone. And I probably never will, the restaurant’s haute yet simple fare becoming a post-pandemic status symbol. 

But the thing about simple food is it’s simple to make. Especially the restaurant's famous dish, Spicy Rigatoni Vodka.

Let’s start with the meatballs. 

Actually, let’s start with the martini. If we’re gonna have a restaurant experience at home, fix one up first. Two parts gin, one part dry vermouth, olive brine, and a dash of MSG. Gross, you’ll say. Try it. 

Now back to your meatballs.

Finely dice the following: half a medium red onion, a few cloves of garlic, and a ton of Italian flat-leaf parsley. Normally, I hate buying herbs, but fresh parsley makes a huge difference in this dish. 

Plunk two-ish pounds of ground meat into a metal bowl. We combined pork and 80/20 ground beef, but swap for chicken and turkey, and no one will be the wiser. 

To your meat, add the chopped aromatics, an egg, a few heavy shakes from a canister of bread crumbs, and salt. Cover it all in a Nor’easter’s dumping of parm. 

I have no measurements here, and I suggest you do the same going forward. Any amount of anything can go in anything. 

Four packed cups of parsley might make it greener, but call it a twist on falafel and people will be stunned. A bunch more onions and you’ve invented Oklahoma-style meatballs.

Liberating yourself from recipe dictums lets you truly relax while cooking. 

Now jam your paws in there and smoosh it all together. Feeling too gloppy? More bread crumbs. Really dry? Add another egg. 

Form a patty and frisbee it over to whatever pan sits permanently atop your stove to sear and taste. Is it good? If yes, proceed. If no, probably more salt.

Let the meat chill in the fridge for a bit, or don’t, if you don’t want to. But it’ll be a little easier to work with cold. 

Roll into meatball-sized meatballs. If you are having guests over, make them really tiny, call them polpette, and people will post a pic of your dish in awe.

Sauce prep is surprisingly easy: a diced big white or yellow onion (doesn’t matter) and sliced garlic.

Heat a skillet big enough to hold your finished sauce, meatballs, and pasta, and add a small amount of olive oil. You can bake these in the oven or add uncooked to the sauce, too, but the fried crust here is hard to beat. It also leaves us a ton of good fat to use.

Cook til crusty and flip. A regular dinner spoon is best. Get in there, have some oil splatter burn your hand. You’ll feel alive.  

After browning the other side and removing, your pan should look gnarly. Let’s make it worse. Keep the pot on high, toss in your shaved garlic, and let it cook to the point of burning. Literally edges turning black. That acridity adds quick complexity to a simple stove-top sauce.

Dump in the onion, a decent pile of salt, and shake the pan a couple times. Let it cook, the more color on the onions, the better. Stir in a half can of tomato paste (perhaps left over from last week’s chimichangas). For heat, the secret is Calabrian chili paste. Last weekend, while making this, I forgot to use despite having on hand. We added chili flake instead. It wasn’t nearly as good. 

To get it drunk, set an opened can of crushed tomatoes by the stove. Grab a half-filled handle of vodka left over from some party two years ago and turn down the heat a hair. Pour in a boozy brunch screwdriver’s worth and swirl.  

On a gas stove, all you need is to tilt the pan down. The vapors, rapidly heated, ignite at the touch. It rocks.

On induction or electric, use one of those stick lighters. The only warning is to spark it sooner rather than later. The longer it cooks, the higher the vapors rise and the bigger the fireball.

Is this step necessary? No. Is it a blast? Yes.  

The flames will dissipate, but if they don’t, your tomatoes are at the ready. Add the can to quash any last bit of fire. Let it come to a simmer and return your meatballs. Exhale, take a sip of your neglected martini. 

This can go on low practically forever. What you are looking for is the liquid released by the meatballs to cook back into the sauce. It should be thicker than you want the finished dish, a little pasty at the bottom when you push a spoon across.

When it reaches that, heat and heavily salt a pot of water. Take the world’s best pasta shape, mezze rigatoni, and add to your rollicking boil. Stir once or twice to prevent sticking. 

As the pasta cooks, pour heavy, full-fat cream into the sauce. How much? You are in charge. A splash will bring a nice lusciousness. A half-cup gives that bright orange Carbone color.

Shake or stir to incorporate. Keep the heat on and it will come together on its own. 

When the pasta has a nice al dente bite, strain and add to the sauce. If your sauce is very thick, a quarter cup of pasta water will help it glisten. But if it feels too thin, pull the pasta a couple minutes early and add in unfinished, letting the tubes absorb the excess. The beauty of cooking is that almost any mistake is fixable. 

A decadent pasta like this needs to be finished with a flourish. Fresh parm, fresh parsley, chunks of flaky salt (buy a box of Maldon, it’s $8), and a swirl of a slightly higher-quality olive oil than what you use every day.

Now consider, the Carbones have built a nine-figure empire off this. Yours can’t be far behind. 

If you made it this far, you’re at the end. So take a look at our one-month anniversary, half-off sale.

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Bill Belichick via Inside Carolina/YouTube; Sparty via FOIAballVideos/YouTube; Vegas Sign by Matthias Ott/Flickr [Remixed by FOIAball]