ACC Nation

Column by Patrick Hite
patrick@accnation.com

Matt Simon knew how to get our attention. He wrote nice things about me, the Evil Q and ACC Nation. That’s all it takes. His e-mail started this way:

First off I just want to say that stumbling on your podcast this year was probably one of the best things I did. As a senior at the University of Miami your podcasts got me through some frustrating times in horrible traffic jams down here. 

Matt went on to say that he had an idea for an ACC travel guide and wanted to know if we liked the idea. Both Q and I told him we thought it was a great idea (and that wasn’t just because of the nice things he said).

Matt first came up with the idea because of his love for travel and food shows. One day he turned to his friend and said, “We can do this. It’s not that hard. You just have to go to places and eat.”

After the school year was out, Matt was going to be traveling home to New York, so he decided to make his idea of an ACC travel guide reality. His first stop after leaving Miami was in Tallahassee to visit Florida State. From there it was on to Atlanta, then Clemson and, today, he’s in Winston-Salem to check out Wake Forest.

“I don’t really know how it came to be (reality),” Matt told us on the ACC Nation podcast this week. “From an idea I just kind of ran with it and now I’m on the road.”

The idea of Matt’s travel guide is to include restaurants and bars that the local students visit (as well as other info about the schools and pictures). He figures if someone makes the trip from Blacksburg to Clemson for a football game, they could consult his guide and find good places to eat and drink, which are two things that generally go well with watching sporting events.

“Students are always going to find cheap places to eat, cheap places to drink, and they’re not going to be that far away from the campus,” Matt said.

As a struggling college student, money isn’t something he has a lot of, so accommodations along the way may be a problem. Matt can either afford to put a pillow under his head or gas in his car.

“And my car doesn’t run on a continental breakfast,” Matt said.

He’s staying in his car if he can’t find someone that will allow him to sleep in their extra bedroom or on their sofa or floor. As he told us, Matt’s not picky. If you can help him out, e-mail Matt at msimon531@yahoo.com or me at patrick@accnation.com or leave a comment here.

Here is the rest of his schedule:

Tuesday May 13 - Clemson to WF
Wednesday May 14 - WF to UNC
Thursday May 15 - UNC to Duke
Friday May 16 - Duke to NC State
Saturday May 17 - NC State to UVA
Monday May 19 - UVA to VT
Tuesday May 20 - VT to UMD
Thursday May 22 - UMD to BC ( by way of NYC)
Monday May 28 - BC to home