as opposed to the verb and say that I disagree with most of your latest poppycock and/or believe you have either misinterpreted or overestimated most of the situations and their actual realities.

Yes VT started strong in the ACC but, calling it utter domination might be a tad overestimating. Utter domination is more appropriately defined by FSU's decade long run where ACC football was often referred to as FSU and the eight dwarfs. More importantly, VT was not nearly as hot of a commodity in the conference realignment world as you assert and no where close to more desired than FSU. The sheer timing, VT being in the ACC for less than even a decade and the fight over entry, not to mention the general belief by the largest majority of those connected that VT was in its most appropriate conference home finally meant another conference move wasn't anywhere near strong consideration. The desire/willingness of the Big 10 to schedule OOC games against VT is significantly different than an interest in conference membership and unlike Nebraska, VT's lack of AAU membership would have been a significant point of debate before even considering an extension of membership. The SEC probably had some interest in the state of Virginia and the midatlantic but, the previously mentioned timing coupled with other more important targets meant VT was way down the list if they were even on it at all for the SEC.

As far as wasted opportunities VT was still early in membership, trying to fit in and be a loyal conference member and VT leadership rightly believed that easing in to conference membership as opposed to creating a lot of waves early was clearly the way to build credibility. Your reference to the recent fine has very little to do with a desire by the ACC to screw VT and if you actually understood what went on you would realize VT was comfortable paying the fine and not blowing the thing up in to a much bigger deal for their own reasons and benefit. VT for reasons pointed out to you multiple times before is likely to trail in the checkbook battle for longer than you will be alive and the reasons have more to do with other factors than conference address. You contend VT is second tier and that is true but, in reality everybody is second tier compared to the blue blood royalty of college football and, more importantly, VT is competitive on the field and has shown positive trends and significant gains competing across all sports. It is no where near 1997 at present and the reality is VT is in a significantly stronger position now than they were in 1997 to actually weather the next round of conference realignment. You can continue to look at the glass as half empty if you wish but, ignoring the realities to try and support your bias against the ACC, conference presidents and conference leadership is clear evidence that despite your contention of following the events closely for the past 15 years you haven't gained a lot of perspective.