Hello from the Grandover, that gigantic hotel you see peering up at you from I-85 business when you make the trek from Lynchburg to Charlotte. You don’t make that trip often? You should cover the Big South Conference. You’ll be able to make that drive in your sleep. But I digress. Pinch-hitting today and helping out with our coverage of the two-day ACC football rouser, originally scheduled to take place outside Tampa. Now, Tampa to Greensboro sounds like a considerable step down in prestige, but it makes sense, seeing as a lot of newspapers that cover the ACC wouldn’t actually go to Tampa this year, finances being what they are and what not. Nathan Warters, our Virginia Tech beat guy, is in the interview room working corners. I’m breathlessly awaiting the appearance of one Vic Hall, the fine former Gretna High School quarterback who is now the posterboy for Cavaliers football. Will he be the Cavaliers’ quarterback this season? Well, he was QB1 during the spring. Every team, though, has brought and offensive and defensive representative to the proceedings. Virginia’s other player? Offensive lineman Will Barker.

Hmmmmmm.

In tomorrow’s News & Advance, check for my story on Hall, along with a Virginia Tech notebook from Nathan. We’ll be working on stories on other ACC schools, most notably North Carolina and Duke, and will have more stories after tomorrow’s marathon session of golf and coaches interviews.

Anyway, we’re going to spend the first part of this blog talking about inconsequential things such as media guides, swag and other items of interest.

* Let’s start by talking about the life-size poster of Clemson tailback C.J. Spiller that’s being handed out here. This isn’t the most outrageous piece of Heisman marketing in history. Oregon has twice rented out giant billboards in New York City to promote Ducks players to the media, which has that notorious East-Coast Bias thing going. Memphis once sent a toy race car with DeAngelo Williams’ likeness on it to promote his Heisman candidacy. I may still have a mouse pad from Indiana’s relentless Heisman campaign for then quarterback Antwaan Randel-El.

The Spiller poster is interesting. For one, Spiller is actually only 5-foot-11. His official bio on Clemson’s athletics Web site lists him at 5-11. The poster lists him at 6 feet. The two lovely women who checked us in this afternoon confirmed that there is no way Spiller is 6 feet. But a little fudging in the numbers never hurt anyone. Maybe he’s 6-0 in football spikes. Who knows?

Spiller dispelled any notion that the poster, and his listing as a “Heisman Trophy Candidate” in Clemson’s media guide, adds any pressure to his senior season.

“At the end of the day,“ Spiller said, “I still have to perform.“

Spiller said he gave his copy of the poster to his mom and insists he doesn’t have any of the posters up in his apartment.

“I don’t have any hanging up,“ he said with a smile. “I already get enough of it from my teammates.“

* Guess who’s in the center of the Virginia media guide? That would be Hall. It seems his impromptu Wild-Hoo performance in last year’s Tech-UVa game in Blacksburg was an unofficial coming out party for Hall as the “face of the franchise,“ so to speak. He’s in commercials and on posters. He’s got a finger up in the air celebrating on the media guide. Is it a bird? A man? A defensive back? A quarterback? We shall find out in a few short minutes.

* Compared to the circus that is SEC media days, a three-day hoe-down in Hoover, Ala., the ACC rouser is kind of tame. And that’s fine. Just 12 players at a time in a room, reporters buzzing in and out, asking the same questions over and over. Nothing salacious so far. No one asked North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates about his, um ... extracurricular activities, like one reporter did of Tim Tebow. At least no one that I know of.

* One note of self-indulgence—The Grandover’s peanut butter cup pie is a slice of pure heaven on a plate. My knees buckled upon taking the first bite. So good.

Will update later with more noteworthy items.