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Editor's note: Insider is taking the summer off. Look for the next installment this fall.

While I’d like to devote this space to Bruce Springsteen’s appearance Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, there are more pressing matters on the University of Virginia sports front.

What really happened to Mac McDonald, whose resignation as Voice of the Cavaliers was announced Wednesday?

For some time, I’ve wanted to make reader polls a more regular feature of this column and, if this happens to be the last UVa Insider until August, that will be one resolution for the new season.

McDonald makes a good topic for this week. You hear a lot of people complain about him, with some of the complainers coming from other schools, but I would think he’d get generally positive ratings from UVa fans.

I think McDonald’s greatest strength was his rapport with head coaches Al Groh in football and Dave Leitao in men’s basketball. It would annoy me sometimes when McDonald would blow up critical callers, but Cavalier Call-In wouldn’t fly if Groh and Leitao weren’t comfortable with the host.

So, did you like McDonald or not? Feel free to voice your opinion in the accompanying poll.

UNTIL I MADE a series of calls and e-mail exchanges this afternoon, I was inclined to question whether McDonald’s departure was voluntary and wonder if he somehow had alienated somebody at UVa .

McDonald subsequently responded to an e-mail by saying he was not pushed and that’s been supported by at least one reputable source.

“It wasn’t the university’s choice,” McDonald said. “It was mine. I was the one who said, ‘Hey, this is a great time for me.’ I have been contacted and there are some really neat things in the works but I can’t really say because it affects other people.”

McDonald didn’t deny that he had told his bosses that he wanted to resign and that they hadn’t talked him out of it.

On the surface, that might suggest some friction.

“Nah, there’s no friction,” McDonald said. “There’s absolutely no friction. Craig Littlepage and I go way back. Jon Oliver and I have played a lot of golf together.”

Yeah, but controversy sells.

“I know that everybody wants to read something into this,” said McDonald, who said he will continue to work in Charlottesville and work out of his home, “but it’s something I really wanted to do.

“I would like to become more of an independent contractor. I’d like to become more of my own boss. I’m approaching my 55th birthday and I’ve been playing the corporate game for a long time.”

SO, IF THE ANNOUNCEMENT was made Wednesday morning, why did the release say the decision was effective Tuesday (April 29)?

“I think what happened was, they were trying to get it done because I had talked to them last week,” McDonald said. “They had it ready to go, I think, but they couldn’t get a hold of [UVa executive vice president] Leonard Sandridge and they wanted Leonard to see it.”

McDonald has been known to ruffle some feathers. I remember the time last fall when he informed caller Clyde Smith from Forest that “Clyde, you’re done,” after Smith had suggested that the best thing Groh could do for the football program was to resign.(See a video of ''Clyde from Forest''.)

More recently, McDonald suggested that there was a hidden reason behind Virginia Tech’s success against Virginia in the teams’ football series. After Tech’s eighth win in nine games, he invited fans to call him off air.

“I know that hit the sabre[.com],” he said, “and that was ridiculous because I didn’t say anything about Virginia Tech. I said there were differences between the two schools. That was my comment. I never said the word ‘cheat.’ I never said ‘cheated.’ Never. The words never came out of my mouth.

“When people were calling and ripping Al Groh, I went in support of the football program. I supported the coach and finally I just said on the air, ‘If fans would like to write me or call me, they know where to find me.' That’s all I said. The whole week after the game, I talked to Virginia fans. I talked to Virginia Tech fans.

Virginia officials “never said anything to me or came back to me in December and said, ‘That was the worst.’ Never said a word.’ “

OK, ENOUGH ABOUT MAC. I need some help on something. In his appearance Wednesday at JPJ, Springsteen pointed out that he frequently traveled to Richmond during early stages of his career, when he wasn’t performing anywhere else but New Jersey. He never mentioned a past date in Charlottesville.

Thanks to Newport News columnist David “Ol’ “ Teel for furnishing a setlist from Wednesday night but can somebody answer this. Didn’t Springsteen play at Memorial Gymnasium once? The year would have been 1972 or 1973.

For years, I’ve been telling people that Springsteen played at Mem Gym but I wouldn’t walk across the street from the Sigma Nu House to see him. Less than five years later, after ''Born to Run,'' he was the biggest name in rock music.

Tell me it wasn’t Rick Springfield.