Fearless? I think not!
ESPN
For those of you that know me know that I can not stand the “mega” words that some people in sports use in trying to prove a point, with “heroic anything” being the worst offender. Yes, let me say it, heroic/heroes are those men and women overseas protecting us from any and all evils. Walking around the internet today I found a piece from ESPN’s ACC blogger Heather Dinich that was entitled Fearless Predictions, and from just that I knew a post would be coming out. Dinich makes ten predictions about the Atlantic Coast Conference, three of them include North Carolina. And if she had done a post just about the Heels with those three predictions I would have called it “The good, the bad and the ugly”.
The good…
Duke upsets North Carolina in the season finale, which is at Wallace Wade. Hey, they’re fearless predictions, remember? If UNC’s season unravels thanks to all of the outside distractions, don’t count it out.
This is fearless in my opinion. You are saying that the problems for the Heels will carry over for the whole year and that the rest of the team will not be able to be good enough to beat the team she put second to last in a post about three weeks ago. Sure, she does say in the post “it’s not how you start it’s how you finish”, and she is banking on that in her first prediction, so for that I say “good”. On a side note: the “don’t count it out” makes me feel that the only prediction which resembles fearless she is wavering on!
The bad…
The ACC goes 3-4 against the SEC with wins over South Carolina, Georgia and Vanderbilt. Yes, this prediction has changed since earlier this summer when I thought North Carolina would beat LSU.
Ok, where is the fearless in this? Finding out that UNC might lose a lot of players for part, if not all, of the season makes you switch your prediction against a Top 25 team? Sorry, but this has nothing of fearless in it, it has a lot of covering your behind in the picks you are making between the ACC and the SEC. So, for the second prediction I have to say “bad”. I will take this back if I find out that Heather Dinich does not know what has happened at Chapel Hill!
The ugly…
Butch Davis feels the heat. It would be surprising if UNC escapes sanctions from both the NCAA and the university for two separate investigations. Although athletic and academic officials have publicly stood behind Davis, the repercussions could be too much for Davis to retain his job much longer — especially if the Tar Heels fail to win another bowl game.
This one is so off the board I am not sure where to begin. You are saying that the University of North Carolina would keep head coach Butch Davis if found he had nothing to do with either investigations, but would then turn around and fire him if he was to make it to a bowl game and lose it? You mean AD Dick Baddour would get rid of a coach that could navigate a team that could be without a dozen starting players? The fearless prediction would have been that coach Davis brings the Heels to a bowl game if all the players that could be punished are indeed off the field for part or all the season. And for that this is just plain “ugly” to me!
In the end Heather Dinich could be right about all three predictions and she can say “I told you so” since I am not making any of those predictions. That said, it does not mean that they were fearless and that is what the post was about!
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