And so it begins, to steal a line from Lord of the Rings, here comes the first “casualty” of might be a lot more or maybe not. Senior defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who some say started this whole investigation with some twittering and that a couple of days ago put a comment on his FaceBook account, has been suspended indefinitely from the team and will not play against LSU in the team’s season opener. What I do find interesting, and I have seen many people (from fans to bloggers to media) talk about it, is that he is right now off the team for violating team rules and “This decision is not a result of the ongoing NCAA review,” according to head coach Butch Davis. Many believe that this was a move so that the university didn’t have to reveal much more about the current situation involving Austin, saying it was attached to either of the on going investigation would have required a bit more detail. I have another theory to all of this.

Yes, in the end North Carolina could have used that line to avoid talking about the situation, on that I am not going to make my stand. However, it might just be because they do not want the rest of the team to be anymore distracted than they already are about the two pronged investigation. By not saying anything about the situation it will allow the players to be able to say “we do not know”, “we are not at liberty to speak about it” and other things that will keep it all to a one question and no answer interview on the matter. If explanations were given out you know that the media would begin to ask the players how they feel about what happened and that would just lead to more and more questions that these players do not need at this time.

I believe that this process, before it’s over, will take us into week 5 or 6 at the earliest. UNC is doing it’s best not to have the players field questions until it is over, or right about finished, so that they can be as focused as possible with the on going season. Do I believe the players know a lot about all of this? Sure, but let’s keep them going on the field, the off the field stuff we can all wait to see what happens.

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!

Austin at Meet The Heels (Picture by: Molly Buckley of WCHL)

Let me just say this before I go on and talk about what I found on Observation from the 50 Yards: I do not know if this is Marvin Austin’s real FaceBook account or if he wrote it. As most of us know the young man did close out his twitter account, which most seem to believe that is where the NCAA investigation originated. On the other hand an official from the university stated that Austin was never asked to close either his twitter or FaceBook account. In the end, I seen it, and I figured that it would be worth while to share on my blog and let my readers decide what it all means and if it was worth posting. This is what (supposedly) the senior defensive tackle said last night at about 9:30…

“I came back to school to have my character questioned..[expletive]..i thought education was key.. I dont really understand…i though it was the right thing to do..maybe i was mistaken,” the message said. “…i like to say thanx to all those who stand by me i really appriecate [sic] it. oh yea and to those who wanna see me fall i wont cause i dont great athletes stay on their feet!!!!!”

All of this, if true, is frustration! Nothing more. A young man who could be making tons of money right now at the next level is facing the possibility of not playing a game this season and falling in the NFL Draft because of all of this. He is mad cause some people are attacking him, right or wrong, and still is thanking the people that have been behind him on this. If this was just a blast there would have been no positive on the post, and that is not the case here. From the many pictures I saw on WHCL Austin was smiling, then again it was for the cameras and he did not want to have anyone else attacking him for something else. I hope this works out for all involved, but I have a feeling that it won’t end well when the dust settles and this is, again if true, is just a bit more proof to all of that!

This is a pic of the FB post…

Meet The Heels (Picture by: Molly Buckley of WCHL)

Add to all of this the fact that North Carolina will begin the season in less than a week, as they face LSU in Atlanta and you have to believe that this season could definitely be an up and down one when it comes to wins and emotions. On a side note, I know that for myself I never thought I be talking about this 2 months ago, and now I am having a real hard time concentrating on what is five days away. So I have to wonder it can not be easy for the players to be concentrating on the games either when they do not know what is going to happen when it’s all said and done.

Dick Baddour told the media and the fan base in Thursday’s presses that he doubted that anything would be resolved before the beginning of the season, meaning that UNC will go into the Chick-fil-A game without knowing what their real line up will be and for how long. Maybe there has been way too many cliches for this, but let me use one more, as the storm around Chapel Hill continues to make lots and lots of dust for one day at least the fans had a chance to get away from it and enjoy the sunshine that should be North Carolina.

Here is a clip from WRAL about “Meet The Heels”:

The Media

Am I mad about what has happened within the football team? You bet I am! Do I think that some of the media members are taking gratuitous pot shots at the team, the program, the head coach, the university itself? You bet I do, and I truly do not like it! Do I believe that the NCAA is using extra special lenses to look at this incident compared to other investigations that have been done in the past? Yes, here too I feel that way. But having said all of this, let me say this very, very clearly, this is not the media or the NCAA’s fault, not one bit. The reason the NCAA is doing this and the reason the media has plenty of material to start their sports reports on tv, fill their radio shows, write articles in newspapers or on the web is because some UNC players did something wrong. End of story, end of the line!

Sure, reading Twitter there are plenty of people from the media, the business that has told us bloggers we are too careless/reckless in what we write, that have both reported very wrong material (using the old “from my sources”) and are making fun of this situation. And I am sorry, there is nothing funny about this. The pot shots are worthless, the jokes make no sense, this is something that is serious and I believe some of the people that are paid to report the news should stop with the comics and maybe, just maybe, find a way to turn this into something that everyone, Carolina fan or not, can learn from. I would love to hear from ex NCAA members, that know what punishments could come out of this, more than people from one side of the fence that make the story so one-sided that I get nothing out of it.

I love the Tar Heels, always have, always will, but I live by the principles over personalities rule, and to me if someone is wrong, be it best friend or worst enemy, they are wrong. So, while I am a UNC diehard supporter, if what is being said is true a lot of the players did something wrong. Does that make them bad people? No, it makes them people that did something wrong. Does this make them selfish? Yes, because they put themselves before the team, and especially in a sport like football, where team work is essential, that just plain hurts. And for someone like myself, who has always been a disciple of the “Carolina Family/Way” this hurts even more. Does it mean they should be made examples of? No, they should be punished, be it from the NCAA or Carolina itself, in a way that the disciplinary action meets the infractions/violations committed. However, just for the record, they should not be let off with a slap on the wrist either.

This situation has taught me something. While I always knew that collegiate sport is money driven, I have now seen that the media (tv/radio/newspaper/internet) is just as much, if not more. I guess being old school and being brought up with my father reading the New York Times I still think that it should be about “All the news fit to print” and not just “All the news fit to make ratings/sell papers”.

Kenan Stadium

After listening over and over and over to the presser, which has now become two pronged due to the academic infraction/misconduct that might have occurred, all I could think about was: “where is this all going to end?” Sure, some people think I am taking it too hard, way too hard, this is just a blip on the radar in the overall scheme of the school’s history. Or that everyone does it, Carolina just got nailed for it. Or even the one that talks about how the NCAA investigation is looking a lot more at UNC than it would (or has) at other programs under the microscope. All fair, and maybe even true points, but they definitely are not mine. And by all means, if all players were discovered to have done nothing wrong then I will eat crow and say I was dead wrong, but right now, at this moment, as I write this post, I have a feeling a lot more will be found guilty of having done what either the NCAA or UNC itself claim they did.

The press conference began with this small phrase, uttered by chancellor Holden Thorp:

“To all of you out there who love Carolina, I’m sorry for what I’m about to tell you”.

He could not have been more right. What he, AD Dick Baddour and head coach Butch Davis told us were all things I knew were coming, heck, all things most of us knew or thought to be the case, but did not want to hear about. I’ve been following Carolina for about three decades, been a Tar Heel for a quarter century, seen the ups and downs of the football program (yes, I remember the 1 win seasons and the untimely departure of Mack Brown), the ups and downs of the basketball programs (which have been a lot less) and followed many more of the teams that the University of North Carolina put on the field. Those of you that read this blog or follow me on Twitter know that I stayed faithful to the basketball program last year when the fan base just kept getting off the bandwagon. That is who I am, I am a Heel for life, I will back my teams. I will back them, all of the time, with few exceptions, and this is one of them.

I want what the chancellor said in the conference, “The way Carolina does things is going to be apparent in how we handle this”, to be followed to the letter and to the end. I want that quickness to be replaced by accuracy when dealing with the problem and that once it comes to an end no one can say that things were forgotten, hidden, or whatever else the rivals or ABC’ers can come up with. This cloud is not going to go away soon, and the potshots from both the opposing fan bases and the media who is biased to the other programs are not going to go away either. Let’s make sure that those potshots come from what happened and not from how the investigations are both handled/managed and ended.

Someone at the press conference asked if “lack of institutional control” could be happening. Now, I think that is going a bit overboard (once again the bias thing coming out), but I have to say that, like it or not, this lies on the head coach and he needs to be the one spearheading the battle to fix it and making sure that any and all players involved are punished in a way that does not seem like a slap on the wrist but a true and fair way. I have said it on Twitter, said it on boards, said it in many email’s I have had back and forth with other fans of the Heels and I will now say it here: I would rather have a 0-12 team that is clean and I can be proud to support than a 12-0 squad that has cheated and I can’t get behind. Both the AD and the chancellor made sure to say that they supported the coach in their statement, and they put that out there at the beginning of their wording, not in the middle or at the end. I thought that was very significant, but even more so I thought the way Davis looked was more compelling.

A man that seems to always be, no pun intended, on the ball looked beat up and shocked by all of this. That could be for many reasons, like the tutor involved in this story was also used by Davis’ family to help their own son in school, making guilt by association come to mind. Another could be that he does have the support of the school, but until when or at what point? If it were to come out that he knew anything about anything would he be asked to leave immediately? And of course other things come to mind, like how many parents have called with their kid thinking about going to UNC or already having signed on to play. But one thing I am pretty sure about is that what the head coach said last night were not words written to please anyone, but words that were meant to be said because that is how it was going to go.

I will not jump to conclusions, even if I am a blogger, and will just say that I am very upset if the things that have been said are true. I am not going to talk about the rumors going around that one player or another has been kicked out, I will let the mainstream media, who is supposed to be more objective and fair in their reporting, do that. I will also keep supporting my school, my love, the University of North Carolina first and foremost, while making the programs, coaches and players my second love.

The chancellor also said this:

“We will find out what happened. We will do everything we can to keep it from happening again,” he said “And we will not let these mistakes define our university and what we stand for.”

As a UNC faithful, a man who lives with principles before personalities as a rule, I truly hope that is the case!

Always looking for more pieces to his puzzle it seems that head coach Roy Williams has offered a scholarship to 2011 forward Angelo Chol, from San Diego, CA. The big man, known a lot more for his defensive skills than the ones on the offensive side of the ball, has quite a large list of schools looking at him. Two big time Big East teams, UConn and G’Town, are after the young man, Kansas, where Chol will be in attendance for the Late Night in the Phog, and a bunch more are all looking at this well built inside player. Rivals has the 6′8″/205 lbs Chol has their 70th player of the class and as a four star recruit. Scout on the other hand has the Cali kid all the way up to 54th, giving him a four star rating as well. From what I read in the article by FayObserver.com it is going to take a lot for the Heels to be able to get this young man, however the good news is that he has decided to post pone his decision on a school until the spring, giving coach Williams and his staff some more time to get in on the action. Plus, recruiting has to be the number one thing that head coach Roy Williams does, and if anyone can pull this off, I would say he would have to be him!

This move by UNC shows how much the need to be prepared (and stocked) at each position is becoming with this “one and done” mess that the National Basketball Association has come out with a few years back. While Chol does not fit the mold that Roy Williams has brought to Chapel Hill of running anytime the Heels can, a big body in the middle of the game to get physical against the opposition is always needed. I can definitely see how much someone like Chol could help as a counterpart to either James McAdoo (already committed to UNC) or a Cody Zeller (another big man that could easily come to UNC to play his college ball).

Men & Women Soccer

For those of us that love all sports UNC here is some more good news from the Atlantic Coast Conference, who puts both the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams atop of the conference. As I talked about in my post yesterday the Lady Heels have begun well their season, going 2-0 over the past weekend, including a 3 to 0 win over a Top 10 squad in Texas A&M. For the Men’s squad, coached by Elmar Bolowich, are not just top in the ACC, but is ranked top in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer.

On the men’s side North Carolina, which lost only four seniors from last year, got a total of 78 votes (10 more than second place Maryland) and 6 first place votes (MD & BC both got one apiece). In 2009 the Tar Heels finished tied for first in the conference and went all the way to the semis in the NCAA Tournament. While for the women the Lady Heels will be going for their six straight ACC championship, received 113 votes (BC got 111), while getting 5 first place votes (the Eagles got 4). Others receiving first place votes were FSU and UVa with one apiece. Last year we all know what the Lady Heels, won another title under head coach Anson Dorrance.

UNC vs LSU

With less than two weeks to go before North Carolina plays its first game we should look a bit at their opponent, the L.S.U. Tigers, who some so-called experts have them going 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC, while others see them as low as a 7-5 team and 4-4 in the conference. You truly can not be much more apart, as the first scenario would show Les Miles’ squad in the BCS and the second one would probably show Les Miles the door. Whatever happens to L.S.U. one thing is pretty sure, it will be doing it with a lot of newbies as the Tigers only return 10 starters from last season (6 on offense and 4 on defense), one of those being junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson. The 2009 version went 9 and 4 (5-3), and had good wins in their conference, but I believe the fans are more annoyed with the execution of the team than with the record. Which all basically means that this team might not be on the hot seat, but their head coach could very well be.

On offense I have to say that while the Tigers did not do a great job last season, between the returning gunslinger and some talented players at wide out, they could be a lot better than people make them out to be. Senior Terrance Tolliver has a total of 85 career catches for 1,241 yds and 7 TDs. While second year man Rueben Randle caught 11 catches for 173 yards and two TDs in `09. They will be the top two targets for Jefferson, but from the sounds of it, there will be plenty more names to be heard from that core of players. Where there might be a lack of players is in the running game, and that might cause problems for the team if they want to work on their aerial attack. The line has three returning players, while at the RB position senior Richard Murphy and junior Stevan Ridley will split time as they replace the two ex backs from last season. If both of these players do not live up to the coaching staff’s expecations redshirt freshman Michael Ford could be the ace in the hole for coach Miles.

All of this tells me, the non-expert blogger: UNC needs to ground Jefferson and they will have the Tigers where they want. If they let L.S.U. develop their passing attack they are going to find themselves having to deal with problems that they should not have. Rushing the passer and being able to keep the WRs at bay should make this a long, long day for the opponents, vice-versa, not doing it could mean that head coach Butch Davis comes home with his squad at 0-1.

The defense, that just like UNC’s, seems to be liked by a lot does not impress me as much as it has analysts and experts. Sure, they have some good players, heck call them very good or great players, but it returns just four from last year. At the linebacker spot you have a good middle LB, but both outsides have to be replaced and that means that you are going to have the strong side manned by an inexperience player, which can never be good for an aggressive defense. From what I been hearing the back four of the Tigers could have an All-American on their roster in junior Patrick Peterson, but the rest of the quartet is still once again shaky, with the probability of starting at least a freshman, and one man can not fill all the roles there either.

All of this tells me, the non-expert blogger: T.J. Yate might get hit by some of the returning (and talented) players that Les Miles has on his defense, but with the right game plan all of them (or most of them) can be neutralized. With or without Greg Little, Yates will have to look elsewhere most of the game as the Tigers will put their probable AA corner on him. This is why I said in my wide receiver outlook that the younger players need to step up quick this season if this team wants to be the force many believe they can be. Bottom line if the offense, which starts with Yates, can avoid costly turnovers and makes the L.S.U. defense work for it all day coach Davis should be a happy man when the final whistle blows.

I been reading, surfing, listening, talking and anything/everything else I could do to find out about the Tigers and the more I get information the more I believe this: they do not belong in the Top 25, and are there because of last year’s defense and not because of this year’s team! Does this mean that I think that the Tar Heels are going to go down to Atlanta and win the game against the Tigers? I would say yes knowing that the two players being investigated by the NCAA were cleared, now I am still thinking it’s going to go down to the wire, and even there I would have to lean more on UNC’s staff than the one on the other side line. The one big factor? The crowd, where it seems L.S.U. is going to be a lot bigger, while UNC still has tickets for sale for the game. But to be a top tier team you have to overcome some things, one of them must be an opponent’s crowd. Welcome to the 2010 season ladies and gentlemen, this should be an exciting ride!

2010 Women's Soccer Team (Picture from TarHeelBlue.com)

While we are all waiting for North Carolina’s football team to take the field against LSU in less than two weeks, another program began its season at Chapel Hill. The Women’s Soccer squad, who are defending champions and ranked 2nd in the Soccer America poll and first in the NSCAA one, began their season this weekend with two wins. Add to that two seniors, middi Ali Hawkins and defender Rachel Givan, were named to the Soccer America Women’s pre-season All-American squad, which shows once again how head coach Anson Dorrance keeps the talent coming in year in, year out. And to top it all off, senior midfielder Meghan Klingenberg, who scored and had an assist in the first game of the tournament, was named the Progress Energy Performer of the Week.

But let’s talk about the two games for a minute. The first game was against eighth ranked Texas A&M, which by no means is an easy game. Yet, with five returning starters the Lady Heels made it seem pretty easy in front of 2,822 fans in the Aggies’ home stadium. But for coach Dorrance’s club that field brought luck, as his squad won the national championship just a season ago, and it would once again bring him and his team luck, as the Carolina would take down Texas A&M by a final of 3-0. The three tallies all came from UNC middies, including the above mentioned Klingenberg, who had the game winner in this game with just three minutes gone by. It was a nice goal set up by a pair of middies, freshman Meg Morris, who would win a 50-50 ball in the midfield and find senior Ali Hawkins, who would then send it to Klingenberg. A couple of good dribbles, a good shot and the Heels were ahead 1-0, and were ahead to stay.

Even if the shots on goal favored the Aggies 9 to 7 it was the Lady Heels that would score once again in the first half, when on a corner senior defender Rachel Givan placed the ball into the middle of the box where Ali Hawkins headed it inside the right post for a 2-0 lead. The third goal, scored in the second half, was a header, as Klingenberg took control of a 50-50 ball just outside the opposition’s 18 and crossed it perfectly into sophomore midfielder Amber Brooks’ path, who nailed it far past past the outstretched hands of the Aggies’ goalie. While all of UNC gave fits to the Texas A&M keeper their own would be making some sort of record as freshman Anna Sieloff became the first Heel to start her career with a shutout since Jenni Branam in 1999.

For more info on this game you can check out the details on UNC Athletic Page. There you can also see the box score.

In the second game the score was the same (3-0), and the way the Lady Heels won was as well, by dominating the action against Michigan State. Carolina got a balanced scoring effort with sophomore attacker Alyssa Rich scoring the game winner and getting the assist on the next one. Two forward freshmen, Kealia Ohai and Elizabeth Burchenal got their feet wet in this game, with Ohai scoring her first ever goal as a Lady Heel while her counterpart getting her first ever assist as a Carolina player.

Just like in game one of the tournament head coach Anson Dorrance’s club came out strong and got a goal out of it. In less than five minutes the Lady Heels were ahead one nothing thanks to the nice play of junior forward Courtney Jones, who dribbled past her marker and put a cross into the box where Rich one timed it from about 10 feet out to put Lady Heels up to stay. After the break UNC scored once again, this time it was Rich making the cross into the box, where Ohai claimed it, juked two defenders and hit the ball lazer hard into the goal from point blank range. With about a third of the half to go UNC went ahead 3-0 on MSU with a breakaway goal by Bartok, who split the defense off a feed from Burchenal and then beat the goalie on a 1 on 1 situation by hitting the ball past the keeper from 40 feet out.

For more info on this game you can check out the details on UNC Athletic Page. There you can also see the box score.

If you want to check out the team in action you don’t have much to wait as they will be playing Friday and Sunday next weekend in the Carolina Nike Classic at Fetzer Field. On Friday, it will first be 24th ranked Duke versus Missouri at 4 p.m. EST. followed by the night cap featuring the top two teams in the nation, Carolina and Stanford, the game scheduled to start at 6 p.m. For those of you that do not remember, or do not follow soccer too much, this is a re-match of the `09 NCAA championship game which was won by Carolina 1-0 over an unbeaten and untied Stanford. Sunday’s games will be first Stanford and Duke in an 11 a.m. start followed by UNC vs Missouri.