A Year Away

It looks like the Heels are at least a year away. They were completely manhandled yesterday in Atlanta during a 7-28 loss to Georgia Tech. They could not stop the Yellow Jackets' offense when it counted, T.J. Yates had a terrible game as the Heels converted only 1 out of 11 third downs, and the offensive line took quite a few steps back.

It was only one game, and the Heels have time to recover. Wins in Chapel Hill against Virginia and Florida State the next two Saturdays could easily wash the bad taste of this loss out of their mouths. But yesterday it looked like this junior-heavy team will likely be a legit ACC contender next season.

Crying Wolf

Every week, it's the same blog.

But usually, the topic is politics or how great Roy is or how bad the Nats are or a arcane posting on Greek sports. Today, it's yet another big game for the football Heels as they travel to Atlanta to take on a ranked ACC foe in Georgia Tech.

Last year the Heels surprised the Jackets, 28-7, in a win that launched a successful 8-5 campaign. Today's game is more important as a win against Tech could lead to an ACC championship, at least a chance to play for the championship.

The Heels played a good second half last week to pull away from a good-but-not-that-good East Carolina team. The real good news from that game was the play of the offensive line. T. J. Yates had a great game against the Pirates, thanks in large part to the protection he received; unlike against UConn the Heels did not allow a sack.

It will take that kind of line play to ensure a win in Atlanta. Tech's pass defense appears to be weak, so pass protection and the play of Yates and his young receivers will be the key to this game.

Finally, the Heels will have to control Georgia Tech's wishbone-oriented running game. The good news is their leading rusher, Dwyer, has been slowed by injuries this week.

Go HEELS!

A FEW RANDOM NOTES

• Good news and bad news concerning Carolina soccer. The women defeated Duke last night thanks to a dramatic late goal. The men lost a road game to defending national champs Maryland, 0-1, in much the same way losing on a header with 3 minutes left, on a ball Carolina failed to clear.
• Greece won the bronze medal at the European Championships last week. Spain dominated the final four to win their second European championship in the last three competitions. Ellas did well to medal, and played with a relatively new squad. One tantalizing player was the Utah Jazz' Kosta Koufos, who did not play much last week due to the flu. His improvement could make Greece a tough out at next year's World Basketball Championship.
• I caught 'Gouge Away,' a British documentary on the Pixies the other night, via the Documentary Channel, and have been listening to 'Surfer Rosa' over and over ever since.

Desperation and a faint silver lining

Any time Greece and Turkey play each other - Constantinople in 1453, 1821, Second Balkan War, Anatolian Disaster 1923 - it's a big event (after all, how many countries claim they won their independence from each other?). But yesterday's win by Ellas over Turkey in the quarter finals of the European Championship was big without any historic build up or perspective.

One, the win puts Greece in the Final Four, where they play reigning world champs Spain this afternoon. And two, finishing in the top six automatically qualifies Greece for the 2010 World Basketball Championship in Turkey. The U.S. has already qualified by virtue of being Olympic champs and should win next year in Constantinople but with Krzyzewski at the helm of Team USA you never know.

It seems like every Carolina football game is big, but today's game against ECU really is. The Heels got their act together in the fourth quarter to defeat a good UConnn team on the road last week.

The come from behind win obscured the fact that the offense was listless for 45 minutes. Against the Pirates it will be interesting to see if Carolina's offense plays well early, especially the patched together offensive line. Carolina's defense, on the other hand, looked great against the Huskies. But offensively the Heels have not done anything of note against a Division 1-A team this season.

Finally a few baseball notes.

One, Evan plays his first Major League Little League game today. He moved up a league to play with 10 to 13 year olds, so we'll see how he fares against older kids who can pitch.

And two, I thought this paragraph from today's story about the Nats, by Chico Harlan, captured the season well:

Deep into what will soon be a 100-loss season, Martin has come to represent -- perhaps better than anybody -- both its desperation and its faint silver lining. He is not a star. He probably never will be. He is part of what General Manager Mike Rizzo calls "the inventory," and if that conveys an industrial arms-as-widgets mind-set, it's only because so many arms have already been cast aside.

Desperation and perhaps a faint silver lining. That's what it's like as a Nats fan, and fandom in general.

Sports Rap

In homage to my brother, the original host of WXYC's 'Sports Rap' show, here are some quick thoughts in response to items in the Sunday sports pages:

• Carolina was lucky to win against UConn yesterday. The game was decided when a UConn offensive lineman was called for holding in their own end zone with about a minute left, giving the Heels two points and a 12-10 win. I know that's the rule, but what a tough and weird way to lose. I guess you have to make that call if you are the referee - otherwise guys would hold all the time rather than give up a safety - but for that play to decide the game?
• Staying in the ACC, is there anything worse for a coach than to have a last name that rhymes with 'go'? Easy for the fans to come up with a derisive cheer when that's the case, as Al Groh has learned in Charlottesville.
• Interesting that both UConn and Serena Williams lost games, set and a match due to a penalty, on the same day. In Serena's case arguing a foot fault, then another point for arguing the call. In each contest a referee's call determined the final score.
• You often hear, especially in basketball, of a referee swallowing his or her whistle late in the game. But that did not happen in Hartford or Flushing Meadows on Saturday.
• As fans of this blog know, I'm not a big fan of anything Duke or Yankees related. That said, I have an appreciation for Greg Paulus playing quarterback at Syracuse and Derek Jeter's accomplishments for the Yankees. Paulus is not intimidated by the real possibility of failure, a fear that paralyzes most people. Got to give him credit for giving it a shot and earning the starting job. He's also lucky he doesn't have to suit up against Ty Lawson. I have nothing to add to the justified praise Jeter has earned throughout his career, and frankly can only offer cliches. But he plays the right way, with a balance of skill and humility we'd like to see in ever person we know, let alone ball player. This may seem sacrilegious, but Jeter would have made a great Tar Heel.
• Hard to believe no Yankees player has 3,000 hits. Obviously, Lou Gehrig would have, and Babe Ruth lots a few seasons pitching with the Red Sox, Joe DiMaggio spend 3 seasons in the Army, and Mickey Mantle lost games to injury. But still hard to believe.
• Both area baseball teams obviously stink, but it's interesting to look at the O's roster and see more hope than on the Nats'. With Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Nolan Reimold, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergeson, and Chris Tillman the Orioles have a roster full of legitimate, big-league talent. Our home town Nats counter with Ryan Zimmerman, Jesus Flores, Nyjer Morgan (who is actually NOT that young), Elijah Dukes, John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann, maybe Steven Strasburg. On talent, you'd have to favor the Os. But one thing in the Nationals favor - Washington does not have to go through the Yankees, Red Sox and young Rays to get to the playoffs.
• Finally, I watched part of Greece's game in the European Championships today via ESPN360, and the viewing quality was pretty good. I had never watched a game that way. Greece's loss should not hurt their chances of moving up to the final round (they play three rounds; today's game was in round two), especially if they defeat France (led by Tony Parker, Ronny Turiaf, and Boris Diaw) on Tuesday. Greece had been averaging 89 points a game prior to their 65-68 loss to Russia, and shot it badly against their fellow Orthodox foes.

Border States vs. the Deep South

I want to remind folks that the Tar Heel State, along with fellow border states - Arkansas and Tennessee, plus Florida, which was unsuited for large, export crop plantations - had FAR fewer slaves. And by border, I'm referring to the Confederacy. The legacy of slavery continues to shape southern politics TODAY, much like it did in 1860s.


But the deep south - Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina - is different and much more conservative, closed minded, and racist.


In Louisiana, prostitute client David Vitter is basing his reelection on opposing Obama. The foundation of that opposition is race, plain and simple.


In Mississippi, a statewide referendum to remove the Confederate flag from the state flag's design failed overwhelmingly, with the vote totals mirroring the racial profile of registered voters.


Of course, in South Carolina the Confederate flag flies on the state house grounds in Columbia. The NAACP continues a travel boycott of South Carolina over the flag issue.


In 2002, Georgia voters did not reelect a Democratic governor and Senator Max Cleland. The number one issue for voters, according to exit polls, was the decision by the previous Democratic governor to remove the Confederate flag motif from the state flag.


Only 14 percent of white Louisianans voted for Obama last year. In Alabama, Obama picked up even fewer white votes, only 10 percent. For Mississippi, 11 percent.


In fairness (and obviously painting with such a broad brush - especially on a topic like this - is not accurate but it IS ranty) more than 20 percent of white voters in Georgia and South Carolina (26% and 23%, respectively) voted for Obama.


But in the historically more moderate border states Obama picked up more than 30% of the white vote: North Carolina 35%; Arkansas 30%; Tennessee 34%.


As William Faulkner said, a man who you have to give the benefit of the doubt, 'The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past' is sadly still true when it comes to politics in the deep south.

Road games

For the second Saturday in a row, a Carolina Hellenic blue football team goes on the road for a big game.

Last Saturday, Greece played well but lost 0-2 to Switzerland, in Basel, in a make or break 2010 World Cup qualifying game. Greece extended their bad week on Wednesday when they only came away with a tie in Moldova. So hoping for a tie and a win, they only came away with 1 point and are now tied with Latvia for second place in their qualifying group.

The Hellenes need to win their final two home games and hope that the Swiss end with a tie and a loss in their last two games.

Carolina's game today at UConn is a similar 'make or break' style game. Since it's not an ACC game it's not technically make or break, but a road win over a quality Huskies team would be huge. It would give the Heels proof that the hype is real, that this is a quality and substantive team. And two, it would give the team loads of confidence. It's easy to forget that until last season's win at Rutgers, the Heels had not won a game outside the state of North Carolina in years.

GO HEELS!

CAROLINA AND HELLENIC HOOP NOTES

• I've always loved, and always will love, Michael Jordan. Despite the Nike branding, the failure to help Harvey Gantt, etc. etc. he's MICHAEL JORDAN. As a North Carolinian I thought it was pretty cool and eloquent to have N.C. State's David Thompson present him (how silly is that idea though?; it seemed awkward as a device to have one other Hall of Famer on the stage with you). But I was not crazy about his speech. It was all over the place, and was a little short in the grace department.
• The baseball hall of fame ceremony is much cooler. I think that owes to two things. One, the players on the stage, literally behind and welcoming the new inductees. But most of all, the fans in jerseys and caps in the audience. Just having it outside reenforces baseball's pastoralness, but also makes it a more welcoming ceremony. Leaving aside Jordan's speech, the entire ceremony was underwhelming and not impressive.
• Finally, the Greek basketball team is cruising through the first and second rounds of the European basketball championships in Poland. Greece is 4-0 after defeating a Dirk-less German squad yesterday.

Joe Wilson

For me the Joe Wilson story, and you knew his constituents in South Carolina would defend him, is the punctuation mark on the sentence: "The far right is simply a bunch of morons and hypocrites."

Simply stated, you can't call someone who won more than 300 electoral votes a tyrant.

You can't claim the government will take your guns away when you are allowed to carry one to a town hall meeting with your member of Congress.

You can't say you don't like big government or paying taxes AND support our troops at the same time.

And of course, you can't say a public option is socialism when you are on, or about to use/collect, Medicare and Social Security.

If you do any of the above, you are stupid. And a conservative Republican.

Hopefully, this far right hysteria will back fire - both on the Hill when it's time to vote on health care and energy legislation this fall, but more importantly with the average American vote.

A few more rants:

• You can't yell 'You Lie' to someone who is NOT lying (that makes YOU a liar);
• Did anyone ever yell 'You Lie' to the recent president who DID lie, about going to war?;
• The last time a South Carolinian got this mad - with a pent up rage sparked by losing an election - was 1861. But I guess this is progress. Then residents of the Palmetto State fired upon Fort Sumter and the American flag, this time they 'only' heckled the President.
• You can never - ever - give a white southerner (and by that I mean Protestant, not Catholic, Jewish and of course Greek) from the deep south - SC, GA, MS, AL, LA - the benefit of the doubt. At best, they are stupid, at worst they are racist.
• One last blast at Wilson and his home state. To me, you can draw a straight line from slavery to Fort Sumter, through Jim Crow to Strom 'Raped My Colored Help and Fathered a Child" Thurmond, around to the Hiking Adulterer Hypocrite Governor and finally end up at Rep. Joe Wilson. Quite a state.

Sugar

Over the weekend we rented a great movie called 'Sugar." It's kind of a baseball 'Hoop Dreams' but instead of inner city kids in the U.S. it focuses on a talented 20-year old Dominican pitching prospect.

The film has some great baseball playing and situations but 'Sugar' is not necessarily a baseball movie. It's also about immigration, the world becoming a smaller place, and chasing but not always finding your dream. In that regards, this is a completely atypical sports film (but I'm already giving away too much).

One interesting paradox for me was as Sugar, the nickname for the pitching prospect, navigates the cutthroat world of professional baseball he is surrounded by nice and friendly folks who help him out off the field - the surrogate father in the Dominican who taught him the game after his father died, the Arizona waitress who teaches him how to order eggs, the Iowa farm family who serve as his host, the bonus-baby draft pick from Stanford, and the Hispanic-American support system that buoys him later in the film.

Not just a great baseball movie, but a great movie. Check it out.

And let me know if you find the soundtrack anywhere, which features some TV on the Radio and a Spanish version of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah."

Wrap Up

HELLENIC FOOTBALL

I'll lead with Greece's big loss to Switzerland yesterday in wrapping up a big football Saturday.

As most folks know, Greeks are never at fault. If we mess up - and we've messed up a lot, from the splintering of Alexander the Great's empire to the loss of Constantinople to the great Asia Minor catastrophe of the 1920s to the Civil War and the junta of the colonels - it's NEVER our fault. Instead Greeks blame the Turks, the west, the British or the Americans (only one time was is not our fault; the 1204 attack on The City by the fourth Crusade).

And as much as I want to stay away from the blame game, it's hard not to blame the referee in yesterday's 0-2 loss in Switzerland. Greece played the entire second half down a man after a very dubious red card against Louis Ventra near the end of the first 45 minutes.

Despite being a man down, it looked like Greece was going to survive with a scoreless tie and gain an all-important point in their quest to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Ellas missed a great chance to take the lead and control of the game with 20 minutes left when Ioannis Amanatidis, who was by far the most active player for the motherland, failed to to score when his shot just grazed the cross bar. Ten minutes and one justified-penalty-against-Ellas later, the Swiss scored off a penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead.

Of course, the Swiss player who took the penalty kick, a pass that resulted in a header for the goal, was Turkish born Hakan Yakin. So it IS the Turks' fault!

WORLD CUP UPDATE

The U.S. looked shaky, particularly on defense, but still defeated El Salvador 2-1 yesterday to practically clinch a spot in the World Cup. Team USA was baled out by Landon Donovan, who's two passes off set pieces resulted in goals from Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altadore.

As wobbly as the team looked It's a good-to-great sign for the U.S. that the three players - Donovan, Dempsey, and Altadore - who excelled at the Confederation Cup in June, when the Americans upset Spain on their way to the final where they eventually lost to Brazil, continued their good play yesterday against Our Savior.

In fairness to the U.S. squad the score should have been 3-1. The Honduran referee called back a beautiful counter attack goal from Altadore dramatically set up by passes from - who else - Donovan and Dempsey.

[My too-much-time-on-his-hands analysis of Greece's chance to recover from their loss and STILL make the World Cup is here.]

CAROLINA FOOTBALL ROLES

The Carolina football Heels met expectations in handily defeating The Citadel yesterday, 40-6. The Heels' defense held the Bulldogs to less than 200 yards for the game, the offense did not turn the ball over, and the running game dominated play and provided plenty of space for the passing game to grow.

In general, a perfect start for a team with high expectations for the season and a tough game next week in East Hartford against Ed Mierzwinski's UConn Huskies.

DITTO FOR THE CAROLINA WOMEN

It was a pretty big Carolina sports weekend. In addition to the football team's rout, the number one Carolina women demolished number two Notre Dame 6-0 in South Bend on Saturday, a week after defeating number 3 UCLA 7-2. Let's hope the Carolina women's team, the defending national champs and arguably THE most DOMINANT sports dynasty of all time, hasn't peaked too soon.

BAD START FOR THE ACC

Carolina took care of business in defeating Division 1-AA The Citadel, but two other ACC teams lost to foes from that division. Duke lost to defending 1-AA national champs Richmond, obviously a quality team but to lose at home is bad.

More shocking was Virginia's home loss to in-state 1-AA 'rival' William and Mary. That one is a truly embarrassing loss.

Playing against better competition the rest of the ACC did not fair that much better. Wake Forest lost to Baylor, and Virginia Tech was over matched by Alabama last night. A conference with a lackluster football reputation heading into the season did nothing to change those perceptions yesterday.

FINAL CAROLINA NOTE

As part of the school's celebration of 100 years of basketball, Carolina held a star-studded all-star game Friday night at the Dean Dome. Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl, Michael Jordan and Dean Smith and a who's who of active hoopsters were on hand. You can check out the highlight video at http://090409_unc_m-baskbl_AlumniGameHighlights.asx. If that link doesn't work you can go to Tarheelblue.com.

All football post (almost)

Pretty big football weekend for Carolina Hellenic Blue.

Carolina opens the season as a ranked football team for the first time in years on Saturday, September 5th at 6:00 pm. The Heels take on The Citadel, a military school located in secessionville, Charleston, South Carolina. The Tar Heels will open with a team from the lesser football division (formerly Division 1-AA, now called the Football Championship Series division since they utilize a quaint method known as 'a tournament' to determine their national champion) for the third straight year.

I agree with many who say this is an important season for the Butch Davis version of the football Heels. Almost all the players on the roster are his recruits, and everything about the program has Davis' stamp on it.

And the Heels should be good. They return 8 of 11 starters on defense. On that side of the ball the Heels should be fast, especially at linebacker.

The main questions are on offense. Most pre-season talk has focused on an inexperienced corps of receivers. But for me the keys will be quarterback T.J. Yates' health and turnovers (HUGE football acumen here: the key to the team will be the quarterback and not making mistakes - brilliant!).

When healthy, Yates is an above-average athletic playmaker. I hope he can start 11 games this season. Plus, Greg Paulus's brother is his back up this year, and I'm just skeptical about anything Paulus related.

Last year, Carolina didn't turn the ball over than much, but they did so at terrible moments. A few drive-killing turnovers by Shaun Draughn, especially against Virginia Tech and Maryland, altered those games and perhaps even cost the Heels a 10-win season.

So it will be interesting to see how The Citadel game goes. Last season, another hyped Heels squad struggled to beat a Division 1-AA school in McNeese State. Carolina's defense should dominate the Bulldogs, but it will be telling to see how the offense plays tomorrow. A good start, say a 30-3 win, will demonstrate that the defense is as good as advertised AND give the offense confidence heading into the more challenging part of the UNC's schedule.

GO HEELS!

HELLENIC FOOTBALL

Greece plays a huge game tomorrow at Switzerland in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match. Ellas and Switzerland are tied atop their group with 13 points each, so the winner of tomorrow's game will have the inside track to qualify. The 2004 European champions should be easily leading their group, but Greece inexplicably lost to the Swiss at home earlier this year.

A win, and the 3 points, would virtually guarantee Greece's qualification for the 2010 World Cup (it would only be the second World Cup for Greece; they qualified but played embarrassing football in the 1994 World Cup here in the U.S.). But a tie, and 1 point, would not be the end of the world (cup) for Ellas. That's because Switzerland has a tougher schedule after tomorrow's tilt. While Greece goes on to play at Moldova before finishing at home versus Latvia and Luxembourg, 9 relatively easy points to pick up, the Swiss have games at Latvia and Luxembourg but finish at home against a tough Israel team. If any of those games end in a tie the Swiss will only pick up 7 points, giving Greece the group and a ticket to South Africa.

The game against Switzerland will be shown on a delayed basis on Setanta sports Saturday at 4 pm eastern. If you are in DC feel free to come by the house to watch the game with me and Evan. However, we have to leave right at 6 pm, right after the game should end, to go to a 7:05 Nationals game.

Please let me know ahead of time if you want to come over so I can have enough ouzo on hand.

GO ELLAS!

ONE LAST FOOTBALL NOTE

Interesting column today by Tom Boswell regarding the offensive nicknames (a term he uses in the column) and football game tickets. The column expands on a recent article in the Post that discussed the role of ticket broker that also debunked the myth of the long waiting list for season tickets.

The most shocking tidbit though was that the team sues season ticket holders who do not buy all their tickets. So which one is it, is there a waiting list for these sought-after tix, or do you have to take legal action to force a FAN to buy tickets? Either way, the ticket practices confirm all the spoiled and unlikeable rich-kid stereotypes about team owner Daniel Snyder.

September

The 1st of September gives me an excuse to blog about time, or at least this time of year.

I miss the passing of August. Congress is gone, we spend a week in the Outer Banks, the kids are still out of school and generally much less scheduled, and football season has not yet started.

All that ends in September. Congress will be slammed trying to pass health care and get an energy and climate bill through the Senate in the next two months - where I get to redebate off shore drilling for the umpteenth time since 1985 - and Ariadne will start a new school, Burke, on September 8th.

Those are significant.

One insignificant thing that bothers me is how the Post's sports page goes from being a section devoted to all sports to one that exclusively belongs to our local, offensively-named football team. I've never liked the 'redskins' and like them even less having moved here. And the Post makes that worse but devoted articles to Daniel Snyder's temper tantrums, Clinton Portis' costumes, and every other mundane detail in between.

But this is a 'redskins' town, something even Obama can't change.

A few more sports notes

• Perhaps undercutting my previous rant, the Post also devoted a substantial column to a wrap up of the English Premier (football) League in Sunday's paper. That same space only had three paragraphs devoted to Major League Soccer, our domestic league. I wonder how much that kind of coverage hurts the development of the MLS. It's easy to catch their games on basic cable, a situation that will get worse - at least from MLS' perspective - now that ESPN as opposed to the Fox Soccer Channel has the US broadcast rights to the EPL. I imagine quite a few serious soccer fans eschew the MLS since it's easy to follow the world's best soccer league via cable, the web and now papers like the Post.
• One other note from Sunday's papers. The front page of the NY Times carried a story on Florida losing population for the first time since World War II. The mortgage and housing crisis is cited, but I also wonder if Florida is finally choking on it's own vomit. That crisis was simply the cherry on top of a state full of sprawl, crowded schools, and way too many t-shirt shops. And as Jon Stewart has noted - and Carl Hiassen has made a living chronicling - thanks to Terry Chiavo, Burmese python attacks, etc. Florida has surpassed California as the state most full of crazy people and bizarre stories. FInally, the politics there have gotten terrible, with evangelicals and suburbanites dominating state-level politics, slashing services and trying to carry out a gun-centric, anti-gays/women/choice/environmental agenda from Tallahassee. All those chickens seem to be coming home to roost (though in fairness I doubt many have moved out due to the politics, though I bet a few did in the wake of the Chiavo thing).