They Just Do Not Get It, the Sequel

I'm reposting an old blog that sadly, a year later, is still relevant.In 2014, it was Arizona and Kansas flirting with so called 'religious liberty' laws making it legal to deny someone service if that person's lifestyle (or something like that) violates one's religious beliefs. Indiana upped the ante, and Gov. Mike Pence signed such a bill into law last week.

Of course, denying someone service fails to recognize that no matter the lifestyle they are one of God's children and Christ loves them, too.  Christ's love redeems us all, makes us all equal, and there is no other. Therefore, theologically, there is no one to hate IF you are a Christian.  Here's the blog from last year.

They Just Do Not Get It - March 3, 2014

No, the title of this post is not about Duke fans.

But I AM talking about crazies, specifically the ones in Kansas, Arizona and elsewhere who even think about passing laws that make it okay to not serve people - in this case gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered - who violate a private business owner's deeply held 'religious beliefs.'

Those laws have been defeated or vetoed after opposition from Republicans in the business community.* However, houses of worship - especially Christians - should also oppose these efforts.  Sadly, most of these folks who vote for these laws, support the lawmakers who think them up, or the business owners who would love legal cover to discriminate THINK they are acting on Christian beliefs.

They're not.

In the run up to Lent - this year western Lent and Easter are in synch with the Orthodox calendar; take that Georgian calendar! - our gospel lessons have been getting us ready and reminding us why Easter is the holiest of holidays for Christians.

One of the themes our priests have been reinforcing the past few weeks has been how we treat other people, or 'the other'.  The message, especially in last week's reading from Matthew 25:31-46, is that we need to treat everyone, to love everyone, as if that person was Christ.  Whether you like them, know them, think they are bad people, if they are Dukies - no matter what - Christ tells us to love them.

To quote the Bible: 'whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

It really is eerie how directly antithetical these proposed laws are to scripture. To further quote Matthew: 'for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison (that's right, in addition to never turning anyone down for anything even if they are gay, Jesus says you have to LOVE prisoners!) and you did not look after me.  Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’


Since these laws deal mainly with restaurants the folks who support them want to literally do the opposite of what is written in the Gospel. Perhaps they want to start a new religion, or perhaps start a new organization: Evangelical Christians Against Christ.


Christianity is a simple religion but one that is challenging to get right; one of the things you have to do is love everyone as Christ loves us.

Just as the righteous crucified Christ the righteous among us today do not seem to understand his message. David Green, the billionaire CEO of Hobby Lobby and a financial backer of groups that advocate these discriminatory laws said in a 2012 speech “We have tried to run our business in a way that would be pleasing to our savior."

I humbly suggest that that is not happening, yet.  Mr. Green may want to read Matthew and then rethink his current business model.

* Smart business owners would never support these laws - or more importantly turn away business.  Greek restaurant owners in the south and in inner cities never turned away paying customers just because those customers were African-Americans. It was good business and good karma.  As you may know, Greeks were so well known for taking anyone's money that during the riots in Detroit, Washington and elsewhere Greek businesses were not fire bombed or damaged. The LGBT community uses the same money as the rest of the country.  If you're a for-profit business like a restaurant or a hobby shop, why would you want to act like an anti-Christian AND turn away paying customers?

FYI, David Green was coincidentally born in the same hometown as one of the greatest Americans, Christians, and humans of all time, Dean Smith. Both are from Emporia, Kansas.  I looked up Green's biography on the off-chance that he was a graduate of Duke University.

As for Dean, if you have not yet had a chance to read Duke graduate John Feinstein's excellent column in honor of coach Smith's birthday do that right now!  Of course I take quite a few shots at Duke but Feinstein's columns are almost always great - especially this one.

Greek Independence Day, Tsipras Edition

Happy Greek Independence Day!  Ζήτω Η Ελλας!

This year's Greek Independence Day once again finds Greece in the headlines, as new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Syriza government try to negotiate better terms for paying back the nation's massive loans in the wake of the lingering financial crisis.

That crisis continues to frame most things Greek. But one of the greatest things about being Greek is the ability to shrug off  problems and not let them affect your sense of self, your Hellenism.

I continue to brag about being a Greek, so much so that a friend at work recently commented "I can't believe you still brag about that in the face of the crisis." Bragging about being Greek in times of crisis is one of THE Greekest things you can EVER do.* A Hellene knows that over the course of 2,500 years of history, you are going to have some valleys - self-imposed ones like the current situation, or external ones like the fall of Constantinople, the Anatolian catastrophe, etc. - and we are likely to brag about the valleys, too.

To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, 'If you have to ask what Hellenism is, you'll never know.'**

As I've written before, I'm not crazy about Tsipras but you can not question his Hellenism. What else would give you the courage - or θρασος - to go to Germany, as he did this week, and say 'despite our screw ups and fiscal irresponsibility you have to cut us some slack"?***

Only a people who invented logic can confidently push such an illogical idea.

One of the Hellenic highlights of 2014 was Greece's stirring victory over Ivory Coast in the group stage of the World Cup. The win propelled Ellas into the knock-out round and was delivered in dramatic fashion by George Samaras' penalty kick.****  As his shot hit the back of the net I screamed to the throng and our παρέα gathered in Public Tenley "H Ελλάδα ποτέ δεν πεθαίνει! Greece will never die!"

And we'll never stop bragging, either!  ΖΗΤΟ Η ΕΛΛΑΣ! Long live Greece!

* I was bragging about one of our recent triumphs, Archbishop Iakovos' participation in the March on Selma. His role was highlighted in the film 'Selma' where Iakovos tells Martin Luther King, Jr. 'You are not alone my friend.' Apparently a second line of dialogue - 'Really? I'm the ONLY white guy here?' - was cut from the final version of the film.
** Armstrong lived for a time in Astoria, Queens, aka Greektown, USA
*** Cutting Greece some slack by easing up on austerity makes sense, too. Witness the US, who passed a stimulus bill under President Obama, versus the eurozone, suffering years of stagnation thanks in large part to German-imposed austerity. When the chips are down, a supposedly socialist-leaning Europe helps their banks not the people.
**** Coincidentally enough, this clip is in German! 

Manuel Transmissions: !!X edition!

Episode !!X of the Manuel Transmissions podcast - featuring Paul 'Ted Cruz' Kushner, FK Stamatos, a Ramadan-inspired lenten tip AND John going pyu pyu pyu (guns blazing) - is FINALLY available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8EBnowd0LY.

You're welcome.

March Whatever

I titled this post March Whatever due to the sense of inevitability and lack of excited that frames this year's NCAA tournament.

The big story is Kentucky's quest for an undefeated season and John Calipari's second national championship, which coincidentally will match the number of final four appearances his teams have had to forfeit (UMass, Memphis). Is there any excitement watching this mix of one-and-done and McDonald's All American players, led by one of America's smarmiest coaches? No, there isn't. It's no fun.

The other stories aren't much better. Every year it seems the tournament gets more and more hyped, more and more corporate, and less and less entertaining. The charm of the tournament is the underdogs, but this year the NCAA selection committee picked underachieving name brands like UCLA and Indiana instead of more interesting teams such as Dayton, Richmond or even Miami. It's a corporate, brand-name tournament played by student-athletes who put far more into the NCAA than they get out.

Finally, there's Carolina. Last year, I had our team winning the national championship as I usually do. That team defeated Kentucky, Duke, Louisville, and Michigan State, the top four teams in the preseason polls, so were a legit threat.  Carolina, Dean-style basketball resurfaced in Greensboro last week for 3.75 games to produce some hope for the NCAA tournament, but one reason for a whatever is this team is probably a year away from a legit pick to go 6-0 and winning another national championship.

So for all those reasons, it's March Whatever for me. Despite that - GO HEELS! 

Here are a few more hoop notes for now, with my picks for the tournament coming tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Three must-read articles have come out in the last week: my classmate Scott Price's piece in Sports Illustrated about UNC, John Feinstein's column on Syracuse and the ACC, and Barry Jacobs' column on the ACC tournament. 

Scott's piece is worth reading even though it's a little too cynical and broad. I still have faith that UNC will restore the Carolina way and that the University of the People will get it right. Scott quotes my former professor John Shelton Reed quite a bit, too. The SI piece posits that Carolina started losing it's way when Jordan and the Dean Dome turned a plucky and liberal program into a national brand, a process augmented by the world wide leader in sports hyping the UNC-Duke rivalry. 

The common thread through all three articles is the ACC now represents all that is wrong in college athletics. There are no more student athletes, just unpaid workers building a successful brand of entertainment and sports programing (the ESP of ESPN). It used to have a down-home tournament for fans of a geographically-compact conference; now its tournament is an east-coast roadshow in fairness to teams - not schools - that range from south Florida to New England to Indiana.

Worst of all, Feinstein points out that not only has its football-fueled expansion and money-loving ruined the quaintness of the basketball tournament, it has tainted the ACC's highest and mightiest. Who would have thought that Dean Smith's school could host an academic scandal, Duke would ignore two instances of sexual assault, and Syracuse would have to forfeit more than 100 wins due to academic schemes to keep players eligible?

Worst of all, to me at least, these problems are not that hard to fix: make freshmen ineligible, or follow baseball's example of holding a high school draft and if you don't sign with a team you can not be drafted again until you complete your junior year; play fewer regular-season games - 8 in football, 20 in basketball; 25 in baseball.  Those reforms would restore the quaintness of college athletics, keep the athletes in class more, and make sure that academia not corporate, name-brand, money-loving broadcasters set the agenda.

This year's NCAA tournament may make me shrug 'whatever' but these scandals make me embarrassed and ashamed for caring so much about college basketball. 

Manuel Transmissions: All Manuels March Madness Edition!

The latest edition of Manuel Transmissions is now available at https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pdiur1Dovws.  Due to some transportation issues it's our first all-Manuels podcast, featuring Alex, Evan, Ariadne, Athan, and John our host - with a cameo from Sophia.  Predictably, we discuss the ACC tournament but spend most of our time talking about March Madnes* and our brackets.**

* - we trademarked Madnes with one S***

** - our picks are for entertainment only and are not meant to be the basis for any illegal or legal wagering

*** - I made that part up****

**** - they can't all be winners

GO HEELS!

Why We Watch

This is why we watch, right?  A week after a home loss to Duke that demoralized me, a generally half-full kind of viewer of all things Carolina, the Heels are back and playing like, well Tar Heels!

The turnaround is another reminder that we are watching embryonic young hoopsters when we are watching college basketball. The cynicism, money and corporate control - NY Life ACC Tournament, with a logo underfoot athletes who will not get a dime - makes that easy to forget.

Carolina's play this week reminds us that kids aren't perfect and make mistakes - but kids can also improve and do so quickly. In the course of three games the Heels seem to have solved the three problems that have marred their entire season until now.

One, Marcus Paige has gotten some help. Granted, he made the biggest shot of the game versus Virginia on Friday night, but freshman Justin Jackson was our leading scorer. On Thursday, Brice Johnson was fantastic and it was Kennedy Meeks making big plays down the stretch on offense and defense. 

Two, the poise was there. Carolina was down 5 to Louisville at half but was steady and methodical in the second half to win going away. Better still was the poise displayed when Virginia made the inevitable run to cut the lead to one. On back-to-back possessions Carolina made great plays. Paige went to Meeks at the free thrown line, who in turn made the extra pass to Jackson for a lay up as the 35 second clock expired. On the next possession, after a time out with 6 seconds left on the shot clock, Paige dribbled into the lane, pumped fake right then pivoted left to hit the game-sealing floater. Classic Carolina.

Finally three, the Heels are spreading the wealth Dean style. Paige has continued his resurgence of late, Johnson has been excellent on both ends and on the boards, Meeks has made some big time plays and though plagued by turnovers J.P. Tokoto  has done the same and Joel Berry kept us afloat versus Louisville with a huge stretch in the first half.  

By far the biggest development has been the play of Jackson. He quietly has gotten more consistent as the season has progressed but he exploded versus Virginia. Much has been written about his 4 three-pointers but he hit shots from all over the floor. I loved that he was aggressive to the hoop a number of times and did not 'settle' for being a one-dimensional shooter.  

All this could add up to Carolina's first ACC Championship since 2008. Growing up, an ACC Tournament title was almost a birthright for born, bred and dead Tar Heels like myself.  What a great capstone to an up and down season, one dominated by tragedies like the Wainstein report and the death of Coach Smith, an ACC title would make.  

On top of that, a win over Notre Dame would be another reminder that this is a game played by college kids, kids who can look nothing like Tar Heels one weekend and very Carolina the next.

GO HEELS! 

Return of Manuel Transmissions

A new episode of the Manuel Transmissions podcast is up and available at http://youtu.be/I_ACNro7waM.  This week's episode features Cleo, Paul, Evan, Athan, Alex and our host John discussing spring break, a little college basketball and our favorite NBA players (non-UNC alum division) plus tuna salad! 

A Game That Defines the Season

Last night's loss to Duke was more than a disappointing loss to our smug and lesser arch-rivals. The loss epitomizes why so many Tar Heel born, bred and dead fans feel uneasy about this team and it's lack of progress.

To me, there have been 3 themes - or problems - with this team, and all were on display last night in Chapel Hill.

1. This team is too dependent on Marcus Paige. I love Marcus Paige; in our new post-Wainstein era he is exactly who we need leading this team and frankly being the student face of the entire university. But the operative word there is lead. A leader leads but does not make every play, but that's what this team expects and all the opposing teams know it. As Jawad Williams tweeted (@worldwad) last night, someone else needs to step up and help Paige and this team win some games. Paige was magnificent last night vs. the Devils but needed help down the stretch but did not get much if any assistance. Finally, in a cruel twist considering recent events, an over reliance on one player is anti-Dean. One 'criticism' of Dean is that he was too egalitarian and team-oriented (yes, some idiots actually said that). Well, sharing the wealth is how you win games and championships. Look at Worthy-Perkins-Jordan, or Montross-Williams-Lynch-Phelps, or Lawson-Hansbrough-Ellington-Green, or Bird-McHale-Johnson-Parrish, or LeBron-Wade-Bosh, or Duncan-Parker-Ginobili-Popovich, Magic-Kareem-Worthy, Jordan-Pippen-Jackson, etc.
2. Point two is related to point one: the uneven development of the players on this team. Paige and Brice Johnson were both named third-team ACC, which seems about right. Johnson is the only player to have gotten better this year, and was the only other reliable Tar Heel on the floor versus the Devils besides Paige. Offensively Johnson is confident and has some great moves, is as athletic as you would imagine a state high jump champion to be, and does the work on the glass. But this team has been undone by a lack of progress from Kennedy Meeks and T.P. Tokoto and spotty  play from everyone else in the rotation: Britt, Jackson, Berry, James, Pinson. None of those guys are reliable contributors game to game. At the end of a season you should see more development from all the players, but especially from Meeks and Tokoto. Both could and should have been All-ACC players but instead they have looked lost down the stretch.
3. Which of course is maybe our biggest problem. In addition to being un-Dean in terms of players, it also appears that this team is very un-Carolina at the end of games. Your typical Tar Heels squad - the pre-broken wrist 2012  Kendall Marshall squad is probably the most recent example - is a well-oiled, smart and poised machine at the end of the season. But not this one. The late-game melt downs at Duke, at Louisville, and at home versus Virginia, State and the Devils could not be more frustrating or vexing. Of course, this problem is the sum of the first two issues. Who are these guys making all these unforced errors? Their jerseys say Carolina so my eyes believe it but my gut, my heart and the Carolina-blue blood coursing through my veins does not.

So what's next? It's hard to be optimistic at this stage of the season. To win the ACC tournament the Heels would have to go through Louisville (doable; we've practically beaten them twice already), Virginia (also doable especially if Meeks and Tokoto show up), and Duke. One of Dean's sayings is it's hard to beat a team three times in one season so I would love our chances to prove Dean right (again) and get some revenge against the Devils.

Even if this happens it's hard to imagine us going more than 2 or 3 games deep in the NCAAs. Another example of how un-Dean and un-Carolina team this teams seems to be. As sad as those 3 issues just discussed THAT may be the saddest admission of them all. 

Despite all that - GO HEELS!