What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here

That headline has no real relationship to today's blog post.  Besides being a great line from 'Blazing Saddles' it's all I could come up with - but does describe lots of sports happenings this week and weekend.

Tough week for the Nats, punctuated by last night's terrible loss.  We were at that game, so had a great view to Danys Baez' swinging bunt with two outs in the top of the 12th.  The only thing worse than watching an American League pitcher start a two-out rally is acknowledging the fact that by sending Baez to the plate the Orioles had conceded the inning.  Even when the other team gives in the Nats lose.

The loss obscured the fact that the worst may be behind us in terms of the Nats bullpen.  Bergman, Beimel, Villone and eventual loser Kip Wells all pitched well last night, and Hanrahan picked up a nice save on Thursday night against the Pirates. 

I have to offer a  moment of appreciation for of all people Joel Hanrahan.  On Wednesday he lost another game with a ninth-inning wild pitch.  But 24-hours later he had the stones, and the ability to forget about that wild pitch, to come in the ninth and protect a lead and get a save.  You have to admire that ability, and it's another small reminder about how great sport is.  Past is not prologue, and shouldn't keep you from performing.  Good stuff.

The bullpen is not the only good pitching news.  The Nats finally pulled the plug on Daniel Cabrera and recalled someone named 'Stamman' from Triple A.  He looked great for 6 innings on Thursday.  Like Zimmermann did last night, he works fast. That keeps fielders sharp, hitters uncomfortable, and fans happy.  It worked for Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax, and I wonder why all pitchers don't follow that lead and work fast.

The good news for the Nats is all of a sudden a young and talented starting rotation may be taking shape.  Lannan, Zimmermann, Martis and Stamman may ended up as a serviceable starting staff. The bad news is you are walking a tight rope if you expect four starters 25-and-under to carry your team to respectability.  But if these starters progress and get the Nats to 70 wins this year - you know your team stinks if your goal is to 'only' lose 92 wins, which will require the Nats to go 58-63 the rest of way - the Nats could a decent, 500 team NEXT year.  So there may be hope on the horizon.

The bad news for this team right now is that Dunn is not hitting; his average is down 30 points since the 4-4 west coast swing, and Dukes is hurt/slumping.  

The return of Jesus Flores should help the offense and the pitching staff.  With the new, young rotation, the suddenly calm bullpen, and w/Zimmerman, Guzman and Nick Johnson leading the offense all the pieces may in place for a respectable run. The new alignment - great offense, young starters, steadier bullpen - may be the best scenario for the Nats since their move to Washington.  Bottom line: it will interesting to track the team's play with all these pieces in place.

• I was excited to see fellow Greek-American Nick Markakis play last night.  He went 0-6 so we didn't get to see much. But the O who really impressed me was Adam Jones.  That guy looks like a ball player, and hit everything hard last night in getting three hits and driving in the winning runs in the 12th.  The Orioles are set at those two positions for a decade. 
• I still root for the Orioles in the AL.  Unlike many Washingtonians I bear no ill will towards that franchise for years opposing a team in DC.  Perhaps that's because owner Peter Angelos is Greek and an active Democrat, or because Camden Yards is still a great place to watch a game, or because for years going to Balmer to watch Cal Ripken, etc. play was great fun.  But I think the main reason is we have our own team now so who cares? And like a relief pitcher you have to move on to today's game.

A Few More Random Notes

I tried to TIVO three other sporting events last night while we were at the game: game two of the Cavs-Magic series, Carolina playing in the ACC baseball tournament, and the women's lacrosse team in the final four.

• Phenomenal ending to the basketball game.  How you could let Lebron James catch an inbounds pass in that situation is beyond me, but he still had to hit a tough shot. I would have not guarded Mo Williams and doubled James.  You just can't let him get the ball. 
• Excellent game in general though, and the Magic should feel great about stealing game one and having the fortitude to come back from a 20-point deficit. Some teams, say the Lakers against the Rockets last week for instance, would have tanked it at that point, simply happy to have won one game on the road.  But behind Dwight Howard and the world's most famous Turk, Hedo Turkoglu,  the Magic fought back.
• The Heels got waxed 11-1 by Virginia, so I did not watch that game at all.  The Heels should still host a super-regional when the NCAA tournament starts next week.
• The women defeated previously undefeated Maryland last night to make the lacrosse national championship game on Sunday.  The game is in Towson, Maryland, so we may go up for that one.  Another chance to yell the greatest two words in the English language: GO HEELS!

SCOTUS

from the Boston Globe--Why Sonia Sotomayor is my choice for the Supreme Court: She issued the preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball on March 30, 1995, preventing the owners from unilaterally implementing a new collective bargaining agreement and using replacement players. It effectively ended the 1994 baseball strike.

baDCarma week

Actually, it wasn't so much of a bad week as it was a bad day.  On Thursday the Caps lost a game seven - at home - a few hours after Ryan Zimmerman's 30-game hit streak ended in San Francisco.  Both events are related in that the Caps and ZImmerman were the only glimmers on a generally bleak Washington sports landscape.

I'm not a hockey fan at all and didn't read much of the coverage, but I was struck by a few letters to the editor that pointed out how flat the Caps played.  'Coming out flat' has got to be one of the oddest phenomena in sport.  Carolina came out flat in last year's Final Four, too.  I can see coming out flat against Radford, etc.  but why teams come out flat in a big game will always be a mystery.

NATS NOTES

We have Nats tickets tonight.  Evan and I were looking forward to seeing Zimm continue his streak but now can look forward another 8-6 game featuring great offense and horrible relief pitching.  Making matters worse we have Daniel Cabrera on the mound.  I'm not that crazy about Rob Dibble as the Nats' color man - he talks about himself too much, and Rob Carpenter seems starry eyed to be sharing a booth with a former Nasty Boy - but I like how he openly calls on Manny Acta to swap Kip Wells for Cabrera.

We know the Nats' pen stinks, but I'm starting to think that Manny Acta makes things worse in the way he uses it.  He's a little too open minded, and keeps giving guys like Kensing and others too many chances to audition for a job. Then again, I guess he doesn't have much choice.

One great thing about baseball is the history. To that end, I encourage folks to check out the list of players who have hit a home run in the their first at bat in today's Post (Archives, page D6).  It also lists if they homered on the first pitch and if it was a grand slam. The only guy to do that - grand slam on his first pitch - in more than 130 years of baseball is Kevin Kouzmenoff for Cleveland in 2006.

Interesting to note how complete the list is - the first homer listed is by George Tabeau for the 1887 Cincinnati team in the American Association.  The first National League entry is in 1890; American League in 1921 so I guess the Junior Circuit did not track stats as well in the 19th century.

Two more interesting notes on first pitch homers.   One, there appear to be a decent amount of pitchers on that list: Mark Wainwright, Dustin Hermanson, John Montefusco, Hoyt Wilhelm.   Two, outside of Wilhelm there aren't many Hall of Famers on the list.   Elijah Dukes is on there, but the best hitters on the list are folks like Terry Steinbach, Reggie Sanders, Carlos Lee, Bert Campaneris, Tim Wallach, Will Clark, Carmelo Martinez and Jermaine Dye.  Three pretty good managers, Whitey Lockman, Gene Lamont and Chuck Tanner are on there too. 

NBA Playoffs

For the first time this year I may Tivo two playoff games.  Even with J.J. Reddick on the floor for Orlando I am happily rooting for the Magic.  Both of those teams look incredibly mediocre to me.  Rondo and Howard are great players, but no one else has shown me - or more importantly Labron James - anything in that series.

Speaking of mediocre, how about the Rockets?  I expect the Lakers to stop sleep walking and wax the Yaoless team from Houston tonight.  I wonder if the Lakers will be able to turn it on for seven games against George Karl's Denver Nuggets?   

Notes on Fan-dom

Or the cure for fanaticism.

To me, fandom generally falls into two categories.  

As a Tar Heel fan I am quite familiar with the first one.  If your team is really good - or really bad - being a fan can be easy. With a few bumps in the road (say, against BC)  you know how your team is going to perform.  And you know where they are going to end up at the end of the season. That's true whether you're rooting for the Heels or the Clippers.

So if your team is good, you walk around confident that even with BC-like bumps your team will be okay in the end.  And if your team stinks you are equally content.  With expectations so low every win is a gift.   Either way, you aren't disappointed and individual games or results aren't life or death.

But the second category is the more tantalizing and terrible one, when your team looks like they should be good - and can even sustains quality play for a few games - but don't do so on a consistent basis.  

That's the case with our hometown Nats.  

Their offense, led by Ryan ZImmerman but with plenty of help from Adam Dunn, Nick Johnson and Christian Guzman, looks Tar Heelesque.  But their pitching, especially their relief pitching, is firmly in the Clippers/Pirates/Lions territory.  Their offense makes you CARE, and their pitching makes you cynical.  

That tantalizing paradox, the roller coaster of wins and losses, can drive a fan crazy.  

Manny being Clemens

Not exactly sure how to react to the Manny Ramirez saga.  One thing I do know, I am tired of this story and this era.  The drip drip drip nature of the steroid revelations is horrible to endure and generally disgusting.   

The only good thing about this story is that a major star like Ramirez was caught and received such a lengthy, meaningful and expensive penalty. Manny will lose more than $7 million in salary.  Hopefully the suspension, shame and lost wages will discourage other players from taking performance enhancing drugs.  

The worst part of this story is the nature of the drug, basically a masking agent to hide the steroids Manny took.  Instead of saying "These drugs aren't worth it" the only thing Manny learned from the experiences of Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod et. al. was "Use a masking agent."  

Depressing stuff.

Also depressing is the all star team of cheaters.  Look at this lineup: Clemens, Maguire, Palmiero, A-Rod, Giambi, Bonds, Sosa. Who can you trust anymore?  Certainly not any player over 35 who continues to hit like Ramirez had.  I trust Griffey, Frank Thomas, Pujols, Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero.  And it makes you respect guys who age and decline, players like Griffey, Jeter, and Jeff Kent.   At least those guys are natural.

 NBA Playoffs

Nothing seems to be slowing down the Cavaliers' march to the NBA Finals.   And George Karl's Denver Nuggets, actually Chauncey Billups' Nuggets, look like legitimate contenders in the west.  But the other two second round series' have been pretty interesting.  

Even with KG on the bench I expected the Celtics to calmly dispatch the Magic.  But despite an incredibly weak backcourt, that series is now the Magic's to lose after their win in Orlando on Friday night.  Dwight Howard is dominating, as is Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu.  On the other hand Ray Allen and Paul Pierce look tired.  Outside of Rondo and Eddie House the Celtics look pretty bad on offense.  

I did not think the Rockets could hang with LA at all, but they stole game 1 nonetheless.  Tonight's game three will be huge, and expect the Lakers and Kobe Bryant in particular to have a big game.  One weird stat in this series - after dominating game one Yao Ming only took 4 SHOTS in game two.  You can't win like that.

QUICK MOVIE MINUTE

Hadn't seen many good movies lately, until this week when I got to watch The Wrestler, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire on DVD. I was really touched and impressed by all three. 

Mickey Rourke should have won the Oscar, and I cared about his character as if he were a Tar Heel. Yeah, he was Tar Heel good in The Wrestler.

Kate Winslet deserved her Oscar for The Reader. She did a great job portraying a complex character, one who is vain, naive, ruthless, kind, mean, and oblivious. It's a great movie about human nature and guilt, going along with the crowd, among other things. 

Finally, Slumdog Millionaire was about as satisfying a movie you will ever see. A great story, with details that unfold similar to The Usual Suspects and Training Day, and great acting and characters. There's a love story, a brother/buddy movie in there too.

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One more final four

There is another final four this weekend, as Panathinaikos plays for the Euroleague 2009 championship today against CSKA Moscow.  The game is a rematch of the 2007 championship, won by Pana in Athens.  This year's final four is in Berlin.

Panathinaikos defeated arch-rival Olympiakos 84 to 82 - in a thrilling game - on Friday night to reach the championship. That was a good game to watch (the entire Euro final four is on NBA TV), with lots of back and forth action and good shooting. Olympiakos had a chance to tie at the end but Bourousis (which loosely translates to 'can you' or 'did you try'), their center, missed a pretty good look down low.

The Greens were led by two NCAA/NBA alums, Maryland's Sarunas Jasikevicus and Arizona State's Mike Batiste.  Jasikevicus hit a number of big shots, mainly 3s, and Batiste had 4 dunks in the second half.  In addition to those two, the game featured a number of NBA alums and other well known players.   In addition to Jasikevicus and Batiste, Pana's roster includes Greek national Vasili Spanoulis (Houston Rockets), Antonis Fotsis (Memphis Grizzlies where he played one season with Batiste) and Maryland's Drew Nicholas.

Olympiakos features Temple's Lynn Greer (Milwaukee Bucks), Jannero Pargo (Arkansas and most recently the New Orleans Hornets),  and George Printezis (drafted by San Antonio but traded to the Toronto Raptors).  But their most famous player is former Atlanta Hawk Josh Childress.   Childress had a nice game, and finished with 11 points, but never really asserted himself. Though he got his hand on Bourousis' missed shot his tip-in did not go in.

Olympiakos will not win Euroleague, but Childress has helped lead his team to the top of the Greek basketball league standings.   And he says he will honor his three-year contract to play with the Pireaus-based team and continues to say nice things about living and playing in Greece.

A few more Euroleague Final Four observations:

• The crowd was loud for the entire 40 minutes.  Pana-Olympiacos is similar to Carolina-Duke, with the main difference being Carolina-Duke fans generally respect the other team.  Not so in Greece, where sport seems to be an excuse to recreate the city-state wars of the 5th and 4th centuries BC (Spartan dog, Corinthian pig, etc. etc.!).  
• The crowd was so loud that you could barely hear the announcers, one of whom, Jeff Taylor, is a Carolina grad.
• Not only was the audio bad but I noticed how spoiled I am by American sports broadcasting.  The camera angle for this game was way to wide.  It almost felt as if you were watching the game from the upper deck rather than on television.
• The court was surrounded by a net so fans could not throw stuff on the floor or at each other.  Just another reminder that as crass and tacky as American sports can get, European sport is much worse. Our venues aren't surrounded by nets, smoking is not allowed and the uniforms do not feature advertisements instead of city names or logos.
• For the record, the Greens were playing 'for' Cosmote, a Greek communications company, while the Reds (Olympiakos) appropriately enough were playing 'for' CitiBank.

NBA Playoffs

As entertaining as the Bulls-Celtics series was, I still haven't gotten into the NBA playoffs. The other first round series' were terrible, but I expect to start watching more intently once the conference finals start.  Watching the Lakers battle the Nuggets and the Celtics play the Cavaliers will be worth staying up for.

NATS UPDATE

Some good news from southwest Washington as Sharion Martis threw the first Nationals complete game since the 2006 season in defeating the Cardinals 6-1 on Saturday.  It was Manager Manny Acta's first complete game as Washington's manager.  

The combination of Martis' effectiveness and the Nats' woeful bullpen made Acta's decision to let this starter finish what he started an easy one. 

Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 21 games, and Adam Dunn hit his seventh homer for the Nats.  Offense does not seem to be a problem for this squad, and Lannan, Olson and rookie Jordan Zimmermann have each had good starts lately. Let's hope the complete game inspires the bull pen and the Nats string some wins together and get close to 500. 

Next Year's Heels II

Get it?  The title is an homage to Larry Drew II,  the starting point guard for your defending national champs.

Going pro is a slam dunk for Lawson, who depending on the order of the draft, should go in the top 10.  He's improved his game and is ready for the next level.  That's the good news.   The bad news - news tempered by being paid to play basketball - is that the teams most in need of point guard help include backwaters like Golden State and Milwaukee.

At the Thursday press conference Roy Williams said he had spoken with 13 teams and was assured that Ellington would go in the first round thus a guaranteed, three-year contract.  I hope that's true.  Besides a guaranteed contract the great news for Ellington is that is projected to go late in the first round so will likely end up with a playoff team.  Interesting to note how many good teams don't have world-beaters at the 2.  Dallas and San Antonio, for instance, bring their best 2 guards off the bench (Terry and Ginobili, respectively).  Same for New Orleans, Houston and Denver who starts Duke scrub Dahntay Jones at 2.

The other significant draft news is that Gerald Henderson will enter the draft but not hire and agent.  Henderson will likely be drafted in Lawson territory so has probably played his last game as a Blue Devil (a game where he went 1 for 9 from the field in a loss to hometown team Villanova).  Duke will be good, but without Henderson they won't be THAT good. I'm not sure why folks like Caulton Tudor are so optimistic about Duke's chances next year.  Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek have proven that they are NOT ACC-caliber talent, and the jury is still out on guys like Nolan Smith. Though Singler and Scheyer are great players Duke is still weak at point and on the boards (again).  Nationally they aren't as talented as Kansas or Michigan State, and even with their losses I don't think Duke measures up to Carolina either.

I was hoping Henderson would stick around one more year for another loss to Carolina in Cameron.  That guy deserves nothing but Tar Heel-induced misery.  Instead he joins luminaries like Greg Paulus in the list of players who will leave Durham having never won in Cameron against the Heels.

I'm a fan of the NBA, but can not get into the playoffs yet.  These first-round series always seem tedious and rarely produce an upset, though Dallas taking down San Antonio does qualify as one even with Ginobili on the bench for the Spurs.  The NBA should restore some legitimacy for the regular season - which is long enough - and reduce the number of teams that make the playoffs.

I'll blog more on the NBA playoffs in a could of more rounds.

NATS UPDATE

Well, the Mets have put an end the Nats' 6-game, 8-inning winning streak.  Going into the weekend series Washington had been hitting the ball well, but that has ended in cavernous Taxpayer Stadium.  The Nats' anemic hitting in New York joins their bad pitching and shoddy defense for an 'in the toilet' trifecta!

Nats To Repeat 102-loss Season?

Whatever good feeling the Nats could have possibly had entering the season - the signing of Adam Dunn, a new starting rotation - died over the weekend.  Though they've played less than a dozen games the three excruciating losses to the Marlins - games in which the Nats led heading into the 8th inning each game - are potential season killers.

Those losses highlighted that the Nats' bullpen is even weaker - weaker - than their anemic starting rotation. But against the Marlins the Nationals got good staring pitching from the top three in their rotation: Lannan, Olsen and Cabrera.  And they hit well in two of those games, and in their win against the Phillies.  Holding those three leads would have given the Nats a four-game winning streak.  

Those good feelings only lasted 8 innings each game as closer Joel Hanrahan blew the first two games, including a three-run lead on Saturday, before Saul Rivera gave up a one-run lead on Sunday.  

The only good news is the Nats' offense is much improved. Dunn is hitting and getting on base; his OBP is over 500 and he has two dingers so far.  Zimmerman has a 10-game hitting streak, Elijah Dukes is hitting over 300, and since moving up to the 2 spot in the order Nick Johnson is 10 for 19 so there is some hope on offense.

Unfortunately, the name of the game is still pitching.  Let's hope rookie starter Jordan ZImmerman and the revamped bullpen (Rivera was reassigned and Hanrahan is hopefully no longer the closer) offer some hope for the pitching staff and this team can go 500 the rest of the season.  That would mean the Nats finish around 75-76 wins, nothing to write home about but a big improvement over last season's 60-102 record.  

Next Year's Heels

While waiting for my championship t-shirt and commemorative DVDs, I can't help but be tantalized by the thought of Wayne Ellington returning to the Heels next season for his senior season.

Lately draft prognosticators have restated that Hansbrough will go in the second half of the first round, and that Lawson will go between the 10th and 20th pick. With his improved outside shooting Lawson's a lottery pick to me but his size keeps him from going in the first 10 picks.

But Ellington continues to be a projected second-round selection. Players who go in the first round get a guaranteed, three-year contract. However, there is no such guarantee for second-rounders.

In addition to his uncertain draft status, coming back would allow Ellington to be the MAN next year. Not only would Carolina's offense revolve around him - when was the last time, if ever, Carolina ran their offense around their 2-guard? Never? - but Ellington would be among the favorites for ACC player of the year.

The projected line up of Drew II, Ellington, Ginyard, Thompson and Davis, with Graves, Zeller, uber-freshman Hanson and one of the freshman guards backing up Drew, is tantalizing to say the least.

Some random hoops notes:

• Thanks to the two recent championships it seems like it was a million years ago that Matt Doherty was the coach in Chapel Hill. In light of FIU signing Isiah Thomas as their head coach, it's interesting to note that Doherty has not exactly set the world on fire since leaving Carolina. After a year at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, one of FIU's biggest rivals, Doherty is now the head coach at Southern Methodist University. According to ESPN, "SMU has gone from 17 losses to 20 to 21 in Doherty's three seasons in Dallas." Hard to believe that guy had the keys to the Carolina basketball program.
• Almost as weird as seeing Thomas go to FIU was the news that Greg Paulus may enroll at Michigan to play quarterback. Like his brother, the back up quarterback at Carolina, Greg Paulus was one of the best high school quarterbacks in the United States, and chose Duke basketball over Notre Dame football. The Paulus/Michigan story may be even odder than the Thomas/FIU one. The former is a marginal player trying to latch on to a marquee athlethic program, while the latter is a marquee college basketball player trying to latch on to a marginal college basketball program.
• For the record, FIU does have two NBA alums: Raja Bell and Carlos Arroyo (who now plays in Israel).
  

The Masters

All I can say about The Masters is this: it's played in the south, at a restricted country club.  Who do you think the 'masters' refer too?

2005 Team Redux

In the wake of Carolina's win on Monday, there have been a lot of comparisons between the 2005 and 2009 squads.  The similarities are obvious: May=Hansbrough; Felton=Lawson; McCants=Ellington; Marvin Williams=Davis, even Thomas=Drew II. 

The comparison's break down at cousin Jackie Manuel and Danny Green. Manuel and Marcus Ginyard match up but there was no one on the 2005 team quite as versatile as Green.  That fact may put the 2009 Tar Heels ahead of the 2005 champs. 

The other place the comparison breaks down is with Jawad Williams and Deon Thompson.  Though they had similar stats - and coincidentally both torched Michigan State in the first half of a Final Four game - Jawad was more of an outside threat while Deon is almost exclusively a low-post player.

I've saved Jawad for last as a way of celebrating the news that the Cleveland native has signed with his hometown Cavaliers for the remainder of the season.  Jawad had a cup of coffee with the Cavs earlier this season, and has played all over the last four years (Spain, Japan and Israel)  but primarily in the D-League. He was recently called up from that league's Grand Valley franchise when anti-Heel/former NC State karma wrecker J.J. Hickson was lost for the season due to injury.

Jawad is the sixth member of the 2005 national champs to play in the NBA, joining the stars of that team (May, McCants, Felton and Marvin) and David Noel (who spent a season with Milwaukee and is currently playing with the Reno Bighorns in the D-League).  

Despite Green's versatility having six NBA players - though in fairness only Felton and Marvin Williams are starters and consistent contributors to their teams - may give the edge to the 2005 champs.

Either way, GO HEELS!

Hansbrough, Green and Frasor Exit as National Champs

There are so many great things to blog about when your team, and especially when your team is Carolina, wins a national championship.

Odd how good 'your team' winning can make you feel.  In reality, in means nothing - unless you consider deciding on which commemorative tee-shirt or DVD to buy as something.  

But for sports fan, it obviously means much more than that.  It makes you happy in a silly but meaningful way, and it's one of the best parts of being a sports fan.

But being a Carolina fan is even better.  My love for Carolina makes me one of the most biased people on the planet. I would be guilty of being overly dramatic if i said Chapel Hill saved my life. A more accurate statement would be, as someone who went to Carolina from Fayetteville - FAYETTEVILLE - Chapel Hill is where my life really took off, really started.

That's why we care so much about the Heels (and, incidentally, why I make a point of voting for Anup Desai every week on American Idol, too).

The connection we feel to Carolina is not the only reason to enjoy a national championship.  There are many reasons: the fact that Carolina has graduated more than 95 percent of its players for the last 40 years, the lack of permanent corporate signage at the Dean Dome, the way Carolina prioritizes basketball yet also keeps it in perspective.  

Then there is the dominance. Most hoopsters consider 1979 the birth of the 'modern era' of college basketball. Not only was that the year that Magic battled Bird for the national championship in what is still the most watched basketball game in history, 1979 was also the first year the NCAA seeded teams.  Carolina has the most national championships, 4, and the most final fours, 11, in the 31-year modern era.  Even with the 3 lost years of the DOH! regime, Carolina's win last night certifies the Tar Heels as the best college basketball program of the modern era.  Case closed.

But even with that dominance, for me the best part of last night's championship was the players.  The people associated with basketball at Carolina, led by the peerless Dean Smith but including players like Michael Jordan, David Noel, George Lynch, Ademola Okulaja, Sean May, Raymond Felton, Antawn Jamison, Charlie Scott, James Worthy, Jimmy Black, Sam Perkins, Billy Cunningham, Larry Brown, and Phil Ford make one proud to be a Tar Heel.

Now we can add the 2009 champs to that list, led by Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green.  Those two will always be among my favorite Heels.  I blogged before about Hansbrough and how he epitomizes the essence of sport.  Psycho T is all about an honest effort, exhausting yourself for your team and school.  Hansbrough is pure and honest and what sports should be all about.

Green epitomizes the other thing I love about sport: being willing to take responsibility, to step up when needed.  Did anyone step up more than Danny Green this year?  He carried Carolina in January and February, and made as many big plays - if not more - than Hansbrough, Lawson or Ellington.  Stepping up became his calling card.  How impressive is that?  

Finally, neither gave it to the negative things swirling around them. Hansbrough ignored the taunts and doubts about his game or ability.  He simply played hard and played skillfully and let those traits settle things.  Green never hid the fact that his father was in prison.  It affected him his sophomore year.  It seemed to motivate him his senior year.  Great stories both.

Those two made this championship extra sweet; what a great way to cap a career for seniors Green, Hansbrough and Frasor. It's always great to win, to see great players like Lawson and Ellington play great Carolina basketball.  To see guys like Deon Thompson and Ed Davis dominate a team like they did in the first half against the Spartans.  To see Bobby Frasor get rewarded for persevering with a break-away lay up in the championship game. 

It's just great to be a Tar Heel.

CAROLINA COGITATION

• There have been quite a few comparisons between the 2009 and 2005 teams.  For me, the biggest difference is in what each championship meant. The 2005 championship washed away the bad taste of the 8-20 campaign of 2002, and reassured Tar Heel Nation that all was right again.   As stated above, this year's championship signals that Carolina is THE dominant program in college basketball.
• As long as Roy is at the helm Carolina is going to dominate.  Roy now has 2 championships and 3 final fours in 6 years (not to mention 4 straight wins at Cameron and 7 of the last 10 overall against the University of New Jersey at Durham). Do yourselves a favor and pen Carolina into your final four EVERY year until Roy retires in 10 years.  Williams recruits like crazy - and you'd have to be crazy to turn down a scholarship to Carolina - and is both a good teacher and game coach.  He and Carolina will always be tough to beat. 
• Look for another great ride next year too.  Carolina's 2006 team, led by Noel and a freshman named Hansbrough, made an unlikely run to the NCAA tournament that season. Unlike Florida, who won two championships but followed that up with two straight NITs, Roy does not allow a let down in the program.  And for a guy who's won two championships in the last six seasons his 2006 coaching job may have been his best ever.  Don't expect a let down next season.
• Congrats to sister Cleo for winning the PIRG NCAA pool, and for Evan and Ariadne for coming in fifth.  For the record, I came in 11th place.
• Finally, a word on Michigan State and their bid to uplift their economically suffering state's spirits.  One thing everyone is ignoring is that North Carolina is not an affluent state immune to the global economy or the recession. Up until recently, I imagine Michigan was much more affluent, and thanks to labor unions had a much larger middle class.  Michigan does not have a monopoly on struggling economies.  Take a look at the Tar Heel State's economy: the textile industry - relocated to Mexico and Honduras and Vietnam; the furniture industry - gone to China; tobacco - long gone (good riddance). For years those were the three pillars of North Carolina's economy. In the 80s and 90s those industries were replaced by turkeys and hogs, and high tech, both still there, and finance/banking. The third one is obviously hurting, almost on par with the auto industry and for one of the same reasons: stupidity and/or incompetence. I guess the reason Michigan gets more sympathy is that unlike the state of North Carolina, the state of Michigan still does not have a second act on the their economy. There is no there there after the auto industry. But North Carolina the state is hardly Goliath to Michigan's David when discussing the economy.