Spotlight on Chapel Hill this weekend

What a big weekend in the southern part of heaven.

Where to start in chronicling - OK, blogging - the news from Chapel Hill.  But that's an easy question; as all Heels know the conversation ALWAYS starts with basketball.

Fun game, and win, tonight for Carolina as they took care of Long Beach State 86 to 78.   For the first time this season the Heels trailed at half.  I missed most of the opening 20 minutes due to some hitches with ESPN3.  But in the first half the 49ers - another theme for this weekend as we'll get to later - were red hot from three and out rebounded the Heels on their way to a 45 - 40 lead.

Long Beach State played a lot like Duke; spread the floor and cut to the hoop.  If the defense collapses on the driver kick it out for a three, and if they don't take it to the rack.  

In the second half Carolina did a better job of cutting off the driver and playing the passing lanes, which also helped generate some fast break inducing turnovers.  Kendall Marshall also did a pretty nice job covering hot-shooting Casper Ware in the second half.   Dexter Strickland, who often covers the other team's point guard, only played 20 minutes tonight so Marshall had to - and did - step up on defense.

But on offense is where Marshall made his biggest contribution.  Once again he finished with more than 15 assists.  As it was on defense, Marshall and the offense were very efficient in the second half.  Marshall set up his teammates extremely well. 

When the Heels finally went on their run with around 15 minutes to play it was led by emerging super sub Reggie Bullock and Harrison Barnes.  Both made a number of 2 and 3-point baskets from all over the court, and both looked confident when the Heels started to take over this game. Impressive performances from both. 

Barnes even had a few assists (funny how our last two superstar players, Barnes and Hansbrough, were generally black holes when it comes to assists).

At one point Bullock was doing it all - hitting 3s, taking it to the rack, rebounded and even getting a steal then leading the fast break before dishing off for an assist.  He was so good after the steal I tweeted 'Is there anything Reggie Bullock CAN'T do?"

As hot as both of those guys were - Barnes finished with 20, Bullock 15 - John Henson was our leading scorer with 24 points, on 12 of 17 shooting, to go with 10 boards and 4 blocks.  Henson was the biggest beneficiary of Marshall's great play. Could anyone who watched that game live have guessed that Henson took that many shots?  I was surprised when I looked at the box score.  

Zeller had a nice bounce back game, too, with 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting and 9 rebounds (but 4 turnovers).  He was unstoppable at times and hit a tough hook during the Heels' big run in the second half.

Despite some spotty defense in the first half, this was in general a great team effort to win an exciting game over an opponent that, despite having 5 losses, is a tough out (they beat Pitt in Pittsburgh and lost tough and close games at Louisville and Kansas).

Extra hoops points:

• Long Beach State's unis said 'the Beach' on the front.  Makes one wonder if Kramer's fragrance of the same name is their corporate sponsor/
• Bullock was rewarded with 24 minutes tonight, taking time from the Dex Factor.
• He was our bench tonight, as Hairston and McAdoo both struggled.

The other big story from Chapel Hill this weekend is the final of the College Cup tomorrow for the NCAA men's soccer national championship.  The Heels will once again play the 49ers, but tomorrow it will be the UNC Charlotte 49ers.

Friday night's semi-final, come from behind, win on a shoot out game versus UCLA was one of the most exciting non-World Cup soccer games I've ever seen.  Lots of action and shots, and great effort from the Heels.  The championship game is Sunday at 4 pm on ESPNU.

But the biggest story from Chapel Hill was the hiring of Larry Fedora as Carolina's new football coach. He comes to Kenan Stadium from Southern Mississippi, where he led Bret Favre's alma mater to an 11-2 record this year and the Conference USA championship.  

Fedora certainly had a great press conference, and he seems very fired up. He said the right things about the values that Carolina stands for, though I would have liked for him to mention Dean Smith when he talked about those standards and history.  

Fedora is a bit of a Mack Brown-type, and that worked last time Carolina tried that model.  He's also young, so could in theory be in Chapel Hill a long time.

That said, I still wish Carolina had given interim coach Everett Withers a shot at being our permanent coach.  Withers handled a tough situation with aplomb.  There were a few missteps; giving the James Madison game ball to Butch Davis, the war of worlds with NC State to name two.

But the main reason I would have given him the job is that despite the distractions and last-second coaching transition, the Heels were a focused football team in 2011, with few turnovers, penalties or mental mistakes.  Withers kept the team together, motivated and disciplined, and for that I thought he deserved a chance to be our long term coach.

I wish him well on his next endeavor. Go Heels! 

On second thought

I didn't get a chance to blog between Carolina's blow-out win over South Carolina and the disappointing loss to UNLV last night.

But upon further review, the blog topic would have been the same - Kendall Marshall.  He was once again unbelievable against Lesser Carolina.  He finished with 14 assists - many of which were spectacular - his third double figure total for this young season. 

John Henson may be our best player so far with Harrison Barnes poised to assert that title during the season, but Marshall is Carolina's most important player.  I agree with Jay Bilas' assessment that we may be seeing the second coming of Jason Kidd.

The loss to UNLV also highlighted how important Marshall is. As my brother pointed out during the game, Carolina counts on our point guard to disrupt the other team's offense via ball pressure. The Tar Heels' recent championship teams have featured point guards who could dominate a game defensively: Derrick Phelps in '93, Raymond Felton in '05 and Ty Lawson 3 years ago. 

Roy recognizes that Marshall might not be fleet enough to do that, at least not yet, so Dexter Strickland - who by the way was the only starter to play well for 40 minutes versus the Rebels - has been covering the other teams point guard.

Saturday night plenty of things went wrong for the Heels; Carolina could not rebound, guard or shoot.  Even good teams will struggle with one of those facets of basketball during a game, but rarely do good teams stink at all three at the same time. Saturday night, Carolina certainly did.  Zeller had a terrible game, both Z and Henson were pushed around on the boards where Carolina got killed, no one made free throws, and Barnes and the starters had a collectively terrible shooting night and settled for a shocking number of bad shots.  

And on both ends of the floor Marshall struggled; he didn't disrupt their defense or run North Carolina's offense as well as he has throughout his tenure as our starting one. When he struggles, this team will struggle. The good news is Marshall - and by definition the 2012 Tar Heels - is too good to have THAT happen again.  

This week will be a big one for the Heels as they welcome Wisconsin to Chapel Hill as part of the ACC-Big 10 challenge before heading to Lexington to face Kentucky in a match up of college basketball's two winningest programs.  This loss to UNLV will bring out a more focused, determined Marshall and Carolina squad (and ol' Roy, too).  In particular, look for huge games this week from Zeller, Barnes and of course our most important player, Kendall Marshall.

As few extra points:

• James Michael McAdoo, though not as key as Marshall, will be a very important part of our season. The Heels will need him to produce off the bench in general, but in particular as our lone reliable big man off the bench he will be key in spelling both Zeller and Henson. He had some nice moments versus UNLV, especially running the floor, but he also missed some important free throws in the second half that could have impacted the final outcome.  
• Besides Strickland two other Heels had nice games versus UNLV: Reggie Bullock and P.J. Hairston.  Both have put together back to back to back nice games.  McAdoo, Bullock and Hairston give Carolina a phenomenal bench. 
• Great to see Carolina stick it to Duke for the 20th time in the last 21 games, including 8 straight wins.  At 7 and 5 Carolina is bowl eligible, no small feat considering the turmoil of the off season and the firing of Butch Davis.  Kudos to Everett Withers and seniors such as Dwight Jones for leading this year's squad.
• Next year is already tantalizing, with Bryn Renner and Gio Bernard poised to lead the Heels to the promised land - 9 wins, including one over N.C. State!
• Finally, while were talking leadership one of my favorites is T.J. Yates, who led Carolina to 8 wins last year despite numerous suspensions and disruptions.  Today, Yates played in his first NFL game and helped lead his Houston Texans to a 20-13 win. Yates took over for injured second-string quarterback Matt Leinert at the end of the first half, and completed 8 of 15 passes for 70 yards.  Leinert may be out for the season so Yates is likely the de facto starter for the AFC South leading Texans.
• GO HEELS!

It worked!

In an eerie coincidence, less than 2 weeks after the debut of our sister blog - firebutchdavis.blogspot.com - Carolina announced that they were indeed firing coach Butch Davis.  

The headline at www.tarheelblue.com was a little understated - Carolina Football Makes Coaching Change - but the bottom line is Carolina finally fired Butch Davis.  In doing so, Carolina came to it's senses and fired the coach who tarnished the standard set by Dean Smith and heaped more embarrassment on the University than any other coach in the last 50 years.

Chancellor Holden Thorp got it right when he said today "What started as a purely athletic issue has begun to chip away at this University's reputation ... I have lost confidence in our ability to come through this without harming the way people think of this institution. Our academic integrity is paramount and we must work diligently to protect it. The only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change."

I've said this before, but will restate that I don't think Butch Davis ever understood what Carolina means.  He did not work for the athletic department, he worked for THE university.  


Finally, his 'clueless defense' may have been the last straw for Thorp and Athletic Director Dick Baddour.  

You could probably get away with that defense if it was one player or one instance.  But there were multiple and repeated problems associated with Davis' football program:

• FOURTEEN players were suspended for academic fraud - or six more players than wins - fraud that was uncovered while the University investigated illegal contacts between players and agents;
• One summer after at least 3 players take an illegal, agent-funded trip to attend a party thrown by an ex-player, the same thing happens again for the second summer in a row;
• In the wake of an academic scandal that resulted in players getting suspended, you follow that up with one of your players getting caught by NC State fans plagiarizing a term paper;
• In the wake of the academic and player-agent scandals, you follow THAT up with players racking up tens of thousands of parking ticket.  On top of that, a tutor is charged with paying some of the parking tickets.
  

You simply can not overlook a list that long.  It was more than cluelessness, it was incompetence.  Davis was in charge and therefore responsible.  Maybe he thought he was back at Miami, or at Ohio State or USC or Auburn or South Carolina or wherever. 

But you can not be that sloppy and irresponsible at Dean Smith's school.  Carolina has higher and better standards than that.  Davis never understood that responsibility, and he was finally fired today.  

The football program was an embarrassment for the last 14 months (but not the players like T.J. Yates who persevered) but today is a great day to be a Tar Heel.  We got it right today.

Good riddance to 2010

You know a year that saw the Tar Heels go 5 and 11 in the ACC and end up in the NIT, and saw John Boehner become Speaker of the House, really stunk.  Personally, it was a decent-to-good year for me, but outside of family stuff I thought the last year really, really stunk.

Way too much of my mood hinges on the Tar Heels. I don't want to rehash the problems of the 2010 season, but the worst thing was watching Carolina not look like Carolina.  Looking like Carolina - the Carolina way - matters.  And when the Carolina way is not done right, not only do fans like me suffer but so does the nation.  Or at least the karma suffers.

As I've said before, can it really be a coincidence that John Boehner passes Pelosi, and Krzyzewski passes Dean, in the same year? It's not: when Carolina does well, good triumphs over evil.  Simple as that.

Want more proof?  In 2010, Duke wins a national championship, and not a month later BP causes the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.  

In 2009, Carolina wins a national championship and Congress passes a bill to protect more than 2 million acres of new public lands a wilderness and national parks in the same month. Again, not a coincidence.

The saddest part of Pelosi no longer being speaker, the worst thing to happen to the United States since Bush's reelection, is that when you look back at 2010 a lot actually got done.

• Passing financial reform legislation was huge.
• As was passing a health care bill that will start to reduce the cost of health care, allow children to stay on their parents health plans until 26 and prohibit turning down someone due to a preexisting condition.  It might not have been a national champion of bills, but it is final four worthy.  
• Covering the cost of health insurance for 9/11 first responders was almost as big.
• And repealing 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' was even more huge. 
• And in what other year would getting most U.S. troops, including all combat troops, out of Iraq become a small story, one barely mentioned?

Reciting this list of legislative accomplishments underscores two points.  One, it shows how all those accomplishments are window dressing in the face of high unemployment and general economic anxiety.  And two, how little people pay attention. I honestly think people don't know how much the last Congress did.  Then again, maybe they do but economic anxiety undercuts that knowledge.  Feel and emotion will always triumph over a laundry list.

Or people may simply be crazy and stupid, at least the ones who voted this year.

Anyway, good riddance to 2010, the year of Duke, oil spills, John Boehner, and a electorate driven to stupidity by a bad economy.

The good news is, the Heels will get better.  The bad news, don't expect another long list of accomplishments in the next year.  After all, Democrats still control the Senate and of course the Presidency, so don't expect legislative harmony or many big bills to pass this year.  And even if the House Republicans do scare enough Democrats in the Senate to overturn some of Obama's accomplishments you can guarantee the President will veto them.

A few more notes:

• I forgot the two words that best sum up 2010 for me: Rand Paul.  Duke and stupidity in one package!
• The bad karma extended to the Carolina football team, a team that was supposed to challenge for an ACC championship behind a stout and experienced defense.  Instead, we saw most of the stars from that unit get suspended for improper contact with agents.  Other players were involved in a still unresolved academic scandal.  More than a dozen players were suspended, yet the team still had a decent season thanks to stalwarts like T.J. Yates, Johnny White, Dante Paige-Moss and Quan Sturdivant. 
• Actually, the football Heels' problems had more to do with bad leadership and stewardship from Butch Davis, who embarrassed the university more than Matt Doherty ever did.  Time to get rid of him, time to Fire Butch Davis!
• It was a game against a 2-10 team, but I'm still heartened by the great shooting we saw from the Heels yesterday.  No matter the opponent, good shooting breeds confidence - and more good shooting.  Here's hoping the good shooting that has been on display the last month carries over into the ACC season.  

Heels win!

That headline does not do tonight's improbable win over Tennessee justice.  In the last 2 minutes there were enough weird and wacky plays for a life time of games, let alone one, let alone the something called the Franklin Mortgage Music City Bowl.


With a minute and a half left the Heels were dead, trailing 20 to 17 (Carolina was only down 3 thanks to HUGE a blocked extra point by Dante Paige-Moss)  AND Tennessee had the ball after a dropped pass by Dwight Jones on 4th and 20.  


I even left them for dead; at that point I tweeted: 'Heels first game ended w/ a dropped pass by our best receiver (Pianalto) and loss to an SEC team (LSU); last game ends the same way (Jones and Tennessee)."


But we had two times out left, the defense held and forced Tennessee to punt, and yadda yadda yadda, Carolina got the ball back on our 20 with 39 seconds left.  T.J. Yates, who has been so inspirational all season, completed a 35-yard pass to 'Woody' Harrelson, a play that netted 15 more yards after Tennessee was whistled for spearing/leading with the helmet.


The spearing was a huge blunder as it almost immediately put Carolina in field goal range.  But it was not the biggest blunder of the last minute and a half.


Fast forward to 16 seconds left.  Carolina is out of time outs but has moved the ball to the LSU 28.  The key phrase is OUT OF TIME OUTS.  Instead of throwing a pass to the sideline, a play that would have given the field goal unit a chance to take the field, Butch Davis called a running play.  The good news - Sean Draughn ran for 9 yards to the 17 yard line.  The bad news - and it was bad - was that the running play left almost no time to spike the ball and therefore give the kicking team a chance to take the field.


At that moment the Carolina Tar Heels became the Carolina Keystone Cops.  While Yates was trying to get the offense set - which was taking a long time since the Heels had gained almost 10 yards -  the field goal unit started taking the field.


Panic ensued, but more importantly the clock was winding down.  


Luckily, Yates kept his head ("If you can keep your wits about you while those around you are losing theirs, then you are a man my son" - from If, by my main man Rudyard Kipling) and realized that time was more critical than yardage.  He ran under center, took the snap, and spiked the ball with one second left.  Of course, with the kicking team running around Carolina was whistled for having too many men on the field.  


The penalty moved the ball back to the 22, but most importantly the penalty stopped the clock. The kicking team took the field - correctly this time - and Casey Barth calmly nailed a 39-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.


In the second overtime a Quan Sturdivant interception set up another Barth field goal, this time from 22 yards, and somehow the Heels won a game that Butch Davis should have lost.


For me, this game reminded me of how resilient and determined the Heels team has been, and how much of an embarrassment Butch Davis has been as a coach. 


You don't have to be Vince Lombardi to know that when you are OUT OF TIME OUTS you don't run it with 16 seconds left.  You need quick plays, and at that point in the game quick=pass.  Then to see the kicking team run out onto the field, when we had yet to spike the ball or kill the clock?  The team was obviously unorganized and panicky.  


Disorganization and a lack of discipline have been a problem all season for the Heels.  During the season it usually manifested itself in too many stupid penalties.  That happened tonight, too, but the running play with 16 seconds left and the kicking team taking the field were the whipped cream and cherry a top an undisciplined team sundae (in case you're wondering, that last line was NOT from Kipling).


I honestly don't see the appeal of Butch Davis.  It's not like he's winning 10 games a season, or the Heels are playing for the ACC championship every year.  Instead, we get 8 wins, embarrassing headlines about agents on campus, players cheating in class and getting thrown off the team, and a football team that wins IN SPITE of their coach's clock management or organization.  


I imagine Carolina can find some one else who could win 8 games a year, take us to a middling bowl game, AND not embarrass a university known throughout the country for doing things the right way when it comes to student-athletes. 


I support firing Butch Davis before he embarrasses the university any more.


Who DO I support? The Tar Heel players.  Like I said earlier, the players have been inspiring in the face of the suspensions and injuries.  Tonight a number of Heels stepped up and made plays, the first among equals being Yates. 


Statistically he had a mediocre game, but leadership-wise he WAS Carolina football tonight.  His decision to spike the ball is the most vivid example.  But I also loved his 39-yard touchdown to Dwight Jones to end the first half, a smart, savvy, improvisational play.  


Of course, Barth was cool as the other side of the pillow in making a clutch field goal with one second left.


Tight end Robert Taylor, a senior like Yates, had 9 catches including two big ones in final drive in regulation.


Draughn carried the load all game and scored on a nifty 58-yard run in the first quarter.


Quentin Coples was huge on defense, and the unsung play of the game was Paige-Moss' blocked extra point.  


That blocked point after touchdown symbolizes this team. It's a minor detail, the extra point, and there was every reason for Carolina to pack it in at that point.  But that was true for the entire season.  When Greg Little and Marvin Austin were kicked off the team the entire Carolina squad could have given up the season.


But Paige-Moss did not give in on that extra point, and he and Yates and Barth and Taylor and Coples and Highsmith and Burney and Sturdivant and etcetera did not give in on the season, either. 


Pretty good stuff.  


GO HEELS!


PS: Fire Butch Davis

Back on the Braves Bandwagon

Even though they won today, our Nats will not be in the playoffs.  Sorry if I'm the first to break that news to CHB blog readers.  At least the Nats were a little more relevant this season and finished with 69 wins.  More importantly, they avoided 100 losses.  

Instead of limping through another lost season there were some highlights.  At one point they were 20-15 and in second place.  And of course we saw the debut - and injury - of Steven Strasburg, we drafted and signed Bryce Harper, and saw serious promise in players like Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos, Jordan Zimmermann, Sean Burnett, and Drew Storen. 

Plus, we started the best brawl in baseball this season!

There is finally legitimate hope for Washington baseball.  Even without Strasburg improving to 81 wins is NOT out of the question next season.  Hopefully we resign Adam Dunn and sign Carl Crawford to protect our one legit star in Ryan Zimmerman and add to the roster of youngish talent. Then who knows?   

But progress will mainly depend on finding a legit lead off hitter, and the development of their core of young starters.  If Zimmermann, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Jason Marquis and Livan Hernandez can hold things together they could make a run at a .500 record in 2011.

This October I am happy to get back on the Braves bandwagon.  As many of you know, I moved to DC from Florida and was a pretty serious Braves fan until the Nats came to town in 2005. Though Chipper is out for the rest of the season I will happily root for Bobby Cox to make a deep run in the postseason.  The guys wins, and knows how to lead. 

However, it is hard to see anyone taking down the Phillies in the National League, especially with a pitching staff that will go Halladay to Oswalt to Hamels.  Their bullpen is still a little vulnerable but they have six or seven legit stars on the that team.

In the AL, the dark horse pick seems to be the Twins.  I don't know much about the American League teams; when we got the Nats I also stopped following the Orioles.  I do know the Yankees have only one reliable starter in CC Sabathia, that without a healthy Evan Longoria the Rays look vulnerable, and that Nolan Ryan is instituting some interesting changes in how the Rangers handle pitchers and train starters.  

So I guess I'm going Twins versus Phillies in a World Series that will pit America's second most obnoxious fans versus those who eat lutefisk.

A few more sports notes

• Evan and I tried to watch the Skins game versus the Eagles, and even with the drama of McNabb going back to the city that traded him that game had no zip or energy.  It was flat out boring, and we quickly went back to MLB Network's look ins to the Braves-Phillies and Giants-Padres games.  Baseball is way better than football.
• But the Heels are relevant again after dismantling ECU over the weekend.  As T.J. Yates told the News and Observer, 'we're probably the happiest 2-2 team in America.'  The Heels are getting some of their suspended players back, and despite all that off the field tawdriness it's hard to give up on the Heels.  Traditional nemesis Clempson visits Chapel Hill next week.  A win over the Tigers will even the Heels' ACC record at 1-1.
• Evan's Little League Phillies lost over the weekend but he had a nice game.  He's generally been a dead pull hitter throughout his Little League career, but he had a great at bat late in the game, taking an outside pitch - with 2 strikes - to right to drive in two runs.  Oddly enough, he has played in four games and has yet to have a ball hit to him even though he has played at third, short, first, and center field. He's played four innings at first and has not even made a put out.

I'm Not An Economist

But do you have to be one to admit that capitalism is not working?  This week's news that one in seven Americans - Americans, not Greeks or Mexicans or Chinese but Americans - live below the poverty line is the latest argument that the current incarnation of the free market simply does not work. 


The yutzes on the right will claim that 'government regulation blah blah blah' is killing capitalism, but can anyone point to a time when capitalism ever worked in building a stable middle class and democratizing capital without heavy regulation and aggressive, leveling taxation?


I'm not an economist but the golden age of the American economy, roughly the period from World War II until the middle 1970s, corresponded with heavy taxation of individuals (the upper rate during that time period was almost 90 percent for some income brackets), active and successful trade unionism (more than a third of workers were in a union) and massive government spending (in defense, roads and infrastructure, higher education especially science and math and engineering, and research and technology).  


America basically civilized capitalism via taxation, unions, and government spending, in the process transferring wealth from folks who hoarded it - rich people and corporations - to entities that spent it and hired workers: unions and government.


But that balancing act started to erode in the late 70s.  The oil crises of that decade ended the era of cheap gas, but that wasn't the main culprit.  Economic powers such as Japan and Germany, for instance, succeeded in spite of paying more for oil and energy.


As Robert Reich opined in The New York Times on Labor Day, the 70s also saw revolutions in global communications and shipping that allowed companies to cheaply manufacture goods over seas for export back into the U.S.  Capital followed, pouring out from the U.S., Europe and Japan into non-union third-world countries eager to join the global manufacturing economy. 

The anti-tax revolts launched in California in the late 70s culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  Reagan slashed taxes for the wealthiest Americans; with less tax money, state and federal governments starting cutting back spending on education but also on infrastructure and other needs - with the federal government eventually spending money only on three things: defense, Social Security, and interest on our debt (debt of course built up after taxes were slashed).


And in my opinion the death blow for America's economy was the fall of the Soviet Union.  Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal started the process of humanizing and civilizing capitalism in the 1930s. Unions and the Democrats carried that on after the war.  But I think one reason corporations went along with that process was a shared goal of wining the Cold War.  Everyone was invested in defeating Communism and showing that the American way was better.  Everyone knew the best way to demonstrate that was by building a massive middle class, a middle class who's wages were set by unions, whose taxes would pay for public schools and universities, the common defense, government pension programs like Social Security and Medicare, etc. 


The nexus of: globalized communications, shipping and capitalism; the fall of the Soviet Union; reduced taxation for the wealthiest Americans; the new left's (hippies if you will, not the civil rights movement) attack on the American liberalism in the 1960s have now culminated in the sobering stat that 14 percent of Americans live below the poverty line.  


Of course, the wealth is still there.  The capitalist class is going great.  The stock market is thriving, but no one is working and one in seven Americans are living in poverty.   Banks get bailed out by the federal government then refuse to lend money to others.  No, the swells are doing great.  They're hoarding their money, or worse, investing it in emerging capitalist hell holes like China, India, Brazil, etc. countries where investment is thriving but trade unionism is not.  

And some how, in a nation where capitalism has resulted in 14 percent of our fellow citizens living below the poverty line, being labeled a 'socialist' is a negative? 

A few, non-economic random thoughts

• Last weekend I extolled The Replacements.  This week I urge folks to rediscover Elvis Costello, but from his 'angry' period of the late 70s and early 80s, especially 'Trust' and 'Imperial Bedroom.'  Hard to beat those records for distilled anger and wit.
• But if you're looking for a brilliant and forward thinking album check out 'Mind Bomb' by The The.  One of the most underrated and overlooked bands and records of all time.
• Like a car wreck, need to check in on the football Heels today at home versus Georgia Tech. I want the Heels to win at everything, but the football program just seems cheap now, tainting the finest institution of higher learning of all time.
• For the record, Jim Love is the sweetest man of all time.

Some good news for the Heels

It's not all bad news for the Heels.  It looks linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant have been cleared to play tonight versus LSU.  The other piece of good news is that the Tigers' offense had little ept last year, so even with a weakened defense the Heels could be okay.

On the offensive side the story is the same as last year. If QB T.J. Yates plays well the Heels should move the ball, even without Greg Little to throw to.  Besides Yates, pressure will be on third string running back Johnny White.  White has been more of a special teams player in Chapel Hill but now gets to start his last year as a Tar Heels running back as the starter.  Perhaps that Cinderella story line will result in a 100-yards plus game.  

Good news for the Heels football team but not so good news for the Hellas football team.  Playing their first game in the EURO 2012 qualifying round and under new coach Francisco Santos, Ellas could only manage a 1-1 tie against their Orthodox co-religionists from Georgia last night.  FYI, the game was moved to Pireaus to accommodate a U2 concert at the Olympic Stadium.

Greece is in a pretty underwhelming group.   Besides Georgia, Ellas is grouped with Malta, Latvia, Israel and Croatia. Israel is decent, but Croatia is good and should be Greece's only real competition.  Then again, we could only muster a tie at home.  

Croatia's talent, and the tie versus Georgia, makes Tuesday's game in Zagreb a BIG one for Ellas.  The good news is Greece thoroughly outshot and outplayed Georgia, and Santos appears to have them playing a more attacking style.  But it's only be one game.  

Stealing one on the road against their only real rival in the group will go a long way in determining if Greece will qualify for Euro 2012 in Poland/Ukraine (P/U?  Is this the 'incredible history of anti-Semitism Euro?).

•  In honor of TJ Yates' home state AND the EURO 2012 game last night this post is in Georgia font.

Wide World of Sports

Lots of post-Strasburg sports news to focus on, including a smorgasbord of baseball, world basketball championships and more bad news, this time from Carolina.

Nationals Notes

Another weird week for the Nats.  The up side for me was the pitching of Jordan Zimmermann.  In his second start after "Steven Strasburg" surgery (formerly known as Tommy John surgery) Zimmermann was dominant is striking out 9 Marlins in six innings of one-hit, shutout ball.  It's only one start, but some good ju-ju for Nats fans contemplating Strasburg's return from the same surgery.

With Zimmermann's return, the signing of Bryce Harper, the September call up of Danny Espinosa, the minor league progress of Cuban pitcher Yunesky Maya and catcher Wilson Ramos, the second half progress of Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina, Michael Morse, and Drew Storen, plus Gold Glove/Silver Slugger/Face of the Franchise Ryan Zimmerman there is legitimate light at the end of the Dr. Yoakum's scalpel.  

In 2012 Nats, fans could have a young, exciting and legit line up of CF Carl Crawford (would love to sign that guy from Tampa Bay), SS Desmond, 3B Zimmerman, 1B Dunn/Someone Like Him, LF/!B Morse, RF Harper, CF Bernadina, 2B Espinosa, C Ramos, complimented by a starting rotation of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Maya, Ross Detwiler and John Lannan, with Storen closing with help from set up men Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard, Garrett Mock, and Colin Balester.  

Of course, one name missing from that list of man of the hour, Nyjer Morgan. I'm all over the place with Nyjer.  

Frankly, he lost me on the inside the park home run he 'gave up' to the Orioles' Adam Jones by slamming his glove on the ground in disgust after missing a deep drive.  I say he gave it up because even though he failed to make the catch, the ball did NOT clear the fence.  But instead of finding the ball he slammed his glove down in a fit of pique. Morgan never found the ball, and by the time left fielder Josh Willingham came over to throw the ball back in Jones had an inside-the-park home run.  

Morgan's concentration and production seemed to go south shortly after than unprofessional play.  His on base percentage, base running, and fielding suffered but things really came unglued in the last few weeks.  First he was accused of throwing a ball at a fan in Philadelphia.  Of course, Phillies fans are pains in the Manasses, but a professional DOES not do that.  There have been a few eyewitnesses who exonerate Morgan, but MLB did suspend him 7 games.

That suspension was on appeal when Morgan collided with not one but two catchers. The first collision, against the Cardinals, was just odd.  He bumped the Cards' catcher Bryan Anderson even though there was no throw home. Of course, he connected with Anderson but missed home plate. Morgan was eventually ruled out after Ivan Rodriguez grabbed him and pushed him towards home so he could eventually step on the plate, which is against the rules. Morgan's play was at best odd, at worst stupid.

Instead of trying to bump the catcher, Morgan should have slid and scored.  But Morgan did not seem to learn that lesson; two nights later instead of trying to slide under a tag in the top of the 10th inning (of Zimmermann's gem) Morgan really slammed into Marlins' catcher Brett Hayes in an attempt to jar the ball lose.  It didn't happen.  Hayes made the tag but Morgan had separated the Marlins catcher's shoulder.  He's out for the season.

Morgan and Nats expected retaliation.  Nothing wrong with that as long as it's not at a player's head.  Morgan was plunked in the side, and it seemed like that was that.

But Morgan kept the flames going, at least to the Marlins, by stealing two bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly.  Though the Nats were down at the time 3-14, in Morgan's defense it was only the 4th inning and the Marlins were holding him on. The steals prompted the Marlins to do something you NEVER see - a player getting thrown at twice in one game.

The next time Morgan game up the Marlins threw behind him, and a massive fight ensued.

Like I said, I'm torn.  Morgan has been a below-average player this season, mainly due to mental errors and a lack of professionalism. In Miami, he is not solely to blame for the fight.  You don't throw at a guy twice in one game.  

But again, it goes back to the inside-the-park home run he game up.  A professional makes the smart play, and in this case it meant sliding in to home instead of trying to run over the Marlins' catcher.  Morgan does that - the Nats score and no one gets hurt - and a bean ball war does not start the next game. 

In each instance you can find a scapegoat - obnoxious Phillies fan, Ivan Rodriguez grabbed him, the Marlins threw at him twice in one game - but bottom line you need to be a professional and play with your head.  Perhaps a bad season - Morgan had been demoted to 8th in the Nationals line up - prompted him to take out his frustrations against two catchers.  But neither play made sense, and neither one was the smart baseball play.  

In firing obnoxious blow hard Rob Dibble from the booth and cutting malcontents like Elijah Dukes the Nats front office has demonstrated a willingness to fire employees who rhyme with pass moles.  We'll see how they deal with guys who are unprofessional and unfocused like Morgan has been the last few weeks.

Anyway, remember the good paragraph about the 2012 line up.

Time to Drop Football?

There is disheartening news out of Chapel Hill, too.  It's been hard to keep track of all the fires swirling around Carolina's football team.  Contact with agents, problems with tutors, and academic issues have plagued the Heels all summer.

My gut reaction is Carolina should stop trying to chase the fool's gold that is big time college football, which of course is incredibly impractical but does make sense.  For a great piece on the greed that dominates college football, and undermines a school's mission, check out today's John Feinstein column in The Post.  Ever since Mack Brown left football has suffered, but not from lack of trying. The Heels have never gotten over the hump despite spending millions on new facilities and expanding Kenan Stadium.  

And now 6 of the 11 starters from the famed Tar Heel defense are suspended, as are the Heels two best running backs.  College teams often rally in the face of this kind of adversity; it's almost a coaches dream scenario (at least for pre-game speeches).  But the Heels have so many top players suspended you wonder if there is enough depth to paper over the losses.  

Perhaps most frustrating is the contact with agents.  Why did these guys come back to Chapel Hill for another season - at least four Carolina defensive players were projected as high draft picks in the spring - only to allegedly start taking money and gifts from agents?  And now in addition to not playing they are tarnishing the reputation and embarrassing the university.  

But at least they did not try to steal a pass in the 4th inning.

World Basketball Championships

The U.S. has looked pretty good in the World Basketball Championships in Turkey.  Despite having Krzyzewski as 'our' coach Kevin Durant and Derek Rose have looked great in leading the US to a 5-0 record.  We play Angola in the knock out round tomorrow in what will likely turn out to be another 40-point rout.

Greece, on the other hand, has yet to get their groove back.  Ellas was blowing out teams prior to the bad-karma-inducing game and fight with Serbia a week ago in the Acropolis Tournament.

After winning their first three games - versus China, a good Puerto Rico team, and Ivory Coast - Greece lost to Turkey (no shame there; the Turks have 3 NBA players on their roster and are playing at home) and Russia by 3.  The greater shame is losing to two nations who WE civilized. 

Anyway, that two-game losing streak means Ellas has to play Spain, who also under whelmed in the first round of play, on Saturday in the knock out round.  Instead of playing - as expected - for a medal Greece and Spain are playing for their lives tomorrow. It should be a great game between two of the four best national teams (widely considered to be the U.S., Argentina, Spain and Greece), and I think it will be on NBA TV live at 2:00 pm eastern if you want to tune in.

 

Cure for Car Care Bowl Fever

What a bad loss for the Heels yesterday, or as Joey Pillow texted me "that was embarrassingly awful." 


There are three things to talk about when looking back at yesterday's game: embarrassingly awful mistakes; a failure to close out games; and finally questions about when is Carolina football going to finally turn the corner?


Embarrassingly awful mistakes: quarterback TJ Yates' interception at the goal line in the second quarter; Greg Little's stupid punt after a great and super-athletic touchdown catch; Barth's out-of-bounds squib kick at the end of the first half; 12 penalties; worst of all, the offsides that allowed Pitt to kick a 33-yard field goal instead of a 47 yarder.  


That is a long list of mistakes to overcome.


Closing out games: it seems that time after time, the Heels have a lead but can't finish.  Perhaps the Heels assume their excellent defense will always rise to the occasion, and maybe we need more depth on that side of the ball to keep guys fresh for four quarters.  Or the offense needs to stay on the field longer.  For whatever reason, the defense hasn't been able to close out games against Georgia Tech, at home vs. Florida State, at NC State, and the last 2 Meineke Car Care Bowls.


Finally, when will Carolina football turn the corner? Butch Davis has tantalizingly teed up expectations by regularly beating Miami, beating Notre Dame last year, defeating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg this season.  However, the Heels can't beat NC State or Virginia.  Those wins, and Davis' recruiting prowess, have made casual football fans like me -  I can't believe I've spent so much time blogging about Carolina football - really care again.  


To finally turn the corner the Heels will need to cut down on the mistakes, especially the mental ones like Yates bad interceptions and penalties, and get over the hump by defeating teams like Virginia and particularly NC State.  Heels fans will have high expectations for next year's team, a team that will feature a more experienced offensive line, a four-year starter at quarterback, and an experienced defense that hopefully will learn to close out games.


On the other hand, maybe Carolina football has turned the corner. The Heels have gone to back-to-back bowl games, and the fact that Carolina football matters and that fans have realistic and ambitious expectations is a testament to where Butch Davis has taken the program.  Let's hope for continued progress and at least 9 wins - including a win over NC State - next year.


A Few Random Notes

• If the game had been on Dec. 26th, Evan and I would have seriously considered going. Having to travel so close to Christmas was a deal-breaker for us, and I guess for many North Carolinians as only 50,000 showed up yesterday.
• Terrible basketball games to watch on Christmas.  I like the NBA-Christmas hoops tradition, but this year's games were terrible.  I've never liked the Celtics - even though Sheed plays for them now - and liked them even less after watching Boston spend 48 minutes swarming and hacking Dwight Howard.  Ditto for the Lakers-Cavaliers game, another inelegant wrestling match of a game.  Let the players play; I wish referees would call more fouls against physical defenses.  There are too many low-scoring scrums in the post-Pat Riley NBA.
• The Wizards, in particular Gilbert Arenas, looked terrible yesterday.  I thought he was fully recovered from his knee problems and having not played basketball for two seasons, but he's not. The Wiz committed 18 turnovers in losing to Wayne Ellington's Minnesota Timberwolves.  
• Tyler Hansbrough had a double-double last night, 19 and 11, in the Pacers' loss to Marvin Williams' Atlanta Hawks.  Hansbrough played a season-high 31+ minutes and was 7 for 20 from the field.  He's having a good season now that he appears to be fully back in basketball shape but his shooting percentage continues to be in the 30s (37 percent for the season).  One reason is Psycho T continues to have a lot of his shots blocked; against the Hawks last night 6 of his shots were blocked (4 by Al Horford). Once he figures that out . . .

Thanksgiving in the ville

Didn't get a chance to blog during the Thanksgiving holiday in Fayetteville due to the lack of wi-fi at my folks' house (disappointing legions of fans).  


However, there are some good wi-fi places in the 'ville, namely the 'Coffee Scene' near my parents house across from the Westwood shopping center.  Not coincidentally, it's Greek-owned by one of my first baby sitters, Kiki (Parrous)  Manis.  It's a funky, family-owned joint with good coffee.  It's so funky and cool and urbane that you would forget you were in Fayetteville (if not for the Roses and Food Lion across the street in the downscale Westwood Shopping Center).


Another place is 'Rude Awakening' coffee shop on one of the rehabilitated blocks on Hay Street downtown. We went downtown on Friday night for the annual Dickens Christmas celebration. There is the some there there as Fayetteville has worked hard to made downtown a destination. For 30 years of downtown was full of notorious strip clubs and seedy bars and Hay Street was synonymous - all over North Carolina - with prostitution and drugs.  


But give Fayetteville credit - they wiped out the seedy blocks, and there are a number of local businesses now on Hay Street: Rude Awakening, an art-house theater that packed in audiences to watch Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 911', and a half-dozen restaurants ranging from a brew pub to a diner to a couple new American cuisine places.  


So if you ever visit Fayetteville hit the Coffee Scene and downtown and help Fayetteville make a comeback.


Evan would move to Fayetteville tomorrow if he could.  He loves North Carolina almost as much as I do, and would like nothing more than to move anywhere close to my parents or his cousins Paul and Alex.


A Few Random Notes

• Of course, if we visit God's Country we have to visit the Southern Part of Heaven.  On Friday we met Johnny and his family at Time Out for lunch (so Ariadne and Alison could enjoy a chicken and cheddar biscuit; with our homecoming visit Evan's eaten 3 of those in the last month).  
• The boys then headed to Fetzer Field to watch the most dominant dynasty in the history of sports, the Carolina women's soccer team.  The Heels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on their way to a 5-2 win over Wake Forest in a NCAA regional final.  The win means the Heels qualified for their 25th final four (out of 28 years of NCAA women's soccer tournaments) and will shoot for their 21st - 21st! - national championship next weekend.
• It's obviously a skilled and talented team but I was most impressed by Carolina's first goal.  Jessica McDonald ran down a pass and reached it just before it went out of bounds in the corner.  Barely slowing down McDonald nailed a perfect cross - on the run -  into the box where Carolina's All-Everything Casey Nogueira (a North Carolina native, BTW) headed it in for a 1-0 lead. 
• On a down note, the Carolina football team saw their 4-game winning streak snapped at rival NC State on Saturday afternoon, 27-28.  The Heels played well, especially in the first half.  But mistakes cost them, especially a key fumble at the goal line in the first quarter, some terrible penalties on State's first drive of the second half, and a blocked field goal was too much for the football Heels to overcome.  State's offense was also able to move the ball against Carolina's impressive defense, something ranked teams like Miami and Virginia Tech were not able to do.  The loss will likely keep the Heels out of the Chic-fil-a Bowl on New Year's Eve in Atlanta, and the Heels will probably end up in Charlotte's Meineke Car Care Bowl (a terrible name, not nearly as romantic as the original Continental Tires Bowl) in late December.
• That said, this was a pretty good year for the Heels and Butch Davis.  Most of the defense will return, and the young offensive line has really improved down the stretch so this team could be scary-good next year.

Finally, a few caustic notes

• Regardless of the details, Tiger Woods lost whatever manhood he had over the weekend. Anyone who totals his car running into a FIRE HYDRANT and has to have his wife rescue him by smashing his windshield with a gold club has NO manhood left. 
• For the latest example of how disgusting capitalism is, check out the front page of today's SundayStyles section of The New York Times. Above the fold is a series of photos of a 10-year old girl being surprised in school by her father as he returns from Iraq. At the bottom of the page is an ad for Gucci complete with pouty/bored/wealthy/stupid looking models.  We value one thing, the market another.

Watched Way Too Many Games On TV Today

Thanks to TiVO, two games played in Europe, a late afternoon start, and other factors I ended up watching 4 sporting events today - in their entirety - in between regular Saturday/parenting gigs (getting a hair cut, raking the front yard with Evan, going to dry cleaner and hardware store, buying a birthday present at Politics and Prose, and driving Ariadne to two events).  


In the end, two were worth watching and two weren't.  In order, I watched:

• The U.S. men's soccer team lose a snoozer of a friendly against Slovakia, 0-1.  I know, Bratislava in November is a tough place to play (tell me something I don't know).  The U.S., playing without Landon Donovan (busy with the MLS playoffs) and injured players Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onweyu, looked listless and unorganized as coach Bob Bradley mixed in some new players.  It was a boring loss and a pretty bad game to watch.  But it was only a friendly, though it does give all my Slovakia friends the right to talk smack at work on Monday.
• That firecracker was followed by Greece's 0-0 tie with Ukraine - in Athens - in a very important 2010 World Cup qualifying playoff game (shown live at 1 pm via Setanta Sports).  Ellas looked tight and tentative while the Ukraine was content to - successfully - play for the tie.  The Hellenic squad succumbed to their serious and stern Byzantine Greek side instead of being ruled by their active and happy-go-funky Classical Greek side.  And I think we all agree, in sports, it's better to play happy-go-funky than stern, and it showed today in a lackluster tie.   So in order to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Greece needs to win in Ukraine on Wednesday, or tie and win on away goals (for instance, a 1-1 tie means Greece advances since they would have scored more away goals that Ukraine).
• Things picked up at 4:30 when I started watching Carolina host Miami.  The Heels led 20-7 at half time thanks to a 77-yard interception return by Kendric Burney.  However, in the third quarter Miami came back and every Heel on the planet - even Bratislava! - felt another FSU-style collapse was eminent.  As it has all season, once again the defense bailed Carolina out as Burney picked off another pass that was eventually returned for a touchdown by Melvin Williams; Burney fumbled on the run back but Williams caught it in mid-air and ran 44 yards for the score.    The defense was the story, but give some credit to the offense too.   When Carolina needed one more drive to ice the game the offense drove 60 yards on 11 plays while eating up more than 5 minutes to ice the game.  It's Carolina's 5th straight win over a ranked team - third overall - and continues the post-FSU loss renaissance.  And the Heels are now bowl eligible.
• Finally, wrapped up the night with the Wizards losing to John Kuester's Detroit Pistons.  Behind newly signed Earl Boykins the Wizards roared back from an 8-point halftime deficit to lead for most of the second half.  But down the stretch Ben Gordon and Will Bynum (who played against each other in the 2004 National Championship game - vote in the poll please!) got hot and Gilbert Arenas of all people had two big turnovers.   The Wizards have now lost 6 in a row, and it appears that Arenas' timing and touch are not back after missing most of the last two seasons.  The Zards also need Star Heel Antawn Jamison back in the line up.

That's enough now.  I'm tired from all the time spent on the couch. 

No more baseball

Always a bit sad when the baseball season ends, and sadder still when it ends with the Yankees winning another championship.


I was surprised at how well Petite pitched and how tight the Phillies looked.  And Pedro should just hang it up. After all the commotion prior to his game 6 start he was incredibly lackluster.  He, rather than Petite, looked like he was pitching on three days rest.  I don't think Pedro ever gave the Phillies a chance to win that game, the most important thing you want out of your starting pitcher.


And too bad this series did not go seven.  I think it's been more than a decade, since the 1997 Marlins-Indians series, since we had a Series that went the distance.


Carolina Update


Now, after homecoming this weekend, we can finally turn to basketball.  As part of homecoming there is an exhibition game on Friday night between Carolina and Belmont-Abbey.  It will only be my third trip to the Dean Dome, and I always look forward to being in the same room/arena as the Tar Heels. I'm also anxious to see freshman Jon Hanson, the lanky heir to Tyler Hansbrough, and to see firsthand as Deon Thompson's metamorphosis into the next Brad Daugherty.


Random Stuff

• Besides the chance to see his cousins, I think Evan is most excited by the prospect of going to Time Out for a chicken cheddar biscuit.  Man vs. Food visited Time Out and Evan's wanted to go ever since.
• To me, the person who had the best World Series was Tom Boswell.   He wrote some excellent columns during the series.
• Ty Lawson lead Denver in scoring with 23 points, on 9-10 shooting, on the way to a big win over the Nets on Wednesday. Brendan Haywood had a double double, 16 and 11, but the Wizards lost to Miami as Gilbert Arenas of all people turned the ball over twice late.  And the Sean May experiment may already be over in Sacramento.  He came off the bench in the Kings' latest loss and only played 5 minutes.

As always - GO HEELS!

Another scattershot blog post

A variety of bloggable topics are available this weekend. Here goes:


World Series


I was initially surprised to see the Yankees comeback from an early 0-3 deficit.  But I shouldn't have.  Cole Hamels has been shaky this postseason, and unlike some of the Phillies these Yankees are professional hitters.   They swing at strikes, and fielded a relentless line up that even featured pitcher Andy Petite driving in a run.


[Interesting take on these Yankees today in the Times.]


The Phillies' approach last night was not as professional.  Case in point is Shane Victorino.  Batting in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out, Victorino came up after Jimmy Rollins walked - WALKED - to drive in a run and give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.  Most ball players know to take the first pitch if the previous hitter walked.  But Victorino was a bonehead twice, swinging at two balls waaaaayyyyy outside the strike zone to quickly put himself in the hole 0-2.


He eventually drove in a run - on a defensive swing - on a sacrifice fly but instead of breaking the game open with a hit, driving Petite off the mound in the process, Victorino's sacrifice ended the chance for a big, game -changing inning.

• Good column by Tom Boswell today that semi-explains why umpiring in baseball has declined so badly in recent years.  Bad umpiring/refereeing seems endemic to all sports these days but in baseball the umpiring stinks worse than in other sports.  From calling a terrible strike zone, to allowing hitters and pitchers go on a walkabout after every pitch, to missing fairly obvious calls this postseason - fair and foul balls, two runners on the same base, plays at first - baseball has a fairly serious issue to deal with. Boswell makes a good case that instant replay deserves a chance to solve some these problems.

Carolina football


Huge win for the Heels on Thursday night against Virginia Tech. There are almost too many story lines to talk about: a road win versus a ranked opponent, bouncing back from a terrible home loss the previous Thursday that also was a nationally televised game, coming back late in the game after falling behind due to a terrible turnover/interception by Yates.


The win was inspiring; the Heels could have mailed in the rest of their season and done what some so-called scribes had done and turned to basketball.  But instead they played with pride and determination and were rewarded with a meaningful and season-saving win.


The Heels will need to sustain that effort and focus if they truly want to save the season.  Carolina has four tough game left, versus Miami, at Boston College, and rivalry games versus NC State and Duke.  The Duke game is homecoming next week - Evan, Johnny, Alex and I will be there - and the Blue Devils is no pushover.  The Dukies are 5-3 after defeating Virginia in Charlottesville yesterday.  Beating the 'Hoos may not be that big a deal, then again the Heels lost to them in Chapel Hill.


Either way, I'm looking forward to spending a day and a half in Chapel Hill for homecoming (something I never thought I would ever want to attend).  This will actually be the fourth Duke-Carolina game in five years for Johnny, Evan and myself.


Wizards


Got to catch part of the Wizards win last night over the Nets. Arenas continues to look fantastic, and Andray Blatche off the bench almost matched Agent Zero's 32 points.  Brendan Haywood finished with 10 and 7 (a reverse of his opening-night numbers).


I may be the only guy I know who is paying attention; only 3 people voted in my favorite Wizards poll (and I think those 3 were me, Evan and Ariadne).


Heels in NBA


Of all the Heels in the NBA rookie Ty Lawson is probably off to the best start.  Lawson was the best player on the floor for Denver as they rallied to defeat Portland on opening night.  Lawson finished with 17 points in that game in 26 minutes.  He scored 7 in 17 minutes last night in another Nuggets win.


Here's a look at what the others Heels are doing so far:


Wayne Ellington: Ellington is playing, getting 23 min/game, while averaging 6 pts on 32% shooting; has yet to hit a three-pointer in two games.
Sean May: May is starting for 0-3 Sacramento but still playing 'out of shape' minutes, around 19 a game and averaging only 6 points a game.  I hope May gets healthy and gets his career on track.  He should be a good pro.
Brendan Haywood Off to a pretty good start - averaging 12 and 9 - though his timing on offense appears off as he returns from a wrist injury that kept him out of 79 games last year. Physically looks great, trim and agile.
Jawad Williams Has only played 2 minutes of mop-up time in one game, but hey he's in the NBA!
Rasheed Wallace Happily coming off the bench and playing a lot at crunch time, Ra is averaging 9 points a game. Twenty of his twenty-six shots have been three-pointers.
Raymond Felton Continues to struggle with his shot for the 1-2 Bobcats. Averaging 14 points (39% shooting) and 5 assists in 28 minutes a game. I still can't figure out why Ray has not become Chris Paul.
Marvin Williams Is third option on a young and dynamic Hawks team.   Averaging 12 points though 2 games.
Vince Carter The Magic are 2-0 with Carter, but Vince only played 15 minutes in their second game due to a sprained ankle (and did not play today versus the Raptors).  Carter is averaging 15.5 points a game on 55% shooting in two games.


Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Brandan Wright and Antawn Jamison have yet to play this season due to injuries, and both Jerry Stackhouse and Rashad McCants have yet to sign with a team.  For a while rumors circulated that McCants would join Aris Thessaloniki (in my dad's hometown) in a Carolina-Hellenic Blue blog-driven move.


Completely Random

• What ever happened to Jurassic 5?  'Day at the Races' came on my iPod the other day, a song that hinted at their promise.  Maybe I missed something, but what happened to the group who rapped 'you're out of your league like Jordan was with baseball' and featured the 'verbal Herman Munster' as one of their members?
• Lots of comments on our Halloween 2009 iPod mix for our party last night. Most often asked question "Are we listening to ABC?"  With Halloween as the obvious theme the mix featured "Poison Arrow" - due to the word poison - "Back from the Dead" by Spinal Tap, the "Buttercup" theme from the Power Puff Girls soundtrack, and more cliched songs like "Thriller," "Dead Man's Party" and "Everyday is Halloween." 
• Sorry for some of the font problems with this page.  The software was upgraded and I have yet to find my comfort zone.