ost #366 Re: BIG Dance

I will be pulling hard for Miami and Duke. I hate Duke --pure jealousy here -- and will routinely pull against them in the conference, the ACC, but I also realize that it makes the conference look good for Duke to win out-of-conference. Thank Goodness North Carolina is already gone. I will NEVER pull for Carolina, tho -- yes, my hatred runs deep!

You probably want to know: Why not give Carolina the same benefit as Duke --that is, hate them in the conference but pull for them outside the conference? Is not your deep-rooted hatred irrational and unhealthy? Maybe. I hate Duke for their success; I hate Carolina for their success. Indeed, the ACC used to be popularly known as the All North Carolina State Conference at its beginning -- now it is the All Carolina Conference. But that is just jealousy, too. Well, actually, my hatred runs deeper.

Sportsmanship, a sense of fair play -- players shake hands and compete on a level playing field. But Carolina has titled the playing field. The University has stepped in with their own institutionalized fraud -- bogus classes, bogus degrees, a scheme to pass athletes through the system while helping them remain academically eligible. This unfairly gave Carolina a significant competitive advantage over their fellow ACC and NCAA members which led to bragging rights and untold extra money in endorsements, booster donations and brand awareness. That is why I hate Carolina -- they don't play fair and refuse to even acknowledge their cheating ways.

Read the Martin report, a look at Carolina academics prepared by the former governor of North Carolina, Jim Martin. He found 670 instances of cheating -- 216 bogus classes which had little or no instructions and 454 unauthorized grade changes (for those keeping score at home, that is a little more than 44 instances of cheating per year) -- dating back to '97. He said this was isolated in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and blamed one rogue professor (who, incredibly, would have had to taught a little more than 14 bogus classes per year) and one rogue administrator. Of course, Martin, a UNC grad, holds no one accountable -- not even the two rogues. [rolleyes]

When Chancellor Holden Thorp finally 'steps out the door.' (he is retiring, not because he instigated the scandal but because he oversaw the exposure) he ought to issue an apology -- expressing remorse and regret and an acknowledgement of what happened, how it happened and why it happened and a promise to fix things. "We're sorry. We cheated. We empowered Jock-Sniffing Professors to step in with their own institutionalized fraud -- bogus classes, bogus degrees, a scheme to pass athletes through the system while helping them remain academically eligible. This happened because of our mis-guided faith in The Carolina Way which enabled us to fail to properly oversee The Carolina Way to make sure that it was working as advertised. It wasn't. We did this to unfairly give ourselves a significant competitive advantage over our fellow ACC and NCAA members which led to bragging rights and untold extra money in endorsements, booster donations and brand awareness. We promise to never do this again and are taking steps to tighten our oversight. Again, we apologize." No names were besmirched, no reputations ruined. Is that too much to ask?

Post #365 See Ya 'Round

My eye treatments did NOT work -- well, FULLY. The right eye is good; the left eye is bleeding again. The doc is trying to figure the next step. Um, well, if I have to get more treatments, I will get more treatments. I'd rather be shot than to get more treatments, but I'd also rather be shot than to go blind. But what can you do? So, I am going to take an indefinite leave of absence -- that sounds better than "quitting." ;O