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The UNC Tar Heel basketball team has no one to blame but themselves for their first game elimination from the ACC Championship... a precursor to the NCAA March Madness Tournament. A Roy Williams coached team with so much promise after last season began this year's round ball schedule under a shroud of mystery surrounding its leading scorer P. J. Hairston. How long would his suspension last... when would his sneakers again run up and down the hardwood when it really counted? Well, as everyone found out several games into the season, Hairston would be kept out of action for the entire season by the NCAA.
That phony, hypocritical parasitical organization which exploits student athletes while destroying athletic careers of some student-athletes in order to make itself seem relevant, did not disqualify Hairston for drug or alcohol violations... not for sexual assault or harassment... not for unauthorized possession or use of a firearm... not for talking to a sports agent... and not for any academic failures (being one of the UNC student athletes who can read at a college level). Nope, the reason the NCAA kept Hairston from joining his team this year had something to do with his foot... evidently it is made of lead.
It seems that in July 2013, Hairston was driving 75 mph on a freeway with a 65 mph limit... horrors!! Although he was initially charged with reckless driving, he later pled guilty to a reduced charge of speeding and unsafe movement. As the September 4, 2013 article in The News & Observer titled, "Hairston pleads guilty to reduced charge," noted, Hairston was suspended indefinitely hours after being cited for the traffic transgression. And the article went on to say that this was the third "off-court misstep" for the star Tar Heel basketballer who was previously cited twice for driving a rental vehicle linked to a felon. First of all, I am unaware that it is a crime to drive a rental vehicle linked to a felon. I am unaware that it is a crime to drive a vehicle owned by a felon. If that is the case, it behooves everyone to be knowledgeable of the criminal record of anyone of who he/she might think of asking to borrow a car. If there is such a ridiculous rule on the books... I would appreciate enlightenment about it.
Of course, it is possible that such a rule has been inspired by the NCAA and is applicable only to student-athletes. The point is that Hairston should never have been banned for the entire basketball season just because he might have had a need for speed. He certainly didn't violate any of the many ludicrous NCAA rules, regulations, and laws. The NCAA didn't disqualify Johnny "Football" Manziel for signing his sports memorabilia at a convention and profiting to the tune of $7,500. He was only suspended the first half of the season opening Texas A and M football game. Part of the reason for the avaricious organization's leniency was that it was profiting off Manziel's name as well by selling his jersey online. Anyway, when comparing the two discretions above, ask yourself which one is the more severe and deserves the harshest punishment. In my opinion, both are trivial with the NCAA's involvement in them being the most egregious action of all.
UNC, which did nothing to support or defend Hairston, should have "Debbie Yow'd" the NCAA. Bold and brazen as that organization is, it knows better than to mess with North Carolina State because Debbie Yow would go them like hogs in a sty at feedin' time. As the saying goes, "You don't mess with Texas or Debbie Yow." Yow not only protects Wolfpack sports programs and teams, but its fans, too. Everyone knows that those two rowdy NC State fans were out of control and that the referee was justified in having them removed from the State home game... but Yow was quick to counter-attack, with the bleeding and battered referee barely able to hold onto his job while the two State fan-agitators were greeted and treated as conquering heroes in a subsequent home basketball game.
The problem with UNC and its sports-related timidity is that it is gun-shy. After years of media-provoked meddling into the athletics and academic programs at the Chapel Hill university (which is aimed at destroying Julius Nyang'oro), it is bending over backwards to try and satiate the endless appetite for power sought by the NCAA. Face it, Nyang'oro was only doing what he could to help UNC field high caliber and competitive sports teams. That means recruiting and enrolling high school students with stellar athletic prowess, but being somewhat deficient in the academic arena. Nyang'oro was charged with seeing that the scholarly challenged athletes were able to pass GPA threshold to enable them to compete. That is exactly what he did, and as a result, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall, is smelling blood and is going in for the kill... a waste taxpayer money, court time, and state resources to sully what reputation is left for Nyang'oro after going through the media shredder... Woodall totally bent on destroying the former educator's life and legacy.
Durhamian David Williamson wrote a common-sense comment in the People's Forum of the March 9, 2014 News & Observer... naturally, it agrees with what I'm saying and can be accessed below. The question remains, how will North Carolina fare in the NCAA Tournament? It is certainly hard to tell considering that it fielded a team lacking last year's leading scorer, but one thing is certain. By allowing P. J. Hairston to be disqualified from playing this season, the team has dug itself a pretty deep hole long before opening tip-off of March Madness begins.
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