It's a sad time, really.

I'm seeing my interest and enjoyment of college sports slowly slip away as the organizations governing them seem intent on screwing things up. First, it was the one-and-done rule implemented several years ago by the NBA, that said an athlete must be one year past high school graduation before entering the NBA Draft. What is the point of such a rule, except to severely screw up college basketball? College basketball has become simply a one-year showcase for the elite players, who don't play so much as 40 games in their college careers before shipping off to the pros. This disrupts the team aspect of the game and doesn't allow for consistency. Some coaches choose to play the game within the parameters (John Calipari), just recruiting the best players for their teams from year to year, and then going out and doing it again every spring. This is not against the rules, but it seems to be against the spirit. Again, I am not positing that Calipari is cheating, and he is working within the current structure, but, really, is it college basketball? Really? Or is it semi-pro traveling team basketball?

That's not to say that my team, North Carolina, hasn't benefited from the one-year rule. Almost certainly Brandan Wright and Marvin Williams (who both left after one season) would not have come to Chapel Hill. But I think the one year has put kids in school who otherwise wouldn't have come and thus taken away opportunities from other players. Maybe Carolina would have recruited  a second-tier player who'd have come for three or four years in Wright or Williams' spot. Maybe that player went to a second-tier school. Maybe that second-tier school would have reached down and given an opportunity to a third-tier player. And so it continues. Somewhere, some deserving kid is not playing basketball on scholarship because of these ringers.

I think college baseball has it right: either go straight to the draft, or come to school for three years. Don't come in for a season and then force me to recruit to replace you. Give me some sense of consistency. That's what college basketball needs. So waive the age limit, but make players who enroll in school stay for three years. If you get redshirted and impress enough in two seasons to make the jump, Godspeed.

Conference expansion is also going to kill college sports. Right now, there is talk that the ACC, SEC and Big Ten could eventually each have 16 teams. This is ludicrous. We don't need that. Remember back in the day when everybody played everybody in football, and everybody played everybody twice in basketball? Those were the days. This allowed rivalries to develop within conferences and stoked the fire between fan bases. As it is now, in the ACC, teams are guaranteed two home-and-home matchups every year with primary rivals, and then it's a toss-up. You'll get to play five teams twice and six teams once, on a rotating basis. That's just three more home-and-homes in addition to the primary rivals. It's not ideal, but it's what we have. Make that 16 teams, and then what? Do you play one team twice and 15 teams once? I doubt it. Probably there's a system where you play everybody in your half of the division, and then rotate around with teams in the other one. Silly. The Big East makes it work for them, somehow. I still don't like it.

The only reason for expansion in the first place was the dumb NCAA-mandated minimum 12 teams in a conference before you can stage a championship game. Well I say the NCAA can go jump in a lake. Seriously. They don't govern the BCS, so who cares what they have to say about Division I college football anyway? The NCAA's biggest cash cow could be college football, but they hand it over to an incompetent commission that is intent on preserving an antiquated bowl system, thinking somehow that the bowls will lose money if a playoff is in place. I recognize the irony of my own pining for the old days when I advocate for a playoff. But right now, the bowls are an exhibition game, and people go to them. Setting seven aside for an eight-team playoff wouldn't change the attendance at the other, inconsequential bowls.

So the NCAA doesn't concern itself with stepping in and forcing a football playoff in Division I, so why give them the power to say you have to have 12 teams to have a conference championship game? Just have it. Screw the NCAA. What are they going to do, keep you out of the BCS?

And we know now that the NCAA Tournament will expand to 68 teams, although there's no evidence that that's where it's going to stop. Eventually, the tournament will be a 96-team affair, with all regular season and tournament champions getting a pass into the dance. This is ludicrous. College basketball is wonderful because everyone has hope. But not everyone should get an NCAA Tournament bid just because coaches are complaining. Right now, it means something to get a bid. If 96 teams are in, that means each conference could have up to two teams. There are 31 conferences. It's likely that in some cases, the regular season champion will then win the conference tournament. But what if they tank the conference tournament (like some coaches do) because they're already in. So there are 62 automatic bids. That leaves just 24 at-large bids, or 10 fewer than there are now. Who gets those? The Top 25? Then coaches will complain more, because they finished runner-up in their conference and then got upset on the last day of the conference tourney. Then we'll expand again. Oh geez.

Right now the regular season means something, because it's supposed to be hard to get to the NCAA Tournament. I hear people saying that, well, more than half of the Division I-A football teams get to play in the postseason, so why do only 1/5 of the basketball teams get to play in the postseason? Well, as we discussed before, all but one of those bowl games are inconsequential. Every team in the NCAA Tournament has a chance to win the championship. Not so in the bowl games. So, coaches, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HARD TO GET INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE INCENTIVE-LADEN CONTRACTS.

Eventually, everything I just wrote about is going to happen. The NBA will never be able to enact a draft policy like Major League Baseball, conferences are going to expand to at least 16, and the NCAA Tournament will keep growing. In the meantime, let's just appreciate what we have now. Because these are the good old days we'll be reminiscing about in the coming years.

As you may know, I am now writing for Tar Heel Monthly and TarHeelBlue.Com. So, if you've stopped by here every once in a while looking for new content, you may have been disappointed. Not to worry - I am covering the football team very closely this year and will be pumping out new stuff left and right, just not usually for HeelsBlog.

Today I went to the 7th annual Triangle Pigskin Preview. My observations are here. Also, please follow the Tar Heel Monthly staff on our twitter page at http://twitter.com/TarHeelMonthly. You'll not only hear from me, but also other people you're familiar with, like Adam Lucas and Lauren Brownlow. This weekend I'll be in Greensboro for the ACC Media Kickoff, so I'll definitely have updates Sunday and Monday.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Swagger is back at the U! Miami is back! Just look! They are recruiting some of the best kids in the nation from winning programs! That's how Randy Shannon does it. Just look at the roster. There are 237 kids from Miami Northwestern High School, and their combined high school records were 7865434-1. Winners! That's how Randy Shannon does it and the swagger is back at the U! Miami is back! Just look at the tailgating! The swagger is back! For these chicken wings and pork tenderloins and fish, just add lemon pepper, Lawry's seasoned salt, and marinate with our secret ingredient. Are you ready for the secret ingredient? It's swagger! That's a recipe for victory!

The swagger is back at the U! It's back! Miami's back! Randy Shannon recruits players exclusively from winning programs! And that's what they do! They win! Just look at the scoreboard! They're up 10 points with less than ten minutes to go! Against a third-string quarterback! No chance for the opponents! The swagger is back! Right? Right?








The swagger is in the back seat.

Do me a favor. Go ahead and write off Saturday's win over McNeese State. Stop worrying about it. Stop fretting over it. Stop blasting the running game, the offensive line, the defensive line, Greg Little and Hakeem Nicks.

Last night was just plain weird. It was bizarre. There was a near two-hour delay of the game, just three minutes in to the second quarter. There was lightning striking the PA booth. There was an evacuation of the stadium. There was falling concrete. There was a game ball parachuted in to the wrong stadium.

Yes, both teams had to deal with the delay, and McNeese State handled it well. They went into the visitors' locker room, said, "Hell, we're down two touchdowns. What do we have to lose?" and played with some fire to storm to the lead. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels went back to the locker room, listened to their iPods and treated the delay like it was pre-game. And came out flat.

So just write this one off. Before a Thursday night game at Rutgers, the Heels have 12 days to fix some issues. And they'd better.

Football:

Kenan Stadium plan moves ahead

The University of North Carolina's Board of Trustees approved the
design for a first phase of plans to substantially expand the Tar
Heels' football stadium.

This is good news. A commitment to expand and improve Kenan Stadium is a commitment to make the football program a serious contender.

Countdown to Kickoff #36: North Carolina

If the Tar Heels can improve upon
their 96th-ranked turnover margin and win half of the close games they
lost last season, seven wins and North Carolina's first bowl since 2004
is likely.

Basketball

Tar Heels know pressure will be on to win title

After an uncertain offseason that ended with an unlikely outcome by
today's standards, the Tar Heels are left with an inescapable fact:
They are the clear preseason favorite to win the national title that
has eluded Hansbrough in his first three years.

Baseball

Forbes promoted to Associate Head Coach



Following a stint in Chapel Hill as an assistant from 1999-2002, Forbes
has served as the Tar Heels' pitching coach for the last three seasons
and has helped guide Carolina to three straight College World Series
appearances.

Hey Gang -
I set the next HeelsBlog podcast for today, but I'm pushing it back to Tuesday, so we can have a more complete show for you. We'll have recaps from the men's game against BC and at Florida State, and talk about the women's games at home against Maryland, at Wake Forest, and Monday night's game at Duke. Plus, we'll preview football signing day, which is Wednesday. And, we'll have a special guest. So thanks for your patience.

Nice win over Boston College last night. Ty Lawson's line for the last two games is amazing - 20 assists and one turnover. Deon Thompson played perhaps his best game as a Tar Heel, and Tyler Hansbrough was Tyler Hansbrough.

Will the team look past Florida State on Sunday? I don't think so. They might have if they had not lost to Maryland, but I think that game woke the team up. Toney Douglas will be tough to guard, but the guys can get it done.

North Carolina's football team is 1-4 right now. One win at the beginning of the season, and four straight losses since, with five and six staring them in the face as Miami and South Carolina come to Kenan. But three of those losses have been by a combined 12 points (with 7 of those being at Virginia Tech). North Carolina was 1-4 at this point last season, but the feeling is incredibly different.

In talking to players, coaches and football staff, it becomes apparent that the tide of this program is turning. We aren't yet seeing the results on the scoreboard, but look closely at this football team. They're hitting harder. They're making plays. They're building a program.

Certainly it's not all there yet. Certainly there are pieces that aren't yet in place. But North Carolina football under Butch Davis is turning around, and it is an exciting time to watch this football program.

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Carolina lost to East Carolina on Saturday. That much is certainly true. It was a heartbreaking, last-second defeat to the Pirates with plenty of missed opportunities that could have changed the outcome. I'm sure it was disappointing to the players, coaches and fans.

I fall into that third category: fans. And as a fan, there's something I've realized over the past few years: I can't do anything about what happens on the field. I don't have anything to do with it. I can get excited and cheer, get sad and discouraged, but ultimately, nothing I do will make a difference. Sure, there are times when the crowd can motivate (or de-motivate) a team, but really it's up to them to perform.

With this in mind, I've sort of taken a new approach to athletics, particularly wins and losses. I have made it my mission to enjoy the journey and not place so much value on the result. If my team loses a game, I used to forget about the beautiful plays that made me so excited in the course of a contest. Now, I try to appreciate the way I felt watching those plays, even after the score is decided.

So, while I still feel disappointment in losing, I recognize that nothing I could have done would have changed the outcome. I appreciate the opportunity to witness terrific athletic performances that, while they may not have resulted in a win, brought me such great joy in the moment.

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Thursday, TarHeelBlue ran a story of mine on the defensive line. Check it out. Also, don't forget to keep checking this page for my podcasts. Recent interviews include Johnny White, Durell Mapp, Hakeem Nicks and Greg Little. It seems like there is a lot of buzz around this program. The players appear to be excited, the coaches are passionate, and the fans suspect something's up in Chapel Hill. It's a great time to be a Tar Heel.

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