The Hell Express

...left Iraq about dawn this morning with one passenger aboard.

I am no saint, and my language can sometimes be salty, but "go to Hell" is a curse I just don't go slinging around. I don't know why. I have no problem saying "damn you" or "damn this", which is pretty much the same thing.

Still, you gotta admit, if anyone earned a first-class ticket straight to Hades, it was this guy. As Charlie Sheen said in "Hot Shots", sayonara Saddam.

A Sad State of Affairs

DISCLAIMER: In case authorities report a seismic event in the Topsail Beach area about 2:30 Saturday, it wasn't an earthquake - it was a large man jumping off the John Bunting bandwagon.

Saturday may have been the first day of fall, but it was the beginning of the winter of discontent for fans of the University of North Carolina football team.

"Embarrassing" was how John Bunting described his team's performance against Clemson, and there is simply no more fitting word for it. Carolina was woeful on both sides of the football and was thoroughly and completely dominated by a team ranked #19 in the country and in second place in the ACC standings. There is no need to write a Good, Bad, and Ugly report, because it would simply the the "Occasionally Bad but Mostly Ugly" report.

I will allow that a bias may exist in the comments that follow, because I am simply disgusted with both the game at Clemson and the apparent lack of progress in Bunting's sixth season. But having been a rather ardent supporter of Bunting the past few years, I can make these comments with a clear conscience.

Four games into the season, there are so many deficiencies with this football team, it is hard to find a place to begin, but the primary issue is on defense. The defensive line play has been atrocious, and there appears to be a lack of quality depth on the line. Moreover, the D-line appears to be weak and gets blown up by even a I-AA offensive line like Furman's. Even worse at the beginning of the season was the horrid play at linebacker, so much so that the defensive staff moved some of the defensive backs to linebacker. The obvious result is a lack of depth at defensive back, but the play at that position has been the one bright spot on a horrific defense. The D-backs' tackle totals are soaring because the line is getting blown up so often, so maybe NFL scouts will be impressed by their numbers.

The story reads not quite as badly on the offensive side of the football. If the offensive coaches really feel Cam Sexton is their best option at QB, then they must really think Joe Dailey is awful. Sexton is supposed to have a great arm, but he threw more airballs and bricks Saturday than Shaq at the free throw line. Meanwhile, though Dailey has a higher completion rate than Sexton, the problem is that it is often to the other team. Carolina does appear to be solid at running back and receiver, but none of that is any good if the offensive line can't block air, which they cannot appear to do. Carolina's tackles were repeatedly smoked against Clemson, had 3 or 4 false starts, and the personal foul on Chacos was a nice touch - glad the compliance office spent that time and paperwork to get him a sixth year.

On special teams, at least our kickers have looked a little better, save for Wooldridge's blocked punt against VT. Other than Furman, however, our kick coverage team hasn't gotten a lot of work because we haven't scored.

So, once again, a third of the way through the season, we sit a miserable 1-3. Some might say, given our schedule, that we really couldn't expect to be more than 2-2, but I would be happier with a competitive 1-3 than the punked 1-3 we are currently showing. Again, Bunting sits in the post-game presser talking about being "competitive" at the highest levels. After six years, it's time to start being more than competitive.

As a side note, Saturday's game was Bunting's 39th loss at Carolina, and his 12th by more than 30 points. So that means that roughly every 3rd loss for us is by 4 TDs or more. In addition, his teams have set 9 records for defensive futility (worst loss, most yards surrendered, etc - and the latest addition on Saturday, most rushing TDs surrendered in one game). Even the 1-10 years weren't like that.

I don't think there is a single person affiliated with Carolina that doesn't want to see John Bunting to succeed. He is an alum, he runs a clean program, academic measures are way up, and this is a terminal stop for him - no Mack Brown to Texas worries here. But again, after six years, it is put up or shut up time - and to his credit, I think he'll be the first one to tell you that.

Someone who is a Carolina football insider and whose opinion I trust wholeheartedly told me that Bunting's biggest signing of the offseason was retaining defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders, but four games so far have not borne that out. While the Heels have been decent against the pass, their run defense is atrocious and the defensive unit has given up 500 yards of total offense in back-to-back games. Assignments are repeatedly missed and how about the SEVEN encroachment calls on Saturday. Moreover, the arm-tackling and shoulder-bumping of a few seasons ago seems to be back. There is no way you can look at this team through four games and call them a well-coached unit.

Then there was all of the hype about Frank Cignetti coming over from Fresno, but so far it appears as if he is using the playbook Gary Tranquill left in his desk as he cleared out the offensive coordinator's office. The flanker screens and QB options used against Rutgers appear to have been ditched for off-tackle right and drop-back passes (especially since Sexton has all the mobility of Bernie Kosar on downers).

But the most burning part is that, for the first time in the Bunting era, this team appeared to lay down against Clemson. Maybe giving up 35, 42, and 52 points in successive weeks will wear down a defense, but the offense has only managed four TDs against its 3 D-I opponents, and the running game is non-existent against a quality opponent. Or it may have to do with conditioning and strength - both our lines were simply man-handled by Clemson and our tacklers often bounced off ball carriers. It appears we are weak mentally and physically.

So at the end of the day, we are left with this - a team and a staff entirely of Bunting's creation that has absolutely failed its tests through the first third of the season - again, not so much record-wise, but just in the state of the program overall. But, as I have said before, the most consistent thing about Carolina football under John Bunting is its inconsistency. Carolina has been known to lay an egg and follow it up with a brilliant performance - most notably two years ago when, after being embarrassed at Utah, the Heels had an open date and responded with a win over Miami and a bowl trip. Well, guess what the scenario is now - an open date, and Miami.

Is it time to raise the flag of surrender and pull the rip cord on the Bunting era? Not yet, but you might want to pack the parachute. Some would argue the most challenging part of the season is past, but there are still trips to Miami and Notre Dame on the schedule. I think Bunting will be judged by performances against teams supposedly in the same situation - State, Wake, Duke, South Florida, and Virginia. I can tell you South Florida and Virginia are awful, but State and Wake look resurgent and could give us fits.

We would have to win five of our last eight to be bowl-eligible. A Herculean task, but not impossible. But to lose five of our last eight, far more likely, will force some hard choices in South Building. I hate to say this, but all Carolina fans have ever wanted out of football is to go to a bowl most years, win 6-7-8 games, with an occasional losing season thrown in, but mainly to take the field every Saturday knowing you are on a level playing field and have a chance to win if things go well. In other words, all we want is what Chuck Amato has produced at NCSU for the past seven years.

Now doesn't THAT get under your skin?

Quick Hitters

Thoughts rambling around in my head:

Was there any more useless waste of time and energy than the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson deal? And now when it's revealed who the leaker was, well, we're still waiting for the mea culpa. Or, like the Washington Post, you can take the media equivalent of a "my bad"...

It amazes me that, even when revealed that a pretty staunch anti-war guy, Richard Armitage, was the Plamegate leaker, left-wing nutballs still think Karl Rove had something to do with it? The left's obsession with Rove is humorous, and to think the White House's own Darth Vader would be brought down on something this petty would be underestimating Rove. Then again, they got Al Capone on tax evasion...

And I also laugh at this "outing" of Valerie Plame, like she was deep undercover in a burka in Pakistan, planting surveilance bugs in Osama's cave when the New York Times was delivered with her picture and blew her cover. Besides, being an internationally known super-spy worked well for both James Bond and Austin Powers, so...

Think there's any correlation to the death of Plamegate and the release of the Senate report nixing the link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?

...

Marion Jones' B-sample came back negative. Whew, what a relief. I mean, after her coach, ex-husband, and former trainer were all busted for doping and Jones herself was mentioned in the BALCO investigation, someone might have the mistaken idea that she actually took performance-enhancing drugs...

Coming soon, a shocking revelation: some NFL players take performance-enhancing drugs as well...

Do you think Carolina Panthers player Julius Peppers is pissed? He caught a four-game suspension a few years ago for taking a Sudafed, yet four of his teammates were juicing before the Super Bowl and never got caught...

...

More later...

Heirs Apparent

Emma Caroline holds her baby brother, Silas Christopher, born Sunday, August 6 at 7:23 PM.

Welcome to the world, my son.

A Star-Spangled Lesson

So, as I sat in church this morning, I noticed the Star-Spangled Banner is no longer in the Presbyterian Hymnal. Wow.

There are other patriotic songs in there, such as America the Beautiful, and My Country 'tis of Thee, which is really funny because that song is sung to the tune of God Save the Queen.

So at least the tune of the British national anthem is in there. As is the beautiful Lift Every Voice and Sing by James Weldon Johnson, often considered the "Black national anthem". But not our own American national anthem. At least not any more.

I could make this a rant about what it says about our politically correct society or the decline of patriotism, but I won't. Sadly, much of what I learned about the national anthem I gleaned as a child from the printing of the whole song in the church hymnal. And, not assuming much about the state of civics and history education in America today, allow me to pontificate here on the basis that you, gentle reader, do not know much about our anthem.

Francis Scott Key, a Washington, DC lawyer, sailed into the Chesapeake Bay to board a British ship with the purpose of securing the release of an acquaintance who had been captured by the British during the War of 1812. The release was secured, but the British would not allow Key to return to Baltimore as an assault was about to begin on Fort McHenry, which defended the harbor. So Key was sent to an American ship where he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry throughout the day and night of September 13, 1814.

At dawn on the 14th, through the haze and early morning sun, Key and his shipmates sought to determine if the fort had fallen by seeing if the American flag was still flying. To their amazement - and pride - the fort had survived the brutal attack, as indicated by the Stars and Stripes billowing above.

Key wrote his observations into a poem called "The Defense of Fort McHenry", and was later put to music in the mid-1800s. It became our national anthem in 1931.

The first verse of his poem has become the words of our national anthem, but so few people ever listen to the words anymore. The first verse is tense and hopeful as evidenced below:

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,

It is the morning's first light - is the flag there as it was at sunset last night?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

We could see the flag during the illuminations of the night-time battle, but...

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Is it still there? Did we, and what we stand for, survive the battle?

Notice that last sentence - which is often sung triumphantly - is a question! People forget that part.

The second and third verses deal with the details of the battle, but I learned the fourth verse as a child, and it is this verse I think America needs to be reminded of as we stand toe-to-toe with the forces of evil in the war against terror:

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. (emphasis mine)

That, friends, is what we really should be singing every day.

No Matter What

I came across two wholly unrelated things in the past few days that put the War on Terror in perspective for me.

First, I saw the campy 1996 movie Mars Attacks, in which the Martians keep destroying things on Earth while the bumbling government blames it on "cultural misunderstandings" and seeks to play an alien invasion for political gain. In the end, we finally figure out that the Martians are, in fact, attempting to destroy the Earth and all our weapons are useless until it is discovered that the sound of Slim Whitman yodeling makes their heads explode.

The other thing I stumbled upon was Charles Krauthammer's excellent column from last week, in which he notes that Israel has pretty much given its Arab neighbors everything they have asked for at the bargaining table, and yet the Arabs keep coming back to attack Israel.

What is the relationship between these two things? Well, the reaction of our government and media has been much along that of the government in Mars Attacks, while Krauthammer nails the underlying motivations of Islamic and Arab fundamentalism.

In the movie, when the aliens are discovered, it is assumed that since their civilization was more advanced, that it would therefore be peaceful. Similarly, assumptions are made about the Islamofascists every day - such as "they are rational", or "if we give them what they want, they will leave us alone."

Krauthammer points out that Israel has withdrawn from both South Lebanon and Gaza in the past six years, yet Arabs have used these very places as launching points to continue armed conflict against Israel.

Moreover, he notes that the issue for Israel's Arab neighbors is the very existence of the State of Israel itself. The Islamic radicals will not rest until Israel is wiped off the face of the planet. And no amount of negotiating, or brokering cease-fires, is going to change that.

Israel knows that it is literally fighting for its existence as a nation every day. It also knows that the only way to stop a fanatic is by being even more crazy. Israel lives by the motto of, "when fired upon, return the fire." Why? Because to not respond is to allow those who would see Israel destroyed to gain traction. For Israel, who has been under near-constant attack for the 60 years of its existence, proportioned responses are out the window. The opposition must go down and they must go down hard.

The lesson to be learned here is that al-Qaeda and the Iraqi "insurgency" go by the same playbook as Hamas and Hezbollah. There is little room for proportioned responses. These organizations fighting against the United States feel the same way about us that they do about Israel - they want us gone - not from their land, but from all existence. Couple that with the fact that we are seen as Israel's top ally, and we really are dog-meat to them.

So the point is this - it doesn't matter whether or not we kill women and children, it doesn't matter whether or not we build schools and infrastructure in Iraq, it doesn't matter what we do, the Islamofascists are going to hate us, no matter what. That's no cultural misunderstanding, either.

The only reason there has been an Israel since 1947 is that anytime they are attacked, they respond with a smackdown so intense that it sends the fanatic bugs back into the desert and under the rocks. A period of relative peace ensues until some guy grows enough hair on his sack to try it again, then Israel smacks this guy down. And they don't care who gets hurt because A) this is about their literal, not figurative, survival, and B) they know nothing they do is going to satisfy the Arabs, no matter what.

It's a lesson we could stand to learn in our dealings with al-Qaeda and the terrorists in Iraq.

American Independence

1. 
   Happy 230th birthday, America - you don't look a day over 205!
   
   I have so many things rolling around in my head today about Independence Day and what it means in the post-modern world.
   
   My good buddy K-Nine over at Dead Dog Walkin' is thinking along the same lines I am in many respects.
   
   But beyond that, where do we go with our young republic from here? and yes, it is a young republic - 230 years is not a huge amount of time, speaking in historical terms.
   
   The general view among the intelligentsia is that maybe America is an idea whose time has come and gone. That somehow the principles on which the country was founded are now bankrupt, in some way.
   
   Oh, everyone hates us, they say. We are just a big bully, a big baby of a nation-state, throwing temper tantrums in Afghanistan and Iraq.
   
   To many of the same intelligentsia, we are some kind of nouveau-riche, Beverly Hillbillies-esque crasher at the table of nations. We hit the Powerball of nation-building and now have decorated our million-dollar Palm Beach mansion with polyester curtains, redwood decks, and crystal Elvis replicas.
   
   Or more relevant to today's discussion, we are a sub-continent-sized Wal-Mart, bullying our way in where we aren't wanted and bringing short-term gains in exchange for selling our souls in the long term.
   
   Well, in the words of Col. Sherman T. Potter of M*A*S*H fame, "Horse Hockey!"
   
   Let's get a few things straight:
   
   1. This country is the greatest experiment in representational democracy ever attempted. Period.
   2. As mentioned before, we are a young republic; yet, in our short time on this Earth, our nation has, among many other things:
   * Ended slavery in the western hemisphere;
   * Fought tyranny on our own shores and abroad;
   * Stopped one of the most formidible forces of evil known to man in the form of Adolf Hitler;
   * Ended Japanese imperialism and oppression;
   * Salvaged war-torn Europe and Japan;
   * Outlasted genocidal Communist dictators;
   * Fed countless starving people in the third world;
   * Cured polio, transplanted hearts, and touched the moon and the stars.
   
   And we did all these things with our own blood and our own money. We walked the walk and takled the talk.
   
   Are we blameless? Certainly not. We have our issues; some solved, others not. But if you want to wear the crown, you have to bear the cross. Like it or not, we are the best game in town. Economically, socially, politically. Like the Clampetts, who may have been socially inept or bumbling, you know at the end of the day, they meant well.
   
   Someone mentioned how much the world hates us. Fine. So here's what we do: pull out of the world. Disengage. Iraq, you're on your own. Kenya, time to feed yourself. UN, find some place else to call home. India, Pakistan? Good luck with that nuclear thing. AIDS research? Well, we'll be doing it here, of course, but if we actually find something, well, you know, you all hate us.
   
   Let France and Germany start feeding the world. Let England and Canada take the lead in medical research. Let Russia broker the peace in the Middle East. We're out.
   
   No, we can't do that, can we. I guess that makes us like Wal-Mart: half the town can't wait for Wal-Mart to get there, the other half is fighting like hell to keep them out. When they get there, they'll cause some problems, but they'll also do a lot of good. And ultimately the people who fought to keep them out will realize that they can go into Wal-Mart at 3 AM and buy a pack of underwear for $10 that is available at a local store down the street for $15 but that store is only open from 10-6 Monday through Saturday. So while that person will gripe and complain about how we should be patronizing the little guy, ultimately the protestor will give in and realize that his little town is better for having Wal-Mart there.
   
   And so it goes with this little country we like to call America. Happy Birthday. Thanks John Hancock and the boys for their guts 230 years ago. Thanks to my great-grandfather, who fought in the War to End All Wars, and to my grandfather, who fought in the war after that, and to my father, who was in Da Nang for Tet, 1968. Thanks to them for ensuring I didn't have to go fight, and thanks to all who are continuing to ensure the best thing going keeps going.
   
   Happy Birthday, indeed.

The Rat Squeaks

For about the past three months, Mike Krzyzewski has been doing something I actually agree with - he has kept his mouth shut about the Duke lacrosse mess.

This was wise on his part on so many levels; much of it has to do with the fact that it is none of his business and some people don't care what he thinks about it any more than they care what the guy who played Col. Klink on Hogan's Heroes has to say about the war in Iraq on Bill Maher's cable show. But mainly, until the actual trial and all the evidence is laid out, there is just no right answer and it is probably best that he kept his rather large nose out of it.

The sports media, however, who proclaim this guy to be "the face of the university", huddled together, begging the anointed and sainted Coach K to have a comment. Like seeking out the wise sage at the top of the mountain (or in Rat's case, the top floor of the basketball office complex behind 007-like fingerprint security), the media drooled when he actually commented on the situation during his "annual summer meeting with reporters" (his "annual summer meeting"? Isn't that rich?).

In his comments, he basically said he supported the university in their actions, and that he supported deposed lacrosse coach Mike Pressler (So what is Duke going to do about Pressler if all of this turns out false? But that is another rant.). He also wisely and humbly stated "I'm not the president (of the university)" and "You have to be careful to make statements outside of your realm."

So it seems the "The Most Important Coach in College Basketball" has said his piece, which is basically supporting the university's do-nothing approach. Whew - the Earth may now resume spinning.

Nevertheless, forgive me if I seem somewhat cynical here, but isn't it convenient that he held his tongue until the case appears to be falling apart? I mean, if he was going to give the old "I'm a company man" line, he could have done that months ago when the clamor was much higher for his comment.

Plus, as I heard someone on the radio say about the timing of the Duke release that they were reinstating men's lacrosse, you have to wonder about the timing of this statement - buried in the Triangle, at least, under all the Stanley Cup coverage.

He's a sneaky rat for a reason - and to me, this just proves it.

Good night, Hartford

Did you know that the Carolina Hurricanes used to be the Hartford Whalers?

Then again, how could you not?

Nearly every recounting the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup victory has mentioned the fact that the club once played in Hartford, Connecticut (motto: "Open until 5:30 on Fridays!).

By now the story has been well-told: The New England Whalers, along with the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and ironically, the Edmonton Oilers were the sole survivors of the upstart World Hockey Association and were merged into the NHL in 1979.

The Whalers were re-named the Hartford Whalers and were famous for two things: playing in an arena, the Hartford Civic Center, that was connected to a shopping mall; and a unique yet hideous theme/fight song, Brass Bonanza, that sounded like background music from an NFL Films documentary from the early 1970s.

While the Whalers were rarely very good, they developed a small yet loyal following that was often praised for their rabid support of the team. But the economics of hockey became such that with four other NHL teams within two hours of Hartford (New Jersey, Boston, and the two New York teams), it was harder for the Whalers to make it in the corporate sponsorship world.

In the mid 1990s, owner Peter Karmanos sought a new arena deal with Hartford, but the deal fell through and he announced his intention to move the team, albeit without a firm destination in hand. Karmanos investigated Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta (all of whom were later awarded NHL expansion teams), before settling on Raleigh, North Carolina, and its brand-spanking-new arena which was being built for NC State University.

North Carolina was virgin territory for hockey and the arena that would become the RBC Center would not be ready until the 1999 season. So the re-named Hurricanes played 80 miles away in Greensboro where they developed a small, but loyal following that was the object of ridicule by the national media.

After a number of marketing blunders and missteps by team management, the Hurricanes began making a foothold in a market full of immigrants from many northern states, and by 2002, when the Canes made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup finals, hockey was firmly entrenched.

Despite the uncertainty that surrounded the lockout that cancelled the 2005 season, Carolina re-emerged as one of the NHL's elite teams in 2006 and rode that all the way to a Stanley Cup title.

Which brings us back to Hartford.

All throughout the playoffs, viewers were reminded that the Hurricanes were once the Whalers. Graphics were shown of Game Sevens in Carolina/Hartford fanchise history. After the Canes' dramatic Game 7 win to clinch the Cup, ESPN's Steve Levy remarked "If the Triangle had a fourth point, it would be Hartford."

Funny, but I don't seem to remember all this talk a few years ago when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. I didn't see graphics of the Colorado/Quebec franchise history.

Pro sports franchises move all the time, so why is the NHL stuck on Hartford? Maybe some of it has to do with ESPN, which is headquartered in Bristol, Conn. The Whalers were Connecticut's only pro sports team, and by default were ESPN's official team. As a result, some of the most biting criticism about the move and the derisive comments about the Canes came (and still come) from ESPN.

In a great irony, all of the WHA franchises that came into the NHL in 1979 except Edmonton have moved - Quebec to Colorado and Winnipeg to Phoenix. Edmonton, on the other hand, was on the brink of financial collapse in the late 1990s. Yet it is Carolina who is somehow singled out for their move.

Maybe it has to do with the bristly personality of the Carolina owner, Peter Karmanos. But few franchise moves are amicable, and the names of owners Bob Irsay and George Shinn are still considered vulgarities in Baltimore and Charlotte, so maybe there's more to it than that.

Still, this is now Raleigh's hockey team, and in fact, all of Carolina can join in the celebration. To Hartford, let me say this: I hope you have found us to be good stewards of what you consider to be your hockey team. But if not, get over it already. The Carolina Hurricanes have, in the 5 seasons of the 2000s, eclipsed every mark of franchise success ever achieved in Hartford, and can now join the Avs and the New Jersey Devils as relocated teams who won the Stanley Cup in their new homes.

There's a saying in the South that you don't forget where you came from, and the new Canes have even taken to playing Brass Bonanza at the RBC Center. But we also know when to let the past go, and that time is now.

So, good night, Hartford. Thanks for playing. The Whalers are now just a footnote in sports history, like the Dallas Texans, the Buffalo Braves, or the California Seals.

The Perfect Storm

Carolina Hurricanes -
2006 Stanley Cup Champions

More to come...

The Face of Evil

In case you were wondering, or had forgotten.

If you ever wonder why our kids are in Iraq, or what exactly the war on terror is about, all you have to do is listen to Zacarias Moussaoui "t(ell) jurors Thursday he has 'no regret, no remorse,' was disgusted by the heart-rending testimony of victims and relatives and only wished they had suffered more."

I always thought Moussaoui was a little bit crazy. I mean, you have to be to orchestrate and execute something like the 9-11 attacks. But as General Taylor tells Sgt. major Dickerson in Good Morning, Vietnam, "you're not crazy, you're just mean."

Whether or not you agree with how the war on terror has been prosecuted, how can you not be chilled when you hear Mossaoui's testimony and his view of America and its place in the world.

Moussaoui's vitriol is what is being taught in the streets in much of the Muslim world, by mullahs and others who seek to keep the pot stirred and indoctrinate the impoverished and hopeless by beating the drum against the United States.

If you ever need a reminder of why we must remain ever vigilant, just hear Moussaoui's own response to the prosecutor's question of if he would be happy to see a repeat of 9/11:

"Every day until we get you," replied Moussaoui.

Chasing a Ghost

Now that Rick Barnes has ruined NC State's weekend, it appears State is playing footsie with John Calipari of Memphis. Apparently the AD, chancellor, and chief booster have flown to Memphis to get some ribs and throw a wad of cash at Calipari.

Believe it or not, this may actually be a better fit for the Wolfpack than the homegrown Barnes. Calipari is much more confrontational than his Texas counterpart, despite Barnes' well-cited crossing of Dean Smith . At least I have never heard of another coach threatening to kill Barnes, as former Temple coach John Chaney threatened Calipari.

No, Calipari may be the best man for the real burden of being the head basketball coach at North Carolina State University - chasing the ghost of James T. Valvano.

Jim Valvano was brash, he was passionate, and he was funny. He handled winning and losing with class and style, and his battle with terminal cancer showed grace, courage, and humor and ultimately cemented his status as the gold standard of NC State basketball. How he handled dying also masked the mixed legacy he left in Raleigh.

Everett Case was the architect not only of NC State basketball but also of ACC basketball. He, too, was brash and passionate, and also faced a terminal illness while he was actually coaching. His successor, Press Maravich, succumbed to the white-hot spotlight of chasing Case's ghost and took his all-world son, Pete, to the less pressure-filled atmosphere of Louisiana State. State followed up Maravich's tenure by hiring another outspoken coach, Norm Sloan, from Florida. Sloan won a title with one of the best college basketball teams ever, then moved aside for the entertaining Valvano.

Valvano enjoyed the spotlight and took fun in cracking jokes about himself. He played the "misplaced Yankee" routine to the hilt, winning over fans and boosters alike. And in 1983, he caught lightning in a bottle, riding an average team to the most remarkable post-season run in college basketball history. And, with typical flair and the Valvano gift for timing, he did it just one year after hated rival North Carolina won the NCAA title, trumping the Tar Heels' reign along Tobacco Road.

He followed the 1983 title with a share of the 1985 ACC regular-season championship and a trip to the Elite Eight. With Virginia fading and Duke not yet having risen from the ashes, it appeared State was ready to challenge Carolina for ACC basketball dominance. Valvano was a hero to the Wolfpack faithful and was literally handed the keys to the university's athletic department when he became athletic director in 1986.

But by 1989, the empire was crumbling. Rocked by poor recruiting choices, player indiscretions, a scurrilous tell-all book about his program, and a general lack of control over the athletic department, Valvano was in deep trouble, certainly as AD and most likely as basketball coach as well. Still, in the midst of that turmoil, Valvano won his only outright ACC regular-season title in 1989 and had brought in a recruiting class that would include the school's all-time leading scorer, Rodney Monroe.

By the time Valvano resigned under pressure in 1990, NC State's chancellor, and chief Valvano ally, Bruce Poulton was run off and both the basketball program and the athletic department were on the rocks. NCAA probation was imminent and the academic community of the university was up in arms. Valvano retreated to the broadcast booth while Les Robinson, one of the last of Everett Case's boys, was brought in to clean up the mess.

There was a brief honeymoon for Robinson while State tried to distance itself from the Valvano mess. Robinson won early with Valvano's recruits, but NCAA probation and increased academic scrutiny made it nearly impossible to compete in the ACC. Valvano, meanwhile, tuned his charm and humor on the ABC and ESPN basketball audiences and when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, fought his battle on television for all to see.

Valvano salvaged and in fact re-made his legacy as a result of his highly visible and publicized battle with cancer. People forgot the free-wheeling, free-spending coach and AD that left NC State in an absolute mess, and instead focused on the courageous and gregarious man that literally died before our eyes. In doing so, he became a martyr to the Wolfpack faithful, and his ghost haunts that basketball program even today, nearly 15 years after his death and nearly 25 years since the magical '83 title.

Les Robinson, an outgoing, decent and honorable man who loved NC State very much, took the fall for sinking the basketball program Valvano had run onto the rocks. As a consolation prize, Robinson was named athletic director and had an underappreciated hand in righting State's overall athletic program and healing many old wounds.

As Robinson's successor, Herb Sendek was in many ways the anti-Valvano - introverted, aloof, seemingly dispassionate - and that was on purpose. Valvano's ghost was still haunting enough in 1996 that State felt they had to run away from it. But like Robinson, Sendek's achievements have been underappreciated. By the end of his 10 years in Raleigh, Sendek was producing 20-game winners and NCAA appearances at a rate similar to Valvano's, but all the while graduating players and keeping them out of trouble off the court.

(It is interesting to note that two of Valvano's players, Sidney Lowe and Nate McMillan, have played and coached in the NBA but could not be considered for the NC State opening because neither earned their undergraduate degrees).

But ultimately, State fans tired of Sendek's dry as toast appearance, his lack of passion, and his inability to beat Duke, Wake Forest, and especially North Carolina. His success on the court drew comparisons to the success in the 80s when NC State basketball was relevant, which in turn drew comparisons of Sendek to Valvano. There is no way Sendek could have matched Valvano's energy or humor when Valvano was alive; he certainly couldn't match up with a ghost 20 years later.

So, like Jacob Marley's torment of Scrooge, the ghost of Jim Valvano still haunts NC State basketball, its program and its fans. In order to be successful as the basketball coach at NC State, you have to be colorful and you have to beat North Carolina (and now Duke) on a somewhat regular basis. And if you can't do that, you at least have to steal their thunder (as in a classic Valvano story, where after State and Carolina played what was supposed to be the last game in Carmichael Auditorium before the Heels moved into the Smith Center, Valvano went and grabbed a ball after the game and shot a basket so it could be said "Jim Valvano made the last basket in Carmichael").

You have been warned, John Calipari, or Jay Wright, or whomever takes this job. Get that often-shown picture of Jim Valvano running furiously around the court in Albuquerque in 1983 in your head, because until you win a national championship, or at least go .500 against Carolina (which Valvano never did, by the way - his record against the Heels was only slightly better than Sendek's, but Valvano seemed to win the big games against UNC), then you will be chasing that timeless figure around and around the basketball court for your entire tenure in Raleigh.

It takes an enormous ego to try and knock heads with Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams and take on Valvano's martyrdom as well, but of all the candidates mentioned for the State job so far, Calipari may just be the most qualified in that area.

I thought you were supposed to be the tolerant ones...

Seems there was this group of 25,000 teenagers who assembled in San Francisco, the self-proclaimed "most tolerant and progressive city" in America. But there was a problem - the assembly was of a group of evangelical Christians, and they were not welcomed warmly.

The rally, called "Battle Cry for a Generation" was led by a guy named Ron Luce, who wants "God's instruction book" to guide young people away from the corrupting influence of MTV, MySpace.com, and other parts of popular culture that seek to glamorize sex and violence. Seems wholesome enough, right?

Not in the eyes of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who passed a resolution condemning the "act of provocation" by what it termed an "anti-gay," "anti-choice" organization that aimed to "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city."

In addition, the gathering was met by about 50 protestors representing a broad spectrum of San Francisco's finest-- from abortion-rights advocates to anti-war activists to atheists.

I guess America's most tolerant city can't tolerate Christians.

The State of State

Well, NC State fans have gotten their wish and have run off the Willy Loman of the ACC, Herb Sendek. The predictable feeding frenzy that has followed has been humorous to watch. Here are some observations from this side of the fence.

Herb Sendek: Much has been made of Herb getting a raw deal at NC State, and there is some truth to that. All he did was take a moribund program reeling from the aftermath of probation and return it to respectability in the ACC, all the while graduating players and keeping his program squeaky clean. Further, he took his teams to five straight NCAA tournaments and to the NIT three more times, for a total of 8 trips to the post-season in his 10 years in Raleigh. As State's Tony Haynes says, Herb did what he was hired to do.

What he did not do, at least to the satisfaction of Wolfpack nation, was beat the other members of the Big Four enough. Sendek was a combined 15-53 against Wake Forest, Duke, and North Carolina, including back-to-back losses to the last-place Deacons this year. Moreover, the stoic, publicly dispassionate Sendek seemed to treat a Duke, Wake, or Carolina game as no more important than any other on the schedule. That may be true from a coaching standpoint, where each game is just one of 27, but it drove the fans bonkers.

This is not to say that Herb did not sow some of the seeds of discontent himself. He alienated many of the high school basketball coaches in the state, preferring to do his recruiting through AAU coaches. He is not a particularly camera-friendly person, nor does he have a quick quip or a warm smile that plays well on the barbecue-and-sweet-tea booster club circuit in the spring and fall. He was respectful of the university and its history, but never seemed passionate enough to please the masses.

He was also aloof and bookish, leading some to think of him as snobby and stubborn. He clung fiercely to his "Prince-State" offense and peppered his non-conference schedule with patsies that raised the record not not necessarily the level of play for conference time.

But let's cut to the chase - throw Duke and Wake out the window - what did in Herb Sendek with the fans was his inability to beat North Carolina on a consistent basis. Sendek was 0-6 against Roy Williams, and the Pack's lackluster performance against a rebuilding Carolina at the RBC center this year just seemed to seal the deal. Moreover, and what cut State fans to the quick, was that he just didn't seem to CARE!

So Sendek pulled the rip cord, jumped to Arizona State for more dollars and someplace where 5 NCAA tournaments would be celebrated. It truly was a win-win in that State fans weren't truly happy with Sendek and he, in turn, could go somewhere warm and make more money.

The Successors. The public, but unofficial courtship of Rick Barnes has almost been comedic over the past week. The biggest attraction of Barnes for NC State fans, as near as I can tell are (in reverse order): 1. He once coached in the ACC, 2. He's from North Carolina, and 3. He once told Dean Smith to stick it in his ear. But Barnes has it good, and no matter ow much money State throws at Barnes, Texas' pockets are deeper; plus, as much money as Mack Brown makes, Barnes will never have to worry about making more than the football coach.

What State fans fail to realize is that whoever they choose will not just be the #3 coach in the ACC, they'll be the #3 coach in their own area code. It's a thankless job, and someone who has it good, like Jay Wright or John Calipari, would probably think twice about jumping into a situation where you have to duke it out with Roy and K before you even square off with another coach with a ring, Gary Williams, or young hotshots like Dave Leitao and Paul Hewitt.

The word is that "State will not have to go to their B-List". If that's the case, they'd better have 10-15 names on their A-List.

The "Tradition". NC State is an interesting study in the history of college basketball. The father of ACC basketball, Everett Case, was at State, and one of the five greatest college basketball players ever, David Thompson, played for the Pack. But most often State basketball is best remembered for the ultimate Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament, winning the title on the ultimate Cinderella play.

But beyond those three things, State basketball has a spotty tradition, more rich and colorful than it is successful. State has 10 ACC tournament championships, but five of those were in the first 11 years of the league, and none since 1987. And the last two - 1983 and 1987 - must be considered upsets. The Pack won a pair of regular season titles during the David Thompson years, but have won only two in the 30 years since, with the last of those in 1989. Since that time, in addition to Duke and UNC, Maryland, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and even Clemson have won the ACC regular-season crown.

On a national stage, State stacks up less with the Carolinas and Dukes, Indianas and Kentuckys of the world and more with the Oklahoma States, Louisvilles, and Utahs. Any commentator over the past week and a half will tell you that State has won two national titles, but they neglect to say that the Pack has been to only three Final Fours. Arkansas, by contrast, has only won one title but been to 6 Final Fours. Utah has one title in 4 trips. Louisville has 2 titles in 5 chances and Oklahoma State has 2 titles in six visits to the Final Four. And all of those schools have been since State last went in 1983. In its own league, both Georgia Tech and Maryland have been to multiple Final Fours (with the Terps winning an NCAA title) since State last sniffed the Elite Eight, much less the Final Four.

State fans are clamoring for Wolfpack basketball to be relevant again, and I don't blame them. But the glory days are past, and venerable old NC State has been passed by old conference rivals and while State should aim for the highest, whoever takes that job should realize that the school of the "Grey Fox" has since become the old grey mare.

Brain Dump

I just realized it's been almost two months since I wrote anything up here. I'm really not that slack, and but sometimes I have things on my mind that just don't make it up to the web. I'm not one of those people who blog everything that happens to them ("so then Missy said, 'I've never seen that much cat vomit in my life!'" or "it rained today and I'm sad")

But then my good buddy K-Nine over at Dead Dog Walkin', my only reference point in the blogosphere, suggested trimming his blog roll. I don't think he was singling me out, but it guilted me into actually putting some things down.

I've got some ideas on things that I will post and back-date, and I have made a goal to update at least twice a week. The brain dump is forthcoming...

From the Files of Things I Just Don't Understand

So how is it that the brutal assault on an African-American female by three white men is almost immediately characterized as a "hate crime", while...

the attempted murder of dozens of college students simply because they were Americans (and more than likely white Americans) by an Islamic-American nutjob cannot be called a "hate crime"?

Look, nothing would make me happier than to see the Duke lacrosse dirtbags thrown under the jail, but save room under there for Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, will ya?

A real Super Sunday

In addition to watching the Super Bowl like half of America today, I went to two funerals. Yes, two.

I actually didn't know either person, but I worked with their daughters. The two men who passed away didn't know each other either, but they had remarkable similarities. Both were devoted family men with two children. Both were young, one was in his late 40s, while the other was in his early 50s. Both were active in the church and community.

But what garnered my attention the most was the outpouring of love and affection for both men. The church was overflowing at both funerals - I didn't get a seat at either one.

The legacy we leave on this Earth is measured in the people that we touch. By all accounts, both of these men, whom I never met, leave a proud and successful following. They lived their lives as good, decent people who served their families, their communities, and their God faithfully.

Though they leave behind young, grieving families, I couldn't help but be impressed at the sheer number of the lives they touched in their short times on Earth. Being a part of their celebration of life today - now that was a real Super Sunday.

Donovan McNabb, The Greatest Football Player Ever

Here it is, for the record - Donovan McNabb is the greatest football player of all time.

There, I said it. Apparently, that is all anyone is allowed to write about the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, because to dare to say anything else will bring the wrath of the media upon you.

This week, while the Super Bowl was being traditionally over-hyped, the most over-hyped story of this season, the battle between McNabb and perennial trouble-maker Terrell Owens, surfaced again. McNabb inexplicably broke his silence on his feud with T.O. to address the situation under the white-hot glare of Super Bowl hype.

Better to be thought a fool that open your mouth and remove all doubt. McNabb should have continued to follow this advice, since his comments were just as inflammatory as Owens'.

McNabb suggested, in part, that Owens' comment that the injury-plagued and underachieveing Eagles would be a playoff contender if Brett Favre were the team's quarterback was equivalent to "black on black crime" and were clearly racially motivated. Never mind that it was actually ESPN's Michael Irvin who first suggested the name of Brett Favre and that Owens was simply responding to a reporter's query about Irvin's comments.

McNabb went on to say that if T.O. wanted to suggest someone else should be quarterback of the Eagles, he should have suggested another black quarterback, like Steve McNair of the Titans. McNabb also talked about the struggles of being a black quarterback in the NFL.

All this, of course, comes just two years after McNabb suggested that the concept of race should not an issue in the flap behind Rush Limbaugh's comments that the media was interested in having a black quarterback do well.

Rush may not have been right about black quarterbacks in general, but there seems to be some Omerta-like shroud of protection around McNabb that defies belief. To borrow a phrase from "The Usual Suspects", this guy is protected from on high by the prince of darkness.

McNabb is immune from media criticism like no other NFL player, almost approaching the God-like status placed on Michael Jordan during the 1990s. The media came rushing to his defense in the Limbaugh flap (costing Limbaugh his ESPN gig, even though the ciriticism was of the media and not of McNabb). They came swooping in again with Owens and completely destroyed the head of the Philadelphia NAACP, J. Whyatt Mondesire, who dared criticze McNabb.

The only problem is, as opposed to Limbaugh, the people who have been ciriticizing Donovan McNabb of late have been black. Owens, Mondesire, and most recently the Eagles' own Hugh Douglas have all offered criticism of McNabb.

If a black person criticizing McNabb is black on black crime, then call the police, because I guess I am about to commit a hate crime, seeing as how I am white.

Look, no one is denying that McNabb is a good quarterback. He is one of the toughest guys that has played in the past few years, including playing with broken bones and his sports hernia this season.

The Philaelphia Eagles have been wildly successful with McNabb under center, making it to four straight NFC championship games and one Super Bowl before injuries decimated the Eagles this season.

The standard chorus of praise for McNabb reads like a lyric from a hymnbook - "Donovan McNabb, who led the Eagles to four straight NFC championship games". An impressive feat, but a somewhat dubious one, much like the Atlanta Braves' string of 15 straight division titles but only 3 World Series appearances.

So maybe before we start mentioning McNabb with the likes of Montana and Elway, maybe we had better mention him in the same category with Jake Delhomme, Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson, and Trent Dilfer. What do those guys have in common with McNabb? They each went to one Super Bowl. Oh wait, Johnson and Dilfer actually won the Super Bowl they played in. And Delhomme has led the Panthers to two NFC championship games in three years - not quite the same as McNabb's feat of four straight, but impressive nonetheless. But you'll not hear Delhomme and McNabb uttered in the same breath of "elite" quarterbacks.