According To Bruce...
(Bruce Young, aka The Man of Many Talents, in spite of his horrible taste in music, is THI's social coordinator, official bureaucrat, back seat driver, Palmetto Inn aficionado, ATL instigator, restaurant ruffian, Twitter Trash Talker, Cabana Boi, Restaurant protocol coordinator, oft-fired then re-hired, Rupp Rude Boy, Red Coat troller, baseline bruiser, Diva Boeheim, adored by most - well, some, 2nd biggest Orioles' fan, photographer and resident Tar Heels' fan)
With August finally here, Tar Heels Fans everywhere were looking forward to the new college football season, especially after last year's debacle when the Heels were crippled with a record amount of injuries. With the team healthy to begin the season, combined with the reps many young backups got after being forced into action, and a favorable schedule, the sky was the limit, or the ceiling was the roof, for this team and it was OK again to get excited about the football Tar Heels.
Then came "Shoe Gate," which kicked Carolina fans all over the country in our collective stomachs. My first thought was you've got to be kidding! After all the NCAA stuff we've gone through over the past several years and now we have more violations to deal with because of several selfish players? The best way to describe my feelings was anger and major disappointment, and that's being really kind.
As many other Tar Heels, I have a hard time understanding how something like this could happen at this, our beloved university, so soon after being under the "eye in the sky" for so long.
Do these young men recruited to represent the football program and the University really not care about the school, the fan base, their teammates, or their families? Initially, I was convinced these young men cared about only the money and themselves, period! End of story! And not much has changed my thought process.
However…
Like some other Tar Heels, I questioned whether I wanted to continue giving my hard earned money to the Rams Club each and every year to support "some" young people who, because of their actions, really not giving a tinkers #%$@ about their scholarships or the butts sitting in the stadium every Saturday. I'm guessing some Rams Club members stopped their contributions and I still haven't made my final decision on the matter.
I'm sure I speak for a lot of members and fans, we are just sick and tired of this kind of behavior and poor decision making, especially when they know better, and I really deep down think they know better. They have classes or meetings discussing these kinds of things. No excuses!
I am aware these are young men 18-22 years of age. We all made bad decisions at that age that weren't the lead story Sports Center or on the front page of our local newspapers’ Sports Sections. I'm sure many of us feel extremely lucky that didn't happen to us.
And then Senior Malik Carney manned up on media day and met members of the media to answer what he knew would be tough questions about the choices he and some of his teammates made. No excuses were given as he humbled himself as a leader of this football team and someone who cares.
At first, I thought, after making a lousy decision that put his senior year in jeopardy, this guy is a leader. Then I realized, this is what a true leader does in any walk of life. We all make mistakes and most of us are way past 18-22, but you admit your mistakes and learn from them. Malik wanted to make sure the young players on this team realize what can happen if you don't think before you do or say things. That's the positives I hope come from this embarrassing situation.
You wouldn't be on TarHeelIllustrated.com if you didn't pour your heart and soul into athletics at Carolina. Poor decision making like this happens all over the country; maybe this is going to be the norm going forward. I hope that's not the case, but you never know.
I speak again for Tar Heels everywhere, let's hope our coaching staff and administration get a handle on things so we all can get back to cheering for our Tar Heels on the field of play.
