The NFL may play, but will the teams be recognizable? The NBA and NHL resume their 2020 seasons this week, and both will be playing all their games in a bubble and/or in relative safety from the coronavirus. Baseball is already iffy, and the NFL looks vulnerable but has the best chance of surviving a […]

Is baseball the tip of the iceberg or, rather, the new morality? Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he expected positive tests once the season resumed with games and no fans. But did he expect 11 positives on one team the first weekend, as the Miami Marlins outbreak has called off three games to […]

Don’t you think it’s time for Mike Ditka to put a sock in it? At least the former coach of “Da Bears” admits he’s old-fashioned and is saying what he feels. But it’s high time Ditka took the pulse of the nation, which beats a lot harder than it did when he was an NFL […]

The Board of Governors may have saved football. Despite widespread reaction to the contrary, the BOG’s decision that going to UNC this semester either in-person or online will cost the same may have clarified a few things. One, how much revenue UNC will lose from students who won’t pay the full ride for digital learning […]

What will the professional leagues tell us about the college games? Well, at long last, Major League Baseball 2020 starts today after spring training was halted in March. With the possible exception of the Toronto Blue Jays, who cannot find a home field, 30 teams will embark on a 60-game schedule, a mere 27 percent […]

The countdown for the college football season is officially underway. With training camps set to open the first week in August, college football programs across the country are anxiously awaiting word on whether they can begin practicing and what adjustments will be made to their schedules. Those decrees will come by July 31. The decisions […]

Mack Brown would be a perfect college football commissioner – just not now. Carolina’s football coach is echoing what many have been saying for years — that college football and basketball each need a commissioner, similar to what the professional sports leagues have. That sentiment is stronger than ever with the Trumpian failure of Mark Emmert, […]

Somehow, after seven years, Daniel Bard is back in the big leagues. When he and Andrew Miller were pitching for the Tar Heels about 15 years ago, I loved watching Carolina’s tall, talented, one-two punch at Boshamer Stadium. In 2004, Bard tied the UNC freshman record with eight wins. And when Bard wound up with […]

What would Dean Smith say if he were still with us? A fraternity brother emailed me a grainy videotape from 1996. It was of our alumni banquet at the Carolina Inn, where Smith was our guest speaker one beautiful spring afternoon in Chapel Hill. Smith was charming, funny and self-effacing, recounting some of the mistakes […]

Duke got its basketball coach from the Boston Celtics. It’s ironic, if maybe not prophetic, that the Blue Devils hired their latest high-profile coach from the Celtics. After all, wasn’t Brad Stevens supposed to succeed Mike Krzyzewski? Stevens, of course, has long been rumored to wind up on Tobacco Road at either Duke or Carolina […]