The Big Ten began what could be the big scramble in college athletics. Apparently, when it decided to play only league opponents in the 2020 falls sports season, the oldest college conference didn’t bother to tell anyone else.  No other Power 5 conference, none of the 42 outside opponents in football and the dozens more in […]

Isn’t there a more meaningful way to honor Native Americans? Among my guilty passions during COVID-19 has been binging on audio books and cable network series. On long walks, I took the detailed and convoluted novel, “The Goldfinch,” along and couldn’t wait to see how they made a full-length movie without it lasting almost four hours […]

Will the ACC and Notre Dame pull off another shocker? While the ACC decides whether to follow the Big Ten and Pac 12 into conference-only football play, Commissioner John Swofford may be holding a Shamrock green card in his vest pocket that could send him into retirement with the most memorable play in league history. […]

An open letter to ACC Commissioner John Swofford: Dean John, Congratulations on a great 24-year tenure and your forthcoming retirement. Sorry you are saddled with this latest challenge before you and Nora ride off into the sunset. As an old classmate at Carolina, I know you would expect me to weigh in with my opinion on […]

To paraphrase Bonnie Raitt, are we in a daze, headed in the wrong direction? The coronavirus was supposed to be tapering down, allowing us to reopen the country in an organized, optimistic manner. Instead, we have a university in flux with an athletic season in limbo and, consequently, a town depending on both to stay in business. Thanks to […]

Black Lives Matter to Carolina Basketball for generations. Roy Williams and former players from all six of UNC’s NCAA championship teams produced a compelling video message, affirming that Black Lives Matter to them — always has and always will. Williams found the common link that has existed in Chapel Hill for more than six decades, […]

College football is making Plans B, C and maybe D. When Big Ten schools start talking openly about what becomes of the 2020 football season, that is ample reason to sit up and listen. Here’s what anonymous sources on one Big Ten campus are saying: Regarding the escalating cases of COVID-19 across the country, “No […]

Cam Newton has tipped the motivational scale the other way. Okay, I’ve read all the stories, listened to all the commentary and watched all the highlight tapes on Cam Newton’s signing with the New England Patriots. My conclusion? Perfect match. Sure, Newton is coming off two injury-plagued seasons with the Carolina Panthers. But that also […]

Mack Brown and Dre Bly, a great tandem then, and now. When I read Ross Martin’s preview on Inside Carolina and saw that 5-star cornerback Tony Grimes’ finalists were Georgia, Ohio State, Texas A&M and North Carolina, I said, “Are you kidding me?!” Then I read where Grimes said, “I am looking for more of […]

What are the options for Carolina if the football season falls apart? A new surge of COVID-19, which may be caused by a recently discovered mutation in the novel coronavirus, is leaving college football 2020 in more jeopardy than ever. According to the Washington Post, the mutation does not make contracting the virus more deadly, just more contagious. With Clemson […]