The objective perspective on the UNC football scandal

In Defense of Butch Davis……

from Brian Allen at www.associatedcontent.com:

What a wonderful time it must be to be a sports writer. Who could have an easier job? Wake up, shower, shave, jump on soap box, and print the latest column bashing UNC and head football coach Butch Davis.

Sensationalize any rumor, euphemize it as the latest “report,” exaggerate the occasional fact, and predict daily how it will all “get worse before it gets better.” It’s a recipe for success any two-bit columnist from any struggling newspaper can follow with sanctimonious pride.

Yes, sports journalists are approaching Nirvana. It’s so easy to call for a coach’s head under such circumstances, particularly when the media is so wildly fixated on the subject. What could be easier than to kick a man when he’s down and to take the pious position?

Well, at the risk of raining on the parade, I for one have had it up to my ears with this hypocritical, holier-than-thou, feeding frenzy. It needs to end for several reasons.

First, shouldn’t any objective journalist allow the process to conclude before jumping to conclusions and judgments? Haven’t we seen the folly of this rush to judgment mentality before? Have we already forgotten the infamous Duke lacrosse rape case? You know, the monumental miscarriage of justice in which journalists, commentators, “civil rights activists,” and some eighty-eight Duke professors immediately presumed innocent players guilty and ran a respected and equally blameless coach off campus? For several months of that controversy sports writers similarly demanded the termination of Duke’s coach for his “lack of control.” How did that one turn out for the high and mighty preachers of collegiate sports integrity?

Will the UNC football controversy prove to be as bogus as what happened to the Duke lacrosse team? Probably not. But from day one the media has gone out of its way to sensationalize the story with a similarly sloppy, half-cocked rush to judgment and false innuendo. And from this cauldron of half-truths and conjecture we are seeing myths steadily evolve.

Read all and this is worthy of your reading time, CLICK HERE…..

30 thoughts on “The objective perspective on the UNC football scandal

  1. I sure wish you would have taken this approach when you guys (the media) came after me. I was found guilty of nothing but you would have never known that in the media.

    Whatever happened to investigative journalism and finding thr truth?

  2. Ghost of Jimmy is spot on.
    The local media is dragging its feet on this one compared to NC State 20 years ago.
    They will assure us that there is no bias in NC journalism.
    They need to prove it and do to UNC what was done to NC State 20 years ago.
    My money is that they will not.

  3. I can help you out with this investigation but I have to warn you, I do get rough and tough.

  4. “A Rare Piece of Objective Perspective”…..

    Brian Allen said this in his title and Brian Allen is the man when it come to perspective and if you have any problems with Brian, you may want to consult Brian directly…….And this is the real Brian, not to be confused with B. Brian Blair, Flying Brian Pillman, Brian Adidas, Bryan Adams, Brian Christopher, “The Brian Kendrick”, Brian Keith, Brian Davis, Bryan Jones, Joseph Bryan or any other Brian that we can think of….

    No messing around, this is “The Brian Allen”……

    Glad I had to the chance to warn before you test your luck and start trying with Brian, because you may end crying and I’d be lying, if I didn’t remind you that Brian is plying his frying and he’s ready to see if your buying…..He’s not a real cook, but he has written a book and if you don’t re-think your hook, you all may be in it[The book that is]….(I’m just warning you, I’m just saying?)…..Brian is not playing……

    *****Brian Allen, not to be confused with George Allen, Woody Allen, Ritchie(Dick) Allen, Gracie Allen, Carolyn Allen, Mel Allen or even Larry Allen….*****

  5. I can’t believe how you people are trashing the North Carolina Tar Heels. Please crawl back in your holes.

    The Heels are one of our team favorites. Leave them alone and mind your own business. If you don’t have anything good to say then back off!

    Don’t forget, the Tar Heels carry our state’s name. Please respect our state as you would the flag or any other special item such as the state flag or the governor.

  6. Shannon—
    Your colon is much too short for the amount of materials it is trying to move.
    I love the state of North Carolina but I have as much use for the tarholes as I would a football bat.

  7. Shannon, Shannon, Shannon. You can’t be serious. Leaving them alone is exactly how the Tar Holes got to this point. If your squeaky clean team let you down then be made at them not everyone else. If the shoe was on the wolfpack foot then our season would have already been cancelled and our coaches would have been fired. UNC does not deserve the “look the other way” treatment that they are getting.

  8. Uhm . . . has anyone actually read the posted link??? Not sure how you can say it’s not objective. The guy says if Butch is responsible, punitive action should be taken. Aside from that, he says that everyone is jumping to conclusions, presuming Davis guilty, etc. — in other words, exactly what is going on in these comments. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but it does seem that every week a player or two are cleared to play, which does suggest some of this has been overblown.

    Oh, and for the Ghost of Jimmy V, you’re kidding, aren’t you? ESPN has basically deified Valvano and all but made a national holiday in his honor. And all of that despite him producing some very shady characters: Washburn, McQueen, Charles, Shack, not to mention that genius Nevitt.

  9. coaches resigning, players suspended, players kicked off the team shows that these are not false accusations. Journalists have a right to repor on each and every step in this story, and we are just getting started. We have the agent issues, players receiving money issue, academic fraus issue, a dirty coach, an ncaa investigation, the school investigation, the state of north carolina investigation. If anything, the media may be holding back on us.

  10. It continues to amaze me that the pack fans can`t complete there investigation. They were spending so much of there time on unc situation that they forgot they had a game @ezu saturday.

    The glaring difference between Jimmy V situation and unc`s is the kids at unc havn`t played a down that were involved with the agentgate and the ncaa rendered there verdict and as far as the tudorgate the ncaa has allowed unc`s honor court to proceed on there terms.

    I will asure you that unc isn`t going to impose LOIC on themselves. This thing is all but over and unc is 4-2 and state just got beat by Ezu. Remember 63-30-6. Get some nov.20.

    Asked the ezu fans how self inflating this delusional fan base in west raleigh is. Take your weak schedule to a small time bowl, maybe.

  11. I do apologize for my negligence….I forgot to mention Daniel Bryan or Brian Danielson, depending on his current employment….Daniel Jennings Bryan, we hear you too, our elder statesman.

    You have to bear with me, so days I am running for office and other days I am running from office…..

    The state’s most influential and active agent of sport or sports agent, that’s me……

  12. Tim
    UNC will not place LOIC on themselves. That is very much correct.
    The NCAA will drop a bigger hammer on them bigger than the one Southern California received. Even Chris Fowler on ESPN expects it to happen. UNC better enjoy this season. It will be the last one in a while with ACC or beyond level talent.Maybe the delusional tarhole fans will realize that the evil empire is deteriorating when the 2011recruits start to decommit.

  13. Tim, you are kidding yourself is you think this is almost over. They are just know getting into the details of Blake’s bank accounts. By the way, your boys played all last year after receiving benefits. In the case of Austin it appears to go all the way back to when he was a freshman. Humbling when you have to forfeit all your wins last year. You guys even played an ineligible player this year in Ramsey at fullback.

    Forgive me if I don’t place too much faith in your “Honor Court”, especially after Thorp ran all the press out of the hearing. By the way, Thorp admitted the NCAA found the academic cheating, not UNC. NCAA has to approve all penalties.

    True, UNC holds a sizeable lead in the overall series. You neglect to mention that the first 30 games were played at UNC and State got no home games and was just starting a program. Let State go play a new program for 30 straight years and see how they do.

    As to “getting some”, State has been the last three years, and without playing ineligible players. I think they call that integrity.

    It must be tough right now knowing that the curtain has been pulled back on the scam of the “Carolina Way”.

  14. Wolpfack pans-

    You are pathetic. Get over yourselves. Carolina will always be your dad academically, athletically, and basically in just about everything else.

    Bruce Mitchell,

    5>4. Just sayin’.

  15. For consideration, excerpts from the University System report on activities under Athletics Director and head basketball coach Jim Valvano, commissioned by then President Spangler:

    1. Grade changes from Fs to Incompletes to allow players to maintain eligibility.
    2. Special “classes” over the winter break that consisted of the professor, athlete, and a coach (sometimes even Valvano) so that the player could get a good grade to up his GPA to maintain eligibility.
    3. Pressure on tutors to perform classwork for players.
    4. Players being admitted with low SAT scores (ex: Chris Washburn’s 480).
    5. A <20% graduation rate.

    If the media were dragging its feet on the UNC issue, we wouldn't know about the allegations, sportswriters wouldn't be calling for firings without the facts, etc.

  16. Some might say that Shannon is gone and she has drifted off with the rest of ACC. I love to swim and play like the rest of you, but I’m not going anywhere until we get some respect around here for the University of North Carolina and the state with the same name.

    I feel certain that many observers feel the same way that Brian Allen and I do, that it is time to let the Tar Heels play football and let’s end this witch hunt. Most of you will be coming around to our way of thinking soon and PLEASE never forget that we were here long before the rest of you were and you are not going to run us off.

    The University of North Carolina is the nation’s and this state’s oldest and most respected university and it is known that way throughout the entire United States. Let us band together and return her to that rightful honor and I rest assured that most all of you will join me in this historic recitation.

  17. Shannon, respect is earned. That goes for our State and UNC. And recently one has embarrassed the other. If it were Clemson, USC, VT, FSU, NCSU everyone would be calling for a lynching. But now it’s UNC and we should back off? UNC made this bed. What is “her rightful honor”? That attitude is the problem. Nothing personal Shannon

    Bruce, do a little research. And don’t feed me US News Report where size of alumni base and contributing donors factors in to school ranking. Look at where companies hire from. It’s about getting a job. UNC is a fine school if you go business, law, or medicine.

  18. To compare the unc fiasco to the usc or the Jimmy V scandal is rudicrous.

    For starters, the usc things are 2 fold Basketball(OJ Mayo/Tim Floyd) Football(Reggie Bush/ Pete Carroll) with Reggie receiving a brand new 7Series bmw his parents receiving 500,000 home in Malibu. Agents in the locker rooms on the sidelines ect.

    The NC State debacle of the Valvano era was nuts. They sold shoes and tickets and Charles Shackleford received in upwards to $60,000 from agents during the season on all accounts.

    Whats funny is the carolina fans were buying some of the tickets from ncsu players
    friends/relatives and actually sitting in the players tickets seats @ Reynolds and people was having a fit. Valvano had approximately 10-13 scholarship atheletes to oversee were is Davis has 85 scholarship kids.

    And this happen went school was out for the most part.

    It doesn`t take a rocket scientist to figure the unc thing pals in comparison to both of these situations.

    The John Blake situation has yet to be settled but as of know, unless some facts surface, his was a personal agenda to benefit himself and that is`nt even against the ncaa unless he payed players to come the school. And that myfreind will be very hard to prove.

    The media painted a very ugly picture of this and there has yet to be any true factual reporting by a understaff under budget on brink of jobless or extinction journalist.

  19. Just read something on News and Record about Brian Bosworth saying John Blake got him in contact with an agent. That is a total lie. John Blake was a student assistant when Bosworth played at OK. Blake graduated from OK in 1983.

  20. Hey, Get Some.

    One of those things you “got” is a fraud. The Helms Foundation? In the 1920s? Really? That’s one of your National Championships? How come no one ever heard of this until Duke started winning multiple real national championships? What a crock. Classic Carolina, claim something you haven’t earned just to stay ahead of someone, in this case Coach K and Duke Basketball, that in reality is your better. Or do you have someone who has coached teams to four national championships, an Olympic gold medal, and a World Championship? (We won’t even get in to Christian Laettner’s record?)

    You’re right about one thing, though. 5 is bigger than 4

    …or will be soon enough.

  21. Over 400 readers from InsideCarolina.com have come over to check out this article and they have especially enjoyed the comments that have gone along with it.

    This topic has appeal and it has allowed us to take a trip inside Tar Heel Blue Heaven, The Devil’s Den or with the Wolfpack in the House depending on your preference.

  22. There is much misinformation on here from hole fans.
    To bring out the truth.
    1. Coach Valvano INVITED the NCAA to investigate. /UNC is hiding and covering up from the NCAA.
    2.BOG and Poole Commission investigate NC State. / UNC is fighting to avoid any kind of INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS.
    3. NCAA findings on Valvano–players sold tickets and used shoes( in a pre-EBay market).This was all the NCAA reported. No agent stuff , no grade stuff,etc./UNC has an agent runner as associate head coach, tutors writing papers for players, players receiving benefits from agents and probably more shoes to drop as this investigation continues well into 2011 and maybe early 2012.
    4.I will agree that Shackleford and Washburn were not stellar student/athletes.
    I will raise a few questions on Washburn. What if Dean Smith had outrecruited Jimmy V for Washburn? He might have been given a diploma from UNC. 20% Graduation rate means that players are required to do classwork to get a grade and ultimately graduate.
    Dwight Jones was rejected for admission to Clemson and now he starts for UNC.
    That alone is all I need to know about UNC and academic integrity for student/athletes. Butch Davis’ program leads the ACC in academic exceptions for football players admission to school.

  23. Boy how mis informed are you.

    I will address the Dwight Jones situation for you since you are hinding behind those red tinted walmart shades.

    Clemson actually had a student body greetting party to welcome a huge potential recruiting class which is by the way a minor ncaa violation that they self reported this to the ncaa. They back off of Dwight immediately and according to his HS coach the ncaa made a mistake on his transcript so he presude Valdosta State only to find out so after things were acceptible.

    Trooper Taylor @Tennessee tried to come back into the picture but it was to late.

    Just because he didn`t give state the time of day in your opinion there must have been our admissions neglect.

    Doc Holiday was and still is one of the biggest cheaters there is just ask wvu.

    So in the time being “Run Forest Run”.

  24. LOIC
    I do like your name choice for posting on this site. All of the tarhole fans need to get used to LOIC.
    They will be hearing that very much in the future.
    Bottom line: On whose campus is the NCAA currently residing?
    I know of no other school in this area that is hosting NCAA visitors on a daily basis.

Comments are closed.