The IronDog Chronicles

After the Eve Carson tragedy, tonight’s UNC-Duke game is a tough one to get up for…

After watching ESPN Gameday, I wondered if tonight’s game should have been postponed to Monday night.  I also thought about how both Coach Smith and Coach Knight regretted their decision to play the National Championship after the Reagan assassination attempt, and even how Pete Rozelle regretted his choice to play NFL games after the Kennedy assassination.

This is a local tragedy, but the pain and shock is tough on a lot of minds.   However, I can understand how sports can relieve pain from a lot of hearts.  From that thought, the good thing is that the game will take thoughts away for a bit.

On the game front, the Heels need to get Tywon into the mix early.  He has two games under his belt, and he should be getting close to at least 80%, but how is the wind…?

This blogga still believes that the Heels are ten points stronger than Duke with Lawson running the show.  However, what I was most dismayed at during the first game was not how we defended their outside shooting, but how often we struggled to get the ball over halfcourt and against pressure ‘D.’  What happens if Tywon is not at full speed?

On the team front, I am extremely impressed with how the Heels have responded to deficits over the last two games.  After both the BC and Florida State victories, I like the Heels’ chances, and I truly feel that with Tywon, the Heels should not only be a favorite, but also are a far stronger team at the moment.

Yet, with this tragedy, I really don’t know how these guys are going to respond.  There is not one person on Franklin Street who isn’t talking about this tragedy.  The few people that I’ve spoken with about the emerging story are disgusted with the pics, and over the past few days, the interactions on Facebook have dwindled to a halt.  Yet, that also could be due to Spring Break.  How will this tragedy affect a team that has several members who were friends with Eve Carson.

I do not want to jump to conclusions.  However, from my point of view, after viewing the photo of an absolute thug using her card at an ATM, I’m enraged, disgusted, and worried at not only how Chapel Hill will be viewed, but also the now changes and fears that will be affect the town over the next months and years.

From a personal standpoint and after observing numerous incidences over the years, I’ve been tired of all of the thugs from Greensboro, Durham, Roxboro, and Burlington coming into town at night and the town not having the police power to push them out of locales where a rough element certainly does not belong.

My fear is that we’re finally going to learn the lesson from a brutal murder that the absolute low-life thuggery that has emerged on Franklin Street over the past decade needs to leave town.

Perhaps the game is a good thing to take minds away from this case.

Let’s do this…

Peace,
BD