Carolina gave state win it needed
Published April 7, 2017
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, April 4, 2017.
They played a little ballgame in Arizona Monday night. And the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s NCAA championship win over Gonzaga was about a lot more than just basketball.
But first, a bit about the basketball. We realize that many “ABC” (Anybody But Carolina”) fans take about as much joy in the Monday victory as many Carolina fans took in Duke’s championship win two years ago: not much. But many others joined the hardcore Tar Heel faithful in cheering on this heart-filled team of older players led by Coach Roy Williams, that plain-spoken man from our mountains with his dadgum quirkily good quotes.
This team, called “soft” by some, showed it was anything but. They showed true heart in come-from-behind wins against tenacious opponents, always working together. Some of them, especially Joel Berry II, named Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 Final Four, played through pain. They more than earned their 71-65 victory over Gonzaga Monday night, a sweet comeback after a razor-thin loss to Villanova in last year’s NCAA championship game.
But this win was about a lot more than basketball.
The cloud of an NCAA investigation into an academic/athletic scandal still hangs over Carolina, but that involves matters that took place long before the current players came on board.
The Monday night win put a positive face on our state that’s been so battered by that “bathroom bill,” which discriminated against transgender people and was finally repealed last week. Yes, the repeal wasn’t perfect and yes, pressure from the NCAA did play a pivotal role in bringing about the repeal. Consideration of this state as a site for future NCAA championship games was at stake.
The loss of those games would have meant a huge loss of business. But the NCAA was only part of a long line of economic hits the state had already taken and was facing over the bathroom bill. Now many are starting to repair the damage, trying to show the world that we’re not as backward as that bill the GOP leadership pushed.
It’s fitting that a team from UNC Chapel Hill, that incubator for wild causes such as equality and good public education, won the national championship.
They came home Tuesday. It’s time for the rest of us to come home, too, back to the best of what our state can be.
April 7, 2017 at 10:12 am
Richard Eason says:
How in the world does a win by a school mired in years of athletic and academic scandal benefit NC. It only magnifies the complete hypocrisy that exists at UNC and the NCAA. It sends a horrible message to our young people that cheating pays off in the long run. Lastly, you are very naive if you don't think all that cheating which has continued to lead to above average athletic results, didn't contribute to getting those present athletes on campus. If UNC had played by the rules their past victories would have been reduced greatly.
