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THE LAST FRONTIER
The Clarion \ April 10, 2009
American Hero
Presented by Editor in
Cliief Josepli Cliilton
The mob mentality is a strange thing. I am not usually the
type ofperson who hurdles bon fires and cheers as people
rip street signs from their posts. (Well, maybe that's a
slight exaggeration. I'm not the type of person who usually
does those things when TV cameras and police officers
are within 20 feet of me.) But for some reason that's
what I did, along with 50,000 or so of my closest friends
on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill Monday night while
celebrating UNC's national basketball championship win
over Michigan State. The effect of sports on the human
psyche is a strange phenomenon A friend of mine who
spends most of her time either curled up reading Dave
Eggers while listening to The Weepies or complaining how
people she perceives to be morons getfull scholarships to bounce balls came out of her shell andjumped over a fire next to me, screaming "Tar!
Heels!" in mid-air. I saw a kid who stole my girlfriend in high school, and Ijumped into his arms as if he was my long-lost BFF straggling up to
me after being lost at sea for six years. For such a massive celebration, there were only two arrests (which land of makes me wonder what kind
of mayhem those two must have perpetrated), and it should have been that way, since nobocfy really got hurt and the keen eye got to observe how
sports can gel a diverse community. To the thousands of other fans there that night, and especially to my road dogs Big Sam and Cheese, I salute
you as true American Heroes who showed that chaos can lead to burnt hems on jeans, hoarse throats, hangovers and most importantly unity.
America's Game
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ACROSS
DOWN
4 Broke Brooklyn's
1 Cock fighting,
heart; Artful In
sucker punching
Dickens
Met
7 Berra of great
2 Struck out at the
quotes
bat
9 .200 line
3 First father-son
12 Candy bar named
outfield
for slugger
5 Short blooper;
14No help with
Don't mess with
curveball,
It
according to
6 Enshrinement
"Major League"
locale
16 Fat Fielder
8 Site of College
18
World Series
Politically
10 If he was a hot
Incorrect former
dog, he'd eat
Brave mascot
himself
21 Reggie Jackson's
11 Cursed by a Billy
month
Goat
22 Team once
13 Bash Brother
owned by W.
and
23 Red ford's
steroid tattler
homemade
15 Atlanta Negro
boomstick
League team
24 Communist
17 Easy pop;
leader once cut
delicious and
by the O's
convenient
25 Lost St. Louis
19 Most hated Steve
squad
In Chicago
26 Interrupted 1989
20 Civil War victors
Series
27Rulned 1994
season; you get
three
28 Left hander,
directlonally