(Eljp Sailg (Far Hrrl
Fight Ruins
Beautiful Day
At Boshamer
Friday was a beautiful day for baseball.
But it won’t be remembered because
of that.
On that day, UNC and Georgia Tech
hooked up in a dazzling offensive show at
Boshamer Stadium. But the game won’t be
remembered for the Tar Heels’ 11-9 win.
No, Friday will go down in the record
books as a dark day in collegiate baseball
history. Forget the balmy weather or the
sparkling blue sky. They really didn’t have
much to do with this game.
That’s right, one bench-clearing brawl
ruined the entire afternoon.
It all got started in the bottom of the
seventh inning, when Tech reliever David
Elder served up a little chin music to UNC
leadoff man Tyrone Brown. After taking
the pitch, Brown glared at Elder. Jacket
catcher Tucker Barr immediately jumped
up and shoved Brown. Brown shoved Barr
back, and then it really got ugly.
Barr
punched
Brown, and a
three-minute
brawl ensued.
Punches were
exchanged all
over the infield,
and all the um
pires could do
was watch.
I’ve never
felt more like
folding my ros-
■WfiiJiTr'' *
[jmeslTwhitfield
SENIOR WRITER
ter sheet into a cylinder shape and letting a
loud “Boo!” bellow from my lips.
In the end, UNC’s Brown and Josh
Rowell and Georgia Tech’s Barr, Scott
Byers and Todd Papetti were .ejected.
Obviously, fingers could be pointed at
both sides. But to lay the blame on
someone’s shoulders and single that per
son out as the instigator would be wrong.
But several issues need to be addressed.
■ Anyway you look at it, baseball is a
game. It’s nothing more and nothing less.
Games aren’t a life-and-death situation.
Win, lose, strike out, hit a 3-pointer, double
fault on a serve, win a faceoff or commit a
turnover, the sun will rise, and
down South someone will have a bow' of
gritsforßreakfast the next day.
As Crash Davis said in Bull Durham,
“You win some, you lose some, and some
times the game gr ts rained out.”
Taking it to the life-and-death level sim
ply defeats the whole purpose of sports.
Never should the outcome of a game
drive someone to throw a punch.
■ But one might say fighting is an in
nate characteristic of the human race.
Brothers fight with each other. Best friends
have been known to scrap a little. Even
husband and wife squabble.
Some sports, like hockey, football and
basketball, lend themselves to fighting be
cause of their physical nature.
And because of this physical play, ath
letes have been known to shove each other
after the whistle.
However, throwing a punch is a whole
different ballgame.
For someone to punch or grab someone
by the throat (for example, Andre Riddick
in Saturday’s North Carolina-Kentucky
basketball game) has no place in sports.
Elevating this physical play to the point
of trying to hurt someone is bush league.
■ And of course there is the children
factor. Friday at Boshamer Stadium, about
20 children played under their parents’
supervision along the first baseline.
Can you imagine what the kids thought?
Watching college students duke it out
sure gives them the true meaning of sport.
Instead of fighting, they should be see
ing pictures like Kentucky’s Jeff Sheppard
helping UNC’s Dante Calabria off the floor
late in Saturday’s game. That came after
one of the game’s most physical exchanges.
If kids continue to see bench-clearing
brawls and throat-clinching grabs, there’s
no telling what we’re gonna see on the
playing field 20 years from now.
tglgr 1 Athlete &Week
The numbers weren't too impressive —at least
. ; for Jerry Stackhouse—but Jerry Stackhouse is still
the DTH Athlete of the Week. Lifting his team to its
third Final Four in five years earns him his first DTH
weekly honors. Against Georgetown and Ken
" tucky, the Kinston native scored 30 points on 8-of
, ? 18 shooting, grabbed 19 rebounds, tallied 10
assists and five blocks, en route to winning the
Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player award.
Teammates Rasheed Wallace and Donald WilF
wV■ ry jams joined Stackhouse on the all-regional team.
ln the regional final against the Wildcats, the
vlwwlillUllvv sophomore scored 18 points-including 11 from
Basketball trie free-throw line -and ripped down 12boards.
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Prized Hoops Recruit Says He’ll Bea Tar Heel
Vince Carter Puts End to
Speculation, Announces
He Will Sign With UNC
BYGREGAUMAN
SPECIAL TO THE DTH
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ln the
first of what should be many press confer
ences, Vince Carter made the mistake of
smiling Monday, triggering a slew offlashes
from the photographers around him.
“Get used to that,” said his coach,
Charles Brinkerhoff.
Carter, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard touted
among the top 5 basketball prospects in the
country, had reason to smile as he ended
months of speculation by announcing he
will attend North Carolina in the fall. The
Mainland (Fla.) High School senior chose
Blue L.A. Skies Don’t Translate
To Victory for Tar Heel Women
LOS ANGELES l’ve got to stop
believing in omens.
Ifirsthadthisinklingwhen, against
everybody’s better judgement, I picked
Brigham Young to advance to the men’s
Final Four. Ijust had this foeling.
But it must have been a reaction to too
much caffeine, because now I’m in last
place in both of the NCAA bracket pools
that I entered, and the sports desk is getting
a good laugh. So much for women’s intu
ition.
And then there was the women’s Sweet
16 at UCLA this weekend—l knew, Ijust
knew , that UNC was going to pull it out.
Two forces told me so:
1) The sky. I know this sounds cliche
ish, but DTH photo editor Craig Jones and
I were on our way to Santa Monica to
touch the Pacific Ocean when Craig asked
our driver, Jordan (who wasn’t supposed
to be traveling out of a 5-mile radars but
decided to do us a ‘favor’), if the weather
was usually as clear as it was on Wednes
day.
“Where’s the smog?” Craig asked.
“Hmmm .. it usually isn’t uiis clear,”
Jordan said.
“You kne why?” Craig asl od.
Ca ilina’s in town, so the sky’s Tar Heel
blue."
Jordan believed, and so did I.
2) Another shot. I was in the media
room eating Guppies (wannabe Pepperidge
Farm Goldfish) as I watched Jennifer
Jacoby feed Jannon Roland the buzzer-
SPORTS SCHEDULE
Today
Baseball: vs. Louisville at Boshamer
Stadium, 3 p.m.
Man’s Tennis: vs. Furman at Cone-
Kenfieid Tennis Center, 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 29
Baseball: vs. Louisville at Boshamer
Stadium, 3 p.m.
Lacrosse: at Duke in Durham. 8 p.m.
Men’s Tennis: at N.C. State in Raleigh,
2:30 p.m.
Women’s Tennis: vs. Virginia Common
wealth at Cone-Kenfield Tennis
Center, 2 p.m.
Thursday, March 30
Women's Tennis: vs. William & Mary at
Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, 2 p.m.
Friday, March 31
Baseball: at Clemson in Clemson. S.C.,
7:15 p.m.
Men’s Golf: at Carpet Capital Collegiate
in Dalton, Ga., all day.
Men’s Tennis: at Virginia Common
wealth in Richmond, Va„ 2:30 p.m.
Saturday. Aoril 1
Men's Basketball: at NCAA Final Four
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the Tar Heels over Florida, Florida State
and Duke.
“I felt comfortable there,” Carter said
when asked what drew him to UNC. “I felt
comfortable as a person, as a player and as
an academic student. I enjoyed being with
those guys.”
The Tar Heels, who advanced to the
Final Four in Seattle and face defending
NCAA champion Arkansas Saturday,
stand two wins from their second national
championship in three years.
With senior guard Donald Williams
graduating, Carter has an opportunity to
make an immediate impact in Dean Smith’s
program.
“That’s a position I’ve been wanting to
play all my life, two-guard,” he said. “It’s
wide open. I’m just going to go in as hard
as I have in high school, and hopefully I
can learn the position. I’m not going in
there expecting to get that position without
beating 3-
pointer that
lifted underdog
Purdue past
first-seeded
Vanderbilt.
What a fit
ting way, I
thought, to in
troduce a UNC
‘upset’ of
Stanford.
But maybe
| ROBBIPICKERAL |
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
that time it was too many Guppies, be
cause my omens fell through just like
the women’s team.
But you still can’t knock the ‘94-’95 Tar
Heel squad it had talent and genuine
drive, not to mention superstars Charlotte
Smith and Marion Jones. Its quest was to
repeat as national champions, but time
simply ran out.
So as an omen-less attempt at a tribute
to this year’s team, here’s a look at a few
things I won’t forget about this season:
Best Play: Finally, the dunk. On the
first play of the game against North Caro
lina A&T, Smith got an open-court steal,
drove down the floor and got her hand
abov- the rim for the play that women’s
basketball had been waiting for—only the
third jam in a women’s collegiate game in
history.
Later in the game, Jones hit the back of
the rim on another slam attempt.
Best Quote: (From a UNC band mem
vs. Arkansas in Seattle, about 8:15
p.m.
Baseball; at Clemson in Clemson, S.C„ 3
p.m.
Men'* Goff: at Carpet Capital Collegiate
m Dalton. Ga, all day.
Lacrosse: vs. Johns Hopkins at Fetzer
Field, 1 p.m.
Softball: at UVa. Tournament in
Charlottesville, Va., TBA.
Men's Trade vs. Nebraska at Fetzer
Track, ail day.
Women's Track: vs. Nebraska, Michigan.
Tennessee and Georgetown at Fetzer
Track, all day.
Sunday, April 2
Baseball: at Clemson in Clemson, S.C., 2
p.m.
Men's Golf: at Carpet Capital Collegiate
in Dalton, Ga., all day.
Women's Golf: at Duke Invitational in
Durham, all day.
Softball: at UVa. Tournament in
Charlotteville. Va., TBA.
Men's Tennis: vs. Virginia at Cone-
Kenfield Tennis Center, 1 p.m.
Brown Adjusts Defense in Spring Football
STAFF REPORT
The North Carolina Tar Heels, looking
to improve their speed on the defensive
side of the ball, continued spring football
practice Monday by flip-flopping players
and testing younger ones.
Along the defensive front, senior All-
America candidate Marcus Jones returns
to his original tackle position after spend
ing last season at defensive end.
Redshirt freshman Michael Pringley has
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working.”
Carter led Mainland to its first state
championship in 56 years, averaging 22
points and 11 rebounds a game for the
Buccaneers.
Carter announced his decision in front
of the student body at Mainland’s high
school gymnasium.
“I have decided to take my academic
and athletic skills to North Carolina,”
Carter said as he put on a blue North
Carolina cap and held a basketball reading
“UNC Tar Heels” high above his head.
He said he is hoping he will have a
chance to play alongside UNC sophomores
Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse,
who could be leaving early for the NBA.
“It’s where I want to go, even if
Stackhouse and Rasheed won’t be there,”
he said. “I hope they are there, but if not,
I’m going there for myself to better my
skills, to move on to the next level after
ber at the Stanford game Thursday), “Bum
that tree! Firebomb it,” referring to the
Cardinal mascot —a paper mache tree
with googly eyes, big red lips and clown
pants. My counterpart from The Stanford
Daily explained to me that the overgrown
mascot symbolized the tree that the school’s
founder had planted when Stanford first
opened. It didn’t seem to matter that the
‘ever’green died last year. Go figure.
Best Game: UNC at N.C. State. No
matter how many times 1 watch the replay,
I still can’t believe that the shot that Kolleen
Kreul launched at the end of regulation to
force overtime was a 3. But it was.
It also was a Tar Heel loss, but it was an
eye-openerfor both programs. The double
overtime contest gave the Wolfpack its
ninth win, and almost assured State a bid
to the NCAA tournament. For UNC, the
loss seemed to fire up the Tar Heels.
Best Moment: The senior goodbye.
When the final horn sounded in the
Stanford game, Smith and fellow senior
Stephanie Lawrence met near the UNC
bench and indulged in a silent embrace.
Last year, Lawrence fed Smith the inbounds
pass with 0.7 seconds left for the 3-pointer
that gave UNC its first national title.
Arm-in-arm, the tandem quietly con
gratulated the other team. That’s true class.
Anyway, I know I’ve got to stop believ
ing in these omens they only seem to
bring bad luck. I know this, the sports desk
knows this and even Jordan knows this.
But I think I’d still pick BYU again.
Tar Heel Shows Seminole Hoops Ritual
You Thought It Was Crazy
Saturday Night? Check Out
The Madness This Weekend
Like any normal Carolina-blue blooded
Tar Heel fan, I joined in the celebra
tion on Franklin Street Saturday night.
In fact, this is the seventh such victory
party I’ve been to in the last four years, not
counting Halloween of course.
I was here in 1993, and I celebrated the
Elite Eight win, the Final Four win, and
dodged falling trees with the best of them
after the big one.
But this time, I was fortunate enough to
gain anew perspective on the event by
sharing the revelries ofFranklin Street with
someone who had never seen such a gath
ering. Someone who has totally missed out
on the aesthetics and art of basketball. A
bona fide football junkie, a Florida State
student.
He thought of the Franklin festivities as
sort of a religious ceremony. And why not?
been impressive at defensive end.
Sophomore Omar Brown, who stepped
in and played comerback in UNC’s injury
plagued secondary last season, moves to
the safety slot.
“We’re trying to get more speed on the
field at every position on defense,” Tar
Heel head coach Mack Brown said. “We
want to have our fastest defensive team
that we’ve had here, and I think we can do
that.”
IS * wb
You and the Navy.
Full Speed Ahead.
college.”
Carter said he has been recruiting
Stackhouse and Wallace as well, urging
them to stick around for another year or
two.
“I’ve talked to them. It’s been men
tioned, trust me, it’s been mentioned,”
Carter said. “They give me a hard time, I
give them a hard time, especially Rasheed.
He has picked on me worse than any player
ever. I got along real well with all the
players, and that really pulled me their
way.”
The oral commitment is not binding
until the official signing period begins on
April 12. But Carter said he would not be
changing his mind.
“I really dream of being the next NBA
superstar,” Carter said. “When I was
younger, I always wanted to be a superstar
like Michael Jordan, to be as popular as he
is. Now I just dream ofbeing (in the NB A). ”
■p ft B
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DTH/CRAIGIONES
Although Marion Jones and the Tar Heels came up short against Stanford, it
was still a successful and exciting season for Sylvia Hatchell’s program.
Tar Heel fans
engage in the
ritual after ev
ery win over
Duke and any
other team that
makes UNCthe
“underdog.”
To top it off, the
Tar Heels have
made the Final
Four three
times in the last
•3Mat
SENIOR WRITER
five years, making the Franklin Street ritual
happen almost as often as Easter.
And like any other holiday, the street
was adorned with streamers of toilet paper
draped over the stoplights and blowing
from the trees.
As we made our way up the blocked off
“sacred ground,” I saw people dancing
around, circling a giant bonfire.
In this ring, the FSU man noticed, were
the bravest, er, the drunkest of the UNC
faithful.
They were the ones who waved hand-
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Tuesday, March 28,1995
Coach Smith called Carter Sunday, and
Carter told him he was coming, he said.
“He’s not a guy who’s going to get really
excited, but I could tell he was pretty thrilled
to have me in his program,” Carter said.
Carter’s mother, Michelle Robinson,
said her son has received more than 3,000
letters in the past two years and at one
point averaged more than 40 a day.
Greetings from coaches at 900 different
colleges came along with unsigned letters
from disgruntled fans making some strange
accusations.
“They said a lot of crazy things, made a
lot of accusations, about things we had
received from different schools, ” Robinson
said. “They tell me I’m driving a Mercedes
now. But actually I’m driving a ’92 Cut
lass. I want my Mercedes.”
Greg Auman is the assistant sports editor of
the Independent Alligator.
made torches or twirled flaming T-shirts
through the air barely missing each other.
And heck, if they got burned, at least it
would be to the glory of the basketball
gods.
They also climbed each others’ shoul
ders —some even three people high
forming human totem poles to wave their
beers in homage to the great basketball
gods that graced them with another vic
tory.
Not only were they praising the gods of
the hardwood, they were chanting the sa
cred prayers, “U-N-C, U-N-C, Final Four,
Final Four!”, in hopes of more wins.
It was a rather moving experience, with
several people jumping and shouting ran
dom whoops in ecstasy.
I even found myself so caught up in the
ritual, the spirit moved me to shout out as
well.
But there was one question left for the
Seminole to ask, “Doesthis require human
sacrifice?”
“No,” I replied. “That’s for the next
win.”
7