Thursday, August 31. 1972
David Zucchino
Karl Douglas and pure carpe diem for the day
The Daily Tar Heel
"l try not to take life too
seriously. You're not going to
get out of it alive anyway" Karl
Douglas
Now who in the hell is Karl Douglas?
Just forget the name, it really doesn't
matter. It also doesn't matter that Karl
Douglas is the first black rookie
quarterback ever to direct the Baltimore
Colts to an exhibition loss.
What counts is that Douglas said what
he did when he did. It was just after the
Colts', with Douglas as the starting
quarterback, had been hung out to dry,
33-3, by the Washington Redskins earlier
this month.
Picture the scene. There's this black
guy Douglas, cooly sipping a coke in the
corner of the locker room while a bunch
of sweating reporters wait for him to go
to pieces. He's just a kid in his early
twenties who's just been destroyed in his
first NFL start. He's supposed to curse
himself, stare blankly at the floor and just
hope the coach gives him one more shot.
But Douglas is different. He has done
his very best, he didn't stop trying, at
least, and he knows he'll be back. He also
knows the score, and it's not 33-3.
Karl Douglas alienated and infuriated a
few people by what he said, but the fact
remains that too many people take sports
too seriously. Not everybody has to or
needs to.
The players have to. The pros are paid
fabulous salaries in return for professional
results, so maybe Douglas should have
taken the game more seriously. A little
levity goes a long way in the NFL.
But Carolina athletics is not the NFL,
and sports at UNC is what we're
concerned with. The games you watch,
the players and coaches that you see and
hear are there strictly for your viewing
pleasure. Big time college football and
basketball got that way because people
like you will lay down good money for
whatever it is you get out of watching
young men play games with balls.
And you won't pay up unless the
programs that the Athletic Department
and the coaches are selling is a productive
one. People like nothing better than
paying to see a winning team win, but
they'll do everything possible to avoid
watching a loser lose again.
Thus the coaches can be excused if
they fail to take the game with a grain of
salt. They are paid to do one thing and
that's to win. So think before you
condemn a coach for doing everything
within his power to win. Instead, blame
the money-motivated entertainment
conglomerate of the college game that
gives him no other choice.
And what about the players? Do they .
want to win because the coach tells them
they do or because busting their guts
alongside a close-knit group of human
beings in a successful cause, any cause, is
an unforgettable experience? Or maybe
it's all for the grant-in-aid, the exposure,
pressure from the folks back home or
maybe, just maybe, because they like
what they're doing.
Regardless of the motivation, players
are entitled to a few pleasures and
rewards along the way. At game time,
though, they play for keeps. That's the
way it is.
Now about you, the fans. For you, it's
purely carpe diem seize the moment.
Sports offer an exciting, stimulating
alternative, an outlet into a vicarious
world of cheering, cursing and
second-guessing. Unlike the coaches and
players, you can take the game or leave it.
You're the game's master, not vice versa.
This is the essence of spectator sports.
It means you automatically share in the
tension, the drama, the hilarity and even
the excruciating dullness that only an
athletic event can produce.
You can seize the moment by reading
inane press brochures while the game is
being played. By pulling for the old
school colors because Uncle Harvey from
State gives you a six-point spread no
matter who the opposition is and then
says "You need all the help you can get."
Or by spending a long afternoon on the
top row at Kenan Stadium because the
crowd across the field changes color in
the sunlight when you're stoned.
And if seizing the moment means
vomiting Kentucky Fried Chicken and
Seagram's Seven over the rail because
Duke scores in six plays from its own 38,
well, do that too.
As for us, the sportswriters, we have a
choice, too. We can take sports seriously
when a sober, straightforward report is
essential, but we won't forget that sports
are played for the fans. Well take the
world of sport for what it is a powerful
diversion, but not a matter of life and
death.
We'll provide the facts, along with the
usual opinions and the sometimes
unavoidable biases. You can swallow it
whole, ignore it all, or take from it only
what you want to.
For readers who dislike leads, quotes,
predictions and analogies, well use as
many line scores and box scores as
possible on our pages. Well have plenty
of pictures, too, but no cheesecakes, and
mug shots only when necessary.
Most importantly, we'll keep in mind
what an old sportswriter once told mc.
"Son," he said, "you'll keep everything in
its proper perspective if you just
remember this: Athletics is sports and
sports are just games." .
And games are fun.
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