As a North Carolina Tar Heels fan ... I just have to ask ... what the heck was that?
What was that Tasmanian Devil of a team wearing royal blue and red? I don't care who you root for, but sitting there and watching your team get run all over in the Final Four is quite an experience. To go from believing for five months that your team had a darn good shot to win the tournament ... to seeing them get whipped to a 40-12 deficit was jaw dropping.
It was a perfect storm of Kansas' intensity and North Carolina's lack of it.
The entire week has been around Roy Williams and the fact that he's not the coach in Lawrence, KS anymore. Maybe it should've been about the new guy in town.
It was evident that Bill Self had his team prepared, focused and hungry for this game. His big-to-big high post game was nearly flawless and was the stiff punch that knocked the Heels back. The defensive pressure was breathtaking! As Jim Nantz and Billy Packer marveled, the Jayhawks were everywhere, getting every loose ball and had their hands smacking down passes and shots. UNC couldn't handle their speed or their transition game.
The Scripps Howard Foundation's annual National Journalism Awards were announced last week. Sports writers have an uphill battle in winning these types of awards, measured against other writers who take on slightly more serious topics like education and climate change and war, but here's the citation for commentary:Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star receives $10,000 and a trophy for his ability to seamlessly integrate sports commentary with social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide.
Jason Whitlock gave an interview to The Big Lead last year that landed him in a lot of hot water and basically cost him his plum job with ESPN. But in a brand-new interview with The Big Lead, Whitlock says he has no regrets.I want to win a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Royko won one and I'd like to win one. I'm hoping my stuff on Imus and The Jena Six will put me in contention. If it doesn't, it's just not meant to be.Columnists don't often openly discuss wanting to win a Pulitzer -- journalists are supposed to pretend they're above openly campaigning for the most coveted prize in journalism. In fact, Whitlock is the only journalist I can ever remember coming right out and saying that's his goal, although he's certainly far from the only journalist who has that goal.
