Hugh Thumps Rick at The PNC

Jan 28, ’13:  10+ years ago an individual (assumably an NC State partisan) proffered on the Internet that NC State, and everyone affiliated with the institution, was far superior to their UNC-CH counterparts BECAUSE - General Hugh Shelton was a greater human being than Rick Dees..... I thought about that this weekend as Danica Patrick announced her new boyfriend and The Pro Bowl was played.....


My congratulations to all my adult NC State fan-friends with real lives.  I expect your excitement and delight with the outcome of Saturday’s basketball game was similar to mine (and my adult UNC fan-friends) after Gio’s punt return back in October.  You cheered loudly as the outcome was determined.  You high-fived like-minded friends and family.  You acted giddy for an hour or so...... then you gradually came back down to earth and made sure your children were not running with scissors and that someone had thought to walk the family dog.  ...... lower species of fans in both camps responded “differently”.  

Board monkeys do what board monkeys do when “their team” either wins or loses to “a hated rival”.    Either extreme reaction is “not pretty” and causes reexamination of Charles Darwin’s theories as to which direction human evolution has moved. Bringing us back to Hugh The General and Rick The DJ.  

The Hugh versus Rick comparison is a version of my rivalry homily that: 


There really are bi-peds among us who hold fast to that belief.  Visit a local mall and you’ll see’em lurking around.   Wear a HazMat suit and latex gloves.  Do ya think the goober that uttered "Hugh v Rick" has been allowed to breed?  I hope not.

My retort to "Hugh vs Rick" was "Pres James K. Polk vs Charles Shackleford".   I figure "the guy that invented Sweet Acidopholus Milk" is indeed a better human being than Lawrence Taylor.

How do UNC’s notorious uber-liberal sorts deal with Obamic “Baghdad Bob” Robert Gibbs being a Wuff?  Life’s fulla perplexing ambiguities, ain’t it.

For the dregs in the Chapel Hill camp..... this is “Roy’s team”.... ergo “Roy’s Fault” – Ouch!  Just ask Phillip Bridges ’86.  That this year’s roster lacks the talent and experience of traditional UNC teams is simply a fact.  Blame it on “The Calipari Way” that is in en vogue now.   Play “what if” Kendall Marshall or John Henson had stayed one more year.   Concentrate on “the gallant comeback” from the anticipated mega-rout and blame the refs for the early fouls on McAdoo.  Play whatever mind tricks a “dreg” has to play to avoid the painfully obvious – This NC State team is “better” than this UNC team.   Or certainly was last Saturday.

If so, what does this mean for “this Wake Forest team”?

If it had been a 30pt+ rout would Roy have pulled another Biscuit Boy Cut 'n Run?  I don't think so, but ya never know.

Another Bizarre Thought:  With two minutes to go, and "Mo Mentum" wearing C-Blue, I expected to see Karl Hess walk on the court wih Gov Jim Martin and announce "Governor Martin has a few questions to ask Roy".   That woulda been a bigger moment than Dudley Bradley mugging Clyde The Glide. 

Might UNC revenge this L in a February re-match?  Maybe.  Or perhaps in a possible 3rd game in the post-season exhibition known as The ACC Tournament.... or in the Dance.  Or perhaps UNC won’t beat State for the next dozen encounters.  Such a victory streak would not be a precedent.

Am I the only one who wondered (when State was up 28 in mid-rout) was Julius Nyang’oro watching from his treehouse in Zambia?  Does Julius have “satellite” or was he in a Zambian sports bar? ..... and where was Deborah Crowder?  Were she and Warren watching from a sticky-floored Franklin Street drinkery?

Do African buffaloes have wings?

Has Mark “Moses” Gottfried truly led the long-suffering PackPeople to the brink of the end of the rainbow?  Maybe.  Can the enthusiasm and passion from “hosting GameDay” transfer to more mundane situations?   

Can Commish Swofford devise a defense to deny the aforementioned PackPeople their prize?   We all know he’s working on such a plan.

Is The PNC now the epicenter of college basketball?  I read a tweet that said that’s the case.  Who knew? 

I thought it was a rule that the home team wore white uniforms.  The NCAA should investigate.

Meanwhile.... after offering congrats to the victors, it’s time for the rest of us adults with real lives to get back to “don’t run with scissors” and “someone has to walk the dog”.   Well.... except for Danica and The Pro Bowl.

I’ve always found the whole “Danica Thing” to be fascinating.  She will always be a media magnet NOT because she is “a woman trying to compete in a man’s sport” but because she is “a pretty woman trying to compete in a man’s sport”.    Her success or relative lack of is Kournikovian.   That Anna Kournikova never won a tournament was not the stigma.  That Anna Kournikova was “a sexy blonde who never won a tournament” was the permanent headline.   

“Pretty” always makes a difference when women are involved.  I don’t make the rules.  Neither do unattractive women apparently.  If Danica was “Eunice” and looked like a Waffle House waitress on Exit 58 at 3 AM, everything she does would not be above the fold.  She isn’t so it is.   At least Danica's new boyfriend actually exists.  Ergo no celeb-interview with Perky Katie or Madame O.

They played another Pro Bowl yesterday. I know because it says so on ESPN.com .   Blondie and I did a HGTV marathon yesterday – Property Brothers – Elbow Room – Income Property – and Love It Or List It.   All HGTV all day until 8 PM when Blondie switched to Turner Classic Movies – some ol’ B&W flick with Reginald Gardner and some woman named Beatrice. ..... I finished a 20 hour Mario Puzo audiobook – Fools Die, and squeezed in a 4-mile trek.

Didyaknow.... UNC alum - Ken Lowe - is CEO of HGTV.... but, to my knowledge, has never been Chairman of a Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Now it’s Monday.  Has anyone checked to see if the jerseys are still in the rafters?  Do ya think Phillip’86 has thrown himself under a bus?  If so, did he leave any parting words?