University of North Carolina Athletics
Mick: Entitlement
January 24, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2000
I had just draped my 11 year old body serenely over the recliner and turned on that mind-enriching television show, The Price Is Right, when the owner of the recliner stuck his head into the living room.
"Son, don't forget to mow the grass this afternoon," my dad said.
"How much you gonna pay me?" I replied, not looking up from the bidding.
Oops. Wrong answer.
My father was a large, gentle man who's ice blue eyes lived behind a pair of thick glasses. A research scientist, he generally preferred logic and reason to belts and paddles when dealing with obstreperous pre-adolescents, but when he got mad those lenses seemed to sharpen his gaze into a hide-tanning stare.
He walked into the room, turned off the television set and faced me.
"What did you say?", he asked.
"How much you gonna pay me?" I mumbled. "OTHER kids get paid for doing stuff."
"Mickey, let me put it to you this way," he said. "IF you mow the grass this afternoon, you get to eat dinner tonight. And IF you do a real nice job edging, weeding and raking, you get to sleep in your bed. Do you understand that?"
Case closed. I was feeling my oats a little bit and got my principles of entitlement confused. Being a member of the family didn't entitle me to get paid for chores. Doing chores entitled me to be a member of the family.
Which brings us to the struggles of the 1999-2000 Tar Heels.
Could it be that many Carolina supporters have been spoiled by the comfortable basketball life? Can three and a half decades of excellence make you feel entitled to it somehow? The Tar Heels have played so well for so long that their accomplishments have become part of the social conciousness of our state. A few UNC fans, used to suckling away happily at the nipple of success, have gotten fat. And now that they feel their grip on that bosom slipping, they are crying like newborns.
Now nowhere this column does it say hey, let's all be cheery and pretend the boys in blue are undefeated. The Tar Heels' issues are as obvious as they are well chronicled and the players and coaches are working hard to try and earn back some of what these four straight losses have taken away. Nor does it say in this space that it is bad to feel some ownership of comebacks and championships, streaks and strings, 20 win seasons and NCAA Tournaments. Shoot, those treasures are as addictive as nicotine and don't take much getting used to.
All I am saying is that when winning is made to look so easy, we tend to forget how hard it is to be consistently good.
So be upset with losing. You wouldn't be a true fan if it didn't bother you. But as you try to figure out what the future holds for this team, just remember to take a moment to be thankful for the basketball that has been played around here for a long, long time. We're not entitled to it. It just happened.
Carolina will be back soon and dinner will taste extra good....once we get the grass cut.
