University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: No Time For Football
September 13, 2001 | Football
Sept. 13, 2001
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
I had this great idea for a feature story.
It was going to be about cornerback Michael Waddell. He's good at football, you know. Played great so far this year. Locked up with Texas receiver Roy Williams on Saturday and did better than anyone had a right to expect.
So I was going to do a story on Waddell. It was going to be a personality piece, going to delve into his personality, the year he had to spend sitting out at Carolina, and the improvements he had made since then.
That was the plan. The plan changed.
Nothing against Waddell, but his story doesn't seem quite as important right now, does it? There are other stories being written, and all of them seen to end unhappily.
It has now been 48 hours since airplanes slammed into three major United States buildings and one field in Pennsylvania, and that time lapse means the television networks are starting to come forth with some of their own personality pieces.
You cannot watch those pieces. You cannot watch Americans walking from hospital to hospital, trying to find their loved ones, and losing a little bit of hope with every unfruitful stop.
Like most other kids who grew up near Chapel Hill, I grew up idolizing UNC athletes. The two who stick out are wide receiver Randy Marriott and point guard Kenny Smith, because by the time that pair played, I was old enough to pretend to be them in pickup games.
After the 1984 basketball team had their undefeated streak ended by Arkansas, I went out in the driveway and practiced. Just in case the Tar Heels might need some help, in case they might need a backup point guard to Smith.
What better hero could there be than a Tar Heel?
Hopefully, one benefit that will come out of this tragedy is that kids will look up to a policeman, or a fireman, or even-unbelievably, for this nation-a politician.
There's a feeling you get when you're going to a road football game and you see a UNC car flag on the automobile next to you. It's a feeling of kinship with the person in that other car. You're on the same team, feeling the same way, ready to go down to Clemson or Atlanta or wherever and kick some butt.
Multiply that by about 100 and you get the feeling brought on by the proliferation of American flags that have sprung up since September 11.
By now, everyone knows that there will be no Carolina-Southern Methodist football game on Saturday. Some people say that was a bad move. The common explanation is that we should not "let the terrorists win."
Sorry, but playing a college football game does not defeat the terrorists. They will be defeated, there is no doubt about that, but their sure and swift defeat will come later.
Could you go to Kenan Stadium and cheer on Saturday? Could you proudly sing that you are a Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bred and that when you die you'll be Tar Heel dead?
It rings just a little bit hollow when there are thousands of dead in New York City and Washington. Not Tar Heel dead, but American dead.
We could probably send a message by carrying on with the games. But we could do something more important than sending a message if we spent Saturday with our families.
Eventually, things will get back to normal. Carolina athletic teams will have to start boarding planes again, and they will crisscross the country to play sporting events. The football Tar Heels have taken six flights in the past three weekends. They carry portable CD players and portable DVD players and all manner of electronic devices. The next time they get on an airplane, those devices will get considerably more scrutiny.
The games will go on next weekend. At some point, that story about Michael Waddell will be written. But it will be different. And the hope here is that, although we always say we will never forget and then proceed to forget, it will always be different.
ALSO BY ADAM LUCAS
Adam Lucas is the co-publisher of Basketball America. He is a lifelong observer of UNC sports and can be reached at JAdamLucas@aol.com.
