North Carolina Tar Heels - Champion or Cheater?

A big congratulations to Coach Roy Williams and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team: Last night, they earned National Champion distinction by defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Before we shower the program with too much praise and adoration, however, consider a few dynamics that provide insight into a more troubling situation.

- Since 2010, the UNC athletic program has operated under the cloud of an academic fraud investigation. At issue is nearly 20 years of fake classes, grade manipulation, and other dishonest practices to ensure athletes maintained eligibility to participate. Resolution should come soon, with likely consequences to the UNC football and basketball programs. To be clear, current student-athletes are not part of any of the academic fraud accusations. But for such a storied institution and athletic program, the tar stain remains. For background, see recent NYT article here, a CNN article from 2014 here, and the Wikipedia page with citations here.  You can also enjoy the detailed Wainstein Report here as well as multiple resources compiled by the Raleigh News & Observer here.

- Of course the fraud allegations from years ago shouldn't stain the efforts and accomplishments of the current student-athletes, but it will. Delaying the inevitable consequences makes sense from a business point of view, but it hurts the current players. Unfortunately, we shouldn't be surprised - on many levels, such behavior is standard operating procedure for the NCAA and many of its member schools.

- The Wainstein Report cites interesting thoughts attributed to former UNC football coach Butch Davis:  “He [Davis] quickly realized that there was lots of talk about the importance of academics without anything to back up that talk. He found Chapel Hill’s attitude toward student-athlete academics to be like an Easter egg: Beautiful and impressive to the outside world but without much life inside.”

- I often tease my family about being "homers" for their favorite teams, excusing team or player misdeeds, quick to judge the misdeeds of other players or teams, and regularly showing favoritism when evaluating referees, officials, and umpires.  Such bias is obviously widespread throughout sports, but it also sounds a lot like political partisanship.  Do loyalties to UNC or Duke, or to the Big Ten or SEC, cloud judgment and influence attitudes in the same way being a Republican or Democrat does?

Perhaps all this partisanship is simply human nature...

** Full Disclosure: I grew up a huge basketball fan, and the Tar Heels were my #1 team.  Loved them, almost unconditionally.  Now, however, I'm a sucker for underdogs and generally cheer against teams from the power conferences.