DUKE-UNC HYPE IS OFF-TARGET

by The Prophet, ProphetFighting

Is the hype around the UNC/Duke game a little ridiculous in light of the fact that the young lady who was the student body president at UNC was brutally murdered a couple of days ago? I thought it was standard operating procedure for schools to pretend at least like something mattered more than their sports programs when a murder or something went down on campus. Or is it the case that Northern Illinois basketball games are less important than human tragedy but not at a hoop factory like UNC and certainly not the UNC/Duke game?

I'm not really sure what the right move is here-from what I've read about the girl that was murdered it seems like she wouldn't have wanted them to cancel the game anyway. It just seemed strange to me that I'd read several UNC/Duke previews on the usual big sports websites without even a mention of the fact that NC's student body president was murdered less than 48 hours ago. I'm not usually one to play this card but it seemed *really* insensitive at least to me.

The ESPN preview suggested that the "emotions" of Demarcus Nelson playing in his last UNC/Duke game might be the "x-factor". What about the emotions of UNC having to deal with the fact that some lowlife put a couple of slugs into their Student Body President--a girl who apparently really had her shit together and had a bright future--just a couple of days ago?

I was wondering if I was the only one getting this vibe.....I know life goes on and all of that but I'm not so sure that the tone of the CBS Sportsline preview I've pasted below is appropriate. At least give lip service to the tragedy. Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive or something....

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Sportsline excerpt --- Game worth flying to see in person: It's always big, a North Carolina-Duke game. But do you know when it's really big? When it's in the final weekend of the regular season. ..

And for the ACC title. And (perhaps) for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And when Ty Lawson is back healthy after missing the previous meeting. And when Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski are just weeks removed from bickering in the media. And man oh man, Cameron Indoor Stadium sure is gonna be fun Saturday night! And I'm so excited about it that I was considering camping out in Krzyzewskiville before the game until I remembered how nice the beds are at the local Marriott.