Dean Smith, Ernie Banks Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients

Former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith and baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks will receive the nations highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals, "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security of national interests of the United States, to world peace, or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Dean Smith won 879 games as the head coach of North Carolina from 1961-97 with two national championships and is credited with graduating 96 percent of his players.


Ernie Banks smack over 500 home runs and the first National League player to win
back to back Most Valuable Player awards in 1958 and 1959.



Both men are very much deserved of this honor and are very much beloved by their sports.

Can The Duke/Carolina Basketball Game Top The Football Game? Duke Defeats Carolina 33-30 To Become Bowl Eligible

I don’t think the Duke/North Carolina men’s basketball rivalry can top the football rivalry this year. 

Yes Austin Rivers hit a buzzer beater last February at the Dean Smith Center to win the game for Duke but the men’s basketball team has four NCAA championships and is one of the sports gold standards.

Duke football has been a joke until David Cutcliffe took over five years ago but things have changed in the Bull City.  No one is laughing at the Blue Devils now and for the first time in 18 years Duke is eligible to go to a bowl game and Duke did ah la Austin Rivers from last winter.

With 13 seconds left Duke quarterback Sean Renfree connected with receiver Jamison Crowder for the game winning five yard touchdown to give the Blue Devils at 33-30 win over North Carolina.

It wasn't the prettiest win of the Duke/Carolina series but for the Blue Devils it was perfect.

Here’s the game winner for Duke and the celebration that followed. (Thanks WRAL-TV)

 

Duke quarterback Sean Renfree talks about the game winner (Thanks WRAL-TV)

And post game sound with Duke head coach David Cutcliffe. (Thanks GoDuke.com)

Those of us at the OSG HQ have been openly rooting for David Cutcliffe and his Duke Blue Devils to accomplish the goal of six wins, a winning season and a bowl game.  We salute the Blue Devils and coach Cut for reaching that goal.  We couldn’t be happier for a coach and a group of football players and for the program.

 

More trouble for UNC? This time the Hansbrough's involved

((ht: newsobserver.com))

Didn't North Carolina once have a pristine reputation as a school that played by the rules at any cost? That time seems so long ago.

We and many others have reported extensively on the NCAA issues with the football program. They go back several years and seemingly get deeper by the day.

Now Basketball is involved.

The scandal involves the mother of former UNC basketball star Tyler Hansbrough. The Raleigh News-Observer has discovered that Tami Hansbrough resigned from her $95K a year job a a "Fundraiser" for the school.

She apparently resigned after an investigation shows she took boatloads of personal trips on the school's dime. And the scandal has claimed the job of the school's chief fundraiser, former QB Matt Kupec too.

You really should read the News-Observers story on this RIGHT HERE

It sure appears that Tami Hansbrough got a job to be near her son...and it evolved into a relationship with Kupec and an opportunity for her to travel to Tyler's games. On the University's dime. She also managed to work in trips to son Ben's games at Notre Dame too. Again out of UNC's pocket.

For their part, the school insists this has nothing to do with any of the ongoing athletics academic fraud investigation. They say it had nothing to do with Sports...at all.

We say "Bull-poopie". UNC finally got caught. We aren't saying THIS investigation is part of a huge conspiracy, rather we say it's part of a culture of coddling and doing anything to help the athletes. That's right, a different set of rules for the Jocks.

The NCAA investigation continues and we think if they every get around to finishing it, North Carolina is in DEEP trouble. Whether Tami Hansbrough was hired to help coddle Tyler and so she could go to his games is only a small branch on a larger tree. It appears, at least on the surface, that the school was willing to do whatever it took to make the athletes happy. If it meant fixing grades, so be it. If it meant playing ineligible football players, that seemingly was OK too.

We'll wait, like everyone else and see how this unfolds, but if you are a fan of the team in Chapel Hill, you should be worried.

Very worried.