I'm Appalled

I am usually very proud of my alma mater.

Not today.

NC State's long-time women's basketball coach, Kay Yow, died a week or so ago. Yow was an incredible woman; she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer over 20 years ago; went into remission at least once, became a very vocal spokesman for cancer research, was a tremendous coach, and always, always treated others with dignity and respect.

The UNC and State men's teams played basketball, in Raleigh, on Saturday. Carolina won, and with one exception, it was a clean, hard-fought game, as a State-Carolina game should be.

But apparently there are some utterly low-class, idiotic UNC fans out there. I'm talking waste-of-oxygen idiots.

Because sometime after the win Saturday, State's "Free Expression Tunnel" (a tunnel on campus where graffitti is not only tolerated but encouraged, up to a point) was defaced. With blue paint. Over a mural of Yow. And with profanity and "Cancer Rules" graffitti.

Now, to be honest, it's a bit of a tradition for the two schools to try to deface each other's property; State students splashed red paint on the Old Well a couple of years ago. So, the blue paint is not so much a surprise; not sure that I condone it, but it's not a surprise.

But please, people. I'm not going to say respect the dead, because my feeling is if someone's a jerk in life, they're still a jerk after they're dead.

But Yow was not a jerk. Not by a long shot. She fought for women's sports programs all her life. She ran camps, yes, partially to recruit players, but also to teach young girls the sport. She would personally come out on the court after State home games to thank...everyone. The band, the pep squad, the fans....EVERYONE.

This woman had a grace and dignity that are in really short supply these days. She deserved respect during her life, and deserves it after her death.

And don't even get me STARTED on "Cancer Rules". Please. What the hell kind of immature, arrogant, obnoxious little beast thought it would be funny to write that?

I hope that the people of defaced the mural were not actual UNC students or alums. I'd like to think that my alma mater produces better people than that.

But quite frankly, I don't know that it really matters. I don't want to be associated, in any way, with people like that, whether they're students, fellow alums, or merely misguided fans.

No, I'm not dropping my membership to the Alumni Association! Nor am I going to stop cheering for Carolina, or (heaven forbid) start cheering for State.

But what I am going to do is try to make it very clear that whoever did this is NOT a typical Carolina fan. And wish that whoever did it would grow a brain before they wear light blue again.