UNC Tar Heels Guide to Surviving the Off Season
By Matt Hamm
The basketball season has been over for almost a month now, football just teased us with the summer game but won’t be back until September. Sure we have the sixth ranked Diamond Heels, but it’s not like there’s much college baseball coverage until the postseason. This is pretty much the dead period in Carolina sports. But we’re obsessive fans, we need our Tar Heels 24/7/365. We need a way to survive, this is the Tar Heels guide to surviving the off season!
There are five simple steps you can take to ward off Tar Heel Fever. Symptoms of THN include, but are not limited to, picking out a jersey and aimlessly going through your TV menu looking for a UNC game, any game! Painting your face Carolina blue and asking your friends and family where the hell the tickets are, when in fact, you know there are no tickets. Having delusions that it’s March and Kendall Marshall’s wrist magically is fixed and we’re about to face Kansas again. Tailgating in an empty parking lot. Walking around Franklin Street screaming “Go Tar Heels” at everybody you see. This is a very serious condition that affects many Tar Heels fans all over Tar Heel Nation.
Catch up with your favorite Tar Heels in the pro’s:
Obsess over the incoming recruiting class: The 2012 recruiting class will be huge for Carolina next season. Marcus Paige will come right in and start in place of the departed Kendall Marshall. Joel James and Brice Johnson will battle it out with sophomore Desmond Hubert for minutes next to James Michael McAdoo inside. JP Tokoto adds a ton of athleticism and even more depth to an already stellar perimeter. These kids are still improving their games while they make the rounds in the summer and All-Star circuits. It’s going to be fun watching them in Carolina blue next season.
Speculate until you can’t speculate no more about undecided recruits over the next few classes: Troy Williams just cut his list to two, Kentucky and North Carolina, where will he go? The Tar Heels are on long lists for Julius Randle, Jabari Parker. And despite no known offer, Nick King has UNC in his top five. 2014 point guard Joel Berry recently called Carolina his dream school. Roy Williams has already extended an offer to center Jahlil Okafor.
Recruiting to me is just like free agency in professional sports. Your team can instantly get better with one commitment, a team like the Tar Heels are in on all the top recruits. Every class presents intrigue and mystery, the next few classes have a ton of talent and it will a lot of fun watching Roy piece together his classes.
Take time to rid your mind of the sanctions and get pumped for a new era of Tar Heel football: It’s been a long time since Carolina football was in a good place. Facing sanctions for the next three years and no post season this year. Along with adjusting to a new system, the team could struggle. But Larry Fedora brings so much excitement and a great vision, it’s time to get excited again about Carolina football. Fedora is already putting together a brilliant 2013 recruiting class. With his North Carolina Dream Team philosophy, it’s really something the state can and should get excited about.
Pay attention to UNC Baseball: It’s a shame the sport doesn’t get more national coverage. The Diamond Heels are one of the best teams in the nation. Playing without their best player all season long, the team stayed in the top eight of the national rankings all season long. They remain a favorite to make it to the College World Series this season. The Heels are a fun team to watch with stellar pitching, depth and several future major league baseball players on the roster. Mike Fox is a heck of a coach and he fields a versatile, unselfish team, that deserves Tar Heel Nations support.
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