Pass The Banana Pudding

It's NCAA Tournament time. Your brackets are filled out. You're half paying attention at work to work, half to daydreaming about the tournament. And checking those scores and your picks. HOOO EEEE it's almost time. Pass the banana puddin'.

That comes from Roy Williams on his Tar Heels waiting to find out who, where and when they would play...

"As I said earlier, we had all the team over the house for some dessert and I think Wanda, Joe Holladay and myself were the only ones that clapped [when our name appeared]. The rest of our team just sat there and said ‘Oh, well – we’re a three seed, where do we go play?’ I’ve always wanted something you can’t have, because I’ve wanted the team to be excited, but yet to be so good that we expect that … But I thought with so many freshmen they would be excited, but the guys just sat there and said ‘Pass the banana pudding.’”

So here's to the Tar Heels -- the defending NCAA Champions:

Go Heels! Oh, and would you PTBP!

Bring on the Adults

It's been almost two weeks since an obviously deranged Mohammed Taheri-azar attempted to focus his personal jihad against UNC... oh, wait... against an assembled multitude of persecutory protesters gathered in The Pit ... no? Strike that... against an indescriminate assortment of students and passers by at UNC. I'm confused. Maybe you are too. Taheri-azar was a recent graduate of UNC. Hmm. What, he couldn't get a job in the past couple of months? He must not have been reading through the want ads for C-store ...uh, taxi driver ...er... management or marketing/sales postitions on any number of regional internet websites.

At least he remembered to call 911 and report his accident. I'm not so sure you'll see his name mentioned in any ads from the rental car company who loaned him his weapon uh, Jeep, though. Wonder if he paid with cash or by credit card? Probably won't be featured in any bank card ads, either: "I want to use my miles to go to Chapel Hill?" "NOOOO!" The fact is all nine persons directly shaken up in the botched terrorist attack thankfully ended up alright, due to the fact Taheri-azar was inept at accomplishing his task. See any possible connection to the job question, earlier?

What does not surprise me in the least is the flaccid reaction at ground zero+300 yards (South Building - Campus Administration). It was so typical of the former music teacher turned Chancellor that the "incident" not upset people needlessly. Didn't want to call it what it was. Just like most campus elites who were and still are likely thinking, "besides, we must try to 'understand' what terrible confliction must be going on in the young man to cause him to lash out that way, don't you know". No I don't.

Of course the word "terrorism" wasn't and still likely won't be uttered in any official response, even though the Feds investigating it say it was. The obvious feeling is along the lines of, "we must be cautious to diffuse any potential retaliatory reaction, you see." Um hmm.

What's next? Holding hands around a bonfire ooops, can't do that on campus any more... giant pile of picked wild flowers... wait, the environmentalists would have a fit... no, across campus... yeah, that's it... "Hands Across UNC"... and then everyone can sing "Kum ba ya" or even "We Are The World", and feel as if a major breakthrough in international policy has been reached. Must... head... off... any... potential... backlash... against... a... peaceful... religion... (out of breath, sorry) Look, this has nothing to do with Muslims in general, nor the religion of Islam. The problem is as it HAS been: with Islamic fundamentalist-extremist-jihadists.

The "We Are The World" direction does come through in this Daily Tar Heel editorial from last Friday, don't you think?

Yeah, by all means, let's NOT confuse our carefully tailored view of what happened with what Teheri-azar actually said it was. Good grief! Where are the ADULTS in Chapel Hill? Does this kind of reaction make you really feel safe? I hope not. No offense, but it's time to grow a big pair, Meez, and start showing some leadership here. [I can think of the beginning of a speech, if you'd like it... by all means, Chancellor, wrap your mouth around this: "There was and is no excuse whatsoever for that sort of activity on the part of Mr. Teheri-azar, and we intend to see him punished to the fullest extent of the law. No one: no student, no faculty member, staff member, or visitor should EVER feel uncertain about his or her safety on this campus. I have today called for a review of the current security systems, and will personally lead a task force made up of campus, community and state law enforcement and security experts to ensure our campus is made as safe as sanely possible..."] Well, it would be a start, but oh no, much better to take a break and hope the heat dies down by the time classes resume. Good luck on that one.