2008 Woodie Awards
NCAA downplays Heels-Obama hoops issue
Robbi Pickeral
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Sports
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MCT) - North Carolina's men's basketball team on Tuesday had what a team official called an extraordinary chance to play basketball with presidential candidate Barack Obama.
It was so extraordinary that an NCAA rule appears to have been broken - and the NCAA is apparently going to ignore it.
"This was a unique situation and not an NCAA issue," NCAA media relations director Eric Christianson said in an e-mail message to The News & Observer on Tuesday. "It certainly was a great opportunity for the student-athletes to interact with a presidential candidate."
At issue is the timing of the informal scrimmage and the fact that UNC coach Roy Williams watched it from the sideline.
According to NCAA bylaws, coaches are not allowed to watch pick-up games at any time during the offseason. Division I basketball teams also are prohibited from any mandatory athletically related offseason activities through final exams. Exams began Monday at UNC.
Team spokesman Steve Kirschner said Williams knew he wasn't supposed to be at the Smith Center practice gym under the letter of the NCAA rules, but that these were "extraordinary circumstances," and, with the number of Secret Service personnel on site, the coach wanted to be there to make sure that everything went OK.
Kirschner also said the Tar Heels play voluntary pick-up games all the time that are within the rules because they are not mandatory. That's what took place on Tuesday, he said.
"What they got to experience today was one of the most educational things they'll ever do at the University of North Carolina ... they got to talk, laugh, play with a man who might be the next president of the United States," Kirschner said. "Coach could watch our guys play pick-up every day but doesn't, and that's when there aren't 50 or so members of the media there to broadcast it to the world."
The game was set up, Kirschner said, when a member of Obama's campaign told Angie Bitting, director of the Smith Center, that the candidate would like to play a pick-up game with the Tar Heels. Obama has been playing basketball at other campaign stops.
It was so extraordinary that an NCAA rule appears to have been broken - and the NCAA is apparently going to ignore it.
"This was a unique situation and not an NCAA issue," NCAA media relations director Eric Christianson said in an e-mail message to The News & Observer on Tuesday. "It certainly was a great opportunity for the student-athletes to interact with a presidential candidate."
At issue is the timing of the informal scrimmage and the fact that UNC coach Roy Williams watched it from the sideline.
According to NCAA bylaws, coaches are not allowed to watch pick-up games at any time during the offseason. Division I basketball teams also are prohibited from any mandatory athletically related offseason activities through final exams. Exams began Monday at UNC.
Team spokesman Steve Kirschner said Williams knew he wasn't supposed to be at the Smith Center practice gym under the letter of the NCAA rules, but that these were "extraordinary circumstances," and, with the number of Secret Service personnel on site, the coach wanted to be there to make sure that everything went OK.
Kirschner also said the Tar Heels play voluntary pick-up games all the time that are within the rules because they are not mandatory. That's what took place on Tuesday, he said.
"What they got to experience today was one of the most educational things they'll ever do at the University of North Carolina ... they got to talk, laugh, play with a man who might be the next president of the United States," Kirschner said. "Coach could watch our guys play pick-up every day but doesn't, and that's when there aren't 50 or so members of the media there to broadcast it to the world."
The game was set up, Kirschner said, when a member of Obama's campaign told Angie Bitting, director of the Smith Center, that the candidate would like to play a pick-up game with the Tar Heels. Obama has been playing basketball at other campaign stops.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Savannah Bliss
posted 5/01/08 @ 9:25 PM CST
The NCAA better look the other way for such an amazing experience that these young men had!
Even they --- in all of their hurdle-creating glory for young black men in inner city schools and rural small towns who have to be men by age 14 and be academically mature freshman so that they stay on track for 16 core courses --- even they - the white NCAA peeps have some sense sometimes and see the bigger picture. (Continued…)
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