THE PLANK JANUARY 16, 2008
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I'm afraid the answer is yes--at least if you consider college basketball's best team, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. (Hey, check the polls if you don't believe me.) Although UNC travels by air to most of its away games, it still has a North Carolina-based charter bus--and its driver, Dave Harder--meet the team at the location, since Carolina Coach Roy Williams apparently doesn't trust other bus drivers to ferry the team from the airport to the hotel and then to the arena.
So, as this Raleigh News & Observer article explains, Harder spends a lot of time driving long distances in an empty, gas-guzzling bus:
He has taken a 55-passenger motorcoach to Syracuse (1,246 miles,
round trip), St. Louis (1,603 miles) and New York (984 miles).Of
the Heels' seven road trips this season, the only commute he hasn't
made was to Las Vegas (his cutoff is usually the West Coast).
I'm all for lucky charms and what not--and it's hard to argue with Harder's and Carolina's record--but this seems pretty excessive. At the very least, the UNC athletic department should be buying carbon offsets or something.
--Jason Zengerle
8 comments
Bad for the environment?! It's bad for entertainment!
- bcbaird
January 16, 2008 at 6:25pm
Isn't it also bad for education?
- davidsmith192
January 16, 2008 at 6:44pm
Kansas > UNC
- jamie322
January 16, 2008 at 6:47pm
Second that, jamie322. And any reason for Heel-hate is fine with me.
- cspencef
January 16, 2008 at 9:46pm
"And any reason for Heel-hate is fine with me."
Shame that Dooke won't keep up its end of the bargain this year, eh?
Go Heels! Go Hoyas! (If they could JUST beat Pitt...)
- caaggies
January 16, 2008 at 10:46pm
Well, the 'heels almost lost to GA Tech tonight. You can bet my mom, who is 88 and lives in Lawrence (Jayhawks land) was rooting against Roy. If the 'hawks end up facing the 'heels in the finals, won't that be a sweet match-up?
- abrain
January 17, 2008 at 1:01am
Actually my Heel-hate comes from attending Wake Forest for a time--the Heel-hate is just as passionate, but nobody notices...I therefore have no love for Duke either.
And Georgia Tech might just be the best 7-9 team in the country--they gave the Jayhawks fits too earlier this season.
But oh my, a Heels-Hawks matchup...the town might have to close down for a while.
- cspencef
January 17, 2008 at 11:49am
Ah, Wake Forest...just one of the players in the Tar Heels' favorite chant:
Duke is puke, Wake is fake, but the school I hate most is N.C. State!
- caaggies
January 17, 2008 at 3:59pm