March 05, 2007
"dookies" aptly named
Gerald Henderson's sucker punch last night was a fucking cheap shot.
And that's not just because I'm a Heels fan. Henderson took at least three steps from his previous position near the sideline, jumped, and brought his forearm down directly on Tyler Hansborough's face. It was nothing more or less than a bitch slap.
dook was down 12 points with 14.5 seconds left in the game. There was no point in playing that close on defense, LET ALONE getting airborne to deliver some kind of fucked up karate chop.
Watch it for yourself:
As Tim Montemayor, sitting in on Tim Brando's Sporting News Radio show, said this afternoon: What if Hansborough had been seriously injured? After all, the nose is right next to the BRAIN. Furthermore (again from Monty), what would the basketball talking heads be saying if this was another team, not dook. What if it was John Chaney or John Calipari on the bench instead of Coach Can-I-Buy-A-Vowel?
Would this pass so easily if it wasn't a dookie?
The sporting media's pro-dook bias is stunning. I mean, who hasn't heard Dickie V called "Dookie V?" There's a reason. And he's not alone. Yes, dook has a reputation for running a tight ship, for demanding excellence and not tolerating poor sportsmanship.
Well, if that's the case, why isn't the University imposing its own suspension on Henderson? Especially as the ACC came out this afternoon saying that the only reason Henderson will sit out the first ACC tourney game this weekend is because he was ejected from the UNC game on Sunday, and ACC rules require ANY ejected player to be suspended from the following game. In other words, the ACC thinks that Hansborough's nose magically started bleeding on its own.
Anybody that delivers that kind of flagrant shit hit deserves to be done for more than one game. He hit him IN THE HEAD. In football, a helmet hit gets 3 times as much punishment.
Methinks it comes down to the cash. dook with Henderson is a better team than dook without Henderson. And the farther dook goes in the tourney (either the ACC this weekend OR the Big Dance), the more $$ for the ACC, the NCAA, and the TV....
In any case, I am glad to hear Tyler isn't hurt badly, just a small non-displaced fracture, for which he is being fitted for an acrylic mask. Looks like the return of HawkMan!
And we all know what happened the last time UNC had HawkMan on the hardwood.
Go Heels!
Up by 14 points with 12.5 seconds left, you might question the wisdom of still having your starters in the game.
And the media by NO MEANS is on Duke's side in this. Every media outlet I've read said it was intentional (and I don't think it was -- I think he meant to hard foul him, sure, but I don't think he meant it to bonk him in the schnozz) and the bloggers are all over Duke's ass.
Believe it or not... in our little provincial (and I can't begin to tell you how provincial it is here - nothing exists outside of Red Sox and the less important Patriots) they aren't buying Henderson's story either.
I didn't see this until now - I thought they were talking MBA cause I only caught a snippet. LOL. I'll see if any mention comes up this morning.
Posted by: Teresa at March 6, 2007 06:34 AMTo put this into perspective, but with a different Devil: Cam Janssen did essentially the same thing to Tomas Kaberle of the Maple Leafs and got THREE games from the NHL. (Janssen also should have been assesed a five-minute major for charging during the game but got over, at least until Colin Campbell got his peepers on the video.)
Headhunting is inherently dangerous, and even though he "didn't mean" to break Hansbrough's nose, Henderson was aiming to put a hit on him.
Posted by: Nightfly at March 7, 2007 02:22 PMJust now heard the cross-talk on our sports station out here (WEEI) Jerry Callahan talking to Dale Arnold about a clothesline incident in the NHL last night. One of the NY Islanders tried to take off the head of another player it seems (since I don't know hockey, I can't remember the names).
In any case, they were arguing over which was the worse hit - the Islander guy or Henderson's hit on Hansborough. Jerry was arguing that the only reason he thinks the hockey hit is worse is because the guy has a stick. Dale arguing that Henderson's was worse because it was completely deliberate. Heh.
I saw NC State take out Duke last night (YAY) and the ESPN announcers trying to absolve Duke of any wrong-doing... Their "reasoning" such as it is - that Coach K has such respect for the game - if he thought his player had deliberately done something wrong, he would have added to the penalty. (Gag me!)
Posted by: Teresa at March 9, 2007 07:25 AM