Three words conveyed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s feelings toward people criticizing him for not wearing a ribbon Saturday night in honor of slain North Carolina student body president Eve Carson.
“Shame on you,” Krzyzewski said Tuesday during his pre-ACC tournament news conference. “Shame on you for saying that.”
After Carson’s death last week, Krzyzewski called North Carolina coach Roy Williams and his staff to ask how to properly honor Carson when the teams met Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They decided to have a moment of silence before the game, and had players meet at mid-court for a pre-game handshake.
Krzyzewski said Duke’s students decided to wear ribbons in solidarity with the North Carolina students. He was shocked to hear that people criticized him for not wearing one.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “Are you kidding me? Your head must be crazy.”
Krzyzewski said he is in a position where somebody always is going to find a reason to criticize him. Sometimes he brings criticism on himself.
Not this time. He’s absolutely justified in his indignation. North Carolina coach Roy Williams was grateful for the sportsmanship Krzyzewski showed in honoring Carson.
It’s disgusting that Krzyzewski’s detractors – and there are many – would use Eve Carson’s death as a reason to bash the Duke coach. From everything we’ve learned about Carson over the past week, it seems certain she would not want that.
Those using her death as a reason to bash Krzyzewski ought to be ashamed.
-- Another polarizing ACC figure – North Carolina junior center Tyler Hansbrough – was showered with honors Tuesday.
He was named national player of the year by The Sporting News, an honor that will make him the eighth North Carolina player to have his jersey retired. He also was the third unanimous ACC player of the year selection, joining N.C. State’s David Thompson (1975) and Wake Forest’s Josh Howard (2003).
Hansbrough is constantly getting closer to being remembered as one of the best players in ACC history. He’s not a transcendental athlete like Thompson. He will never be a three-time national player of the year like Ralph Sampson.
He won’t come close to duplicating Christian Laettner’s NCAA tournament success, and he won’t be remembered as one of the best players ever like Michael Jordan.
Hansbrough also plays at a time when many top players at his position leave for the NBA after only a year or two. So he isn’t deserving of mention in the same breath as Thompson, Sampson, Laettner or Jordan.
But Hansbrough is getting close to the top of the next tier.
“The kid is one of the ultimate competitors to play college basketball, not just in this conference,” Krzyzewski said last week.
If that’s what Hansbrough’s rivals are saying about him, he’s in select company.
- Ken Tysiac
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Don't critcize Coach K about ribbon
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21 comments:
Why couldn't Coach K wear a ribbon? Honestly? He is the face of Duke basketball. Yes, the pregame moment of silence was classy but why not demonstrate community unity with a ribbon too? Other Duke people wore them. If the student body president of Duke was senselessly killed would Roy wear a ribbon to show sympathy and support towards Duke? I say yes, absolutely. I'm not doubting Coach K's sympathy but that still doesn't answer the question of why he chose not to wear one along with the thousands of others there that night.
So K is getting dressed for the game, looks in the mirror, and decides, "You know, the moment of silence is enough. I don't need to wear this ribbon, even though I wore a green one for Focus on the Nation a month ago, and a yellow tie to honor Skip Prosser. The people on TV won't notice. Oh, and I'd better tell the rest of the staff not to wear them, too."
The Duke staff were the only people not named Manning in the stadium without ribbons. How is that OK? What did K think was going to happen? Why couldn't he pin the damn thing on and avoid all this?
WE aren't using Carson's death to criticize K. By not wearing the ribbon, he showed that HE was using it to promote himself.
God, who gives a flip if he wears a ribbon or not? If this victim had been a black man instead of a rich white chick, you people wouldn't care. Get over yourselves, racists.
I guess Coach K may be a relative of Cosmo Kramer.
I really don't have a problem with his decision.
You people criticising him are idiots. What does wearing a ribbon achieve? To act like he didn't do enough because he didn't wear a ribbon is completely ridiculous. The way people clutch at straws to criticise K is unbelievable.
And 11:09 pm, how do you know ("absolutely") that Roy would wear a ribbon in the Duke student president was killed? If we're predicting things of which we have no knowledge, I actually think that Roy would tell the entire Duke campus to F themselves, which would be totally without class. Shame on him.
You Holes fans are too much.
Tyrone G: this is not about race. If UNC's promising student body president were black (or purple for that matter) we would all mourn his senseless death.
9:13: What does the ribbon achieve you ask? Nothing. Does it bring Eve back? No. Does it help her family and friends? No. But K is the face of Duke and a ribbon is continuous visual reminder that this community, this state, this nation, divided though we are over trivial things like basketball, can come together and mourn a fallen star like Eve. We are not clutching at straws to criticize K. We are asking a legitmate question. In a stadium filled with UNC fans and Dookies, the majority of which wore ribbons, why did K and staff decide against it? Did they run out of ribbons? That is a legitimate reason. If that's not it, please tell us the reason.
Maybe the Duke staff didn't wear ribbons because they weren't passed out to them. The may very well have been in the locker room while people were distributing the ribbons. I'm not saying that that is definately what happened but we have no idea of the circumstances involved in this situations so who are we to judge.
"Maybe the Duke staff didn't wear ribbons because they weren't passed out to them. The may very well have been in the locker room while people were distributing the ribbons."
Again, this is a fine reason. Makes sense. We are just asking the question and if this is the answer (or some similar reason) that is fine. Asking the question is not the same as criticizing.
All of you morons who think Coach K didn't do enough, when he didn't have to do anything at all, get over yourselves. Get a life, get a hobby, go comfort your families for the coming apocalypse. The world must be coming to an end because someone didn't put on A RIBBON.
We should be focused on capturing Eve's soulless killer(s) and burning them alive under a slow fire, but NO. Coach K didn't wear A RIBBON. Burn him instead.
Get all of your priorities STRAIGHT!
I completely agree with 12:00. Coach K has been around long enough. Let him be. It's clear he's an upstanding citizen of society. The gangsters are not. Please re-focus. The Coach K/ribbon thing should certainly be a non-issue.
It is sad day when people are so concerned about a ribbon! From what I have read about Eve I doubt she would have time to be concerned with this non-issue...she would have been too busy out trying to make the world a better place!
I totally disagree that Coach K didn't have to do anything. Of course he had to show the respect that a fellow school deserved. He did not and I think he was wrong not to wear a ribbon. He could clearly see ribbons on everyone else and he could have asked for ribbons for himself and for his staff. Sure it was "just a game" but in this case, we are talking about respect for a loss of life.
1:34pm. You are a prime example of the type of moron I was describing. Coach K went out of his way to address everyone in K'ville about being respectful during the game (no "go to hell Carolina" chants), going as far as to orchestrate the observance at the beginning of the game, being the one to reach out to Roy Williams and ask what they could do. If this wasn't enough, where a ribbon would have made all the difference, you are the one who has lost all perspective.
Next time an upstanding Carolina student is cruelly murdered right before a big rivalry game they should just wear a ribbon and do nothing else, just to placate fools like you. Yeah, that makes sense.
Tyrone G,
All your comment does is show who the true racist on this board is. While your one finger is pointed out, the other three are pointed right back at yourself.
Is K taking credit for the moment of silence idea? That's laughable. The guy wouldn't have done a damned thing if the administration at Duke hadn't told him to. He couldn't bear to wear Carolina Blue no matter how good the cause. That's the bottom line here.
Look, no one is saying K is evil. No one is saying he's a bad guy. In fact 99% of all UNC basketball fans will say that K is an excellent coach and Duke is an excellent program. But what about those people across the country that tuned into the game late and missed the pre-game moment of silence? What about those fans that missed the entire game and saw only the highlights on ESPN? Is there some other non-verbal, constant, semi-permanent symbol we could use to show Americans that our community was thinking of more than just basketball after this waste of life? I know…how about the participants in this rivalry wear a small ribbon pinned to their lapels in Eve’s memory?
Nobody should have a problem with this. Why? Because "After Carson's death last week, Krzyzewski called North Carolina coach Roy Williams and his staff to ask how to properly honor Carson when the teams met Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They decided to have a moment of silence before the game, and had players meet at mid-court for a pre-game handshake." Is it not enough that the fans of Duke, in the most, or one of the most, intense rivalries in the country, pro or college, acutally honored a UNC student? Not enough that Coach K called the UNC staff to ask what they wanted to do? This game was in Cameron Indoor, not at UNC. Who would have ever though a UNC player would be honored at Cameron? This should be a non-issue.
Exactly, and he should have worn a yellow ribbon for the soldiers who died that week! And a pink one for all the victims of breast cancer! And a livestrong bracelet! My word, the tragic too-soon loss of a student like Carson deserves a lot more honor than the petty bickering over trinkets. How many of the self-righteous among you will be wearing your Carolina blue ribbon next week? next month? next year? What's the proper time frame before you can call the matter settled? She'll still be gone and she'll still deserve your remembrance, not your infantile sniping over a two inch piece of fabric.
I have read a lot of these comments and I would asks people to seperate themselves from their "fanhood" and then post/respond. Here are the facts Coack K is a big time coach in college. He will be in the media and scrutinized as would Coach Roy Williams. Being that big and the face of a major program, you will have to answer question about every little detail. Anyone claiming that a particular group of whole people are wrong to ask a question or criticize someone based off a reasonable observation is the ridiculous one. Many posts say that Carolina fans should focus on resolving Eve's issues and not watse their time focusing on Coach K. I say all of us should focus on finding her killer and not focus on Coach K but inevitablly he is bigger than the death of a "rich white girl" as Tyrone G said. I don't know if you realize this but that comment displays a racist concept on your part. I have a question for you (or anyone who believes in what he said), name the student murder about six weeks ago in the one of the major schools in the triangle area, better yet just tell me the school the person attended or their sex or their ethnicity? Yes there is a reason she is getting more attention than the murder i mentioned but do you know of whom or what i am speaking of, does that make you or anyone a racist? Final thought on the whole issue I think people should question why the face of a program did not LEAD the direction of his constituents but also did not follow for whatever reason. It is a little odd. That is all. He did find a way to wear a ribbon for a couple of other promotions/dedications this year why not this one? Trust me no one doing an effort this large, which by the way was severely classy and the Duke students should be commended, would ever forget to leave ribbons for Coach K and his staff. I mean even the ball boys had them.
Coach K is just like Tiger Woods and MJ, he has no opinion on anything because he is affraid to offend anyone.
As far as race goes...give me a break. "Rich white girl?" How about when the rich white boys on the lax team that were being accused by some "nappy headed ho's"? He has nothing to say about that either.
Perhaps the coaching staff was "left out" during the ribbon distribution but were the alumni (laettner, jason williams) left out too? and the players parents? (jon scheyer's dad?) for the coaching staff...with all the TV exposure you get during a game..did you really think this wouldn't have come up? Doesn't matter who died, doesn't matter whose idea it was to wear ribbons...but if you decide to do it, then you should decide to be a part of it. Not wearing the ribbon was not only disrespectful to Eve, but to the Duke students who were classy enough tho make such a nice gesture. For all the times the fans were there to support Duke Basketball, you would think Duke basketball would be there support their student efforts.
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