Lindsey Hunter!?

So, Lindsey Hunter was suspended 10 games for testing positive for a banned substance. Lindsey Hunter!? Lindsey's a little guy!

My first reaction was that Lindsey Hunter was the last person in the NBA I would expect to test positive for a banned substance. Then I read this article. Hunter tested positive for phentermine, which is used primarily for weight loss. Hunter said the pill belonged to his wife.

"We do that at our house -- if I've got a head cold, I might grab one of her pills," he said. "It was just a bonehead mistake on my part."

The boneheaded mistake, besides this quote, was apparently grabbing a diet pill for a head cold. The boneheaded mistake will cost Hunter $202,000 in game salaries. Sheesh.

Side point: if you're a professional athlete, and your livelihood depends on your game eligibility, how can you not know what is and isn't banned by your league? Are you so busy practicing and playing games that you can't read a label? Seems like I'd be intimately familiar with what I could and couldn't put in my body, if messing up might cost me six figures.

Boo to a booing ban

The organization that oversees scholastic sports in the state of Washington is considering banning booing at high school games. I can understand disciplining someone for offensive chants or language, but simply booing?

"They're student-athletes," they'll say. "They don't deserve to hear that."

Maybe. But maybe sometimes they need to hear it.

This is another step in the sissification of our society. Kids can't know adversity, it seems. We have to eliminate it for them. They can't know disappointment. We have to eliminate all roadblocks. Let's not keep score. Let's not allow fans to voice their displeasure.

What happens to that athlete after he graduates? There is booing in the real world. The restaurant doesn't get your order right? Boo. Someone cuts you off in traffic? Boo. You don't get the first job you apply for? Boo.

But what happens to those that have known no disappointment? Are they a loser because the world doesn't revolve around them? No. But what are we teaching them if we've already eliminated every challenge they might face?

If you do everything for them, they come to expect that. Then, when they're 18 and don't get accepted to their first college choice, or 22 and don't get the first job they want, they won't understand what that's like. And what value does success have if it's all they've ever known?

So we need to hear the boos, because only then will we understand how good the cheers sound.

Blood Feud between Duke and North Carolina

The Tar Heels are the #1 national sports story today, so I'm comfortable re-posting my HeelsBlog entry from earlier today.

Obviously, Adam Lucas has the access that the rest of us don't, and he captures the essence of the Tar Heel emotions in yesterday's piece.

Billy Packer is a psychic. A clairvoyant. A mind-reader. I didn't get to hear him (sad, I know) on television because I was at the game, but I've had several opportunities to listen to his thoughts on the Henderson-Hansbrough incident. Let's review them:


"It was not a nasty, I mean obviously, the contact was strong, but Henderson was not looking for a cheap shot there."

Oh really, Billy? So you've got Bonnie Bernstein reporting live from inside Gerald Henderson's head, neurons firing neurotransmitters across synapses, and you know what's going on?

"I don't think it was a dirty shot at all by Henderson, just one of those deals, you're going after the ball."

Right. The ball that had left Tyler's hand and was away from his face.

"Here's something you can say, 14.5 seconds to go, North Carolina 12 up, what's Hansbrough on the floor?"

Well, he's #50 in white, but I think you meant why is he on the floor. Well, a) there was a sub for Tyler at the scorer's table, but Tyler was shooting free throws, and Mike Copeland couldn't come into the game yet. Hansbrough did not come out with Miller or Terry so those two could get their own curtain calls on Senior Day.

If we're using that logic, why is Henderson on the floor? He was Duke's best player that day, and before Tyler hit the free throw line, all of Duke's starters save the fouled-out Greg Paulus were in the game. If their best player is in the game, why can't we have our best player in the game?

If Duke believes it can come back (and with K's fouling and time out strategy, they sure acted like they were trying to win), why can't Carolina believe it can still be beaten? We've had a history of giving up late leads this season. I don't see any problem with Carolina competing to ensure victory until the buzzer.

"The fans are booing something that was not an intentional foul at all. You can see there, Henderson's coming across the lane, and it was elbow on nose."

Thanks for the brilliant insight.

The worst part of this whole incident is that it overshadowed a brilliant Hansbrough performance. A classic Tar Heel performance in this rivalry. He was unstoppable Sunday. Well, you had to draw blood to stop him, and even then he still wanted a piece of you. Tyler was pushed and hit all game long, and the Blue Devils got away with it. Not anymore.

Don't forget to read Pat Forde.

"This was not a premeditated knockout.

However, Henderson appeared to be going in with the intent to deliver
an enthusiastically hard foul. There is a place in the game for hard
fouls, for forcefully preventing easy baskets, for occasionally
planting an opponent on his rear end.

But when the hard foul goes wrong, for whatever reason, you run the
risk of it accidentally turning into assault and battery. Like this."

Welcome

Welcome to TurnOnSports. My name is Turner. I created TurnOnSports to give myself a forum to react to what's going on in the world of sports.

The idea is to take (usually) one story a day, Sunday through Thursday, and give you my take. It may be something that might have slipped through the cracks, or it might be what everyone's talking about. Today, the latter is the case. Should be fun.

More than two years ago, I started HeelsBlog so that I could react to happenings in University of North Carolina athletics. Now, I start with TurnOnSports.

Oddly enough, I registered this domain name more than a year ago, but did not have the time or energy to start this up. I still don't have the time or energy, but I'm giving it a go. So here goes nothing. Enjoy. . .