xtcian

smug harbor

3/7/07

WARNING: I AM ABOUT TO BE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE EVER.

I just have to harken back to 2001, which was a pretty terrible year for reasons I don't need to repeat here. It was notable, however, for two things that served to make me gray with despair: Dook won the national championship, and George W. Bush shredded the American Constitution.

Sure, it's a mix of high and low vernaculars. Bush is responsible for the war in Iraq, and Dook basketball isn't even responsible for Nixon. But the two are related on some pretty base levels, even if it's in the back of my own brain.

Perhaps because I've hated both Bush and Dook since the first seconds I encountered either. It doesn't help that Koach K spends the offseason raising money for Republicans, but when you think about the character of both, it makes sense. Like Blythe says, K has always been primarily about his Business and winning at all costs despite his resources - and neocons are eerily similar.

And I'm no fool. I know John Edwards got boos when they showed him on the Dean Dome Jumbotron during a Heels game. Democrats have a ways to go before making inroads into the NASCAR subset of Carolina fans. And hell, some of my beloved commenters are K-bashing conservatives.

But I just can't help feeling vindicated these days. I've spent damn near twenty years spewing vitriol about Dook (except for Scotty and Lars, natch), and the last week has seen the fake Gothic façade crumble. Just look at any coverage, and you'll see stuff like this:
Greg Doyel slams K
or
Wisconsin coach tells it like it is
or
Media wonders why nobody apologized to Hansbrough
or, my favorite,
the guys from "Around the Horn" shred Dook apart.
You can't swing a dead East German transsexual swimmer around the Web without hitting some pundit willing to sell Durham Clown College's unique brand of smug thuggery up the river, and that means the planets are finally lining up in harmony.

Likewise, George W. Bush's approval rating is clanking around 29, with only 20% believing we can "win in Iraq" and 58% wishing he'd just Not Be President Anymore Already. His legacy is all but moribund, his old friends are all going (or gone) to jail, and he has become a tragic punchline.

Let me tell you this: many of us spent the years 2000 through 2005 shrieking in horror at what this man has wrought, and many of us contemplated moving out of the country in November 2004. At the same time, I was watching my beloved Tar Heels tank in general and lose to Dook over and over and over; I believe we were something like 4-15 during that period.

Now the country has come to its senses and the sports world has too. Men were exposed for being what they are. Sure, GWB and Dook have several tricks left up their sleeves and perhaps it's way too early to be etching tombstones. Koach K could pull off a stunning tournament upset, and Bush may still fuck us all yet. And believe me, I know what I sound like when I equate a college basketball rivalry with the future of the free world.

But for right now, I'm going to GLOAT.

Tyler Hansbrough leaving for the ACC Tournament today