Doyel criticizes N.C. State fans, academics
Tanner Kroeger
Issue date: 1/18/06 Section: Sports
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In his Sunday column entitled "Monday Morning Knee-Jerk: Too much yappin' lately" CBSSportsline.com college basketball columnist Gregg Doyel praised Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt for cursing at a couple of N.C. State students, who were making fun of Tech's Theodis Tarver for his recent academic struggles.
"Bravo: To Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who verbally scalded the handful of North Carolina State fans taunting Tech's Theodis Tarver for having his academic eligibility dismissed, then restored," Doyel wrote.
The next line of Doyel's column -- which is a collection of quasi-headlines followed by one or two sentences -- took a shot at the academic integrity of the University.
"Safety school: Hard to believe those idiots taunted Tarver about academic anything. Um, hello? He goes to Georgia Tech. You go to N.C. State," the column read.
Doyel is a graduate of the University of Florida and former employee of The Charlotte Observer.
As much as I would love to try and call Doyel a poor journalist because he's got no idea what he's talking about, I can't. I can't because it was a column -- just some guy's opinion.
I can, however, try to clarify what happened Saturday to the best of my ability.
John Elias, a freshman in communication, was the fan who Hewitt "verbally scalded."
"We were getting on to Tarver the whole game," Elias said. "We were heckling him about stuff that had to do with his academic situation. During the last timeout, I yelled 'Hey Paul, do you think Tarver even understood those drawings?' "
"That's when coach Hewitt turned around, pointed at me and said, "Hey F*** you. That's just classless."
I agree. It absolutely was classless. But if Elias is telling the truth, perhaps the coach should have tried to get his point across with a little more ... class.
We all have our demons to face in life, and fans of any sport shouldn't deride a player or coach over those demons -- unless they're free throws or interceptions or a goofy haircut or something like that.
"Bravo: To Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who verbally scalded the handful of North Carolina State fans taunting Tech's Theodis Tarver for having his academic eligibility dismissed, then restored," Doyel wrote.
The next line of Doyel's column -- which is a collection of quasi-headlines followed by one or two sentences -- took a shot at the academic integrity of the University.
"Safety school: Hard to believe those idiots taunted Tarver about academic anything. Um, hello? He goes to Georgia Tech. You go to N.C. State," the column read.
Doyel is a graduate of the University of Florida and former employee of The Charlotte Observer.
As much as I would love to try and call Doyel a poor journalist because he's got no idea what he's talking about, I can't. I can't because it was a column -- just some guy's opinion.
I can, however, try to clarify what happened Saturday to the best of my ability.
John Elias, a freshman in communication, was the fan who Hewitt "verbally scalded."
"We were getting on to Tarver the whole game," Elias said. "We were heckling him about stuff that had to do with his academic situation. During the last timeout, I yelled 'Hey Paul, do you think Tarver even understood those drawings?' "
"That's when coach Hewitt turned around, pointed at me and said, "Hey F*** you. That's just classless."
I agree. It absolutely was classless. But if Elias is telling the truth, perhaps the coach should have tried to get his point across with a little more ... class.
We all have our demons to face in life, and fans of any sport shouldn't deride a player or coach over those demons -- unless they're free throws or interceptions or a goofy haircut or something like that.