Tarheel men's soccer team leaves little space for error

So I've been covering the men's soccer team lately, and this one thing keeps bugging me.

Every time I go to a game it's there, taunting me. It's so glaring, so obvious, so ridiculous, so annoying that I can't help staring at it, wishing it would just go away.

No, I'm not talking about Carolina Fever. (Just kidding. You guys are true fans!)

The thing I'm talking about is something on the back of North Carolina's jerseys. Home whites - it's there. Road blues - it's there. Alternate-color navys - OK, so soccer doesn't have alternate-color jerseys. But you get the point.

First of all, UNC's nickname is in the spot where the players' names are supposed to be - and that's not even the bad part. Here's the bad part:

THE NICKNAME IS WRONG!

It seems that the North Carolina men's soccer team - the No. 2-ranked North Carolina men's soccer team - now goes by "Tarheels."

Look, it's one thing when Tarheel Takeout goofs it up. And no one really cares when Tarheel Bookstore gets it wrong. And, really, does it hurt anyone when the kid who's the self-proclaimed "biggest Tarheel fan in the entire world" spells it that way in his AIM profile?

But this is a sports team, for crying out loud. You know, only the entire reason that nicknames exist in the first place.

"It doesn't really bother me," says midfielder Scottcampbell. "It's kind of a silly question."

Not as silly a question, apparently, as Nike asking UNC how to spell its nickname.

"Maybe they're saving space," says midfielder Daxmccarty. "I don't know."

"We're going to be talking to the printer about that," says Coach Elmarbolowich. "Maybe the next set is going to be free for us."

It could be worse, after all. I mean, they could remove "Tarheels" from the back and slap that heinous interlocking NC logo on the front like they did for the basketball team in '99.

I don't know. Maybe I'm an idiot. Maybe it's not a big deal. Maybe I should just get on with my life and go watch my favorite baseball team try to make the playoffs.

So I guess that's where you can find me.

Go Redsocks!

 

Contact Derek Howles at howlesd@email.unc.edu.