“There’s still some uncertainty as to whether or not I’d get another year,” D.J. Ford said. “But I was fearful of being infected with COVID more so than not being able to play football for one year.”
"In 20 or 30 years when people ask what was happening during the pandemic, they'll be able to look back at the DTH and see how we, as a sports desk, tackled our jobs when it seemed like the reason for our jobs might disappear."
In their new schedule, the Tar Heels will now face a few unexpected opponents in Notre Dame, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Florida State and UNC Charlotte.
The fire inside Erin Matson has drawn comparisons not just to other legendary athletes, but to artists like Beethoven or Picasso. And when it’s all said and done, and the smoke has cleared, it feels entirely possible that it will have put her in the rarest of company: the greatest of all time.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced Thursday evening that the NCAA is canceling all 2020 Division I fall championships. This announcement comes eight days after the Division II Presidents Council and Division III Presidents Council each canceled their respective fall championships. The NCAA will attempt to have the championships in the spring. Fall sports teams will still be allowed to participate in a regular season schedule, but they will not have a chance to win a national title.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced limitations to sports schedules during a conference Wednesday.
Despite COVID-19, Campus Recreation will provide limited sports programs for students in accordance with social distancing regulations. One of the biggest changes for intramural sports will be the absence of the larger, team-oriented sports and competition. The smaller or individual intramural sports will happen, with those that usually take place inside set to be moved outside. All club teams are going to be operating on a practice-only basis for the foreseeable future, but even practice could be cancelled depending on evolving COVID-19 guidelines, said Tori Hooker, a senior assistant director of sports programs at Campus Recreation.
With the NBA's regular season coming to a close on Friday, here's how some former Tar Heels have fared in the bubble.
With the Pac-12 and the Big Ten conferences postponing their seasons, UNC football is preparing for any outcome.
“I expect us to play college football this fall,” Brown said. “The real answer is that we’ve all got to do what we’re told to do, we’ve all got to fight this virus as a whole in our country and as the virus slows down, we have a better chance to play.”
The food and beverage industry has already been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the restaurants and bars that line Franklin Street — which rely heavily on profits coming from foot traffic and fans coming to eat and drink on game days — the uncertainty surrounding the fall sports season brings with it fear.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Rios said. “They said there might be a second wave. We don't know when the vaccine will come out. A lot of unknowns.”
“There’s a lot of macho in young people and young men in college football, and they don’t want their buddy making fun of them,” UNC football head coach Mack Brown said. “We have said, ‘This is real. This is real stuff. If you are uncomfortable at all or anxious, if you want to miss workouts, if you don’t want to play, let’s do it.’”
Despite a rising number of positive COVID-19 tests across the country, the ACC plans to start its football season the week of Sept. 7-12. With the North Carolina football team planning to play an 11-game schedule, the UNC athletics department could open the doors of Kenan Stadium to fans in a limited capacity.
After 22 seasons at the helm of the North Carolina baseball team, Mike Fox announced his retirement on Friday.
The term "student athlete" was invented in the 1950s by the NCAA as a way to get out of paying a deceased athlete's family workers' compensation benefits. In order to be as accurate as possible, the Daily Tar Heel will no longer use the term.
Mike Fox, UNC baseball's head coach of 22 years and the winningest active head coach in college baseball, announced he is retiring on Friday. Fox ends his tenure as UNC's winningest head coach in program history.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced on Wednesday afternoon that all seven fall sports will begin competition the week of Sept. 7.
The donation will go to fund scholarships for student-athletes in spring sports including men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s outdoor track, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf.
After a near five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Baseball is back in action with Opening Day slated for Thursday and Friday. With no fans in the stands, walk-up music as players approach the batters box will be some of the only noise echoing through ballparks during the abbreviated 60-game regular season. Here are the tracks some members of our sports desk would choose.
Welcome to the 2020-21 edition of The Daily Tar Heel, now in our 128th year!
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