Brian Frederick

News

Editor Covers His Ass For Last Time

By Brian Frederick | July 26

Editor This summer was a pain in the ass. Literally. My summer full of basketball, Bulls' games and late nights came to a screeching halt when I found out I had to have surgery on my lower back. For weeks before and weeks after the surgery, it hurt to sit down. (Imagine falling on your tailbone. Now imagine feeling like that every day.) Unfortunately, my wound required another person to change the dressing. Fortunately, I had many able roommates. For the past two years, I've lived in a Chapel Hill version of "The Real World."

News

Double Dutch: Breaking Up

By Brian Frederick | July 26

If breaking up is hard to do, it's even harder to write about. If I approached this column like I did actual breakups, the column would be blank. Like most guys, when it comes time to break up, I run. I'm not proud of it, but it could be worse.

News

Double Dutch: Hooking Up

By Brian Frederick | July 19

?What would you say if I said I wanted to take you home and have sex with you right now?? she asked. I?d never received a ?sex talk? from my father, but I didn?t need one to know the best response to her query. ?Let?s go.? The red-headed punk-rock girl was my first groupie. As a young sax player, I was honored to be with someone who had slept with the lead singer of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The experience gave me more music-scene credibility than my playing ever did. I?ve never had any qualms with hooking up.

News

Double Dutch-Gyms

By Brian Frederick | July 12

There are two types of gyms: basketball gyms and gyms with mirrors. For two years, I have gone to Woollen Gym to play basketball as often as my rapidly aging body will let me. For the last two years, I have avoided the Student Recreation Center as if I feared you could actually catch a venereal disease from the weights. Woollen Gym is my church. My troubles fall by the wayside as I walk through the cemetary on the way into Woollen. The smell of sweat is as sweet and strong in Woollen as the smell of beer is in a pub.

News

Double Dutch: fireworks

By Brian Frederick | July 5

When we were kids, my father paid my brother and I $50 not to shoot off fireworks. He told us that this amount would become $100 when we were teenagers. I'm not sure when this practice ended, but I know I never made it to the Ben Franklin level. For the first few years, I was content watching the older neighborhood boys shoot them off, knowing I was $50 richer. I soon realized, though, that I could just shoot them off at my friend's house and still collect my reward. (I wasn't getting paid $50 to be honest.) In any case, like most American boys, fireworks fascinated me.

News

Editor Seeks Readers' Feedback

By Brian Frederick | July 5

I'm glad to be back on the editorial side of The Daily Tar Heel. When I took over the reins as editor this summer, my year long stint as DTH ombudsman (I later called myself the readers' advocate) came to a close. And I'm a much better editor after my tour of duty. To remind you of the position, technically, I'm no longer the intermediary between the newsroom and the readers. I am no longer the paper's chief internal critic. This summer, if you have a question or comment about the paper, you have no ombudsman to call.

Sports

Women's Tennis Coach Leaves

By Brian Frederick | June 28

After three years as head coach of University of North Carolina women's tennis, Roland Thornqvist has been named to the same position at the University of Florida.In three years, UNC compiled a 42-30 record under Thornqvist and appeared in the NCAA Tournament all three years."The University of Florida offers the best opportunity for me and my family," Thornqvist said.

News

Double Dutch: First Year

By Brian Frederick | June 28

I ended my first year of college on super double-secret probation. While a few incidents directly led to this status, I like to think the real reason was because I was a cocky young kid and my scholarship hall director was a cocky ex-Marine sergeant named Judd. We were bound to clash. The first incident occurred not too long into that fall. Somehow, the entire hall ended up drinking beers and smoking in our closet-sized room that sat directly above the main entrance. Our hall was very small and everybody heard everything.

News

Double Dutch: Baseball

By Brian Frederick | June 20

Like many American boys, I spent summer evenings getting bitten by mosquitoes in left field. I wasn't allowed to chew gum at home, so game nights warranted an entire pack of Big League Chew. Sometimes I played first base, sometimes third. I wasn't a pitcher. Nor was I a hitter. The only time I remember standing at the plate is when a giant bumblebee landed on my nose and stung me. I stood in shock, and watched strike three sail past me. Still, I had fun playing baseball when I was young. Somewhere along the way, I lost my faith.

News

Double Dutch

By Brian Frederick | June 13

There are several sores on the face of Mother Earth: the Pentagon, Mount Rushmore and the Mall of America. I'll probably find out eventually, but I'm pretty sure the tenth ring of hell is one of the floors of the Mall of America. For those who have never been, the Mall houses more than 250 businesses in its 4.2 million square feet and features an indoor amusement park and an aquarium. The place is overrun with cattle, and I'm not talking about the livestock from the surrounding farms of Minneapolis-St. Paul. "Look, a Baby Gap." Moo.