JonLowder.com

Class Act

The first time I saw CJ Harris play was in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic his senior year at Mt. Tabor High School. He was easily the best player on the court and it was encouraging to know that he was staying in town to play at Wake Forest. Unfortunately (for him) his tenure coincided with one of the most challenging times in the history of Wake Forest basketball. Fortunately (for us) he stuck it out and didn't transfer to another more stable program. He, along with Travis McKie, have been the players who have been most responsible for keeping the program from totally flaming out. They've shown tremendous character in fulfilling their roles for the Wake hoops program so it should not come as a surpise that Harris would write this thank you letter to the Wake Forest community. Here's an excerpt:

Thank you so much for the kind words and love that you have shown me and my family over the past four years. That is more precious to me than any victory on the court, as your words have truly help define who I am today.

While I am sad that my career at Wake Forest has come to an end, I see nothing but a bright future for the Deacs. I know that I have helped lay the foundation for this program to achieve the success we can all be proud of. My teammates and the coaching staff are working hard to get there, and they deserve your continued support and enthusiasm. 

Thank you again for making these past four years truly special.

Always a Deac!

CJ

"The time has come for us all to act like we've got some sense."

Winston-Salem Journal sports reporter Dan Collins, who covers the Wake Forest beat, wrote the sentence that is the headline for this post. He wrote it as part of a piece on what he thinks we need to see from Wake fans who are at odds over the direction the school's basketball program is heading. He also wrote:

What does rankle me, however, is to see the utter lack of respect some have for opinions other than their own. And it rankles me to see what lengths some go to discredit and even vilify those who decline to walk lockstep in any direction they feel the argument should -- no, must -- go. 

It's very important here that I repeat, I'm talking about voices from both sides of the divide...

The worst moments, though, have come with the ridicule and vilest of rhetoric that has been tossed back and forth. Such hate and vitriol should be denounced by any fair-minded individual.

The unfortunate incident at the end of the Wake-Maryland game left a bitter taste I've yet to get out of my mouth. I've heard some say that what the person did was unacceptable, but they understand his frustration.

No, that's wrong. Unacceptable is unacceptable. To qualify it with the word but is to mitigate how wrong it was.

Collins is being very politic in his choice of words. There's a phrase that could be used to describe the fans' behavior and would be both succinct and accurate if not politic: Many Wake fans have been showing their butts and they need to just stop.