Start the presses

It seems newspaper sports columnists aren't what they used to be.

There are some great ones, some I've always looked up to and always will. But in general, the power of these voices has diminished greatly because, well, there are so many other voices.

Used to be, they had the last word on everything because they were the only ones with the typewriters and ink. But a revolutionary thing called the Internet came along, and now it's hard to find someone who doesn't have an opinion on something.

In some ways it's a shame, because there's an art to turning phrases and some of us still derive enjoyment out of reading a well-crafted column.

In other ways it's quite good because columnists are now accountable in a very public way and not as able to get away with being lazy, unfair or overly sensational.

That said, it's surprising to hear of all the scandalous stuff going on in Chapel Hill and hear virtually nothing on the topic from the leading newspaper voices in the Tarheel State.

The Charlotte Observer has several columnists, but on their front page there's no one opining on the latest revelations at North Carolina.

The link, which surfaced late Sunday, showed Julius Peppers received some of his highest grades in classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM). A school investigation has since found fraud and poor oversight in 54 AFAM classes between summer 2007 and summer 2011, with football players making up more than a third of the enrollments and student-athletes making up 58 percent of the overall enrollments in those suspect classes.

Nine of the 10 classes in which Peppers earned a B-plus, B or B-minus that could've helped ensure his eligibility came in the AFAM department where he was majoring, according to the possible transcript. Three were listed as independent study classes, another problem area cited in the school's probe for a lack of supervision of work — often a research paper — performed by students.

If authentic, the transcript would raise the possibility that the AFAM troubles go back much further than the four-year focus of the investigation, though the school's report in May acknowledged the misconduct could reach before 2007.

It needs to be pointed out that it was a newspaper, The News & Observer of Raleigh, that unearthed almost all of this stuff with dogged, courageous reporting that should be commended.

But it's still a bit of a surprise to go to the page of the N&O's longtime sports columnist, Caulton Tudor, and see no opining on the Peppers revelations and what they mean.

Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal made general mention of the situation in this column from Saturday, but nothing since.

Rawlings did have harsh words for UNC in this column from mid-July.

Drip. Drip. Drip-drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip-drip.

The Old Well isn't supposed to act like this.

The Old Well — situated at the heart of the original North Carolina campus and the approximate center of the state — evolved into a symbolic fountain of youth, truth and the unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Or maybe it's 95 degrees under the spreading poplar and you need a sip to reach the library. Either way, the water flows. At least water flowed symbolically, as well as practically, until the football scandal reduced Carolina to sputtering spasms of implausible excuses and incomplete answers.

For now the loudest voices on this mushrooming scandal are national voices. Matt Hayes of The Sporting News puts it in big-picture context, telling NCAA prez Mark Emmert that he's on the clock.

When he announced crippling sanctions against Penn State, when he stuck the governing body’s nose in a legal action, Emmert made it clear that he alone had been given power to ignore due process and NCAA bylaws to protect “the foundation of amateur sports.”

Meanwhile, in Chapel Hill, N.C., the entire university is complicit in a systemic charade of bogus, no-show classes for athletes; a scheme that—you’re gonna love this part—the NCAA missed while investigating North Carolina over the past two years.

Fortunately, the man with the Big Stick has the Raleigh News & Observer doing the heavy lifting, exposing the real threat to the foundation of intercollegiate athletic sports. Or as my athletic director friend said, “Pandora’s Box.”

And now Gregg Doyel assails North Carolina with this piece.

It's time for the NCAA to start digging. In the meantime, North Carolina should get a head start on some of its own chores.

For starters? There are some banners at the Smith Center that need to come down.

LW