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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 87
Friday, October 11, 2002
By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist |
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Forest sometimes hidden by trees
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Bonesville staff writer Denny O'Brien recently
conducted an exclusive interview with Charlie
Adams, the North Carolina High School
Athletic Association's executive director. In
addition to O'Brien's accompanying report
about the interview and the circumstances
leading up to and surrounding it, the session
(approximately 40 minutes long) was digitally
recorded and the unedited audio can be
heard by clicking the link below: |
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T-SHIRTS WITH A
FLAIR!
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CHECK OUT THE BOOTY
AT PIRATELOOT.NET...
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©2002 Bonesville.net
I guess you could say the media has portrayed him as an
ornery, cantankerous old cuss. It appears even I am guilty of that in a
recent news story I reported on Bonesville.net.
However, a visit with Charlie Adams suggests that newsprint,
or in my case, cybermedia, has a way of blurring the picture. The fact is,
he isn't a monster with an anti-East Carolina agenda.
A trip to his office is greeted with down-home southern
pleasantries. With a firm handshake and a smile, he is welcoming with his
demeanor, and his cozy furniture and warm decor lend an atmosphere conducive
to good ole boy chatter.
Among his favorite topics, believe it or not, is the five
years he spent at East Carolina, the very school against which some people
believe he has launched an unwarranted attack.
That I have gathered from my Inbox, which I can assure you
has been overwhelmed in recent days with a mix of letters of praise and, for
lack of a better term, mad mail.
To be honest, I fully expected the mad mail in particular,
for Pirate fans are a passionate bunch whose readiness to defend the cause
to the last purple drop of blood is a genetic reflex.
By digging into an issue as controversial as the 'Friday
Night Fight' and reporting facts and first-hand quotes that raise serious
questions about the handling by ECU officials of what has become a
full-fledged debacle, I've been labeled a traitor to my alma mater by some.
Now that I think about it, I've probably been linked to
Watergate, too. Funny, though, I thought Forrest Gump uncovered that
scandal.
We have also had a goodly share of communications from
readers who analyzed our special report and concluded that our coverage
provided information that, though painful to read, was vital in order to
understand how ECU so thoroughly stirred up such a hornet's nest and why
Adams, the NCHSAA's executive director, has firmly decided his organization
can no longer "have a relationship" or "work with" ECU's athletic director.
I can only imagine what has filled Adams' Inbox over the
past few days, though I think I have some idea. One particular quote in
Bonesville's special report, which in actuality had minimal relevance to
the story's theme, has surfaced as a hot topic of contention, when in fact
the point is moot.
That's my fault, though, for planting a tree I didn't think
would obstruct readers' views about a matter which, as it has been reported
and has yet to be refuted, is pretty stark in its unpleasant clarity. The
purpose was to illustrate the seriousness with which high school
administrators view this issue and the high emotions that have been raised,
not to falsely link Adams to that line of thought.
Charlie Adams never encouraged high school administrators to
retaliate against East Carolina graduates. That isn't behavior that he
condones. Heck, he never even suggested that high schools post "No
Trespassing" signs to bar Steve Logan and staff, even though his colleagues
in the Palmetto State did.
"We have stayed out of that," Adams said. "Our issue has
been that we want Friday night. That's our sole thing."
In addition, some of the input we have received from readers has
indignantly questioned why our story didn't touch on what they view as a
contradictory stance by the NCHSAA against Friday night college football as
opposed to its less vocal recent criticism of the ACC for staging televised
basketball games in conflict with high school contests.
We did indeed broach that topic with Adams and he so
effectively shot down that lame duck that it eliminated our consideration of
posing it in our report as an argument against Adams' posture.
First, noted Adams, the NCHSAA fought that battle diligently
over a period of time spanning decades. Second, he said, the NCHSAA and the
ACC for years operated in accordance with a 'gentlemen's agreement' that
allowed for a peaceful, albeit uneasy, coexistence. Third, and perhaps most
importantly, Adams pointedly remarked that when the ACC eventually realized
it would have to break that gentlemen's agreement, officials from the league
contacted the NCHSAA in advance to implement as much damage control
as possible.
It is my perception that Adams' bout is not with East
Carolina the institution at all, and gathering from a few e-mails, I'm not
alone. Clearly, Adams takes issue with one individual, ECU athletic director
Mike Hamrick, whom he views as the root cause of the germination of this
fiasco. He even says it pointblank.
"We were led to believe that this was strictly and solely a
decision by the athletic director at East Carolina," he said.
He lays the facts on the table in an articulate, eloquent
manner. He backs each point with a candid, comprehensive explanation. For
some, he even has indisputable documentation.
Adams was given a promise that East Carolina would not play
on Friday nights and that promise appeared prominently in the media. He was
also assured, he says, that if it became apparent East Carolina would be
unable to uphold its end of the deal, he would be extended the courtesy of a
phone call to discuss the matter.
Both commitments, he says, were broken.
Bonesville.net asked Hamrick to be interviewed
for the story or to respond to the claims made by Adams, but he declined.
To this day, according to Adams, no call has been made from
the East Carolina athletic director's office to the NCHSAA. No explanation
that the deal was unavoidable. No assertions that ECU had no choice.
Naturally, it seems that if there was no choice in the
matter, an advance phone call by the Pirate AD would have allowed both
parties to mitigate the damage as much as possible and would have likely
averted the worst-case scenario which ECU has brought upon itself. Instead
of launching a frontal assault on ECU, the NCHSAA would have been more
likely to divert the aim of its its heavy artillery at ESPN and Conference
USA.
Then there is Dennis Helsel, the C-USA Associate
Commissioner, who just couldn't seem to get his story straight. It took
three phone calls for him to admit The Daily Reflector didn't call to
ask who was responsible for pulling the trigger that ignited the Friday
firestorm.
All that did was raise another question. Just who is our
phantom caller?
With full confidence I can eliminate only two possibilities.
It wasn't me. And it wasn't The Reflector.
If Adams's allegations are taken seriously, it is hard not
to understand his suspicions.
No, this wasn't a witch hunt. That I can assure you. But to
be honest, I'd be lying if I didn't label it a fact-finding mission, one
that I pursued with quite a fervor.
Bonesville.net is committed to offering the most
comprehensive coverage of East Carolina athletics — both the good and the
bad — for accurate information is a most valuable commodity indeed. There
were too many lingering questions surrounding this matter that had not been
adequately explored by the media. At the very least, they needed addressing.
Through thorough investigation, we were able to gather a few
of those answers. More than anything, though, I think it raised more
compelling questions.
Questions that, in my humble opinion, still need answers.
Send an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.
Click here to dig into Denny O'Brien's Bonesville
archives.
02/23/2007 01:46:57 AM
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