Dane Huffman
Dane Huffman, a Raleigh native, has covered North Carolina sports since 1983. He is the Sports Managing Editor at WRAL.
By Dane Huffman
Jun 27, 2009
The magic of television is that it’s both temporal and lasting. The images come and go, oh so quickly, but what’s amazing is how long we remember those pictures in our minds.
At WRAL, few have been responsible for those pictures and words for as long as Bob Holliday. He arrived in 1981 and left our anchor desk on Friday. I watched from the mezzanine as Holliday, tall and thoughtful and always prepared, took his seat in front of the camera one last time.
It is easy to be good at covering sports. You talk to athletes and coaches, transcribe what they say and put it out there in words or pictures.
You put a little spin on it, of course – a nice turn of phrase or a slick presentation, and then you call it a day. Any recent journalism grad can do that.
But it’s hard to be great, to rise above the clatter every day.
Bob Holliday has done that. He asks more than good questions - he asks the right questions. Coaches respond to Holliday with
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By Dane Huffman
Jun 24, 2009
Elliot Williams and Nolan Smith walk onto the court after a timeout in their Blue Devils' game against Binghamton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Duke has won eight of the last 11 ACC championships, so this is hardly a program that has dropped off the map.
But the stunning loss of Elliot Williams on Wednesday, combined with Gerald Henderson turning pro, leaves the Blue Devils lacking in the very area they usually make their mark – defense.
When you think of Duke, you think of the Blue Devils breaking down opponents with their defense – long arms, quick hands and ever quicker feet.
That hasn’t been the case in recent seasons, and Duke finished a staggering 11th in the ACC last season in field-goal percentage defense at 43.4 percent. Florida State led the league at 38.7.
Williams only started 12 games last season, but Duke was 10-2 in those contests. He started Duke’s final 11 games, and the Blue Devils were a different team with him in the lineup. Duke finished 30-7, tied for second in the ACC regular season and won the ACC Tournament.
For most schools,
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By Dane Huffman
Jun 19, 2009
Perhaps its appropriate Roy Williams was at the game on Thursday night in Omaha, Neb. Williams knows what it's like to come so close for so long without winning a national title.
Williams was an assistant on some great North Carolina basketball teams that didn't win a national championship until 1982, a victory that lifted a heavy weight from Dean Smith's program.
And Williams himself, despite enormous success at Kansas, could never punch through and win a title until 2005 at UNC.
Now, of course, the North Carolina baseball team is in a similar role. You can't help but marvel at how Mike Fox has molded this program into a national power. But no ACC team has won the NCAA title in baseball since Wake Forest in 1955 – a stunning lack of hardware for a league that is generally among the elite. Florida State, for all its past success, has never left Omaha victorious. Clemson, Georgia Tech and new addition Miami have had tremendous runs but
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By Dane Huffman
Jun 15, 2009
Pinehurst likes to call itself the home of American golf, and on Monday, it proved it.
It wasn’t that long ago that getting a U.S. Open seemed unlikely for Pinehurst. But then came 1999, and the staggering success of the Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
Huge crowds, huge concession numbers and a stunning 50 corporate tents convinced the USGA to come right back, and it did.
The return in 2005 was another stunning success, with 40,000 fans per day and 65 corporate tents.
So the USGA decided it would come back in 2014.
But who thought it would bring the Women’s Open with it?
Now, you might think the Women’s Open lacks the panache of the bigger event, and to some extent that’s true. But if you were at the 2007 Women’s Open at Pine Needles, you know what a terrific event this can be.
Crowds aren’t as large, the players are just as intense and the level of play is superb. And in 2014,
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By Dane Huffman
Jun 6, 2009
North Carolina is a good story in baseball, but East Carolina is a great one.
The Tar Heels have been to the College World Series three straight seasons, a stunning effort for a program that is now the ACC’s elite.
East Carolina has never been. But the growth of the program, on the field and off, is a tribute to what the Pirates established under former coach Keith LeClair.
East Carolina had a decent baseball tradition when LeClair, who played and coached at Western Carolina, arrived in 1997. But the Pirates had slumped to fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association before LeClair took over.
LeClair changed all that. His teams broke huddles by shouting, “Omaha!” the longtime site of the College World Series.
“Keith wanted that firmly set in the mindset of his team and the university and the community that, ‘Hey, that is our ultimate goal,’” said Gregory Rogers, LeClair’s pastor at Greenville’s
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By Dane Huffman
Jun 1, 2009
Context is critical when evaluating an event, and two moments from this past weekend reached beyond the boundaries of what we expect from sports as one tennis player lied and LeBron James came up short in the NBA playoffs.
Saturday in the French Open, Serena Williams faced a tough challenge from unheralded Martinez Sanchez of Spain. The two were close at the net, and Williams fired a backhand right at Sanchez.
Sanchez raised her arm, the without the racket, and the ball bounced off her arm and landed on Williams’ side of the net.
Sanchez got the point. But she missed the larger point. She didn’t bother to tell the umpire the ball had clearly hit her and the point should have been over. When Williams challenged her, she denied it hit her, and denied it again in the press conference afterward.
The NBC video of this wasn’t conclusive until they showed a close-up, in which it was obvious.
Now, sports of full of times
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By Dane Huffman
May 24, 2009
The Carolina Hurricanes are now a couple of Malkin slap shots from the offseason, and there’s no shame in that. This season was about restoration, not redemption, and the Canes will enter the offseason with a renewed sense of energy.
The Canes won Stanley Cup in a brilliant 2006 run that ended any long-term questions about the viability of the franchise.
While other warm-weather NHL franchises have struggled – Phoenix being the most recent example – the Canes have found a niche, and a fan base, in the Triangle. For all the ACC’s deep roots in this area, the RBC Center is louder and more vibrant when the Canes play than when N.C. State is on the floor.
A comparison to the Charlotte Bobcats serves as a stark reminder of how strong a shape the Canes are in.
George Shinn convinced the NBA to come to Charlotte by saying, Bring the NBA to basketball country. But Charlotte fans soured on Shinn and the league in general. The
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By Dane Huffman
May 20, 2009
Word of God's John Wall, (11) dribbles the ball on Wednesday night, February 4, 2009 at Ravenscroft High School in Raleigh. Word of God won 82-64. (Photo by C.F.Ward)
John Wall is leaving the Holy Rams for a team that’s worshiped, and the only surprise is it took this long for Wall to announce for Kentucky.
Wall obviously wanted to play for John Calipari, and Calipari’s move from Memphis to Kentucky didn’t change the mind of the Word of God star.
What’s fascinating is how unusual it is for the state of North Carolina to lose a player to the Wildcats. Kentucky is one of college basketball’s elite programs, but the Wildcats have rarely stolen players from the ACC powers here.
West Charlotte forward Jason Parker signed with UNC but was denied admission. Kentucky said UNC had read his transcript improperly and he wound up playing for the Wildcats.
Durham Hillside forward Bobby Perry, from the high school class of 2003, committed to Kentucky and was a steady contributor in a career that concluded in 2007.
But other than that? Kentucky hasn’t hit North Carolina hard
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By Dane Huffman
May 18, 2009
Erik Cole strips the puck from Boston's Patrice Bergeron. Photo by Mike Hurst
Much of the attention the Eastern Conference finals will be focused on the matchup between Eric and Jordan Staal, but a critical subplot for Carolina could be the play of Erik Cole.
Cole is known for his tough, hard-charging style, but he has been stunningly absent in the playoffs so far. It’s jarring how rarely Cole catches your eye in play, and he has no goals, and just two assists, in Carolina’s 14 playoff games.
Seven Canes have taken more shots than Cole (22). This comes despite the fact that Cole’s $4 million contract expires at the end of this season, and players generally are at their best when free agency looms.
This could be the series that marks Cole’s return. After all, it was Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik who changed Cole’s career with a vicious hit from behind in March of 2006. That blow broke two vertebrae in Cole’s neck, but even then he returned for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals that summer.
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By Dane Huffman
May 14, 2009
So Greg Paulus plays basketball for four seasons at Duke, rediscovers a passion for football, and is now off to Syracuse with hopes of playing this fall.
Is that really possible?
Turns out, it is – and the NCAA’s ruling on this could set an interesting precedent as other athletes evaluate Paulus’ move.
The NCAA allows athletes five years to compete in four seasons. But there’s an exception. If an athlete wants to change sports, at their school or another, they can get five years of eligibility as an undergraduate.
So a player could compete for three years in volleyball at North Carolina and then two in softball at UNC. Or the athlete could transfer to Georgetown and compete for two years in softball there as long as they remain an undergraduate.
It’s trickier once you graduate, according to NCAA spokesman Stacey Osburn. If you complete four years of eligibility at one school and graduate, then you are
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