P.J. -- Gone to Stay

   I don't know -ALL- of the details yet, but just heard today that UNC has announced that star guard P.J. Hairston will not be reinstated for this year.  All indications are that Hairston will announce himself as a candidate for the 2014 NBA Draft and forego any college eligibility that he might have if or when he is reinstated.

 

   This is a high (but probably deserving) price to pay for his hi-jinks off the court this past summer, which included driving a car affiliated with a known felon, speeding, driving without a license, and possession of marijuana and a handgun. One of these arrests was made on I-85 just outside of Salisbury, my hometown.

   I was certainly impressed with P.J.'s play this past year.  He was the leading Tar Heel scoring at about 15 points per game, and also was an amazing 3-point shooter, hitting around 40% from the arc.  After being a backup on last year's squad, he was slated to be a starter this year, and thought to probably be the most talented player on the team.

   Most of the talk regarding this situation with P.J. will most likely revolve around the team's loss, and how the Tar Heels will do without him as starter at shooting guard.   All I can say about that is that the Tar Heels have done "adequately" without him, [not saying they wouldn't have been better with him] and it's a mute point at this point in time.  In the grand scheme of things, my focus is that his life and poor decision-making is much more critical than any college basketball team, or any Final Four or national championship.

  He did what he probably should have known better not to do, and now he is paying the price for it.  This is another reoccurring sad story with athletes, but is really only a mirror image of our entire society.  There were UNC students and fans waving signs and wearing shirts emblazoned with "Free P.J."  This was a clear violation of NCAA rules, and deserving of the punishment that was given him.   It is not only sad, but shameful, when people begin to believe that they and others can do as they please, without any consequences, and try to justify their actions where there is no real responsibility taken.

   P.J. undoubtedly will be a millionaire within the next few months, as he will enter the NBA draft and become some team's first-round pick.   The temptations of wealth will only tend to multiply the opportunities for mischief and mayhem.  Perhaps he has learned a deep and meaningful life lesson from these consequences.  Time will only tell.  But my mind goes back to players like Charles Shackleford at N.C. State and Len Bias at Maryland.  During the 1980's, these highly recruited and talented young players had a world of potential ahead of them, but allowed other temptations and distractions to lure them away.  Shackleford was arrested for stealing electronic equipment from a fellow student's dorm room, and later for selling prescription drugs;  Bias was hooked on cocaine, even as he was drafted by the Boston Celtics, and died from an overdose before he was able to even play a single game in the NBA.

  Here's hoping the BEST for this young man.  Hope that he learns that basketball is not an end-in-itself, but just one expression of a person's talents and personality.   Hope that he will not succumb to peer pressure, and the lure of money's greed and vices, but be able to find a place of peace and individual security, apart from basketball and finances.