Eating breakfast early, the football experience
By: James Edward Dillard, Put Me In, Coach
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Sports
With John Bunting gone, it's hard to know what to blame the Tar Heel football team's woes on these days. Is it the team's relative inexperience? Are they still getting adapted to Butch Davis' system? Is cruel karma plaguing them as a roundabout way to punish the CAA for its new-and-even-worse basketball ticket distribution system?
For all I know, the answer to any of those questions could be yes. But after a careful investigation, I can say this much with certainty: The problem isn't the breakfast food.
Last week Carolina Dining Services announced that the Kenan Football Center, which has served a breakfast open to the public since 1997, would be adding a One Card reader to make dining there more student-friendly.
So I thought I'd take a trip up and see what the football team's been privy to that we've all been missing.
Monday I met up with my buddy Andrew at 8 a.m. outside the Kenan Center. We walked inside with about as much bravado as middle school girls.
It was then we realized we had no idea where to go. Thankfully, there was a secretary to point us to the elevator. She didn't ask us what position we played or anything. I'm assuming my physique made it clear - I'm a natural linebacker.
When I got to the actual cafeteria I realized how clever the whole setup was. According to NCAA bylaws intended to emphasize the "student" part of student-athlete, athletes can only eat one training table meal as a team per day.
So as a backhanded way around the rules, the athletics department serves a "public" breakfast" from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the football center, where the only college students awake will be football players. Take that, NCAA.
Normally something like this would send me into a tirade about privilege in college athletics, but CDS's lag on installing the card reader led to a pleasant surprise: free breakfast. No one was there to take our money, so Andrew and I walked in.
The cafeteria was surprisingly empty, with 10 or so players and a manager spread around the room. We looked around awkwardly, waiting for someone to tell us to leave or ask us to pay. None of the players even looked up from their meals.
For all I know, the answer to any of those questions could be yes. But after a careful investigation, I can say this much with certainty: The problem isn't the breakfast food.
Last week Carolina Dining Services announced that the Kenan Football Center, which has served a breakfast open to the public since 1997, would be adding a One Card reader to make dining there more student-friendly.
So I thought I'd take a trip up and see what the football team's been privy to that we've all been missing.
Monday I met up with my buddy Andrew at 8 a.m. outside the Kenan Center. We walked inside with about as much bravado as middle school girls.
It was then we realized we had no idea where to go. Thankfully, there was a secretary to point us to the elevator. She didn't ask us what position we played or anything. I'm assuming my physique made it clear - I'm a natural linebacker.
When I got to the actual cafeteria I realized how clever the whole setup was. According to NCAA bylaws intended to emphasize the "student" part of student-athlete, athletes can only eat one training table meal as a team per day.
So as a backhanded way around the rules, the athletics department serves a "public" breakfast" from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the football center, where the only college students awake will be football players. Take that, NCAA.
Normally something like this would send me into a tirade about privilege in college athletics, but CDS's lag on installing the card reader led to a pleasant surprise: free breakfast. No one was there to take our money, so Andrew and I walked in.
The cafeteria was surprisingly empty, with 10 or so players and a manager spread around the room. We looked around awkwardly, waiting for someone to tell us to leave or ask us to pay. None of the players even looked up from their meals.
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