The Capital Sports Report

During a three-point shooting contest at the first game of the 39th annual ACC Barnstorming tour (of seniors), UNC’s Kennedy Meeks got to show a little of his inner shooting guard. Not only did he loft several during the game, he made it to the finals of the three-point shooting contest. See the YouTube video to see the barrage. In the second round, he faltered however, and Holly Springs’ High School Senior Jake Kelsey won the contest, making all 10 of his shots. The ACC All-Stars, coached by Phil Ford, were actually led by another coach who suited up – […]

A year after getting a kick in the gut in the final second of the NCAA Tournament title game, North Carolina got redemption with a tough slugfest victory over Gonzaga to give the Tar Heels their sixth national championship, 71-65. As has been the trend this season, the Tar Heels found a way to win and was able to close out the game. Down 65-63 with less than two minutes to play, Carolina indeed closed out the game with an 8-0 run. Justin Jackson, who had missed all nine of his three-point attempts, came up with an old-fashioned three-point play […]

It’s just amazing that apparently not one sports journalist in North Carolina is openly taking a “conservative” or even “moderate” position on HB2. Until now. Am I glad HB2 was repealed? Yes, because it has sucked the air out of the sports scene in North Carolina, because the topic is getting old and, frankly, because it shouldn’t be necessarily. Yet, the sports media – whether talk radio hosts or print media – won’t take yes to repeal as an answer. Most are happy that sporting events will apparently come back to the state. But they aren’t happy because the repeal […]

Clifton Barnes, the owner of CapitalSportsNC.com, has won a national award for writing for a series of articles on the website. CapitalSportsNC.com has now won awards four years in a row. The series of articles revolves around former University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2016 Awards for Publication Excellence competition. John De Lellis of Communications Concepts says competition was intense as there were more than 1,600 entries with seven winners in the Writing Series category. Barnes was the only winner in the category from North […]

He could have chosen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams or Benjamin Franklin. That’s what other kids were doing. But this 9-year-old from Cary, NC chose a North Carolina-product who was a star quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1960s and 1970s as his historic figure. Read more. Source:: Redskins

By Clifton Barnes With the PNC Arena needing renovations, and the NHL talking about expansion and the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes talking about adding partners, the predictable rumors of the Hurricanes leaving Raleigh have been swirling. “One thing I can guarantee is that this franchise isn’t going anywhere,” said Don Waddell, the president of Gale Force Sports and Entertainment, which oversees the business side of the Hurricanes and the PNC Arena. “We have a great set up here.” What hasn’t been so great is the Hurricanes’ product on the ice, further fueling the speculation. The Canes have only been […]

ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary Sunday night addressed the issue of why people hate former Duke basketball player Christian Laettner. While touching on and sometimes dancing around some of the real reasons, for the most part, they tried to conclude that it was mainly because Duke won all the time and he was the face of Duke. I call bullsh*t on that. Fans in the ACC, who saw him the most, didn’t hate him because Duke beat them. In fact, during his four years, North Carolina went 6-5 against Duke including a 22-point victory in an ACC Tournament final. Tar […]