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Penny-pinching time for Canes

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That horrible sound heard around the Triangle Wednesday was the sound of Carolina Hurricanes fans groaning at the thought what lies ahead next season.

Canes owner Peter Karmanos, Jr., and team general manager Jim Rutherford conducted separate interviews with local media. But both focused on the same thing — the bottom line.

Karmanos, who is attempting to sell a minority share of the team, sat down with the News and Observer. Rutherford, currently out of the state, had a phone interview with 99.9FM The Fan.

They both said the Canes payroll for next season will be in the bottom 20 percent of the NHL. That, most likely, means good-bye to fan favorites Ray Whitney and Rod Brind’Amour.

The Canes will attempt to sign Whitney before their exclusive negotiating period with him ends on July 1. But what kind of serious effort can they make while, at the same time, attempting to trim $15 million from last season’s $56 million payroll?

Brind’Amour, who’ll turn 40 this summer, wants to play next season in the final year of the 5-year extension he signed after Carolina won the Stanley Cup in 2006. It would be a feel-good swansong for No. 17.

But, again, the Canes will have a hard time fitting his salary into their slimmed-down budget. Brind’Amour is due $3 million, but the team would owe him a $2 million buyout should it release him. Maybe the two sides can reach a compromise.

Either way, this will be tough to watch. It may get even tougher when the games on the ice begin this fall.

The skinny

NC State athlete poses for pics online; UNC’s Williams doesn’t like Tweets

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I’m not sure if today’s athletes are more wide open than athletes of yesterday but the Internet certainly exposes them more – so to speak.

NC State softballer Lauren Peters (pictured right) made frathousesports.com’s All Hot Team and was featured in a seven-picture layout online where she shows a lot of skin. The reserve outfielder finished the season for the 28-27 Wolfpack batting only .154 but she did have 33 putouts.

Meanwhile, UNC coach Roy Williams told his players, particularly Dexter Strickland, John Henson and Larry Drew Two, to tone it down with the online Tweets. He met with the team earlier this week to give them guidelines on what not to write on Twitter. The players’ Tweets certainly personalize the team but the Tweets can also be embarrassing, inappropriate and provide fodder for opponents and opponents’ fans.

Apparently, the last straw for Williams came when several of the players took part in a jokefest about why the Wear twins left the Carolina program. Williams himself Tweets but very rarely. Since January, Williams has posted four Tweets totalling just more than 80 words.

After the meeting with Williams, Henson – whose dirty-dancing with bikini-wearing babes pictures made the rounds on the Internet recently – and Strickland released a Tweet which read, “Well, coached (sic) just talked to us about twitter and told us we offend some people n what not so this is a farewell to bein’ myself.” Then, they wrote, “Yeah these people be emailin coach n stuff smh….self expression is a birthright and something you did PRIOR to hoopin…” Sounds a little bitter and snarly, not to mention the spelling and grammar errors.

Maybe they should be schooled in how to communicate as much as what they communicate.

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Classy Danowski deserves this title at Duke

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Say what you want about the Duke lacrosse team in light of the 2006 allegations, but this much is true – current coach John Danowski exudes class, and you can’t help but admire what Danowski and his club accomplished with Monday’s national title.

In hindsight, it’s easy to see how former coach Mike Pressler was treated unfairly when Duke forced him out in that aborted season.

Duke responded with an amazing hire when it brought in Danowski from Hofstra. Danowski not only knows the game, he knows how to recruit and he knew how to handle a scandal of hard to fathom proportions. To keep the Duke program afloat is a remarkable achievement – to win a national title, and to do it after such wrenching Final Four losses, is amazing.

In light of the false allegations that surrounded the program in 2006, it’s amazingly just to see the Devils finally claim a national title in a sport dominated by a tight circle of programs.

N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Wolfpack, Heels both make it to NCAA baseball tourney

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NC State manager Elliot Avent was a little concerned that, despite his club making it to the ACC tournament and playing well except for one game, his Wolfpack team might not make it to the NCAA baseball tournament but that UNC, despite not making it to the ACC tourney, would. As it turns out, both area teams made it.

And both teams deserved to make it. Carolina finished a game under .500 in the ACC but has an overall 36-20 record and played well down the stretch. NC State finished at .500 in the ACC and has an overall mark of 38-22. State, a third seed in the Myrtle Beach region, opens up against College of Charleston. Coastal Carolina, the top seed in the region and No. 4 overall, plays Stony Brook in the other regional game.

The Tar Heels sweated out the selection show as their game was announced as the final matchup in the 64-team field. Carolina travels to Norman, Okla. as the third seed in that region and will face No. 2 seed Cal (29-23) in its first game. No. 1 Oklahoma takes on Oral Roberts in the other regional game. Game dates and times have not been announced. The ACC got a total of eight teams in the NCAA tournament – Boston College was left out.

Georgia Tech is hosting a regional that includes Elon, the third North Carolina team in the tournament. While some may argue that Carolina shouldn’t have made the NCAA tournament because the Heels didn’t qualify for the ACC tournament, keep in mind that Arizona got into the tournament despite going 6-13 over the last 19 games.

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Suite life at Kenan Stadium includes beer, wine

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The University of North Carolina is looking to sell luxury seats in the new Kenan Stadium end zone, and the Tar Heels are using a familiar tactic to draw fans.

Beer.

Yep, you’re not allowed to take alcohol into Kenan Stadium – wouldn’t want that on a college campus – but to help sell seats in the new end zone, the school will sell beer and wine to donors who can afford seats that start at $750, according to The News & Observer.

It’s a five-story, $70 million project that will rip down the old fieldhouse in Kenan and fill it with upscale seating.

You can’t help but be a bit sad about the coming changes – the old fieldhouse adds to the quaint and historic feel of Kenan. But you have to admit the additions to Kenan in recent decades have made the stadium even more impressive.

The new addition in the endzone should be first-rate as well. But the fact that the school will allow the sales of alcohol there is, well, amusing. And it’s a reminder of the uneasy, and inconsistent, relationship collegiate sports have with alcohol.

A UNC student who can walk home to Teague dorm would be pilloried for heading into the stadium with a can of Budweiser. But an alum who knocks down beers in a suite and then drives back to Greensboro … well, that’s another matter.

By the way, News14 has a story on the new facility here.

The skinny, UNC

Woodard back at UNC after not making it to the major leagues

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The UNC baseball team is fortunate to have its winningest pitcher ever back in the fold, even if as an assistant coach.

Robert Woodard, who was born in Winston-Salem and raised in Charlotte, had a 34-5 record as a Tar Heel pitcher, including a 22-0 record at Boshamer Stadium. Drafted in the 20th round by San Diego in the 2007 draft, Woodard never made it past Triple A Portland.

In fact, he pitched only three games at the Triple A level – one in 2007 and two in 2008. His ERA for those three games was 21.32. His most success was at Single A Fort Wayne where he posted a 3.25 ERA over 72 innings while posting five wins.

It really goes to show how difficult it is to make it to the big leagues. He was arguably the best pitcher the Heels ever had when he left for the pros. (Although that honor would probably go to Andrew Miller ’06 or Dave Lemonds ’68.) He was a three-time All-ACC selection and he was the 2006-2007 recipient of the Patterson Medal, given to UNC’s most outstanding student-athlete. He also helped lead the Carolina program to national prominence with back-to-back appearances in the College World Series in 2006 and 2007.

“I am very excited to have Robert join our staff. As most know Robert had a very distinguished playing career at UNC,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “But his most important role was being a leader in elevating our program to the national level beginning in 2006. Robert will bring great leadership, experience and knowledge to our program and I am excited that he is starting his coaching career as a Tar Heel.”

The skinny

Wears leaving for UCLA a reminder of risk

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Roy Williams had success recruiting in California as the head coach at Kansas, and he has continued to mine that state since coming to North Carolina. In fact, Williams had four Californians on his roster last season.

But the transfer of the Wear twins is a reminder that bringing kids from across the country can be risky, especially in an era where players are less loyal than before. The Wears are transferring to UCLA, they announced Tuesday, to be back in their home state. Williams also had another Californian return home when Alex Stepheson left for Southern Cal after the 2008 season.

Stepheson and the Wears weren’t great players at UNC, but the moves are a reminder that it can be tough for kids to adjust to being 2,500 miles from home. And Carolina has had to scramble for bodies with the Wears leaving, a move Williams said caught him totally off-guard.

UNC had rarely signed Californians before Williams arrived, with center Scott Williams of Hacienda Heights being one of the few exceptions.

Duke, too, had Los Angeles product Jamal Boykin depart for California.

The skinny

Canes selling a part of franchise

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The Carolina Hurricanes have long needed a local ownership connection, and now apparently, that could happen.

The Sports Business Journal is reporting the Canes have hired Allen and Co. to sell 50 percent of the club. The Canes are owned by Peter Karmanos, and his key partner, Tom Thewes, died two years ago. The News and Observer’s Chip Alexander reached Karmanos on the phone Monday, and Karmanos said he had not said “50 percent.”

But he did tell Alexander he would prefer a local investor.

“It would make sense to have a partner that lives and works in the Raleigh area,” Karmanos said.

The Canes are long past any thought of relocating from Raleigh, but the fact that Karmanos is open to sharing the club is major news. Many have thought the Canes would have benefited in the beginning by having a local investor involved – it simply took a while for Carolina to adapt to its new home and the realities of being in a major collegiate market.

The risk here is that any new owner, particular one from outside the market, could mean changes for the franchise. The sell is coming at a time when Carolina has a strong young core of players and will host the All-Star Game this season. But if half the team is owned by outside investors, and the franchise struggles in future years, there is no telling what that means.

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Greensboro can own ACC Baseball Tournament

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The College World Series has a home in Omaha, but the ACC Baseball Tournament, by comparison, is a nomad.

The ACC event deserves better. It spent the 2006, ’07 and ’08 years in Jacksonville, Fla., a nice place to play baseball but a long way most parts of the league.

Then the event was scheduled to be in Fenway Park in 2009. But – whoops! – the Red Sox realized the Green Monster was booked that weekend, and had to ask for this year instead. Once the economy tanked, the ACC moved the 2010 tournament to Greensboro for financial reasons while saying that some day, some day it will play the event in Fenway.

The allure of Fenway is obvious, but there’s no way the tournament will draw much interest in New England. Finding a community that can support it – and maybe Greensboro will – makes more sense.

The Triangle should be a great fit, with three teams here and two fine minor league parks. But the event gets overlooked in the market when the Carolina Hurricanes are in the playoffs, as they were last year. The event still drew 36,639 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the ninth-highest total in the event’s history, but there just wasn’t much buzz with the Canes dominating sports talk.

Greensboro makes more sense. The city has now a great minor league park in NewBridge Bank Park and it has a chance to claim this event as its own. That’s what happened with the CWS, with Omaha showing such enthusiasm for the event that others don’t have a chance.

This is Greensboro’s turn to make this an annual affair, which opens Wednesday. And if the city can show the tournament the love it deserves, it should keep it.

Duke, The skinny, UNC

Duke, Carolina battling for Doc Rivers’ son

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Doc Rivers’ Boston Celtics club is one victory away from the NBA championship finals but he is most proud that his son recently led his Winter Park (Fla.) High School team to that school’s first state title ever.

Duke and Carolina have taken notice of the 6-foot-3 shooting guard who scored 25 points in the state finals and are battling it out for him on the recruiting trail. Rivers, who is a top 10 basketball prospect in the class of 2011, is also considering Kansas and Florida. He earlier decommitted from Florida but Scout.com reports that he has a higher interest in Florida and Duke than Carolina … and they don’t even mention Kansas.

Rivers is listed by most as the No. 2 shooting guard in the country and UNC coach Roy Williams really wants to recruit guys that can shoot, especially after the team’s scoring woes last season. Williams can be convincing so I wouldn’t count the Tar Heels out. In fact, Rivers decommitted from Florida less than two weeks after Williams visited with him back in late March.