Roy Williams apologizes, kind of

Well, Roy Williams has put out a public apology for the comments he had comparing his team's disappointing season to the earthquake in Haiti.

"In no way am I equating the tragedy in Haiti with basketball," Williams said in a statement issued by the University. "I'm sorry that my statement at the press conference made it seem like I was comparing the two. The people of Haiti are suffering through unimaginably difficult times. I know very well that we are just playing a game."

Roy Williams apologized for his comments, I think.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Williams has been getting ripped on the intrawebs for the statement, which came barely two months after he had a fan thrown out of the Dean Dome for yelling at his players.

It wasn't hard to jump to the conclusion that Roy Williams takes himself a tad too seriously.

In his defense, however, he was apparently referencing another story he told on his radio show last week.

"On February 1st at my weekly radio show I made a comment about a colleague telling me that Haiti was a catastrophe and we were just having a difficult season," the statement said. "I said that does put basketball in perspective. However, Tuesday, at a press conference, I referenced her comment again but I neglected to say that it puts basketball in perspective."

Williams is referring to this quote from his show:

The young lady that's our massage therapist, she had the best line ... because that was ... I saw her before the North Carolina State game, and she said, `Coach, you may not believe this, or may not feel it all the time, but, what they have in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you have is a disappointment.' And, it's true. It's something ... I said, well right now in my mind and my body, it feels like a catastrophe, but it is. What those people are having to go through is just unbelievable and it does put what we're going through in a different light, but it doesn't make it any easier though Woody, but it does make us understand what we're facing.

So yes, Roy Williams was trying to compare UNC's season to what happened in Haiti. He just wasn't making the comparison we all assumed he was making.

Right?

Seems you found a way to talk yourself out of another mess, Ol' Roy.

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Roy Williams compares his season to Haiti

Understanding how important he actually is has never been one of Roy Williams' strong suits.

We've already seen it once this season, when he had the fan of an opponent thrown out of a game for saying "don't miss it" when one of his players was shooting a free throw.

As he has done so many times before, Williams talked his was out of it, explaining how his team was tormented at a game earlier in the season, and how he was only looking out for his players.

I wonder how he will talk his way out of this one:

Our massage therapist told me, 'You know, coach, what happened in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you're having is a disappointment.' I told her that depends on what chair you're sitting in. It does feel like a catastrophe to me, because it is my life.

Here's the video if you don't believe me:



Look, there is nothing wrong with Roy saying that he thinks this season is a catastrophe. For him, it is. He's coming off of a national title, and his team looks destined for the CBI this season.

In his world -- in college basketball terms -- that is a catastrophe.

The problem comes when he compares it to what happened in Haiti. Because when compared to what happened in Haiti, losing six out of seven games doesn't actually matter. At all.

The general consensus is that Roy Williams can do no wrong, but how many times has he done or said something moronic that makes him come off as a clueless, out-of-touch ass?

For the record, John Calipari, the guy that everyone hates in the coaching ranks, raised millions for the real catastrophe.
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Roy Williams talks about the fan incident

Roy Williams spoke on his radio show on Monday night about this incident with the Presbyterian fan during Saturday's game. It definitely gives more light to the situation, although I'm not sure I buy that he didn't ask for the fan to be removed from the game.

Full transcript courtesy of Inside Carolina:

It’s strange that it has gotten a heck of a lot attention, but the good news is that I haven’t had to pay too much attention to it. I haven’t heard it, but people are telling me about it. It was unfortunate. Just to tell you in my opinion what happened… Let me give you some background first. In New York City, when we played Ohio State, it was the absolute worst scenario that I’ve ever had to put up with.

A couple of guys about 10 feet from our bench screamed and yelled at us all night long. Yelled at our players and would say, ‘Deon Thompson – you stink.’ But they didn’t use the word ‘stink.’ Or ‘Dexter Strickland – you stink,’ but they didn’t use the word ‘stink.’ We had to listen to that garbage all night long and we had two different parents that sort of got a little disappointed, a little upset, could have gotten into a confrontation. The security guards did absolutely nothing and it really ticked me off. So I said, ‘I know we have to put up with that on the road, let’s just go.’ We didn’t say anything. Joe Holladay was sitting two or three feet from the guy, but we didn’t say anything whatsoever.

Saturday night, all of a sudden, some guy stands up and starts yelling at Deon and it came from behind our bench. And you know how when some things happen, you instantly think of something? My first thought was, ‘Now our parents are having to listen to somebody else, and it’s in our own building.’ And so I turned around and I said, ‘Who said that?’ And about 40-50-60-70-80 people started pointing up at this guy. The guy gets up and starts gyrating with his arms and everything like, ‘Yeah, it was me,’ and that kind of thing. And it really did tick me off. I turned and said something to the ushers behind the bench and they started up through there, and I turned around and coached the game. I have no idea what happened. I never turned around to the guy again.

But my feeling was immediately that our parents who sit right behind our bench have to put up with that stuff again in our own building. So that was it. And after the game, they told me that they had escorted the young man out. Supposedly what had happened was they had asked him for his ticket and he didn’t have a ticket or wasn’t supposed to be sitting in that seat. Supposedly, and I want to emphasis the word supposedly, he didn’t cooperate as much as they wanted, and they chose to take him out.

Am I disappointed in the whole thing? Yeah, I’m disappointed that it happened. I’m disappointed that I even reacted to it. But again, in our own building, I don’t think that parents ought to have to listen to somebody chastising their son. And whether that’s right or wrong, that’s the way I am. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. I hate that it happened. I wish that it never happened. Evidently, people have been getting after us all day [on Monday] or getting after me all day. But I tell you what, if that’s the only thing they’ve got to get after me about, I’m a happy young man… If I’m wrong, then that’s good, but I’m not apologizing.

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Presbyterian fan speaks

On Sunday, we told you about Roy Williams tossing a Presbyterian fan from the crowd as UNC was in the middle of beating the Blue Hose by 40.

Today, WRAL caught up with the ejected fan, a Brian King from Concord, NC. More than anything, King was upset about how he was being portrayed.

"I was not a drunken idiot who happened to be where he wasn't supposed to be," King said.

He said he wasn't sitting in his seats, but he was sitting with some friends who had an extra ticket.

According to King, the incident happened like this:

King said the Smith Center was quiet in the second half, except for him rooting for his team. He said he had some beers before the game but didn't do or say anything inappropriate. When UNC's Deon Thompson was at the foul line, King said he yelled, "Miss it, Deon!"

"I didn't say anything but, 'Miss it, Deon!' That is the truth," King said.

King said he is a huge basketball fan who "grew up going to the Duke games. I love Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I really love basketball. That's all I was, an enthusiastic fan."

King said he was surprised when Williams turned to him.

"He told me to shut up. I said, 'Who, me?'" King said.

"And he said, 'Yeah, I'm talking to you.'

"And I said, 'Go Blue Hose!' and pointed to my shirt."

Williams motioned to someone at the Smith Center and security guards emerged to escort King out.

Doesn't look great for Roy Williams.
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Roy Williams tosses a fan for yelling at his players

UNC beat tiny Presbyterian 103-64 in what was a relatively uneventful game.

So why does it deserve its own post?

Because with about seven minutes left in the game and Deon Thompson shooting free throws, a Presbyterian fan (those exist?) yelled out "Don't miss Deon." Security officers that removed the fan said he was drunk and in the wrong seat.

Roy Williams had this fan thrown out of UNC's game last night.
(photo credit: Deadspin)

Roy's reaction?

To have the fan thrown out of the game. Watch the video here.

Terrible right?

"I don't think anybody should yell anything negative at our players, period," Williams said after the game. "Let's don't make it a bigger thing than it is. I just don't think anybody should yell negative things toward our players who come in on our tickets to watch our games."

He refused to comment further on the incident, threatening to end the presser if he was asked another question about it.

Do I need to mention how ridiculous this is?

I mean, a fan yelling something during a free throw. What a travesty. So the next time a couple drunk kids in the student section scream obscenities at an opponent, Williams will have them removed too, right?

Perhaps Thompson himself said it best.

"Coach has a lot of pull around here, huh? To be able to get somebody kicked out of a game, that's pretty impressive."
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Delvon Roe vs. Roy Williams

We mentioned this somewhere along the line, but in Roy Williams' new book, he calls out Delvon Roe, who chose MSU over UNC as a high school senior.

Seth Davis explains:

Did you catch the sharp elbow Roy Williams threw at Michigan State sophomore Delvon Roe in his new autobiography? Williams doesn't call out Roe by name, but he does tell a story about how he celebrated when a recruit told him he was coming to North Carolina, only to have that same recruit tell him six weeks later he was going to Michigan State. Williams wrote that the player -- who is obviously Roe -- "lied" to him. That should make for a nice little subplot when those teams have their national championship game reunion on December 1.

Keeping in mind that the Spartans and the Heels play each other tonight in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, a writer for the Lansing State Journal caught with Roe's father, Delvon Blanton, to get the player's side of the story (make sure you hit the link, a lot of good stuff over there):

Blanton said he and Roe visited North Carolina together once, then Roe went by himself on a visit for the UNC-Duke game. Blanton said Williams wanted Roe to commit before the game to get the team hyped. Roe called Blanton. Blanton strictly forbid him from committing. ...

"Delvon still loved Michigan State and a few weeks later, when he was home and he could think about the decision without someone in his face, he realized that's where he wanted to go."

Roe had a hard time summoning the courage to tell Williams, Blanton said. Blanton told him he had to make the call. He did, and Blanton said Williams started yelling on the other end.

"I don't know exactly the words he was saying, but he was upset," Blanton said of Williams. "He started going off on Delvon. I mean, Delvon's an 11th-grader, he's shook up. So I grabbed the phone and said, 'Let me tell you something, you never disrespect my son like that.'"

Adds an intriguing story line to the whole rematch-of-the-national-title-game play, doesn't it?
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