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Parents of athletes need to stay off social media.
Cooper Flagg’s mother is the latest who should take that message to heart. Is she going to troll opponents in the NBA, which seriously discourages that behavior for the sake of safety?
Flagg’s first and last trip to the Dean Dome was highly anticipated by the home crowd and Carolina students. What did his family expect for an 18-year-old kid who has received a mountain of publicity since he arrived at Duke last summer after growing up in the foothills of Maine? Can you imagine the treatment Christian Laettner, a true villain, would have received if social media existed during his four years at Duke?
Flagg is a transcendent talent who plays the game beautifully and efficiently on both ends of the floor. Look at his line in the final box score: Despite foul trouble that limited his playing time to 29 minutes, Flagg still had 15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks.
When he came out for warm-ups at the home basket and in front of the rowdy risers of students, Flagg took the jeering far better than his mother, who tweeted after the game: “A Big F-You to the entire Carolina fan base,” some of whom she called “classless.”
What!
Because the opposing fans tried to affect his play? Because they cheered when Flagg got into foul trouble? Because the underdog and less-talented home team was trying to pull off a dramatic upset?
Kelly Flagg apologized for her social media language in a subsequent post, but she obviously didn’t get the big picture. The Smith Center is one of the most famous arenas in college basketball, similar to Cameron Indoor Stadium for different reasons. Their ban box grew in prominence because Duke chose NOT to build a bigger place like every other school in the ACC and most around the country.
It has become one of the best home-court advantages in the game, but far more because the Blue Devils have had consistently great teams over the years than the raucous Cameron Crazies who Al McGuire baptized and Dick Vitale promoted unabashedly.
Was Kelly Flagg not awestruck by the nearly three-times bigger Dean Dome that when Duke comes to town is 10 times louder than Cameron? Jay Bilas, the former Duke center and now the hoops voice of ESPN, has always loved UNC’s home court since he first walked through the tunnel with Johnny Dawkins in 1986 and said to his teammate, “We’ve got to get us one of these!”
Kelly Flagg is another one-and-doner parent who loves her son — but she is blind to the big picture and certainly still new to the rivalry. The fans couldn’t wait to see Cooper play because he is so doggone good! She could have and should have embraced that. And if there were verbal jabs thrown, then what would you call what the Cameron Crazies hurl at opposing athletes?
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Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
At least she had enough sense to apologize later. I think we see that kind of behavior in too many of today’s athlete parents.