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Jul 11, 2023

Chansky's Notebook: Hearts on Fire

Posted by Art Chansky | Aug 4, 2023 | Sports, Sports Notebook Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35

Posted by Art Chansky | Aug 4, 2023 | Sports, Sports Notebook

Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.

Carolina was calling Eric Church home for a good reason.

The celebrated country singer was able to sneak a private show in before his concert tonight at Walnut Creek. Church, a native of Granite Falls, North Carolina, who attended Appalachian State, responded when his beloved flagship university asked him to appear at a football fund-raising event.

It was hosted by Heels4Life, the collective that is supporting UNC’s Name-Image-Likeness program for Carolina football players, whose leadership group appeared on stage with alumnus and Heels4Life CEO Graham Boone. He acknowledged that NIL is ever-changing and will keep pace at Carolina.

The 90-minute show set hearts on fire at a sold out Memorial Hall, where Church sang some of his own songs and a medley of others, thrilling the crowd with his trademark “hooing and harmony” and an amazing voice range.

All proceeds are apparently going to the H4L NIL fund, which solicits businesses or individuals to support Mack Bown’s players. The head coach met the 46-year-old Church when he was still at Texas, and talked about how they both wake up daily with the idea to make a difference in someone’s life. That’s why he got back into coaching his second tenure in Chapel Hill.

Church says Brown has been a mentor to him, just as co-host Marty Smith of ESPN says the same thing of Church since both were struggling with personal issues about 15 years ago. And Church’s love for the Tar Heels goes a long way – “sometimes missing shows” – like when he postponed a concert in Texas to take his two young sons to the 2022 Final Four Duke-Carolina game in New Orleans. “You can’t recreate that,” he says.

The sincerity and gratitude were palpable toward the UNC donors who are contributing in what was supposed to be in the spirit of NIL contracts – unlike uncaring alumni at many schools that have turned it into a pay-for-play grab bag. That may be why Brown is focusing more on less highly recruited players with a great upside but aren’t candidates for big NIL “recruiting” deals.

It was a bit incongruous that the star of the show is admittedly perpetually late and is in a music genre that sings about inhaling alcohol, doing drugs and bedding young babes in the cabs of their pick-ups. It creates a great chance for Brown to tell his team, “Do as Eric does, not as he says.”

Church also confirmed he had bought a minority share in the Charlotte Hornets from majority owner and Tar Heel legend Michael Jordan. “MJ and I bonded over our mutual hate for the same team, Duke,” Church chortled.

While he entertained the privileged, let’s hope the right messages filter down.

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