I just can't imagine how...

I'm not even sure I remember exactly when the UNC academic scandal was first reported. I remember hearing about it, though at the time the news didn't feel colossal. I remember brushing it off as mostly a UNC football ordeal, making it far less juicy than it being a basketball ordeal. North Carolina and basketball have a deep-seeded connection. Dean Smith, Michael Jordan and argyle are all symbolic to the portrait of men's college basketball. Football? Meh. I remember finding it bizarre that UNC football suddenly jumped on the radar for a few years with formidable teams. Now it makes sense. But the academic scandal was virtually swept under the rug for months. Sure, we heard about it. But the full attention of the collective media, who jump at such things to pour attention into, somehow never fixated on the story. Until this weekend. Julius Peppers forced everyone's hand. A 1.8 GPA with a transcript filled with red flags is hard to ignore. Why did it take so long though for everyone to suddenly start taking such great interest? Why were some so quick to jump on investigating whether or not Enes Kanter made more than a reasonable living expense while playing basketball in Turkey? A flight to Turkey wasn't too much to ask, but a trip to Chapel Hill couldn't be arranged? Really, how could a story like this take so long to transition from "story we care about for 24 hours and then throw on the back burner" to "okay, now this is actually a pretty big deal?" As Matt tweeted earlier: where are the Pete Thamels, Pat Fordes and Jeff Goodmans of the world now?  I'll give you 3 possible reasons why something like the UNC scandal could have been swept under the rug... 1) ESPN spent a portion of their morning celebrating Tim Tebow's 25th birthday. Two ESPN NFL analysts (Herm Edwards and Marcellus Wiley) took the time this morning to put on silly hats, gather around a birthday cake and throw out possible "gift ideas" for Tebow on his 25th birthday (not even his 21st, or 30th, or 40th...or anything significant at all. Just 25). I get that shows like Sportscenter are largely based on entertainment value, but c'mon.   2) Pat Forde is tied up with more important things in London.   3) Anonymous Coaches Polls -- Who has time to investigate anything of substance when you can just poll 100 coaches, granting them anonymity so there are no consequences or means by which to hold them accountable for the accuracy behind the statements, to find out who they perceive to be the biggest cheater in recruiting. That seems much more worthy of time and energy. I'll trade what 100 anonymous coaches have to say for what 1 North Carolina coach has to say...   I just can't imagine how this took so long...