Tank Spencer is the host of a weekly sports talk show, “The Sports Tank,” on Asheville’s News Radio WWNC (570-AM) that airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Spencer also serves as WWNC’s news anchor, reporter and afternoon producer. This column features posts from his blog.

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The following was posted March 24: 

As the fight song so aptly describes:

 “I’m a Tar Heel born and a Tar Heel bred and when I die, I’ll be a Tar Heel dead.”

In fact, that very phrase hung above my crib. Even with the academic scandal, the Matt Doherty years, and even John Bunting, I’ve never been more ashamed of being a Tar Heel fan than this past weekend.

Sitting at the Wild Wing Café Saturday night, I was surrounded by Tar Heel fans, all of us enjoying the spectacle that is March Madness.

As we watched the Heels take care of business against Arkansas, the other TVs were tuned to NC State’s upset bid against Villanova.

As the minutes ticked off the clock in that game, I got a sick feeling when I realized 95 percent of the Carolina Blue-clad were actually cheering for the Wolfpack! 

Moments later, a Blue Devils fan approached my father and me and waved his cap in our faces. Not longer after that, he says “I’m actually pulling for you guys tonight.”

…mind blowing, in 3…2…1…

Had I stepped into bizzaro world? Is this some sort of “Twilight Zone” episode? No?

Apparently this is now the world of toothless fandom. When it comes to college sports (at least in North Carolina), for some, it’s no longer a dog-eat-dog world. 

It’s a world where some pull for the CONFERENCE to do well over, as the Beach Boys put it, staying true to their school.

Some of the worst culprits surround me every day: my family, my coworkers, and my friends. I’m apparently the lone wolf (I mean, lone Heel) on this one.

I’m calling for a revolution! Let’s get back to the days where being a Tar Heel, a Blue Devil, a whatever, meant something. 

Where are the days when a fist fight might break out if some jack-wagon in red dissed the Heels. How can you honestly root for a rival to do well? It escapes me.

As I rose out of my chair when Nova pulled down a key rebound in the waning seconds of the game vs State, I was told by one so-called Tar Heel fan to sit the *bleep* down. Shame on you.

Of course, these people are the same ones that would NEVER root for the Yankees to win under the auspice of “We gotta pull for the AL East.”

In the same light, Dolphin fan would NEVER root for the Patriots, or Braves fan would NEVER pull for the Mets.

What has happened to our fandom? Reclaim it!

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The following was posted June 2, 2014:

Are the PC police taking over sports world, too?

The PC police are in full outrage mode these days and the sports world is not immune. This is not another Donald Sterling article, but that case clearly falls into that category. This past week two athletes received heavy criticism over things they said to the media, neither of which were important – nor worthy of the vast amount backlash and vitriol. Our sense of what IS important or worth raising our blood pressure appears to have diminished to next to nothing.

The first occurrence was Latvian tennis player Ernests Gulbis speaking to the media during the French Open. He was asked about the tennis careers of his sisters. He quickly replied he hoped his sisters didn’t choose to become tennis pros. He said, “I wouldn’t like my sisters to become professional tennis players. It’s tough choice of life.” “A woman needs to enjoy life a little bit more. Needs to think about family, needs to think about kids.” “It’s tough for a woman, I think.” It’s that last part that no one has paid attention to. Typically when you have an opinion about something, you’re not ordering someone else to do anything.

It’s amazing the number of irrational, feminist males that took to the message boards and social media blasting Gulbis for thinking that starting and maintaining a family while staying competitive in an athletic world would be harder for the mother than the father. The knee-jerk “women can do anything a man can do and damn you for saying otherwise” reaction is not only irrational, it’s false. If it was true, women’s sports would be much more profitable.  

The second “butt-hurt moment of the week” came when Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz responded to being hit by a pitch from Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price. Ortiz said after the game “it’s war.” This started (as Pete Kaliner says) the wheel of the perpetually offended spinning. Even J.P., whose service to our country in the U.S.M.C. is to be commended, had a knee-jerk reaction saying Ortiz shouldn’t try to compare a game to actual war.

I recommend we put all our Amelia Bedelia books away and think logically.

Ortiz’s statement in no way likened getting hit by a pitch to being bombed in Fallujah. I hope these same people who took offense have never jokingly said “this means war” when they have been wronged in some way.

I hope they’ve never played a game of “Tug of War” or the card games “War” or “Tegwar.”**

The offended surely have never listened to “Love Is A Battlefield” and not been offended or uttered the words “he’s battling at the plate” or said someone “lost the battle but won the war” when referencing something trivial.

Get a grip people.

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** If you’re unfamiliar with the card game Tegwar... see the film “Bang The Drum Slowly” (1973) starring Robert DeNiro.