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An anonymous letter came in the mail today (as in the kind that arrives in a stamped envelope).

It included a clipping of a sports article from the N.C. A&T student paper, the Register, headlined, “Aggies shoot down Spartans 87-65.”

It was obviously provoked by Monday’s Short Stack commentary on the firing of UNCG basketball coach Mike Dement.

“You seemed to overlook the Real Reason Dement was fired at @ UNCG,” a note scribbled in the margin said.
“Get real. Nobody expected him to beat the ACC schools. But A&T?”

I’m not sure what the writer was getting at here.

That losing to A&T should be badge of shame? Nah.  It shouldn’t be. The Aggies play on a similar competitive level as UNCG.

Or that UNCG thinks it’s too good to lose to A&T. I don’t think that’s so, either. Dement lost his job because he didn’t win enough games against anybody, not just A&T.

As for the A&T-UNCG rivalry, when the series between the two schools began, A&T used to dominate regularly until UNCG gradually got better and turned the tables.

In the future I’d expect the series to become consistently competitive.

I only hope it continues. That way the tradition could grow and both schools could benefit. But they’ve got to keep playing each other every year for that to happen.