No Roger, No Rerun, No Rent

Hey, Carolina won a(nother) road game! Last night they swept the season series from NC State, and in the process put to rest (at least for the moment) those critics who claimed the Tarheels struggle away from the Dean Dome. And they did all this without Rashad McCants.

Over at Yoni's College Basketball Blog, there's a thread discussing why UNC might be a disapointment come NCAA tournament time. Of course most of the comments were made before last night's game -- and almost all have to do with UNC's "inability" to play on the road (well, except for this lone voice of reason -- no relation), but it always interesting to hear from people who aren't UNC supporters. And since they've really had nothing to talk about the last few years (I mean really, when you win eight games, who needs to be critical?), this is their opportunity to get back in the mix.

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Well, the Steelers, as expected, didn't franchise Plaxico Burress, and no he's a free agent. There is still some (however remote) possibility that he could return to Pittsburgh. I say this for two reasons. First, Ed Bouchette wasn't selling his usual "gloom and doom" angle in today's column. Instead, he actually reports that the relationship between Plax and the Steelers is actually pretty good considering the circumstances:

"It means he's going to hit the market, which you'd expect,'' said Michael Harrison, Burress' agent. "It's something I think is good for us."

Harrison said it does not mean Burress will sign elsewhere. But, with no substantial talks taking place with the Steelers to sign him to a long-term deal, it's more likely that Burress will not return.

The hit to their salary cap, though, would have been prohibitive.

"It's not because they don't want Plax. It's more financial,'' Harrison said. "That's a lot of money to tie them under now. It's near impossible."

"In a perfect world, absolutely, but, from a cap standpoint, it's impossible,'' Colbert said. "But we will be open. We're not going to close the door on anybody."

"Right now, our intentions are to hit the market, see what's out there for Plaxico, what's a great situation for him and keep our ears open with Pittsburgh. We're on the same page with the Steelers."

Well, it's not great, but it could be worse (and that "worse" could be in the form of Plax wearing a Ravens jersey next September).