Michael Tompkins

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Revisiting the Theory of Who Cares the Least

By Michael Tompkins | July 11

After my deluge of non-offensive sports columns in recent weeks, I have decided to take a break from those topics and get to something in which I have just as much interest but much less knowledge -- relationships. If you may or may not recall -- all eight readers that do remember, thanks! -- I approached the topic of women with the theory of a friend of mine, the Theory of Who Could Care the Least.

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Talent High in NBA Draft But Lacks Maturity

By Michael Tompkins | July 3

With the 2002 NBA draft in the books, I've been pondering some important questions that arose from it. We are, after all, from Carolina, where basketball still reigns supreme despite any Matt Doherty jokes you might have heard. The NBA draft might be the most exciting sporting event this time of year outside of the yearly Red Sox struggle to keep from collapsing like they have every year since 1918. However, I digress. The draft combines some occasional intrigue while the regular NBA season ends the same as it does every year. L.A.

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Junk? Treasure? It's All a Matter Of Perspective

By Michael Tompkins | June 27

One man's trash is another man's treasure? So maybe the saying should be amended to read, "One man's trash is another man's treasure on eBay.com." EBay.com is a fascination that has come to be synonymous with anything of value in today's society. "EBay it!" You might want an artifact, but its power on eBay could be far greater. The Web site has transformed itself into a verb in popular culture language.

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Turning Golf Into a Personal Playground?

By Michael Tompkins | June 20

First of all, I want to say that Shaq and Kobe are good but not dominant. I'm sick and tired of hearing the anointing of Shaquille O'Neal as the greatest player ever when all he does is thrust his shoulder through the chest of a defender and dunk. I'm also sick of people labeling Kobe Bryant the next Jordan. Kobe has a horse to ride that allows him to never be under a bit of pressure. With the NBA set up so that a huge (in stature) player is allowed to drive over (not around) defenders, the Los Angeles Lakers are not dominant. They are just fortunate.

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Playing the Game of Who Can Care Less

By Michael Tompkins | June 13

Girls are difficult. It's a universally known fact, written in stone. I need not even give a history lesson or biblical story because we all accept this as a known fact. The toughest part is not that they are difficult but that we, as men, desire the difficult. Do we ever. Sometimes to foolish extents. As part of this desire and the subsequent hunt, we cannot go up against them uneducated because that ship is destined to sink. So I feel that it is my job as a man to make a feeble attempt to figure females out or just explain some of the things they do.

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Dog Days of Summer in Full Swing at Last

By Michael Tompkins | May 30

Most of us have been waiting on summer's delights since Spring Break came to a screeching halt at the mere mention of exams. Not even two weeks into post-finals summer, I've fully realized the greatness of summer. This is not just the "summer-is-wonderful" column; it's the "summer-in-Chapel-Hill-is-better" one. Part of the annual changing of the guard occurs here as Chapel Hill goes from a busy town of 25,000 students to a quaint small town waiting to be refilled in the fall by ex-C-TOPSers.

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Basking in The Warmth Of Television

By Michael Tompkins | May 23

TV Guide recently released its "50 Greatest Shows of All Time" list, and it got me thinking. I agreed with most of the placement of shows on the list like "Seinfeld"(1), "The Cosby Show"(28), "Friends"(21), "ER"(22) and "The Simpsons"(7), but it missed some quality programming that I, and I suspect some of you, grew up watching. "Seinfeld" was a great pick for No. 1. Who doesn't laugh at the Soup Nazi or the sound of "Helloooo Newman"? George Costanza is a universal figure for liars, cheaters, jerks and good friends.