Vince Carter Leaps-- to Cyberspace

By Thad Williamson
Inside Carolina
February 1996

 

The internetting of North Carolina basketball continues to proceed at a healthy pace, as freshman forward Vince Carter became the second player with a home page on the World Wide Web in January. Sophomore guard Shammond Williams has had a page since last summer.

Carter’s page, entitled "Vince's Court", is located at http://www.unc.edu/~carter15 . It currently consists of pictures of Carter, statistics, an interview, and an account of how the page came about written by its creator, Seth Fleishman. There is also a link for sending email to Carter personally, accompanied by a note stating that because of school and basketball there is limited capacity for Vince to reply during the season.

According to Fleishman, Carter’s high school coach first told him about Williams' page and encouraged to get his own. In the locker room following the Virginia game, Carter said the page is no big deal, just something to do. “A friend of mine [my high school coach] asked me would I like to do it, would I be interested, and I said 'sure'.

Fleishman plans to add more player web sites, starting with Ademola Okulaja and Antawn Jamison, to what will be known as the "Blue Heaven Pages". "The basic requirements are that the player is a friend of mine, an all-around nice person, and is interested in a page, Fleishman said.

"The Shammond Williams page has already been a success, attracting some media attention and plenty of email for Shammond (who does do a good job, with help from Fleishman, of making brief replies.) While one imagines that publicizing a high-profile player's email account opens up communication lines to the assorted hecklers, Carolina-haters, and worse who populate the internet, the new web pages also mean that's it never been easier for fans to a wish a Tar Heel well, although extended dialogue with a player over the internet is generally unrealistic because of the tight constraints on student-athletes' time. And as Fleishman said, email communication with fans is a way to show that college basketball players are real people, too, with interesting personalities, not just faces on the television screen for two hours twice a week.

As for the Carter page, there are plans to add more interviews and other material on an ongoing basis. Asked if he plans to put pictures of his spectacular dunks on the page, Carter replied "Yeah--when I get some."

Thad Williamson is author of the North Carolina Basketball
Frequently Asked Questions File on the usenet college basketball
newsgroup. The FAQ is available via InsideCarolina's home page.
Thad can be emailed at thwilliamson@igc.apc.org.