Luke Maye, this hero of North Carolina’s Elite 8 win over Kentucky Sunday, made the rest of us look bad by showing up to his 8 AM class this morning, where he received a standing ovation from his classmates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBD8bAff5YE
(video c/o Jack Sewell — @JackSewell_)
There’s a lot going on here. First, check out the gray-haired professor, who looks to be wearing a bow tie, leading the charge on the standing ovation. Try to think if any of your professors would dedicate time in an 8 AM lecture by urging everyone to stand up and clap for a basketball player. I sure can’t think of any.
Seriously though, I give major props to Maye. You can bet that I’d be “celebrating” much too late into the night to make a morning class if I was in Maye’s spot. He’s even in the front row. That lecture hall looks half empty from the video’s point of view, but there is Maye, among the other nerds and try-hards who were dumb enough to take an 8 AM class and are still attending in late March. He’s not napping or watching replays of his last-second shot in the back corner, but up front, ready to learn like a true “student-athlete.” If anyone is going to shut down the jokes about fake UNC classes for athletes, it’s Maye.
Next time you find yourself at a crossroads, unsure of whether to hit that snooze button or get out of bed for your first class, think about Maye sitting through a morning lecture the day after the biggest shot of his life.