The Thursday night football game UNC hosted last month went well enough that the university expects to do it again.

The Oct. 22 game against Florida State was the first Thursday night game ever held on the UNC campus. For years,  officials had opposed the idea due to fears of congestion and other campus disruption.

But this year's game was held over Fall break, and athletics director Dick Baddour and others were pleased with how things went.

For the story, check out our higher education blog.

There will be more Thursday night football in Chapel Hill.

UNC's Oct. 22 game with Florida State went smoothly enough - aside from a loss for the home team - that campus officials now say they want to host another mid-week home game.

"It was a trial balloon and we were really pleased with what we found out," said Dick Baddour, UNC's athletics director. "We will do it again."

The Oct. 22 game was the first Thursday night game ever held at UNC. Kenan Stadium is squarely in the middle of a congested campus, and planners had long feared the gridlock that might accompany such a large event on a workday.

The UNC hospitals complex, which employs thousands, sits just south of the stadium and many workers get out around the same time as many fans would head into campus.

But this year's game was held during Fall break, which meant fewer students would be in town. And employees were dismissed at 3 p.m. that day, an attempt to alleviate traffic congestion.

UNC lost the game, 30 to 27. The following Thursday, they won a big, national TV game at Virginia Tech. So which brings the bigger payoff?

Said Baddour: " [At UNC] They're looking at the Carolina blue. They're looking at your fans. They're looking at, I think, the magnificence of your stadium, and your university is being talked about more. So I think there's a difference. If you ask me how you measure winning away vs. losing at home, I don't know. It's always good when you win. Maybe the difference is that your home crowd, your university, enjoys more exposure and you get a better sense, if you're John Q Public, of the university, the program, when you host at home. But there's no question that victory up at Virginia Tech speaks volumes as well."

Read more on this issue in Saturday's News & Observer.

Remember back last week when UNC Chapel Hill hosted its first Thursday night football game?

Well, some folks got twisted a bit out of joint over it. (Click here and read the story and the comments...)

And to be sure, the UNC-CH faculty has long played a role in the university's decision not to schedule a disruptive Thursday night game on campus.

But UNC-CH made it happen this year. And if it bothered you, you're not alone. You need look no further than Blacksburg, where your Tar Heels will tonight be squaring off against the Virginia Tech Hokies. There, too, classes are being let out early due to the game, though it's being done on less of a formal basis.

And there, too, some faculty say a Thursday football game, broadcast nationally on ESPN, essentially proves that athletics trumps academics.

The Washington Post has this topic covered in some detail in today's paper, and the story ends with this quote from a Virginia Tech prof, proving that not every academic sees the issue the same way.

A football team "does great things for the university, much more so than somebody discovering something in their PhD dissertation, which five people read. That's true, and we're going to have to live with it."

UNC Chapel Hill is will send workers home two hours early Oct. 22, hoping to ease congestion on a campus that will host its first Thursday night football game that evening.

But workers will then have to make up the time, and that isn’t sitting well with some.

 “There are a lot of hourly people here on campus that have kids, or [elderly] parents, or second jobs,” said Richard Silc, business officer with the Odum Institute for Social Science Research. “To me, they’re making the this big decision based on an ESPN payment and the consideration for the worker bee is secondary.”

The Tar Heels host Florida State Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. Employees who usually work until 5 p.m. will leave at 3 p.m. The mandate is expected to affect about 11,500 workers.

For years, UNC-CH shied away from hosting a Thursday night game because of the potential disruption to the campus. Officials agreed to host the game this year in part because it will be held during fall break.

The primetime, national television broadcast brings with it an avalanche of free publicity to the football program and the school.

State policy dictates that employees make up time they don’t work, said Brenda Malone, UNC-CH's vice chancellor for human resources. Employees can use vacation time or start work earlier, stay late or work through lunch during the other four work days that week to make up the time, Malone said in a campus memo.

In an e-mail, Malone told me this:

Because University employees are also employees of the State of North Carolina, we are required to follow state policy and practice in this situation. Under these circumstances, it is inconsistent with state policy to pay employees for time that they don’t work or take leave. Therefore, employees are being asked to either use a flexible schedule to make up the two hours that week – start work a little earlier, work a little later, or work through part of their lunch hour – or use available leave for those hours. Available leave options could include vacation or bonus leave, compensatory time or flexible furlough hours.

We chose to take this step only after full consideration of all options. Our goal is to minimize disruption to employees and allow them to safely exit campus -- thus avoiding the anticipated traffic congestion before the game. We believe that changing the time the work day ends is a prudent and responsible step to avoid this potential problem for our employees. We have provided two months’ advance notice to employees; plus, the game is scheduled during Fall Break, which will ensure that there is no negative impact on students or interference with the academic schedule.

The decision has tongues wagging on campus.

As head of UNC-CH’s Employee Forum, a campus worker advocacy group, Tommy Griffin has gotten an earful on this issue. He's sympathetic, but also sees the benefits the game can bring.

“I know a lot of employees are upset about those two hours,” he said. “But [the game] is something good for campus that will bring a lot of revenue, so I’m not too upset about it.”

What to watch when you're not on the water

How quick was Carolina's 4-3 dramatic finish over the New Jersey Devils?

So fast that ESPN.com didn't have a chance to take down its "Devils Oust Canes" (bottom left hand corner) before putting up its story on the Canes' win. 

Major League baseball star and Raleigh native Josh Hamilton is appearing on ESPN's "Homecoming with Rick Reilly" Wednesday night (April 22) at 7pm.

Hamilton returned to Raleigh with Reilly and the ESPN film crew back in October to visit Athens High School and film footage for the show.

Hamilton, who currently plays for the Texas Rangers, had a great 2008 season and broke Bobby Abreau's record for most homeruns hit in the first round of the Home Run Derby.

In addition the April 22 7pm showing on ESPN, the Hamilton espisode will re-air on ESPN CLASSIC on Friday, May 1 and Sunday, May 3. 

Athens High alumnus Josh Hamilton returned to the school last October to film an episode of an ESPN series. The "Homecoming" special will air tomorrow, Wednesday, April
22 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Correction: April 22 is next week and the Josh Hamilton episode will shown then-- next Wednesday. Sorry for the confusion.

ESPN is featuring a segment on a 100-0 high school girls basketball game at 9 a.m. Sunday on "Outside the Lines," including a video of the game and an interview with winning coach Micah Grimes, whom viewers might find a tad dense.

"Do I believe it's running up the score? I think it's a wide margin of victory," said Grimes, who was fired 12 days after The Covenant School's 100-0 victory over Dallas Academy on Jan. 13 in Texas.

“When you reached 100 points, what were you thinking?” Grimes was asked.

“Let the game end. I’m never concerned about a score,” he replied.

A new baseball season is here. Your team is still in it. But Time Warner Cable's long and so far losing fight against MASN threatens to keep much of North Carolina in the dark again this season.