In the weeks following North Carolina’s NCAA basketball championship, the Tar Heels have been gutted. Seniors Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel, and Melvin Scott are joined in the Tar Heel blue exodus by juniors Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Rashad McCants. Not to mention freshman Marvin Williams. With only one player possessing any significant experience returning (junior David Noel) things could be rough in Chapel Hill during the 2005-06 season.

But not too rough. The Heels have a pair of role players, freshman Quentin Thomas and sophomore Rayshawn Terry, whose games will improve. They also have an incoming recruiting class that is rated in the top three by pretty much every expert.

Roy Williams is an elite coach. He’ll patch the team together. Carolina will be in the tournament again next year. They may even reach the sweet sixteen.

Two or three years from now, they’ll be Final Four contenders again.

Ignoring the future, UNC’s last month alone can be seen as a microcosm of sports in general. From the highs of cutting down the nets to the lows of en masse defection to the NBA, the Tar Heels have run the gamut of emotions in a very short period of time.

Here are some more highs and lows:

The New York Yankees know something about that. One minute, they’re one win away from going to the 2004 World Series. The next thing they know, they’ve performed the greatest choke job in baseball history.

For the Philadelphia Eagles it came down to one play. Week 15, against the Dallas Cowboys, when Terrell Owens went down. The Eagles went from looking invincible to living in fear of another disappointing postseason.

Yet the gritty and determined Eagles gutted it out, and earned the elusive Super Bowl bid, denied to them in each of the last three seasons. Only to fall by three points to the New England Patriots. Talk about a roller coaster ride.

It’s hard to turn away from the drama that unfolds on any playing field, especially the ongoing ones that come from the highs and the lows. But that’s not the only reason why I watch, and why sports are so important to me.

One of the greatest things to see is the redemption or renewal of an athlete. Sometimes this can come in the form of an athlete’s return from injury, like Owens’ heroic performance for the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, or a triumph over substance abuse.

Other times it can be the renewal for a whole city, one that has a long held belief that their beloved baseball team carried an 85-year curse for selling their best player to their archrival.

Then there are times when an athlete’s redemption and triumph are greater than the games themselves.

In July of 2001, NASCAR returned to Daytona International Speedway for the first time since Dale Earnhardt’s death in February, on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Driving with a heavy heart that I couldn’t even begin to imagine, Dale Earnhardt Junior triumphed over the track that killed his father.

While by no means filling the void in his life left by the Intimidator’s death, there’s no doubt in my mind the victory gave Earnhardt Junior some peace.

Sports give us a chance to live vicariously through the exploits of our favorite teams and athletes. We share in their joys and heartbreaks as if we were right there with them.

The games and the players become a part of us. When I read the paper in the morning, or turn on ESPN at night, a part of me will be better or worse, depending on the outcome of certain games.

Just like life itself, there are good times and bad times. I’m old enough to remember when being an Atlanta Braves fan meant a perennial spot in last place. Now, the thought of October baseball without them is alien.

The truth about sports is that all great teams eventually fall. Players get traded, retire, and sometimes turn out to be the exact opposite of what we thought they were.

But there is always somebody waiting in the wings. The next big thing, waiting to capture our imagination. Waiting to renew our love for the game.

And there will always be next year.