It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...Part 2!

Basketball season.  It’s on.  The season tipped off (pun definitely intended) mid-November with a special Veterans’ Day game held on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, and featured the Michigan State Spartans and my Boys in Blue, a.k.a. the UNC Tar Heels.

I know what you’re thinking: Tar Heels?  Aren’t you a Hokie?  Well, I’m both.  I go to Virginia Tech, and am a full-fledged Hokie during football season.  But I was born and raised a Tar Heel.  My parents are UNC alum, as are three of my cousins and an aunt.  From birth, I was taught the right shade of blue; UNC fight songs replaced traditional nursery rhymes; and I learned to say “go to hell, Duke” by the time I was about ten.  When basketball season rolls around, my blood turns blue—Carolina Blue, that is—and I’m a Tar Heel through and through.  

 Too much?  Perhaps it is to people who don’t understand the rivalry, but to those who do understand it, we’re just like everyone else.  Tar Heels truly understand the meaning of the phrase “’hate’ is a strong word” because that’s how we feel about Duke.  There was this awesome book written in 2006 called “To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever” by Will Blythe.   

I haven’t read the whole book yet, but the parts I have read give justice to the title.  It’s a fun kind of hate.  I love pointing at Coach K’s face on TV and screaming “RATFACE!” (and other not-so-nice comments that will remain absent in this post).  I revel in flaunting my favourite Duke-bashing t-shirts and prancing around humming “Carolina Victory”… 

There’ll be a Carolina victory across the field the foe has fled

(Fight!  Fight!  Fight!)

Cheer our team to victory, for we are Tar Heels born and bred

(Rah!  Rah! Rah!)

Glory, glory UNC, our hearts will live with thee!

Fight, fight, fight for the Blue and White are rolling to victory!

This week is Hate Week.  Well, every week is Hate Week, I suppose, but this week in particular.  Wednesday night, February 8, is the first of two UNC-Duke matches of the season.  My blood is already beginning to boil, and I get chills every time I see the preview on ESPN.  I apologize in advance to my roommate and suitemates, and possibly everyone else on my hall…I tend to get a little worked up during these games. 

Occasionally the question arises: “So do you hate any other teams?”  Yes, I do, but not quite to the extent I hate Duke.  The first team to come to mind is Kentucky.  I can’t stand John Calipari, and his coaching and team-running methods are surely a bit sketch.  I’m not a fan of his obsession with recruiting one-year phenoms (or as my dad calls them, “one-and-dones”) and then letting them go off to the NBA.  They’re dirty players and have egos too big for their own good.  Primary example: John Wall.

But for now, forget Kentucky.  It’s about taking down those Blue Devils and the glory that comes with that.  Bring it, Dukies.  We’re ready for you.  Tomorrow night, you’ll learn who the real Kings of Tobacco Road are.  Yeah…that’s right.

Go Heels.  Beat Duke.

And also: