Sidney Lowe, I am sincerely sorry to see you hang up your red jacket. I believe you were earnest, and I for one hoped you would be the man to bring back the glory days of NCSU basketball!
Because when I grew up. It wasn't the Duke-Carolina rivalry. It was the State-Carolina rivalry. And I was on the side of red.
Well I had to be. Before I broke my father's heart and went to Blue Heaven I was a Wolfpack girl all the way. NCSU was my dad's Alma mater and the favorite team of my nearest and dearest friends. It was crazy really and as KIDS we were RABID about our rivalry. If I dust off a few mental cobwebs, I am right back on the bus, on the way to Northeast where all of us obligated to the hour drive would sort ourselves among blue and red lines - writing on our notebooks, on the moisture of the windows, on the back of the seat on ANYTHING what school team we KNEW was the best. David Thompson, Monte Towe, and Tommie Burleson were the guys to watch and Norm Sloan took them ALL THE WAY beating GIANT UCLA to win the NCAA in 1974! They WERE BASKETBALL! We went WILD!
I am a big fan of writer Malcom Gladwell. He has written a series of fascinating books including The Tipping Point, and Blink. Another of his books focuses on Outliers and it occurs to me (and I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong) that among the sea of soft blue and brilliant red there was a single outlier, a stalwart soul who despite the draw of the State-Carolina rivalry, was stoic in his support of...gasp...dare I say it - Duke! This was Jimmy Edwards and I remember thinking...well WHO cares ANYTHING about Duke???
Flash forward 4 years or so. I had visited NCSU in person and been intimidated by the sea of bricks and the lack of fellow females. I had visited my friends at UNC and admired their graceful rolling campus and classic buildings and amazing library and I applied early decision and was accepted. I was thrilled, though somewhat uncomfortable with switching sides.
And then an unexpected thing happened. At the huge freshman convocation we are herded into the gym and taught these words:
I'm a tarheel born and a tarheel breed and when I die I'll be a tarheel dead!
So rah-rah Carolina-lina, rah-rah Carolina-lina, rah-rah Carolina-lina go to hell DUKE!
DUKE?!?!?!?! It was amazing. Here was an even larger rivalry and I didn't know it! Oh yes, the UNC-State rivalry had legs, but the UNC-DUKE rivalry whipped the campus into a fevered state! And all these years it still does Jimmy knew something all along that I didn't! But after almost 30 years of games later, you can bet your sweet ass that I do now!
When I married my husband, I took great pride in the fact that he didn't watch sports on TV. After spending much of my pre-college life avoiding my Dad's football games, I didn't miss it one bit. Over the years we managed to sneak in a few March Madness games and a few Duke-UNC games to stay in touch with the thrill of ACC basketball - including when my oldest son was born and we watched the games from the hospital TV.
As I've grown older, and started work at UNC. I am right back to cheering on those Heels! But alas and alack - though my now grown boys enjoy staying fit (running, working out, biking, etc.) they are not into organized sports. So that has left me yelling on the the couch at Roy and his boys alone, with an occasional support of husband dearest.....until.....UNC played Miami this March 11th. After trailing at times mightily the WHOLE GAME we won at the buzzer. The game was on at work and....on at EMC where my youngest son Zack works part time. (He has transferred form NCSU to UNC by the way, seen the error of his ways.) He likes to rib me a bit about my devotion to UNC so his texts to me are a bit of a jab at first...
Zack - UNC getting toasted
Me - Only first half! Give them time!
Zack - 25-20 Mama not lookin good
Zack - Make that 28-20 :(
Zack - Lol UNC gonna get first round eliminated
Me - Techincally second round
Zack - good lord
Me - Okay, just stepped back into game again good lord is right!
Zack - Looking a little bit better
Me-Trying
Zack - Oh well
Me-Sad
(Here we lose our connection - it freezes at UNC, when it reconnects UNC has turned the game around)
Me - Holy crap check the game
Zack-Whoa! Shame I can't watch it, internet filter.
(He walks out to the cafeteria where a handful of diehards are watching the final seconds of the game)
Zack - whoa
Me- Holy Crap
Zack- Holy Sh**
Zack - Man like, .1 second left on the clock.
Me- and THAT my son is basketball!
Zack - I saw the last 10 seconds in the cafeteria. Some ten seconds
Me - Hell yeah. Unbelieveable!
Me - I have a meeting at 3 and another at 4. I have to settle down.
Zack - p intense though
Me - Awesome! Go Heels!
So there you have it friends. I got what I wanted for my birthday this year and wasn't even something I knew I wanted - that my son now gets it - why I rant and rave and why I love Roy's boys. It will take more time, but I'm hoping that what I witnessed was the birth of a Tarheel fan. It's never too late.
Now if only NCSU can reclaim their former glory.......It's never too late.....
THANK YOU, JACKIE! SOMEBODY as OLD as ME who remembers the UNC -State rivalry! My 20 year old has YET to believe that ever existed! Imagine! Who could make that stuff up? Remember when State played Russia? I pulled for RUSSIA! And, yet, when State played an exhibition game at Northampton High, I (yes, me), I bought the very first ticket.
ReplyDeleteI do love the ACC. Imagine how sad Laura was when Washington went up against Carolina earlier today. She was probably glad she was otherwise occupied. Somehow I knew Washington had maxed out in their bracket...Now, I'd love to see a Duke/ Carolina game. That is basketball at its finest.
ReplyDelete