216598 Curiosities served
Hupsala! Schadenfreude!
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Read/Post Comments (6)
When I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, back in August 2000, I had no idea what was in store for me sports-wise. A month later, I was still wondering just why no one was a hootin' anna hollerin' 'bout them Tar Heels and how the Powder Blues were going to powder their NC State rivals into black and red dust on the 100-yard long gridiron. Everyone was all ho-hum and bored.
Man, it was FOOTBALL SEASON! And no one was psyched, rip-roaring drunk, or being politically crucified for involvement in a scandalous TAILGATE affair. Things just weren't going the way a good ol' Georgia boy would expect...
I learned quickly that the ACC (apart from Florida State, the recently successful Virginia Tech, and the newly-inducted Miami) just wasn't about football and that the Dean Dome, shot-clock violations, fouling out, "treys", and Matt Doherty were key terms on the Carolina court. All incredibly odd and foreign interests for a UGA alum whose heroes are Herschel Walker, David Green, Terrell Davis, Champ Baily, and Mark Richt (let's not forget Vince Dooley). Man, just what is this bas...ket...b...ball?
(And things certainly haven't gotten any better for UGA's hoops program since Jim Harrick and his son left a steaming dog pile on the Colliseum's center court.)
While I admit I'm still fairly refractory about budging on football's superiority as a collegiate sport, I have found myself getting more and more drawn in to the mystique and fanaticism surrounding UNC basketball. In fact, the impetus for this journal entry stems from not only one but TWO big Sweet 16 losses by rival ACC teams.
Duke is down! NC State is out! (And let's not forget that Wake Forest got to attend its NCAA tourney funeral in the prickly woods of West Virginia!)
Now, I know, if I were a good "regionalist" I would root, root, root for the home teams, but this ain't baseball, it ain't the SEC, it ain't Georgia, and about all the loyalty I can muster up is for Carolina Blue. And that itself's not easy, despite my wife getting her degree here and that the last 4.5 years of my annual salaries have come from this school.
Okay, so I'm not in a real frenzy like most Carolina fans are at being so far along in the tourney AND knowing that the hated and (generally) pernicious Blue Devils won't be spoiling a Tar Heel run for the National Championship. But: I will be disappointed if UNC's second half against Villanova (going on as I write) finishes up like the first.
At one moment in the game, Villanova was up by an impressive 11 points. By the end of the first half, UNC had the margin down to a respectable and nerve-calming 4 points. If they ride that late half momentum into and throughout the last 20 minutes, this Georgia boy will sleep peacefully and revel in a consummate case of ACC Schadenfreude.
GO HEELS!
Man, it was FOOTBALL SEASON! And no one was psyched, rip-roaring drunk, or being politically crucified for involvement in a scandalous TAILGATE affair. Things just weren't going the way a good ol' Georgia boy would expect...
I learned quickly that the ACC (apart from Florida State, the recently successful Virginia Tech, and the newly-inducted Miami) just wasn't about football and that the Dean Dome, shot-clock violations, fouling out, "treys", and Matt Doherty were key terms on the Carolina court. All incredibly odd and foreign interests for a UGA alum whose heroes are Herschel Walker, David Green, Terrell Davis, Champ Baily, and Mark Richt (let's not forget Vince Dooley). Man, just what is this bas...ket...b...ball?
(And things certainly haven't gotten any better for UGA's hoops program since Jim Harrick and his son left a steaming dog pile on the Colliseum's center court.)
While I admit I'm still fairly refractory about budging on football's superiority as a collegiate sport, I have found myself getting more and more drawn in to the mystique and fanaticism surrounding UNC basketball. In fact, the impetus for this journal entry stems from not only one but TWO big Sweet 16 losses by rival ACC teams.
Duke is down! NC State is out! (And let's not forget that Wake Forest got to attend its NCAA tourney funeral in the prickly woods of West Virginia!)
Now, I know, if I were a good "regionalist" I would root, root, root for the home teams, but this ain't baseball, it ain't the SEC, it ain't Georgia, and about all the loyalty I can muster up is for Carolina Blue. And that itself's not easy, despite my wife getting her degree here and that the last 4.5 years of my annual salaries have come from this school.
Okay, so I'm not in a real frenzy like most Carolina fans are at being so far along in the tourney AND knowing that the hated and (generally) pernicious Blue Devils won't be spoiling a Tar Heel run for the National Championship. But: I will be disappointed if UNC's second half against Villanova (going on as I write) finishes up like the first.
At one moment in the game, Villanova was up by an impressive 11 points. By the end of the first half, UNC had the margin down to a respectable and nerve-calming 4 points. If they ride that late half momentum into and throughout the last 20 minutes, this Georgia boy will sleep peacefully and revel in a consummate case of ACC Schadenfreude.
GO HEELS!
Read/Post Comments (6)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Back to Top
