One of my favorite seasons is coming up fast: March Madness. The weather is getting warmer, the sun stays out longer. Most importantly the college basketball tournament is about to start. I’m a lot more excited about March Madness then I was about this past Superbowl. I spent most of the game thinking of ways that both the Giants and the Patriots could lose, and shooting a photo essay for class.
If my alma matter, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had it’s own 10 Commandments, the first two would be:
1. Once a Tar Heel fan, always a Tar Heel fan.
2. Thou Shalt Hate Duke University.
Consequently, my friend Marcus roots for Duke mainly to annoy me. This often leads to me hanging up the phone on him, which leads to him getting mildly annoyed at me. On the other hand, my cousin Sandy and her husband went to Duke. In four years, they never attended a single sporting event, despite the fact that Sandy’s father and brothers had tickets every time they were in town. Sandy’s complete lack of interest at a school where devout fans are known as “Cameron Crazies” for their antics at Cameron Indoor Stadium confuses me more than Marcus rooting for Duke annoys me.
Don’t tell Marcus I said that. These strong allegiances are what makes college basketball exciting. Rivalries such as this one are older and run deeper than in most other sports.
