Sporting It Out

The annual Men’s basketball game between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University programs occurred yesterday. I am a student at UNC who has been thoroughly enthralled by the culture of college athletics. When there is a pivotal game, such as the annual game with Duke or any game involved in the Atlantic Coast Conference or the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, I always have many of my friends-few at UNC and most at smaller schools that are not apart of Division I basketball and whose environment does not have a significant sporting presence via the athletic program- question me about my commitment to the program and more specifically, the game itself that I’d be watching. In an age where information is accessed via the internet, most of my friends will see me post a Facebook status update that alludes to UNC basketball or the game that they’re playing in and will malign me for being obsessive and making remarks about the other team or the game itself that they feel are utterly ridiculous. What they don’t understand is the culture that exist at an institution such as UNC and what it actually means to be apart of it. I’ve found that many of friends underestimate the culture and their understanding of its essence, significance and effect is what causes this misunderstanding.

Americans undoubtedly live in a society that promotes competition and, unfortunately, most of those promotions are surrounded by sub-cultures that aren’t conducive to socio-economic solidarity. If you consider the socio-economic theory that this country operates on, capitalism, you can easily discern by the intrinsic nature of capitalism that individuals bred within the culture are indoctrinated into a culture that will heavily influence them to be competitive. Since the essence of capitalism is to manipulate as many consumers as you can to ascertain resources and ascend the socio-economic ladder, then the objective of staunch capitalists in life is to distinguish him/herself from their peers socio-economically. I think it is fair to liken the essence of sports to capitalism, which is another antiquated custom of American culture, as it is in many other societies on this planet. People gravitate towards sports because it provides another entity within society for humans to distinguish themselves from others. I also argue that on the collegiate level this voracious pursuit of distinguish oneself from another is given more complexity because the institutions of higher learning themselves. It’s common for people to enroll in colleges and universities and since they’ve been indoctrinated by the American-and arguably humanistic- way of being competitive, they will find themselves trying to convince their peers that their school is academically better and thus should be distinguished as such. Collegiate sports give students another area of American culture for those who have some affiliation or connection with individual institutions of higher learning to do so.

If you visit some of the campuses and surrounding municipalities of the best Division I programs in the nation, you will find that almost unequivocally, that the environment is pervaded by an unbelievably strong fixation with the prominent athletic sport associated with that campus. Whether it’s football at Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas, or the University of Texas (at Austin), or the University of Oklahoma (at Norman), or basketball at UCLA, UNC, Duke University, the University of Kentucky or the University of Kansas; the one commonality between these institutions of higher learning is that the passion and love for their respective athletic programs has permeated throughout the campus and its surrounding cities and towns for decades. I’m not saying that the same kind of passion and ardent fandom for sports does not exist elsewhere on smaller campuses, but it is veritable that at these institutions and others of the same ilk, that the fervent support for their athletic programs are unparallel. I also argue that although academics, resources, the physical element of an institution of higher learning’s campus, and the social atmosphere will inspire a student or constituent of a university or college to be prideful of the school, that the sports associated with the school will illicit people to swell with pride the most. And after that pride manifests itself, the humanistic nature of people as well as the societal bred culture of promoting competition influences people to want to supplement their pride for their universities and colleges with distinguishing their school from others via sports and the intrinsic nature of sports allow that to happen.

So when my friends ask me why I’m going “overboard” with the game or the team, or for those that simply don’t understand the passion that I as well as many others have for their schools, that is the reason why. I think that professional sports operate differently because the fans do not have a secure connection with their respective favorite teams. The owners of those franchises own the team and can pack up and leave the city at any time. Contrary to collegiate athletics, while there are many who have absolutely no affiliation with these schools, their connection with these schools are secure because they are absolutely guaranteed, barring a catastrophic economic meltdown by the school or calamity, that that institution is going nowhere and will forever be who it is and where it is. Also, the people who are affiliated with these schools, the students and alumni, have an irrevocable connection with the school because of their degrees and monetary investments. And so, when a student shows up to a game donning body paint in some hue close the colors of their alma mater, I have absolutely on problem with it. In fact, I think it’s beautiful.

Since we live in a society who’s potential for socio-economic solidarity is marred by intrinsic subjugations, circumventions, oppressions, societal and intricate systemic problems, I think that sporting events, specifically collegiate sporting events gives the masses a few hours of separating themselves from that reality. When 25,000 people gather in an arena to cheer on their alma mater or their favorite school and its athletic program, and those people represent demographics pertaining to ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religion amongst many others, those things are set aside. For a few hours, there is a commonality between those people. That common purpose is to will their team to a victory in any way they can. Game days at Carolina are some of the best days. Why? Because when there is 30 seconds left on the game clock, the team is down by 1 point, and some unlikely player hits a game winning shot to propel the team and alma mater to a victory, there is collective jubilation. And that Euphoria that the fan base experiences in those moments is void of race, class, sexual orientation and religious reservations. It is one shared moment in which all are overjoyed by the win for their school and in those moments, genuine solidarity comes to fruition. And while that point can be countered by saying that those moments can happen in any sporting rank including, pee-wee, high school, collegiate, professional and Olympic, I think that there is something special about collegiate athletics because that affiliation with that school and alma mater makes that moment even more special because the win allows you to boast for that time, your school, your alma mater, your team, is undoubtedly distinguished from another. And the thirst for that to happen by fans is manifested in them dressing ridiculously, wearing body paint, tailgating for hours on end; because they simply want to win.

Before I enrolled at UNC, I read a book entitled, “To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever” by Will Blythe who actually has a street named after him in Chapel Hill and on the UNC campus. While I knew the significance of Carolina basketball before I applied for admission because it was that very culture that enticed me to want to come to the school, upon reading that book I truly internalized what it meant to be a Tar Heel fan. And one of the sub-cultures and the most prominent sub-culture amongst many of Carolina basketball’s sub-cultures is the rivalry with Duke University.

You can resource Wikipedia about the rivalry if you want extensive knowledge. There is no greater rivalry in sports than the one between UNC and Duke. Some argue that the rivalries between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, or the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, or the University of Michigan and Ohio State are better; but take heed to my words, there is no greater rivalry than UNC vs. Duke. Why? Simply because outside of the game itself, there are so many variables that affect the culture of not only the game, but the schools themselves. It’s the battle of the local school (the large public University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) versus the outsider (the small private school in North Carolina who’s student body is largely from out-of-state). It’s a battle of the esoteric, elitist, pompous, affluent, conservative Duke University constituency versus the middle class, progressive, blue collar UNC constituency. Historically, Duke has recruited more unathletic white players whose basketball savvy suffices for their lack of dexterity and Carolina has recruited athletically gifted athletes who can run and jump through gyms. And despite their glaring difference in athletic ability, the success against one another and against the country has consistently remained competitive for nearly a century. And the prestige of this rivalry is propelled past any other because of the proximity between the two schools: 8 miles part, a unique attribute that no other rivalry’s participants can boast. It’s a battle of the blues: the Carolina blue versus the Duke blue. This rivalry contains a staple like no other, Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Cameron Crazies.

Cameron Indoor Stadium




The Cameron Crazies







While UNC’s on-campus Dean E. Smith Center does not give way to a raucous crowd who’s noise levels reaches deafening levels like that of Cameron Indoor Stadium, it still remains one of the toughest places to play in the country.




The bottom line is the rivalry between UNC and Duke is the best in American sports. Some of the best professional players came from these two respective programs with the most prominent being Michael Jordan who attended UNC in the mid-80’s and also won a national championship. These two schools have 8 national championships between them, over 30 conference championships (both are in the same conference) and numerous Atlantic Coast Conference championships and have produced an innumerable amount of NBA talent. Needless to say, there is a profound malice-that I can attest to personally- that accompanies these two programs for one another and that pure hatred manifests itself in street-wide pandemonium after wins over the other (see youtube) and on the embroidery of school paraphernalia with the most famous being “Go To Hell Carolina/Duke”. I really enjoy being apart of it all.

So, I’ll end this entry by saying, “Eff Dook!” and we beat them for a fourth time in a row at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They never lose there, and for one team to beat them there four years in a row, especially that team being their archrival, it does not get any better. And I can’t wait for the re-match back here in Chapel Hill, March 8th at the Smith Center on Senior Night. We should destroy them….again! Here’s a lasting image from last night’s win.





Parting Thoughts:

1. How I got interested in Carolina…
When I was in High School I watched the 2005 NCAA Men’s National Championship between UNC and the University of Illinois which took place in St. Louis, Missouri, and the one thing I kept thinking about while watching that game was, “man, that’s the prettiest color I’ve ever seen on a basketball uniform and the argyle on the side is incredible!”. So when senior came around, I applied, not because of the school’s academic prestige, not because it was a reputable institution of higher learning, or it boasted one of the nation’s best social atmospheres and physical environment, it was because I just wanted to be a Tar Heel. And while that is a severely uninformed decision, it turned out pretty well for me. Unfortunately, I’m not in the most ideal place for the career I want to pursue, but I don’t mind spending four years in Chapel Hill because it’s going to give me the foundation I need to move forward in my career and having Carolina under my belt is not a bad move.

2. If you’ve read all of this, I applaud you, seriously.

3. I’m really upset that Ruckus is gone. It was my number one resource for music and now I have to find another way to pirate music. =(

4. I should be writing a paper right now. =/

5. Kanye seriously needs to groom himself, come out of this phase he is in, and make some respectable music.

Oh,
Love, Peace and Hair Grease. Forreal.
Go Heels!