ESPN is ramping up their coverage of the big Duke/North Carolina tilt this Saturday. Columnist Gene Wojciechowski always hated Duke, until he went there. Will Blythe, author of “To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry” also lends an excerpt, and it’s clear that a visit to Durham did nothing to dispel his hatred of Duke.
Two years ago, I actually had the opportunity to witness a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium – #2 Duke vs. #3 Wake Forest (who had Chris Paul running the point) – and it was a great time. A friend of mine was going to grad school there and he was able to get me into the game. Growing up, I watched so many Duke home games on television that it was quite remarkable to actually be there in person. After Duke beat the Demon Deacons, we went over to Chapel Hill, where my friend’s girlfriend got us into the UNC/UConn game. UConn was #1 at the time, so it was bittersweet when the Tar Heels got the win. On one hand, Duke was going to take over the #1 ranking, but on the other, North Carolina got a huge win. And no one likes that.
