February 2010: Basketball Edition

L L RI A B T E N K S O I A B DIT E

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celebrating the Duke & UNC-CH connection

West Coast Hip-hop meets Tobacco Road Pac Div Q&A

Top Seeded teams you SHOULD be watching

BEHIND THE BENCH: Men’s Basketball Managers. volume 5 issue 3 / February 2010

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letter from the editor February 2009 “I’m not much of a sports fan.” Mainly because

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RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

editor-in-chief

courtney roller

duke managing editor

unc managing editor

web site editor

graphic design editors

kaitlin atkinson elizabeth lilly brad piland

COVER DESIGN BY AMANDA MICHELSON

Courtney Roller Editor-in-Chief

content

amanda michelson adrienne wollman

editorial directors emily mcginty jessica stringer

unc contributing writers brecken branstrator sabina ion alison ives elizabeth lilly brittian mcneel mary lide parker claire schmitt kathie sun kelly thore clare white

duke contributing writers kaitlin atkinson lysa chen sylvie spewak kathie sun becca ward

columnists valerie henry jessica stringer

COVER PHOTO BY JAN KOOK

I’m not much of an athlete. I got benched for the season on my kindergarten soccer team for picking flowers on the field. The only basket I ever came close to scoring during my stint as a Michael Jordan prodigy was for the other team. In my entire five-year softball career I only caught one ball that careened its way into my right field territory.

I nearly drowned during the first week of swim team practice and was subsequently banned from all swim meets at pools with water over four feet. Which was all of them. In high school I jogged track and somehow managed to come in last place for every practice activity, meet and tournament in which I participated.

Though I never quite found my niche in the sports world, something kept me coming back to practices year after Courtney Roller year. Despite my lack of fitness and finesse in the athletics department, I liked being part of a team. I liked all Roller is a senior journalism the parts of playing sports except for the actual playing. I major at the University of liked the sound of a whistle blowing. I liked hearing cheers North Carolina at Chapel Hill. from the stands. I liked to push the squishy button on the She can be reached via email orange water cooler. But most of all I liked the connections at rcourtne@email.unc.edu.

I made with my teammates.

Perhaps the only thing keeping me from ruining the winning record of an intramural sports team right now is Rival magazine. I wouldn’t call producing a magazine a sport. OK, I would — but the student organization’s handbook won’t let me. But the fact is, we do work hard. We may not have the athletic skills, but when it comes to dedication we rank right up there with Marcus Ginyard and Brian Zoubek.

It is my hope that this Basketball Edition not only shows you the amount of dedication our basketball teams have, but that it also highlights the connections that tie our universities together as rivals and friends. From the crazy fans we know you’ve seen — and heard — on the sidelines to the secret life of a college mascot to the best (or worst) rivalry-reinforcing T-shirts, we’re covering all aspects of the game.

Not everything in this issue is fun and fluffy, though. We look at some serious inequities in sports like the lack of fans for our extremely successful women’s basketball teams and the status of cheerleaders as not-quite-athletes. Not to mention an in-depth analysis of N.C. State University’s obsession with being our rival and an exclusive interview with the West Coast hip-hop group Pac Div. Working on this issue has not only kept me from joining the intramural flag football team for a few more months, but it has given me an appreciation of all aspects of the game. So even if you don’t consider yourself a die-hard sports fan like me, keep reading, because there is a lot more to the game than what happens on the court.

sports writer

staff designers

contributing photographers

evan sandoval danielle cushing alison ives brittian mcneel pamela tseng kelley wollman jan kook emily mcginty amanda michelson brad piland adrienne wollman

business

marketing director treasurer unc faculty adviser

clare white dave williams bill cloud

Rival is a joint publication between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that seeks to reinforce and redefine the historic rivalry. Rival is independently recognized at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is also a member of the Duke University Undergraduate Publication Board.

Funding for Rival Magazine was paid for in part by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Student Congress and the Duke University Publications Board.

All content, pictures, graphics and design are the property of Rival Magazine © 2009-2010. All rights reserved.

the mailbag:

Tell us what you think at Rival0910@gmail.com And we’ll tell you what we think at rivalmagazine.wordpress.com

In This Issue 8 Which blue are you?

What happens when your wife is a Blue Devil and you’re a Tar Heel? Or what if your best friend chooses the “wrong” blue? Students at Duke and UNC-CH talk about loyalties, even the ones that cross the line.

10 Management Matters

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Men’s basketball managers work hard for the best seats in the house. Basketball players comment on the men and women who share their courts.

18 Q&A with Pac Div

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West Coast hip-hop group Pac Div talks about “Church League Champions,” predictions for this year’s meetings of the men’s teams and why they captured the intensity of our rivalry in “We The Champs (Duke vs. Carolina).”

20 Fans, mascots & cheerleaders Oh my! Rival explores the groups and people who make up the courtside action at Duke and UNC-CH basketball games.

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In Every Issue 4 Pre-game Everyone has heard of Dance Marathon but few people know of the DukeUNC-CH meet-up at Basketball Marathon. Plus, Rival explains the ticket distribution policies at both schools.

6 Top V Rival lists the five most hilarious, ingenious and sometimes mean rivalry-reenforcing T-shirts of all time.

14 Devil’s Advocate Duke’s Valerie Henry talks about the joys and hardships she has experienced while tenting in K-ville. But don’t expect to see her there this year.

15 Tar Tracks When it comes to basketball for UNC-CH’s Jessica Stringer, it really is all in the family

28 Athlete’s Corner Rival looks at the growing fan base for women’s basketball and delves into the exclusion of N.C. State University from the DukeUNC-CH rivalry.

30 By the Book In this special edition of By the Book, Rival compares each university’s basketball arena.

31 Out of the Blue Tired of seeing the same old people? Get to know some new campus faces you won’t want to forget.

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 3

pre-game Bounce Back

by Alison Ives, UNC-CH Design by Alison Ives, UNC-CH

T

here’s nothing quite like a bit of friendly competition to ignite the basketball rivalry between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On January 16, a 20-hour basketball game was set in motion at Chapel Hill’s Fetzer Gymnasium between players and volunteers from both universities.

The positive energy and politely competitive environment that surrounds the Basketball Marathon is overwhelming. Carolina Blue and white intramural jerseys race back and forth across courts on players of all skill and age levels.

The intended goal of this student-run event is to raise money and awareness for the BounceBack Kids charity. It is one of the prominent sources of fundraising for this organization that benefits children between the ages of three and 18 who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses and live in Durham or Chapel Hill.

With the success from Basketball Marathon and BounceBack Kids, the children, who would normally spend their time in hospitals and home school, are given opportunities to build life skills, embrace athletics and attend a number of sporting events with fellow peers.

Senior Ryan Knowles, a psychology major and classic studies minor from Cincinnati, Ohio, and one of Duke’s co-directors of Basketball Marathon, says that this charity “offers children a window into a normal life” that they are unfortunately deprived of because of their illnesses.

Because the students are playing for a charitable cause, the level of competition is relatively amiable.

“The rivalry is an excuse, a catalyst to raise money,” says co-director and Duke senior Jonathan Cross, a double major in religion and Arabic studies from Springfield, Va. To get involved, students and volunteers form groups of six to eight players and are 4

RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5• issue 3

encouraged to raise a minimum of $30 each. The groups have about an hour of playing time and are cheered on by upbeat spectators and supportive teammates. Children from the BounceBack Kids organization are present throughout the event to remind everyone of the cause they’re supporting.

A variety of entertainment is scheduled hourly during the Marathon to further rev up the players. A cappella groups, step teams, cheerleaders and musical ensembles from Duke and UNC-CH are introduced during designated halftimes to intensify the overall experience of the event.

Toward the end of the Marathon, the children come out to give a presentation in which they offer their gratitude and enthusiasm for the event.

Entertainment chair and UNC-CH junior, Alyssa Champion, is happy to see the support this season.

“It doesn’t get publicized enough, it has the potential to have a big turnout and truly be a phenomenal event,” says the photo-

Photos submitted by Dr. James Cross

journalism major from Raleigh.

Basketball Marathon, in its fifth year, is still a young event. UNC-CH junior and double major in psychology and sports administration, Roxanne Newman says it is “still getting better, but has tons of room for improvement.”

quick, pick-me-up shorts

Ticket lines

by Sylvie Spewak, Duke Design by Alison Ives, UNC-CH Photos by Amanda Michelson,UNC-CH

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ameron Indoor Stadium and the Dean E. Smith Center are home to some of the nations the most avid basketball fans. Among the over 6,000 undergrads at Duke University, the competition to get a place in the 1,600person student section is fierce. Meanwhile at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Dean Dome holds over 21,750 fans, of which courtside risers and selected sections are allocated for some students.

When it comes to getting tickets Duke and UNC-CH have vastly different distribution methods. At UNC-CH, Carolina Fever, a student organization for Tar Heel fans distributes tickets to its most devoted members. For every sporting event Carolina Fever members attend they collect points. The top 200 point holders get tickets.

“It’s not like you just support basketball, you have to support the other teams… it kind of shows your dedication, like the people who really want to do it are pretty

much guaranteed seats” says Marquessa Gray, a first-year journalism major from Philadelphia.

Non-Fever members must rely on chance in the random ticket assignment system organized by the Carolina Athletic Association (CAA). Tickets are distributed in phases one through five. Phase one ticket holders are allowed to enter the game up to two and a half hours early while phase five ticket holders may only enter 30 minutes before the game begins. CAA also organizes the stand-by line for students who did not receive tickets in the lottery. The standby line allows fans to take unclaimed seats after tip-off when lottery tickets become void on a first-come, first-served basis.

For Duke students, there is only one way to get a ticket to the coveted student section: get in line. No student gets priority. If you wait in line, you get a ticket. For most games, the line up starts about 8 hours before tip-off, sometimes even the day before.

The grassy area in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium is usually riddled with cold, wet and eager fans a full day before a game.

“My average wait time is like, six to eight house and you just endure the cold,” says Cameron Oswalt a first-year on the premed track from Woodstock, Ga. And to get into the Duke-UNC-CH showdown, people sleep outside for weeks, from late January until the game in March, huddled in tents and under tarps, in K-ville.

A once picturesque, pristine green field is obliterated—transformed into a muddy tent city, housing the most avid Blue Devils.

Obviously, the only people crazy enough to subject themselves to such conditions are the Cameron Crazies. “It adds so much more to the experience. I think tenting is part of what makes Duke Basketball Duke Basketball,” Oswalt says. “You have all that time you’ve put in just for that two hours, so you have to be as crazy as you can.”

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 5

Top

: Reinforcing Rivalry T-shirts

Rival counts down the top team T-shirts that remind us we can’t always overcome our differences when it comes to the most important things. (Ahem, basketball.)

By Elizabeth Lilly, UNC-CH Design by Adrienne Wollman, UNC-CH Photos by Adrienne Wollman, UNC-CH

#1 6

and

Emily McGinty, Duke

Beer pong The only insult worse than implying the opponent’s inferior skills in basketball is doing so in the ultimate college showdown: beer pong.

RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

#1

Go to hell Carolina It’s by no means creative, but the vehement, universally understood phrase is accessible to even the most sports-ignorant fans.

#3 #4 #2

Coach K drinks wine coolers Chances are you won’t find paparazzi snaps of the coach sipping these beverages on TMZ.com or whatever its sports equivalent may be, but this speculation is still satisfying.

#5 #3 #4

#2

Basic math This one doesn’t just take a stab at sports. It expresses fans’ thoughts on the superiority of everything Duke, from academics to student life to tailgaiting.

#5

PUKE shirt It’s simple, yet gross and effective in evoking Tar Heels’ feelings for that other blue team.

Duke blue is just past tense for Duke blows Even English and journalism majors will agree that it’s OK to bend the rules of spelling and grammar for rivalry’s sake.

Psycho T undefeated at Cameron Numbers don’t lie and neither does this shirt. Tyler Hansbrough may have graduated, but proud Tar Heels will brag about him for years.

Carowhina This is a little different than what then Florida State player Sam Cassell meant when he called UNC-CH’s fans a “wine and cheese crowd,” but has a similar implication.

Tarholes It’s so easy and obvious that it’s clever and just right.

Doesn’t a rivalry include two teams...

Duke doesn’t even acknowledge a rivalry or grant a sliver of possibility that the UNC-CH team might prevail.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 7

By Kelly Thore, UNC-CH Design by Kelley Wollman, UNC-CH

Imagine having a close connection to your school’s most-heated rival. For most students on Tobacco Road, there’s only one blue – Duke or Carolina. But those lines aren’t always so clear. …Something blue When Christian Ehrisman and Jessie O’Connor set their wedding date for March 6, 2010, they had no clue they’d be sharing the night with the one of the biggest rivalries in college basketball – and coincidentally, a duel between their respective universities.

The couple met in the fall of 2006 through the Chapel Hill Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was entering her first year at Duke as an outof-state student from Miami. Ehrisman, who grew up going to Carolina sporting events, became her unofficial North Carolina tour guide.

“We both went to lots of different activities with the kids from church,” O’Connor says.

“So, we were at each other’s campuses all the time,” Ehrisman adds.

They began dating later in spring 2007, but were forced to take a break when Ehrisman went on a church mission to the Ukraine the next fall “I was out of the country for two years, so we wrote each other for two years. I couldn’t call or anything so we had to talk through letters,” he says.

“Because he was so far away it would take between 10 days to like a couple months to get a letter, so it was always really exciting,” O’Connor says.

Once he returned to the U.S., the two reunited and have been together ever since.

That fall, Ehrisman also enrolled in his first year at UNC-CH, where he is now a sophomore studying political science and Russian. O’Connor, a psychology student, is prepping for graduation from Duke in May. Needless to say, the “Battle of the Blues” has made for an interesting relationship.

Ehrisman, a Chapel Hill native, naturally grew up hating all things Duke. Though

she’s no stranger to camping out for basketball tickets for days on end.

“I love it enough to have slept outside for a week and a half,” she says, adding that she secured tickets to last year’s matchup in Cameron Indoor Stadium. “The excitement at the game was so intense…it was definitely an experience I had to have.”

As it stands, they’ve never watched a game together. And they’re not going to start this year. “We’re actually not going to watch the game until after our honeymoon,” he says.

“We become different people when we watch basketball games,” he says. “It’s going to be a test to our marriage,” he jokes. “We’re probably going to have to make something riding on it, which team wins. Like, someone’s doing the dishes for a week or something like -Christian Ehrisman, UNC-CH that.”

Ultimately, Ehrisman says he’s grateful for the age-old tension. “The Duke-CarO’Connor initially “had no idea” that the ri- olina rivalry brought us together because valry even existed when she came to Duke, we never would have met each other had it she, too, eventually got swept away in the not been for the universities.” spirit of competition.

As for the wedding? Finding that “some“One day she was just like, ‘I don’t under- thing blue” could be a little tricky. stand! I don’t understand this whole Duke“Maybe a Blue Devil garter or someCarolina rivalry…I’m never going to be a thing,” O’Connor says. part of it,’” Ehrisman says.

“And maybe my groomsmen will have a “And then one year later she’s sending me Carolina blue tie,” Ehrisman says. a letter that’s like, ‘Go to hell, Carolina!’”

“Maybe a pin,” she laughs. “Not a tie.”

“It’s infectious, though,” O’Connor says.

“You can’t really escape it – you know, bleeding whatever blue you’re at.”

Call O’Connor a changed woman. Now,

“One day she was just like, ‘I don’t understand! I don’t understand this whole Duke-Carolina rivalry…I’m never going to be a part of it,’”

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RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

You can pick your friends

However, Lovett, a senior public policy major at UNC-CH, says her friends made a bigger deal out of she and Duffour, a se-

After any given Tobacco Road matchup, Nana Duffuor and Ashlyn Lovett give the winner one day to gloat. After that, it’s back to business as usual.

“We have a deal that the day before the basketball games and the day of we will talk smack to each other, and whoever wins will talk smack the next day,” Lovett says. “Then we kind of don’t talk about it till the next game.”

“It’s all in good nature. We’re really good friends so we both know how each other are,” she adds.

Duffour and Lovett have been best friends since they lived together in boarding school in New Jersey.

When the two found out they’d attend college less than eight miles Ashlyn Lovett, UNC-CH and Nana Duffour, Duke. Photo submitted from each other, they were thrilled. by Ashlyn Lovett

nior at Duke, going to intensely competitive schools than the girls did.

“We were excited about it because we were going to be so close,” Lovett says. “We were more excited about it than anything to do with the rivalry.”

For others tied up in the spirit of the rivalry, things are not always so clean, Lovett says. “I’ve known other people that go to Duke and they haven’t taken it quite as well,” she says. “It’s always like, ‘OK you got me this time…’”

As far as life after college goes, Lovett says the rivalry will continue to connect the two.

“I think it will be something that we always have,” she says. “We’ll probably still keep our tradition up with the smack talking. It’s just another thing we have to bond over.”

for Carolina! I cannot say, ‘Go to hell, Duke’ in the alma mater!’”

It didn’t get easier for Watral until the When Duke won the NCAA men’s basend of her junior year. ketball national championship in 2001, “I still hurt me to say that because I gave Jill Watral shed tears of joy. When Caro18 years of my life to loving that team,” lina took home the title in 2009, just eight Watral confesses. “I had been a Duke fan years later, she rushed Franklin Street. since before I was in the womb, and it’s Confused? hard when you’ve dedicated that much Imagine how Watral felt – a time in something to give it up.” born-and-bred Blue Devil fan Despite being the lone Tar Heel – starting her first day of colin the Watral clan, her family has lege in Tar Heel territory. Debeen supportive and she now spite having cut her teeth on finds fun in the friendly compeanything and everything Duke tition.

Blue, Watral chose to come to “My parents were excited for UNC-CH for her undergradume. I’m the oldest, you know, ate education because of the the first to go off to school,” she University’s nationally ranked says. “We have the house dividSchool of Journalism and ed plates for their cars, and the Mass Communication. flag hanging in our yard…its Both of Watral’s parents are very much fun. It’s fun to have a Duke alumni and she grew up Carolina fan and Duke fan in the as a die-hard fan. same house.”

“There are pictures of my dad While Watral says she still has holding me up above his head ample respect for both Duke’s acwith me in a Duke cheerlead- As a child Jill Watral poses next to “Coach K” with her family. Photo ademia and basketball program, ing outfit with pompoms and submitted by Jill Watral she’s certain that she’s now 100 everything.” percent Tar Heel.

She even had a professional portrait soccer game freshman year, I called my “I am definitely a Carolina girl; I am not made – donning the finest Blue Devil gear house and asked to speak to my dad.” a Duke girl at all. There’s none of that in – which Coach K signed himself. Even “I said, “Dad, I don’t know how to root me anymore.”

Switching sides

now, Watral still has Duke paraphernalia lining her room at home, including a “Duke Fans Only” parking sign, T-shirts and an autographed 2001 championship basketball. “I haven’t really gotten around to redecorating,” she laughs.

“It was difficult to transition at first,” Watral says, now a senior at UNC-CH. “When I was at the Duke-Carolina men’s

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 9

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE Men’s basketball student managers at Duke and UNCCH commit all of their free time to their schools’ basketball programs. Learn about how they got the job, what they do and why it’s one of the best leadership experiences on campus.

By Emily McGinty, Duke Design by Danielle Cushing, UNC-CH Photos by Emily McGinty, Duke and Brad Piland, UNC-CH

10 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5• issue 3

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ost students at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would go to extreme lengths for the chance to sit courtside at the most heated rivalry in college basketball. Two groups of students happen to hold that privilege, but the opportunity is well earned. These groups are the 10 student managers for the Duke men’s basketball team and the seven students who manage the men’s basketball team at UNC-CH. With busier schedules than many Division I athletes, the student managers are crucial but often unnoticed pillars of the Triangle’s basketball empires.

How They Got There

While courtside seats to the Blue DevilsTar Heels showdown sound appealing, Chris Spatola, Duke’s director of basketball operations, says he can sense when prospective candidates are “just trying to get into the big games or meet Coach K.” To encourage a wide pool of applicants, Spatola runs an ad in September in Duke’s daily, The Chronicle, inviting all students to submit resumes for review. Kate Wheelock is a manager for the team and a first-year undecided major from St. Louis, Mo. “I hadn’t thought about the position but wanted to be part of something bigger at Duke, so [I] decided to apply,” Wheelock says about seeing that ad in the newspaper.

Eric Skeffington, Duke’s head manager, reads all of the resumes (which numbered more than 150 this year) and narrows them down to about 20. The selected candidates are then invited to Spatola’s office for interviews, which take place over two nights and last about 15 minutes each. Third and fourth-year managers sit alongside Spatola and ask questions in the interviews; second-year managers greet the candidates and escort them to and from Spatola’s office. This year, four first-year students were selected to manage the men’s team.

In good rival fashion, UNC-CH does things a little differently. The Tar Heels have a J.V. team in addition to their varsity team, which means managers are similar to players in that they must work their way up.

Before becoming J.V. managers, students typically work at UNC-CH’s two-week summer camp for middle school and high school athletes. Among 50 to 60 camp managers, a few students are singled out by the camp director and are offered positions as

J.V. managers. One head manager organizes the team of J.V. managers; after being a camp manager, J.V. manager and finally Head J.V. manager, you may be offered an interview to manage for the varsity team.

Joe Holladay, UNC-CH’s director of basketball operations, interviews potential varsity managers. Holladay believes the students’ involvement in summer camps and the J.V. team allows him to “see how they respond to and react with UNC-CH’s basketball program” before making it to the varsity level.

Due to the four-step ladder they must climb, most of Holladay’s varsity student managers are upper-level students. Five of seven current varsity managers will graduate this spring.

What Do Managers Do?

“People don’t understand—from traveling to practice to after practice, managers do everything,” says Mason Plumlee, a Duke first-year basketball player from Warsaw, Ind. A closer look at the roles and responsibilities of both teams’ student managers proves that other than scoring the baskets, managers perform a significant number of tasks for their teams.

“Initially, being a manager has an incredibly steep learning curve,” says John McGinty, a Duke first-year manager from Pittsburgh, Pa. “All at once, you’re learning how to film from different angles, keep charts, prep benches and locker rooms, and all sorts of other jobs.”

Spatola says they are a very seniority-driven organization. “The oldest managers are behind the bench getting water and towels for Coach K and his assistants,” Spatola, says. “Then, managers sit at the end of the bench keeping stats or they sit under the hoops wiping up sweat.”

As for the UNC-CH managers, it also takes time to climb the ladder. “Our managers are there an hour before practice setting up the clock, basketballs, and everything else,” Hollady says.

All seven managers are present and busy during practice and every day one person is responsible for waiting until the last player leaves the gym. “They’re there even if that means someone wants to shoot around after practice ends,” Holladay adds, “which is almost always the case.”

Kate Wheelock explains how Duke’s firstyear managers stay on campus during away

Photo submitted by Jeffrey Camarati

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 11

games in order to record statistics and the game itself. “We have to make sure the film is ready for the coaches when the team arrives back at Duke,” Wheelock says.

UNC-CH also does not take all of its varsity managers on the road. Holladay says they used to take two students until they realized more things needed to be taken care of. Students rotate travel schedules and now four managers are present at each of UNC-CH’s away games.

An Alumnus’s Tale

Dean McCord, a 1985 UNC-CH alumnus from Titusville, Pa., filled the ranks of J.V. manager, head J.V. manager and finally varsity

manager during his years in college. McCord says that as a J.V. manager, he and the others quickly learned they were in a yearlong competition. “The stakes were pretty high…we would often race out onto the court, trying to be the first one to wipe up that sweat.”

McCord was so excited to have won a spot kneeling behind Head Coach Dean Smith during a nationally televised game (“before ESPN was a big deal”), he said “Hi, Mom” to the camera. “I was called into Coach Smith’s office the next day,” McCord says, “to be told, ‘We don’t act that way here at Carolina, Dean.’”

Nowadays, managers are probably more inclined to realize that cameras, as well as very large cable audiences, are always watching.

They might be grateful to learn, h o w e v e r, t h a t previ-

ous groups of students handled burdens that are now absent from managers’ to-do lists. McCord says he and his crew were in charge of any cash that may have been on hand and that he had to do a lot of laundry in Hawaii.

And, what would managing be without unpredictability and adventure? McCord recalls sitting in an airport in Thessaloniki, Greece, where the UNC-CH varsity team waited to board a plane to Athens. A player realized he had left his passport in the hotel, so McCord was given the task of catching a cab back to the hotel, searching for the passport and taking a later flight to Athens.

After hurried taxi rides to and from the hotel, McCord arrived at the airport just as the plane was about to take off. “Amazingly,” he says, “they put me in one of those trucks that has the stairs to the plane on it, drove me out on the runway, and let me climb in.

I received a round of applause. I was shaking and drenched in sweat, but I got the job done.”

Managers are often sent on the court to wipe away sweat and blood after players fall or get in a scuffle.

12 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

Joe Holladay, director of basketball opperations. Photo submitted by Jeffrey Camarati

“I was called into Coach Smith’s office the next day to be told, ‘We don’t act that way at Carolina, Dean.’”

-Dean McCord, 1985 UNC-CH and basketball manager alum, on Dean Smith’s lecture after saying “Hi, Mom” on ESPN

Dressing for the Occasion

Some things may have changed since McCord’s wild passport chase in Greece, but other things have stayed the same—for UNC-CH, at least. This may not become apparent until they’re standing on the same court, but Duke and UNC-CH managers adhere to distinctly different dress codes policies. UNC-CH males wear coats and ties on the court and while traveling, and women wear black suits or dresses. As far as anyone can remember, UNC-CH man-

agers have always donned formal wear on game days. Duke managers, on the other hand, used to wear formal attire but have switched to more “athletically appropriate” Nike polos. “It fits their responsibilities better,” Spatola says, such as rebounding during warm-ups and running to wipe up sweat during the game.

Whether their team’s attire is classier or more athletic-looking, managers are loyal to their own dress codes. “I appreciate that we wear the same clothes as the boys. I like that our attire is professional but also functional,” Wheelock says.

Nike sponsors both Duke and UNC-CH, and therefore both teams’ managers are issued Nike shorts, T-shirts and shoes they must wear during all practices.

Summer Session

While hundreds of Duke and UNC-CH students stay on campus and take classes during summer sessions, the basketball managers are busy preparing for different kinds of summer school. UNC-CH runs the two-week summer camp where most of its varsity managers start out as camp managers. The J.V. and varsity managers, who continue to work at the camp each summer, are paid and provided free room and board for those two weeks.

Duke managers are required to work at Duke’s summer basketball camp, which lasts for three weeks and attracts 700 high school students. Like at UNC-CH, managers are paid and provided with free room and board during camp. Managers also stay for Coach Krzyzewski’s four-day “K Academy,” a camp where 80 men ages 35 and older pay $10,000 to be coached by famous February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 13

Duke managers find their aheltic uniforms more convenient when helping athletes warm up before games. basketball alumni and Coach K himself.

In addition to working at summer camps, managers are paid to assist their coaching staffs at professional coaching clinics. Both Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams host clinics in October where student managers prepare benches, run concessions stands and perform an array of other tasks. “It was early on in our manager careers, so it was a chance to spend a whole day getting to know other managers,” says Duke first-year manager Kyle Mumma from Durham.

Holladay cites other ways managers are involved with the team, noting that UNCCH hosts Special Olympics events in late December, where managers help with the activities. The managers even join the team for meals and meetings at Coach Williams’ house, Holladay says. “If we go over to [Coach Williams’] house they get there early and stay late. Wherever we go, they go.

The managers are extremely involved with our team.”

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On The Ball

Managers clearly cover a lot of bases when it comes to assisting their basketball teams.

Duke first-year basketball player Ryan Kelly from Raleigh, says he is most impressed by his managers’ “ability to be prepared for everything,” and says they are “even ready to step in during practice and help out with a drill.”

Juggling charts, basketballs, clock time, and more becomes a tough act, though, and managers occasionally make errors. “If managers mess up, they’ll be running. The players enjoy watching that,” says Holladay.

For the most part, however, managers are on top of their game. Spatola and Holladay both allow their head managers to make major decisions about the managing teams.

Spatola considers organizing the managers like running a small organization. “It’s all a huge responsibility but it’s an incredible leadership experience,” he says.

Game On

On the nights before Duke and UNCCH’s twice annual confrontations, different sets of starters take the court for tip-off. Jon Scheyer and Deon Thompson are nowhere to be found, because the match-up is Duke’s student managers versus UNC-CH’s student managers.

While many of Duke and UNC-CH’s managers may have been athletes in high school, most of them did not play basketball. Nevertheless, the quality of play is good enough to merit an enthused audience. Spatola recalls one of last year’s managers games in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where a large crowd from K-Ville—around 400 people—came to support their managers. Game time is not set for the first competition in the Dean Dome on February 9, but fans from both schools should be sure to support the students who help make Duke and UNC-CH’s basketball teams so great.

S S E C C A L L A

P PASS

By Brittain McNeel, UNC-CH Design by Danielle Cushing, UNC-CH

Management too much for you? There are ways to get into the games besides cutting the line, selling your soul or emptying your savings.

Student Journalists: Sports writers and photographers for Duke’s newspaper and yearbook, The Chronicle and The Chanticleer respectively, get seats on the floor for every Duke game. “You have to have experience, it’s the most coveted [position],” said Ashley Greenleaf, a Duke junior from Durham. Sports journalists at UNC-CH also have opportunities to attend games, including staff members for organizations such as The Daily Tar Heel and Blue and White magazine. Campus publications bring writers and photographers close to the action during basketball games, making these positions ideal for avid UNC-CH and Duke fans.

Duke line monitors: Only a select few Duke students receive prime basketball seats without tenting outside Cameron Indoor Stadium, but these line monitors still dedicate lots of time to the process of ticket allocation. Duke’s Student Government president appoints a head line monitor, currently senior Zach White, who then supervises the application process for the 30 line monitors. The position entails organizing the entire tenting process, from registering students to checking tents and swiping people into games. Despite the significant time commitment of being a line monitor, most basketball fans would argue that the benefits outweigh the cost. Monitors receive seats in the first two rows for basketball games. “Once you’re line monitor, it’s for four years. That’s why it’s so competitive,” said Lieu.

UNC-CH student organizations: Members of student organizations at UNC-CH like the Water Ski Club and Habitat for Humanity can apply to work at basketball games, either checking bags of incoming spectators or cleaning up the stands after games. Participants earn $50 for their organization and are allowed to attend the games for which they volunteer. “For cleanup we get to watch the second half of the game and for bag check we get to go in after everyone has entered,” said Maddie Swift, a sophomore double major in international studies and economics from Parktown, M.D., and club sports representative of the Equestrian team. Though some club members are grateful for this extra opportunity to see the basketball team, the task of cleaning after a rowdy game is an arduous one. Popcorn, soda, and nachos litter the stadium’s thousands of seats and serve as sticky obstacles to student cleaners, who are armed only with plastic gloves and trash bags. Another downside is the inconvenience of working after a late game, especially on weekends. Students have had to work past midnight on numerous occasions due to the astonishing mess of the basketball games. Still, working at the Dean Dome provides clubs with cash and a way into some extra games.

Blue Devil theme nights: Duke traditionally designates a Senior Night in which seniors receive tickets to a particular game without having to wait in line.

This year the concept expanded to include other classes and campus groups. “There is a Club Sports Night and nights for all the other grades, and that is new this year,” explained Duke sophomore Christina Lieu. Another more controversial theme was Greek Night, which gave pre-registered members of fraternities and sororities preferential treatment for basketball seats.

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 15

advocate devil’s

Why I’m Not Tenting This Year M

y first two years at Duke I tented. Both years, we lost to Carolina. After weeks of sleeping in the cold, doing homework by flashlight and being woken up every night at 4 a.m. by a a fog horn announcing I must leave the pocket of warmth I’d created in my sleeping bag for a personal check, my reward was walking silently and aimlessly out of Cameron Indoor Stadium after the game.

Many Duke students will tent at least once during their undergraduate years. Considering the time commitment required, the fact that students who already struggle to balance classes, sports, research, theatre, jobs and social lives willingly spend 12 hours a day in a tent is a testament to the integral role basketball plays in our campus culture. Go meet a world-renowned visiting politician? No way, I’m too busy. Live in a tent for a month just to see one basketball game? Definitely.

A successful tent, however, requires far more than time; it requires flawless coordination.

My sophomore year, I soon despaired after being assigned the task of creating a weekly schedule that could navigate twelve peoples’ myriad commitments and still keep someone in the tent at all times. And even with the schedule, a tenter is on-call 24 hours a day. At anytime a tent-mate may call – “Where’s Jim?! He hasn’t shown up for his shift. I need you to come right now!” And with so much invested, dreaded be the fate of the one who misses a tent check.

If a tent is well engineered, water usually doesn’t start leaking in from the corners until the second week. However, soon all potential materials become sacrificed to the sole desire of staying warm – blankets, comforters, throw rugs, raincoats, cardboard, and even newspapers. Seasoned veterans buy air mattresses. Any day you may return to the tent to find your pillow has been used to soak up the leak.

Simple, necessary tasks such as using the restroom, suddenly require a strategy. After Wilson gym closes, the only available facility, the Intramural building, becomes dangerous ground where anyone caught warming themselves inside will be considered missing their tent check. And immediately after a check, the line runs out of the building. Cameron Crazies must choose to wait in discomfort or undertake a covert operation.

Sleeping is usually impossible. Most tenters commit to the adage that if you’re going to be outside anyway, you might as well party all night. Besides, alcohol and sex are both effective methods of keeping warm. Amongst the drunken yelling, the throwing of beer cans and the moans from your neighboring tents, the best one can do is achieve semi-consciousness and hope to doze in class the next day.

When the morning shift would come to relieve me, I’d step out into a dawn college students rarely see. I trudged through the cold back to my dorm and stepped into the bliss of a heated room. I crawled into a warm, cozy bed that was ever so pleasurable.

K-ville is certain to bring adventure. No other party in the country resembles the first night of personal checks. One year my tent-mates and I were celebrating the end of our tenting saga with a special bottle of wine. We set it down for a moment and upon glances back, it was gone, swept into the chaos churning around us. Thus began the quest for the lost bottle of wine. It ended, of course, at McDonalds at 3 a.m. where we settled for coffee and fries.

All these trials, however, stand as a proud tribute to student ardor. The local news usually does a piece each winter on the absurdity of K-ville and its testament to Duke students’ love of basketball. But to be honest, I’m not the biggest basketball fan.

My fondest memory from last year was in fact before the game even began. Lining up outside Cameron with my team, we had reached our goal. We painted our faces blue and white, took a dozen group pictures and began shouting cheers. At that moment, all the cold and lack of sleep/leisure time had already been worth it. We had made it through to the end, together.

Tenting is not just about basketball; it’s about solidarity with the Duke Blue Devil community and rising to a challenge. The most exciting moments come when you race across campus to just barely make the tent check, when you gather before the line monitors panting and search the crowd for the faces of your teammates, making sure everyone is accounted for.

Even though I’ve never seen Duke beat Carolina in Cameron, I don’t consider my tenting a waste.

The pressure is on this year as our senior class faces the horror of graduating and leaving Duke without ever having beaten Carolina at home. Are they still going to tent?

Hell yes! Judging from my personal history, investment in tenting doesn’t pay off through the quality of our basketball team’s performance. But this year I want us to win. So this year, I’m not tenting.

“Tenting is not just about basketball; it’s about solidarity with the Duke Blue Devil community and rising to a challenge.”

-Valerie Henry, Duke

16 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

By Valerie Henry, DukeElizabeth Lilly UNC-CH

tar tracks

Born and Bred

By Jessica Stringer, UNC-CHElizabeth Lil-CH

M

y grandmother used to get up and vacuum when UNC-CH was losing. My mom would leave the room at the thought of defeat. And I anxiously bite my nails when a Tar Heel game is too close.

I may not be the loudest or wildest fan on campus but I’m certainly a born-and-bred Tar Heel. My grandfather, my mom and half a dozen other relatives all attended UNC-CH and taught me to love the Heels.

When my grandfather left Lumberton and arrived on campus in 1950, he began the long filial line of bleeding Carolina Blue. He followed football as a student and it wasn’t until after he met my grandmother, a William and Mary student, that they fell in love with Carolina basketball. The pair bought season tickets in the late 1960s and attended more than 100 games over 30 years. They were there when Coach Smith sent in first-year Michael Jordan during his first game.

And that same season, they were in Chapel Hill as the Heels won the 1982 National Championship game in New Orleans. My grandparents rushed over to Franklin Street where some rowdy college students half their age handed them beers and painted their faces Carolina Blue. “It was the most joyous group of people on Franklin Street celebrating that win,” my grandfather says.

My grandfather would have stuck a “House Divided” sticker on his car if they had made them back then. Though William and Mary was my aunt’s choice, my mom decided to go to UNC-CH. This only caused tension once. In December 1977, the unthinkable happen – the powerhouse Tar Heels lost to the Tribe by three points. My mom says she ran back to her room in Cobb after the game and took her phone off the hook. Although the Heels didn’t win the National Championship during her four years, the Final Four win over

Virginia her senior year was just as exciting. “Someone painted ‘Al Wood is God’ with Carolina blue paint on Franklin Street because he had a great game,” my mom says.

My own Carolina memories began at age two with a chance meeting with the basketball legend himself, Dean Smith.

Before my first game, my grandparents, parents and I ate breakfast at the Carolina Inn. Coach Smith was fueling up before the game and my grandfather got his autograph. To this day, one of my favorite things is the piece of Carolina Inn stationary that says “To Elaine (my grandmother) and Jessica, Best Dean Smith.” I think somehow that day cemented my fate.

Growing up, my room was painted Carolina Blue. I learned to loathe Duke and how to spell Carolina by singing the cheer.

But it was my grandfather and mom’s memories that stuck with me when I applied to college. I’m not ashamed to say that I chose UNC-CH for one, its amazing journalism program and two, the basketball. That first fall, I half-heartedly cheered for our football team, just waiting for Late Night with Roy so I could start making my own basketball memories.

Between amazing games against Ohio State, Duke and Clemson, four seasons flew by and I began to notice how similar my mom’s basketball memories at UNC-CH were to mine. Twenty-five years later, the heart and soul of the program remains the same while the details vary slightly. My mom stood in line for tickets; I merely clicked some boxes on tarheelblue.com. She knew the hard wooden seats of Carmichael all too well; I stand with the wine-and-cheese crew in the Dean Dome. My mom cheered as James Worthy and Sam Perkins used the four corners offense strategy; I hopped up and down as Danny Green jumped around. Look back on any year in UNC-CH basketball and you’re bound to see the same passion, dedication and love of the game.

Although this season isn’t over, I’ll probably remember one memory the most. This might sound crazy to any non-UNC-CH student but I planned my study abroad semester around not missing the basketball season. I said to myself before choosing the fall semester, “If we won the National Championship and I wasn’t in Chapel Hill, it would kill me.” Well, we did win and I wasn’t here. I was actually in Detroit for the game watching Tyler, Danny and Wayne storm onto that court after the buzzer had sounded. When the confetti had started falling, I knew that this moment would last forever.

“This might sound crazy to any nonUNC-CH student but I planned my study abroad semester around not missing the basketball season.”

-Jessica Stringer, UNC-CH

February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 17

WE THE CHAMPS D

espite the historic status of our basketball rivalry, living, working and attending school in the Triangle bubble tends to breed a feeling of exclusive ownership over bleeding whichever blue you may choose.

Los Angeles-based hip-hop trio Pacific Division (or Pac Div for short), which have earned a shout-out from Snoop Dogg, worked with The Neptunes and inspired towering magazine stacks worth of good publicity, burst that bubble when they dropped their second mix tape “Church League Champions” in 2009.

The album begins with “Dick Vitale,” an intro in which the game announcer bets

in a dusty audio clip that he has “a better chance of growing some hair or replacing Bruce Willis as the new sex symbol on ABC” than three young men’s NBA careers becoming a reality. Brothers Like and Mibbs, and friend BeYoung follow with a dribbling beat, background chants and the winding “Ohhhh”s that most often accompany courtside rippling risers of college students at basketball games on “We The Champs (Duke vs. Carolina),” channeling the golden era of the hip-hop genre.

These overt back-to-back references are enough to make a Blue Devil or Tar Heel notice, but this quickly rising trio is just getting started. The members have been

The West Coast hip-hop trio talks mix tapes, basketball and their take on the Duke-UNC-CH basketball rivalry.

By Elizabeth Lilly, UNC-CH Design by Brittain McNeel, UNC-CH Photos courtesy of Pac Div creating music for years, including the 2006 mix tape “Sealed for Freshness,” but have seen a significant rise in Google search results as of late. “SPIN” magazine named the group among the top 25 arists from 2009’s CMJ Festival, an annual music and film showcase in New York City that serves as a tastemaker for up-and-coming talent.

The group is busy working on new material for 2010, but took the time to answer a few of Rival’s questions about “Church League Champions,” their current projects and the West-Coast take on our East-Coast rivalry.

“Church League Champions” (2009) 8. “Whiplash” 1. “Dick Vitale” 2. “We The Champs (Duke vs. Carolina)” 9. “Underdogs (Interlude)” 10. “Shut Up” 3. “Pac Div” 11. “Young Black Male” 4. “Mayor” 12. “Never” 5. “For You” 13. “Back” 6. “No No” 7. “Knuckleheadz” Download the mixtape for free at www.churchleaguechampions.com and check out Pac Div’s other projects at http://itspacdiv.com.

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Pacific Division’s 2009 mixtape “Church League Champions“ features hip-hop tracks inspired by basketball, with beats mimicking the intensity of games and lyrics addressing the Duke-UNC-CH rivalry. Photo Credit: Vince Segovia

Rival: Can you explain the inspiration ings? Did you grow up as fans?

PD: There’s a lot of Duke fans in Cali but behind your “Church League Champions” mix tape?

Pac Div: What inspired “CLC” was the whole underdog theme. As regular people, we all have dreams to be great at something, but you can’t always start in the pros. We felt the church league is the perfect place to start the journey to be at the top spot.

R: Did you come up with a specific song or the overall concept first? How? PD: We had the title of the project already in mind accompanied with a collection of songs that we believed fit the theme of “CLC.” R: Why did you choose to cover the Duke-Carolina rivalry in the song “We The Champs (Duke vs. Carolina)”?

PD: We chose Duke vs. Carolina as the title of the song because it’s one of the biggest rivalries in sports. The intensity of the beat and the overall song feels like a DukeCarolina b-ball game.

R: Who do you think will be the champs in this season’s matchups?

PD: Both teams are great, but I believe Duke might have it this year. The Duke players have a bit more big game experience and they’re super disciplined. They might split wins though.

R: What are your Duke-Carolina lean-

I wouldn’t say that we’re big fans. We love Coach K’s legendary career but we roll with the PAC-10 conference mostly. This year the PAC-10 isn’t too good. UNC fans are bigger here Cali. We’re more fans of UNC because of the all of the hall of fame players the school produced, who all go without saying, except for MJ. R: How is the rivalry perceived on the West coast?

PD: The rivalry is viewed as historic out here in Cali.

R: A lot of Duke and Carolina fans are split on their opinions of Dick Vitale as an announcer. Is the clip of Dick Vitale in your intro track real? Where do you stand in that and why did you decide to use the clip as the mix tape’s introduction?

PD: We found the clip (of) Dick Vitale on the net and used it because it was the perfect fit to convey the feeling in the beginning of the mix tape. He had the perfect speech.

R: Have you heard if Dick Vitale knows about that track? If so, what does he think?

PD: We don’t know if he knows about the song.

R: What projects are you working on

now?

PD: We’re currently working on finishing up our first LP, “Grown Kid Syndrome” and another mix tape called “Don’t Mention It.” R: What can listeners expect from your “Don’t Mention It” project?

PD: With “Don’t Mention It” the listeners can expect a more current and futuristic sound from Pac Div. We gave you jewels on “CLC,” now expect the new jewels of “DMI” to be on steroids this go-around.

R: What can they expect from the “Grown Kid Syndrome” album in comparison to “Church League Champs”? Do you have a release date for it yet?

PD: With “Grown Kid Syndrome,” listeners can expect to be taken on a fun, yet heartfelt ride in the lives of three young men who don’t have life all the way figured out, but are working toward their dream of being successful, all while still living with their parents. No official date, but we’re projecting late second quarter of this year.

R: Is basketball a subject that you want to revisit in future material?

PD: We used to play hoops in high school and still stay current in college hoops and the NBA so we’ll always make hoop references in songs.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 19

Crazies

C g r n a o z i e m s a

Though both Duke and UNC-CH fans can get wild at times, below are some of craziest Blue Devils and Tar Heels to ever cheer in Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Dean E. Smith Center.

By Sabina Ion, UNC-CH & Lysa Chen, Duke • Design By Pamela Tseng, UNC-CH • Photos By BluePlanet.Com

Crazy Towel Guy

W

hen it comes to the title of Duke University’s men’s basketball number one fan, few Cameron Crazies would even think to challenge Herb Neubauer, better known as Crazy Towel Guy. He’s missed only two men’s basketball games in the past 20 years, has his own chant and even has “crazy” built into his name.

Once or twice at a home game, Duke students chant, “Crazy Towel Guy! Crazy Towel Guy!” until Neubauer stands up and swings his trademark white towel over his head, causing the Cameron Crazies to erupt with excitement and applause.

But the story behind Crazy Towel Guy actually begins with a hat. In 1984, Neubauer, a 1963 Duke alumnus visited Tijuana, Mexico, where he found and bought a large Duke blue leather hat to wear to games.

“When I saw it, I knew I had to get it,” Neubauer says. “The only problem was my head sweat, so I started to take a towel with me.”

In 1994, a fire in Neubauer’s home destroyed “untold memorabilia,” including the hat, but Neubauer continued to bring a towel to games.

Then in 1995, while attending a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Neubauer heard the students yelling, “Crazy Towel Guy!” “I thought, ‘That’s you, Herb. You better get up and swing that towel,’” Neubauer says.

Since then, Neubauer has embraced his new identity—even his business cards say

20 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

Photo

“Crazy Towel Guy.” But his support goes well beyond men’s basketball. This year he has a special goal to attend every home game in every Duke sport. He has already been to more than 100 events, he says.

Neubauer is also Facebook friends with as many Duke athletes as he can track down and takes time each day and night to send specific and personal encouraging mes-

submitted by

BluePlanet.com

sages to athletes before and after games or meets.

“In the peak seasons, it can take a good three hours a night,” Neubauer says. “But it’s worth it if you get through to even just one person. They appreciate the support no matter what sport.”

The soloist

Sometimes being a fan is more than just cheering and painting up before a game.

Senior Chris Heins, a senior sociology major and geography minor from Hope Mills, is part of the game’s entertainment. He is known as the guy who sings along with the band’s rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” by Neil Diamond.

As a first-year student at UNC-CH, Heins got involved in Carolina Fever and now sings along with the band from his seat in the “Fever Section” at most home basketball games.

“I just knew the words and I screamed along and now it’s just taken off with a life of it’s own,” Heins says about the first time he ever sang the fan favorite at a game.

Each game Heins changes the end of the song. It all depends on whom the Tar Heels are playing or how the game is going and he tailors the last verse of the song to the situ-

Crazy T-shirt Guy?

Duke sophomore Braveen Ragunanthan made a vow during his first-year orientation to wear a Duke shirt every day until graduation, which makes getting dressed in the morning pretty simple.

“When I first Photo submitted by visited Duke, BluePlanet.com everyone was wearing Duke shirts, which was actually the root of my idea,” explains Ragunanthan, a public pol-

Painted Lady

Seven hours of standing in line is exactly what it takes to get front row spots in the risers of the Dean Dome. Courtney Brown, a senior mathematics and chemistry major from Newport, Va., managed to get a front row seat for eight games last season.

Showing up early to home games and painting up with the same group of friends is part of an average game for Brown. She became a fan during high school and immediately joined Carolina Fever when she came to college.

Her enthusiasm for the sport has led her into leadership roles in the Carolina Athletic Association where she currently serves

Photo Submitted by Chris Heins

ation of the game accordingly.

At the end of the game against the Georgia Institute of Technology, when the Tar Heels were trailing, Heins ended the song saying he was speechless.

Complete strangers and band members notice him and his “Sweet Caroline” performance has come to be expected. “Everybody wants to know what I’m going to say,” says Heins.

His most memorable game was the 2008 game against Clemson University, a game that went into double overtime and ended with a Tar Heel victory by 10 points.

“For thirty minutes everybody in the Dean Dome was just on their feet,” Heins says.

Once Heins graduates in May, “Sweet Caroline” will still remains a staple at all Carolina home games, but it may never sound quite the same.

icy major from Kanton, Ohio.

“The sense of school spirit is everywhere.

It’s tangible. It moved me so much that the first thing I did when I got to Duke was buy 10 shirts.”

He now boasts a collection of 57 Duke T-shirts and sweatshirts, hoarded during Duke University Store sales, purchased on eBay and snagged at free T-shirt giveaways.

But Ragunanthan, also a Robertson Scholar, is spending his semester at UNCCH, which makes things more complicated.

Despite the change in locale, and receptiveness to his Duke enthusiasm, Ragunanthan is staying true to his promise, he says while rifling through his “subtly Duke” drawer, pulling out Midnight Breakfast, dormitory and event T-shirts that he grouped together specifically for his stay at UNC-CH. He also points out a group of “neutral hoodies” in his closet that can be

zipped shut to disguise his Blue Devil gear.

That’s not to say Ragunanthan is ashamed of his Duke colors. In fact, he is wearing a Duke T-shirt in his UNC-CH student ID card and his Facebook profile picture shows him proudly standing in front of the Old Well, the symbol of UNC-CH, decked out in his usual Duke attire.

“When I was taking that picture, there were a bunch of people cussing me out hardcore,” Ragunanthan says. “They were partially joking but partially serious. They weren’t really hating, but they were definitely not happy.”

Adding to his list of achievements as a Cameron Crazy, Ragunanthan—well, his sneakers—are featured in a Coke Zero commercial set in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“I missed a midterm for that,” he says.

“That’s how dedicated I am.”

as homecoming director.

She tries to carry her enthusiasm throughout the crowd at every game she attends.

“My favorite moment is when we can get everyone in the Dean Dome standing up and cheering with the student section,” Brown says.

The atmosphere in the Dean Dome isn’t the only reason she likes Carolina basketball. Some of Brown’s favorite games are ones that took place over winter break.

Over this year’s break, Brown and her friends drove four hours from home to attend all the team’s games in Chapel Hill Brown has gone beyond just fandom and

dedicated her college career to making the athletics program at Carolina the best it can be.

Photo submitted by Courtney Brown.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE

21

Behind the mask Playing the Blue Devil and Rameses at Duke and Carolina athletic events is secretive business. Learn how and why students become these icons of school spirit.

22 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

By Brecken Branstrator, UNC-CH Design & graphics by Pamela Tseng, UNC-CH Photos by Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY BLUEPLANET.COM

The Duke Blue Devil “shhhh”s a Florida State University fan before an eventual 70-56 Duke win.

The Blue Devil

I

magine having an exciting job, one that a lot of students would love to have, but not being able to tell anyone about it. That is what the students who play the Blue Devil at Duke University have to do if they want the chance to don the outfit.

Sworn to complete secrecy, as is tradition, only the cheerleaders and a couple of people in the sports marketing and athletic departments who are in charge of the mascots know the true identities of the students who run around in that well-known blue uniform at sporting events.

“Last semester I made a lot of ‘visits home,’” says one of the current Blue Devils, talking about how he explained his absence to friends. “People think I’m super close to my family. It’s a test of creativity to see what excuses you can come up with without getting called out.”

The Duke cheerleaders nominate students they think would be good at being the mascot, so no students know that an invitation to try out to be the Blue Devil is coming.

“I got a sketchy e-mail one day telling me to reply yes or no to it if I was interested, and of course I said yes,” says the Blue Devil.

The Blue Devil hopefuls have to go through multiple stages of try-outs before they can become one of the regulars. Duke’s cheerleading coach Alayne Rusnak says there are three students playing the Blue Devil right now.

The stages of the try-outs progress from

putting on the head at the beginning, to performing at a full athletic event if they are one of the finalists. One of the most important things they look for is creativity and how the students communicate with fans without words, because the Blue Devil can’t say anything.

“You need a mindset of always thinking about what you can do to draw attention to yourself,” says Dave Schmidt, an 2007 Duke graduate who acted as the Blue Devil for a year and a half while he was a student. “You have to be creative, appropriate, active and engaged.”

According to goduke.com, the Blue Devil comes from a group of French soldiers that fought in World War I and also helped raise money for the war effort. They had distinctive blue uniforms and Berets, leaving an impression on the public and inspiring the school when they were later trying to come up with a mascot that went well with the school colors. The Blue Devil officially became the mascot in the 1922-1923 school year.

Duke redesigned its mascot at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year to give it a new look. The head is slightly smaller, and the Blue Devil no longer has a big smile, instead wearing a more serious look.

“Most people think I’m the meanest of all the mascots because of the face,” says the Blue Devil. “But I don’t really mind.”

“My favorite part is the events we do for the hospitals, and really any events that make people smile.”

—A students who plays Rameses

Rameses When there’s a football game in Kenan Stadium on a warm fall day, there are rows after rows of fans showing their support by wearing their Carolina T-shirts. But not the students who play Rameses. Their décor is a 35-pound costume. But it’s just part of the job for these students, who also like to keep their identities secret.

They have to run around in it during games, crowd surf with it on, and carefully maneuver themselves so they don’t run into anyone because they have almost no peripheral vision.

“The biggest problem is not being able to see,” says one of the students who plays Rameses. “Sometimes you actually have to tilt the head down to be able to see in front of you. And if you’re not careful, you could actually walk straight over kids.”

But that doesn’t stop a lot of students from going to the open try-outs in hopes of becoming part of the select group of students who perform as Rameses. They use the

opportunity to show their ability to carry themselves in the costume and communicate non-verbally.

The mascot is almost completely studentrun, and the students who already perform as Rameses hold interviews and try-outs before making the final decision.

The only requirement, besides being a student at UNC-CH, is that the student is between 5 feet 5 inches tall and 6 feet 6 inches tall, otherwise the proportions of the outfit aren’t right. UNC-CH has four students right now who alternate among events, based on both seniority and whoever is available.

But the student previously mentioned, who asked to remain anonymous, lucked out and got to meet Dean Smith during his first activity as Rameses.

“I went to a blood drive over the first summer and Dean Smith was there,” he says. “I got to shake his hand, and the picture of it is on my parent’s mantel at home.”

But Rameses isn’t just involved in athletics. He is also active in community events and birthday parties.

“My favorite part is the events we do for the hospitals, and really any events that make people smile,” says the student. “It’s great to see kids’ faces light up when you come in as Rameses.”

According to the Tar Heel Traditions Web site, the mascot was inspired in 1924 by the UNC-CH football player Jack Merrit, who was also known as the “Battering Ram.” The head cheerleader, using the nickname as inspiration, asked UNC-CH’s business manager to buy a live ram. He hoped it would bring luck to the team, which wasn’t having a very good season, and lift the fans’ spirits.

Sure enough, at the first football game the ram attended, the team finished with a victory against Virginia Military Institute.

The ram has remained ever since.

BY AMANDA MICHELSON, UNC-CH

Rameses crowd surfs during a January 2008 game against the University of Maryland. The game resulted in the Tar Heels first loss of the season with an 82-80 final score in Maryland’s favor.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 23

Duke and UNC-CH cheerleaders balance the demands of intense practices and hectic schedules to cheer on the Blue Devils and Tar Heels despite the fact that they aren’t technically considered athletes.

t f do

n E rt

o h S

p S he

24 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

k c i t S t iri

By Becca Ward, Duke Design and graphics by Pamela Tseng, UNC-CH Photos by Brad Piland, UNC-CH

B

oth Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are schools that, among other things, pride themselves on sports.

Both schools’ fans support their teams tremendously, but no one gives as much tireless enthusiasm to both the athletes and audience as the Duke and UNC-CH cheerleaders.

UNC-CH does not categorize cheerleading under athletics; it falls under the Spirit Program along with the dance squad and mascot.

Duke Cheerleading falls under athletics, but with an exception.

“We’re definitely not a club sport, but we don’t compete inter-collegially so we’re not considered varsity athletes,” says sophomore Rachel Fleming, a Duke cheerleader and civil engineering major from Alexandria, Va. While not technically considered varsity athletes, both cheerleading teams show a dedication and commitment to what they do.

Duke cheerleaders practice nine hours and the UNC-CH squad practices eight hours a week. Both practices include choreography, tumbling and conditioning. In addition to practice, cheerleaders must arrive at basketball games an hour and a half early and up to three hours early for football games.

Scheduling classes can be daunting given the hours of practice, especially classes with labs. For most varsity athletes at Duke, a guaranteed first registration widow per year mitigates the struggle. However, Duke cheerleaders are expected to find classes that can merge with the practice schedule.

UNC-CH’s registration system allows any student group to appeal for early registration; no one is guaranteed the first window. This past semester, the cheerleaders, along with other athletes, were approved for early registration.

Another challenge is the travel required for games. While there is a system for Duke cheerleaders to miss class with a Dean’s ex-

cuse for off-campus competition, many cheerleaders say they have difficulties implementing the system. “I usually just talk to my professors at the beginning of the term with any possible conflicts and remind them closer to traveling” Fleming says.

But when needed, the cheerleaders have a more official voice coming from Duke Cheer Coach Alayne Rusnak. “I can always use the Duke letterhead to write the professor if they need a more official excuse,” she says.

Even with the Duke letter head, sometimes a professor can be reluctant to let a student go. “I had a professor that had a day I was missing marked as ‘very important’ and even though I explained that I couldn’t miss the game, she told me I ‘should pick what was more important’ to me,” Fleming says.

When asked if she thought this had anything to do with the fact she was cheering and not actually competing. Fleming says, “I don’t think it had anything to do with cheering, I think she was just hurt that of all the days, I had to miss that one.”

UNC-CH’s policy for missing classes also relies more on professors’ support than official regulations. Coach Brown Walters, UNC-CH’s cheerleading coach for the past 13 years, doesn’t know of a system that excuses athletes for travel and competition.

“I’ll always contact the professor directly in case of conflict and the professors have always been very considerate about traveling,” Walter’s says.

Both schools seem to rely on a case-bycase approach when it comes to missing class for competition. And thus far, both coaches seem very content with the treatment they receive and their respective universities.

“Duke has been like an extended family

Duke Cheerleaders practice nine hours a week in order to prepare for bakerball games. to me, and I feel blessed to be here” says Rusnak, who’s in her third year coaching the Duke cheerleaders and Dancing Devils.

UNC-CH has left an equally hospitable impression with Walters. “The University has done an excellent job supporting us. I give them an A,” he says.

Despite their official status as not-quiteathletes, it seems clear that the universities value their cheerleading squads. Coach Rusnak recalls “thanks and gratitude from all levels of the athletic department. From Coach K, Coach Cutcliff, the Athletic Director and even President Broadhead” she said.

Duke junior Hattie Cutliff, a Biomedical engineering major from Moroson, CO, says there are a few perks to being on the squad. “Of course food, hotel, and trav-

el is paid for when we travel for games” Cutcliff says. And then there’s always the swag. “We have sweat shirts, pants warm ups, uniforms and t-shirts and our shoes for cheering. That’s always a fun day of the year” adds Fleming.

But what makes the nine hours a week, six hours for football games, four hours for basketball games, and having professors tell you to ‘chose what’s more important’ worth it?

“What makes it worth to me is the group of girls I’m with. I love being involved in something so active within Duke.” Cutliff says.

And if that’s not enough, they always have the great seats for the UNC-Duke game.

25

STADIU HALF FU

Rival looks at why two of the nation be ignored by Duke and UNC-CH fa supporters say that while their fan b underappreciated when compared w

By Kathie Sun, Duke Photography By Jan Kook, UNC-CH Design By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH

26 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

UM ULL

n’s top basketball teams continue to ans. Women’s basketball’s biggest base is growing, they still remain with men’s basketball.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 27

I

t is 5 p.m. on the night of a crucial home game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Fans are huddled up in outerwear, lining up in front of the entrance for the chance to see the basketball players in action. Once inside, students wearing bright blue on their shirts, faces, and hair, scream “Let’s go Duke!” and collectively groan whenever the opposing team snatches away the ball.

However, among the rows of fans waving around T-shirts, there are several rows of noticeably empty seats.

Even in the student section, fans appear almost comfortable, some taking the liberty to sit. While this scene would be an anomaly at any men’s basketball game in Cameron, this crowd that gathered for a recent women’s game against top-ranked University of Connecticut was one of their largest this season.

At both the University of North Carolina and Duke University, two of the colleges most synonymous with

basketball fanaticism in the nation, the women’s sport lags behind its men’s counterpart dramatically in popularity and exposure. At 5 p.m. on the night of a men’s game against the number one seed in the NCAA, the student crowd would be lining up past the Blue Zone parking lot, with spectators crawling on top of each other for both air and the chance to see the tops of the players’ heads bob along the court.

This difference is striking even as coaches and assistants at both schools say that awareness for the women’s sport on the whole is increasing nationwide. Lauren Rice has been involved with the Duke women’s basketball team for over a decade, starting as a player in 1996 and returning a few years ago to help as a video coordinator. Since she graduated in 2000 with a double major in sociology and history, she noticed a definite increase in awareness of the team on campus and around the community.

Crucial in this rise in popularity is the

“Before there were Carolina fans that happened to stop by a game... ”

-Bobby Hundley, UNC-CH Sports Comm. Department

Photography By Jan Kook, UNC-CH

28 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

success of the WNBA and the support of the media – the NCAA tournament is now on ESPN. Strangers around the mall now occasionally recognize the players and a group of students especially dedicated to women’s basketball is forming The situation is echoed at UNC-CH, as Bobby Hundley of the UNC Sports Communication department says “before there were Carolina fans that happened to stop by a game, now a core of Carolina women’s basketball fans is starting to build.” Hundley admits that this year’s team is crippled by the loss of their top returning scorer, Jessica Breland, who is sitting out for Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment. Despite this setback, Hundley is confident that the team will be “highly competitive in tournament this year,” especially with the recent move back to Carmichael Auditorium. For the first game at this familiar yet renovated venue, fans poured in for the highest attendance of the season.

However, with just over 4,500 in attendance, the crowd cannot compare to the men’s team’s average of over 18,500 per game.

Duke’s games operate in a similar vein, with Rice staying optimistic about the chances for the team in the conference, led by strong seniors and juniors, but frustrated with the lack of strong student support.

Barbara Osborne, a UNC-CH professor specializing in sport administration, cites a historical discrimination against women’s sports. There is a masculine connection with sport in our society, which regards highly competitive women’s sports as either inferior forms or dominated by lesbians, she says .

This is quite a myth, but shows how deeply cultural constructs regarding gender are integrated into our society’s consciousness.

Even so, the climate today is much more welcoming compared to the earlier days of women’s athletics, particularly at universities.

Osborne recalls when Title IX, a requirement for NCAA schools to provide equal treatment and funding for women’s sports, was first passed, the statute encountered a good deal of resistance. Now, sports of both sexes and of all popularities are embraced as a part of collegiate culture.

The women’s basketball’s “below-the-rim” style is limited by physical differences, but this game is by no means less competitive.

Duke’s assistant coach Al Brown comments “the speed of the [women’s] game is different and the reaction time is different,” but that both are “physically demanding.” Rice emphasizes the purity of the women’s sport, explaining that the men’s version is more about flashy blocks and moves. The women play more fluidly, she says, like the sport in its original form. Not to say that women shy away from aggressive playing, but simply the two sexes provide different takes on

a much-beloved sport.

Women’s basketball is finding some die-hard converts, including Al Brown himself who worked for the men’s team at Tennessee before joining the Duke staff. Student support has been steadily growing also, epitomized by Duke sophomore Risa Isard. A Program II student from Phoenix, Isard worked as a team manager last year and tries to attend every home game. She rattles off statistics easily and speaks passionately on the rivalries with Maryland and Carolina. Isard is representative of the growing awareness of women’s basketball at Duke, making its women’s games 10th in the nation for attendance.

Slowly, the sport is gaining the recognition that it rightly deserves, as Rice points out that the women train and practice just as hard as the men do. In terms of conference performance, the women’s teams at both schools rank right up at the top with the men. In fact, according to Isard, the Duke women’s team has been first seed in three of the last four seasons. Despite a “glass-ceiling” with a glaring difference of popularity between women’s and men’s basketball at Duke and UNC-CH, the future looks bright for female athletes. Hopefully students’ passions for both shades of blue will reflect in games at Cameron and Carmichael, even if Scheyer and Thompson are not on the court.

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 29

Tobacco Road Manifesto

A quick view of the three campuses: UNC-CH, N.C. State and Duke.

Evan Sandoval breaks down the complex rivalry and speculates about how if Wake Forest never relocated to Winston-Salem, State would have a willing rival and the area might be called the Diamond instead of the Triangle.

By Evan Sandoval, UNC-CH Design and photos by Adrienne Wollman, UNC-CH

P

ositioned on the steps of the North Carolina State Capitol, you stand only two miles from North Carolina State University. There, you also stand 30 miles from both Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

It’s a unique place in which we live. All three of these universities are perennially ranked in “U.S. News and World Report”’s 30 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

“Best Colleges” rankings. All three are known and respected nationally for various areas of study, and all are responsible for the extreme growth of the Triangle in the past decade.

But, perhaps what makes this place most intriguing is the rivalry. It’s the hostility in competition, stemming from animosity or even jealousy, depending on where your allegiance lies. There is a constant drive

among these schools to be better than the other and the will for superiority exudes itself no stronger anywhere than in sports.

And if sports are the blood of Tobacco Road rivalries, college basketball is the heart. Here, basketball is made of heroics and legends. It is an undefeated season by Carolina in 1957, or Dean Smith and the four-corner offense with Phil Ford in the 1970s. It’s the miracle tournament run by

o

Jim Valvano and N.C. State in 1983 and “The Shot” by Michael Jordan in 1982.

Don’t forget the marvel of Christian Laettner’s game-winning shot versus The University of Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East Regional Finals.

The memorable moments are only outnumbered by the phenomenal players. The list begins with Michael Jordan followed by a multitude of names like James Worthy, Vince Carter and Tyler Hansbrough of Carolina; Grant Hill, Elton Brand and Bobby Hurley of Duke; and David Thompson and Julius Hodge of N.C. State.

And then, there is Duke versus Carolina.

It is THE rivalry of the region, and outside of the Boston-New York and Ohio StateMichigan areas, it is arguably the greatest rivalry in American sports. Every year the two games played between these teams are considered – outside of a national championship – the most important game of the season.

Singular legacies are created in the rivalry. Jeff Capel will always be remembered here – within these 30 miles – for hitting a half-court shot to send a 1995 regular season game against Carolina into double overtime. The essence of “Psycho T” was shown when Gerald Henderson elbowed Tyler Hansbrough’s nose in the waning seconds of a 2007 meeting. The contact caused Hansbrough’s nose to bleed profusely, tarnishing an otherwise impressive victory by the Tar Heels.

Interestingly, the hype and storied history that surrounds the Duke-Carolina rivalry is almost nonexistent in the N.C. State-Duke

or N.C. State-Carolina rivalries. Well, maybe that depends on how close you live to the Capitol.

Little brother

Imagine a family of three brothers, two older and one younger. The older brothers have a heated rivalry in basketball.

Each match is ultra-spirited, and the winner relishes in his bragging rights while the loser is left feeling despair. Now steps

Illustration by Pamela Tseng. in the younger brother. Try as he might, he just cannot seem to beat or gain the respect of his older siblings. They view a match against the younger as just another game, as opposed to the impassioned and anticipated match against their virtual equal.

History: the Duke-Carolina Rivalry

Even if the younger brother finds victory, it’s shrugged off as a fluke.

This anecdote illustrates the view that many Duke and UNC-CH students hold of their neighboring capital-city rivals.

“We’re just better than them,” says Erin Dautridge, a senior business major at UNC-CH from Rocky Mount. “And I can’t stand it when they beat us. It’s like the biggest thing in the world to them, and we don’t even care.”

N.C. State students are aware of the inadequacies of their team alongside the two bordering national powers, but they still fight for respect in the rivalry.

It’s no secret either, that one of their nearby nemeses is met with more hostility than the other.

To play Duke is a big deal at N.C. State, but to play Carolina is, much like Duke versus Carolina, the game of the year. In the N.C. State fight song, “The Red and White from State,” a line reads, “Come over the hill, Carolina. Devils and Deacs stand in line.” If you attend an N.C. State sporting event, however, the fans scream, “Go to hell, Carolina,” instead of “Come over the hill, Carolina.”

By Clare White, UNC-CH Graphics by Adrienne Wollman, UNC-CH

The Battle of Tobacco Road. Tar Heels versus Blue Devils. The Battle of the Blues. The CarolinaDuke Game. No matter what name you give it, the clash of these two basketball titans has been hailed as one of the greatest sports rivalries of all time.

Jan. 24, 1920

In the game that would kick off a 90-year tradition, Carolina plays Trinity College, which is later renamed the more familiar Duke University in 1924. Carolina took an 18-15 halftime lead before finally winning 36-25.

1920

1930

1940

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 31

Tim Felton, an N.C. State communications major from Nashville, N.C., says, “I know it might not be a big rivalry to [Carolina], but it’s big for us, OK.” Felton is right. It’s not really a big rivalry for Carolina fans. In fact, UNC-CH does the same type of insertion in their fight song that N.C. State does. In the final line of the official fight song, the chant “Rah! Rah! Rah!” is the correct lyric. But, UNC-CH students insert “Go to hell, Duke!” instead.

Duke doesn’t need to show their preferred hatred for UNC-CH lyrically. Just tune into ESPN the week of a Duke-Carolina game and see the hundreds of Cameron Crazies sleeping in tents, all for a chance to get tickets to the game.

So, what happened? How did N.C. State become the little brother in the Triangle basketball rivalry? After all, the impertinent attitudes of Duke and Carolina toward N.C. State didn’t just spontaneously occur.

Well, attitudes are the result of our values and beliefs, and Duke and Carolina fans believe they are better, in almost every way, than N.C. State, and there are a number of reasons why.

Duke is 10 on the U.S. News and World Report “2010 Best Colleges” rankings; North Carolina is tied for 28th. N.C. State, while still respectable, is ranked 88th. The academics at the former two schools are better recognized nationally than N.C. State’s and with that comes harder admissions, likely better professors and more resources.

Here’s a joke: What do an N.C. State, a UNC-CH, and a Duke student have in

Feb. 3, 1962 Legendary Carolina Coach Dean Smith faces the

Blue Devils for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke triumphs 79-57 that night, and Smith would go on to have the only losing season in his 36 years of coaching the Tar Heels.

Over the course of his career, Smith is named the National Coach of the Year four times. In 2006, he is inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith’s legacy includes becoming the namesake for Carolina’s Dean E. Smith Center – affectionately known as the Dean Dome – cementing his place in Tar Heel history.

1950

32 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

common?

They all got into N.C. State.

Or, have you ever heard that an N.C. State graduate will get a job, all right – delivering pizzas to a Duke or UNC-CH graduate.

I remember hearing these jokes as a kid, forming an existing ideology that as UNCCH and Duke students, we, most likely, will have better opportunities than an N.C. State student. Whether that’s true or not is to be determined, but it is what we believe, and therefore, helps shape our patronizing attitudes toward N.C. State.

Academia is just the first chapter of the doctrine on N.C. State’s assumed inferiority.

The closer the better

Add proximity to the list. Duke and UNCCH are only eight miles apart. It’s incredible really, that two of the nation’s top 30 universities stand so near each other. What about style and history, too? Both Duke and UNC-CH have intimate campuses, with the cities built around them. N.C. State, on the other hand, is built around the city of Raleigh. It is an important part of Raleigh, but the city would survive without it. Chapel Hill would struggle mightily without the presence of Carolina. Additionally, Duke and Carolina were founded much earlier than N.C. State. UNC-CH was founded almost 100 years before and Duke nearly 50 years.

Most importantly, there are the unbiased facts that Duke and Carolina just have superior basketball programs. They do now and they did then. According to

the NCAA’s historical archives, at the end of the 2008-09 season, Carolina is the second winningest program in NCAA college basketball history with 1,984 wins. Duke ranks fourth with 1,877 wins. N.C. State is a reputable 26th with 1,584 wins, but still nowhere near the total of the other programs.

Duke and Carolina have also won more championships than N.C. State. Carolina holds six and Duke three, compared to N.C. State’s two.

Moreover, there is a glaring disparity in the quality of personnel, past and present, in each program. Dean Smith ranks as the second winningest coach in college basketball history with 879 wins. As of the 200809, Mike Krzyzewski ranks 10th all-time with 804 wins. Roy Williams had 560 wins, but also holds the highest winning percentage among active coaches at about 81 percent. Norm Sloan is N.C. State’s winningest coach with 630 wins; he comes in at 40 on the list, all according to NCAA coaching record archives.

Along with legendary coaches, Duke and Carolina have produced far more NBA players and perennially attract far more high school All-Americans than N.C. State. Basketballreference.com lists 74 players from Carolina who have played in the NBA/ABA with five hall-of-famers. Duke has had 50 players make it in the league and N.C. State 44. Additionally, Carolina has successfully recruited 19 McDonald’s High School All-Americans during the 2000s and Duke recruited 21. The programs have been the top destinations for McDonald’s All-Americans since 1977 with 58 (Caro-

Feb. 28, 1981

After trading leads with North Carolina in a grueling skirmish, Duke senior Gene Banks hits a 22-foot buzzer shot to tie the game. Banks delivers the final blow in overtime to win against the Tar Heels 66-65. The game wraps up Coach Mike Krzyzewski‘s first season, and also signals the beginning of his legendary coaching career. Also known more familiarly as “Coach K,” Krzyzewski leads the Blue Devils to three NCAA national championships and 10 Final Fours during his 29year tenure at Duke. He is named “America’s Best Coach” by “Time” magazine in 2001.

1960

March 3, 1984

In what would be senior Michael Jordan’s final home game, the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils once again battle to the bitter end in an exhilarating double overtime. After hitting a buzzer-beater in the last second, Matt Doherty takes the Tar Heels into the first overtime. Duke and Carolina go into the second overtime tied at 79, but the Tar Heels come out on top with a final score of 96-83.

1970

“We’re just better than them. And I can’t stand it when they beat us. It’s like the biggest thing in the world to them, and we don’t even care.” lina) and 48 (Duke), according to Statsheet. com. Comparatively, N.C. State has only had 11 since 1977 and four in the 2000s.

If you’ve ever heard the term “blue-blood” in college basketball, it’s a reference to the greatest and most storied programs. Duke, North Carolina, The University of Kansas, Kentucky and the University of California at Los Angeles are widely considered the five greatest college basketball programs of all time, and, of course, they all share a shade of blue as their primary color. The programs value legendary coaches, allAmerican players, and a lot of wins and championships, and because they’ve all excelled at what they value, they believe they are the best.

But, it seems, Duke and Carolina don’t just believe they’re better than N.C. State – they know it. Consequently, N.C. State will always be viewed as second tier in the Triangle, even if, in comparison with the rest of college basketball, they are actually pretty good.

A rival of their own

It’s interesting to note that perhaps N.C. State would never have had to endure this complex of insufficiency towards Duke and, primarily Carolina, had Wake Forest

Feb. 28, 1998

The stage is set for another explosive game between the two basketball powerhouses; Duke is ranked No. 1 and Carolina No. 3.

Duke freshman Elton Brand – while still recovering from a broken foot – ignites a passionate comeback for the Blue Devils with an eight-point rally that brings them back after trailing 64-47. After briefly tying with North Carolina at 75 points, Duke wins the game 77-75, effectively securing Coach K’s 500th career victory.

1980

1990

-Erin Dautridge

University not relocated in 1956.

The town of Wake Forest is a suburb of Raleigh, located about 20 miles from the Capitol. The University was founded there in 1834 but decided to move to WinstonSalem, which is about an hour and a half from the Triangle, because of a large donation given to the school in 1946. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation donated about 350 acres of woods on the “Reynolda” estate in the city. As a result, the University decided to move there by 1956.

The schools would have had, essentially, an inter-city rivalry. Also, both schools hold similar historical statistics in basketball: N.C. State had 1,584 wins as of 2009 and Wake Forest had 1,401. The schools are similar in recruiting as well, with Wake Forest securing only three McDonald’s AllAmericans in the 2000s and eight since 1977.

Additionally, each school has had rather equally regarded coaches and players. Wake Forest had dynamic players Tim Duncan and Chris Paul and respected coaches like Dave Odom and Skip Prosser, but the depth of talent at either university hardly matches their blue-blooded neighbors.

Yes, it’s certainly an intriguing thought to consider. What could have been? Would

we be living in the Diamond, instead of the Triangle? As distinctive as this region is with three major universities, four would be something extraordinary (Wake Forest is actually tied with UNC-CH, ranked 28th in the U.S. News and World Report rankings).

“Man, that would be crazy,” says William Rackley, a senior agriculture business major at N.C. State from Red Oak. “We wouldn’t have to worry so much about [Carolina] then.”

It’s back to reality, though, where N.C. State continues to fight off the junior varsity status when compared to Duke and Carolina.

The “N.C. State Fight Song” reads: “Shout aloud to the men, who will play the game to win.

We’re behind you, keep fighting for State.

Hold that line; hold ‘em fast, We will reach vict’ry at last We’re behind you, keep fighting for State.

Rise up to the fray, and let your colors wave, Shout out for dear old N.C. State (Go State!); And where ever we go, We’ll let the whole world know, We’re behind you, keep fighting for State!”

Maybe they will reach victory at last, or at least respect among their peers. Until then, at least you can’t say they’re inferior in loyalty.

March 4, 2006

In a scene reminiscent of David and Goliath, Carolina first-year Tyler Hansbrough brings down Duke senior and National Player of the Year, J.J. Redick. Also on Duke’s impressive line-up is two-time National Defensive Player of the Year, Shelden Williams. With No. 1 ranked Blue Devils taking an early lead, it looks as if Duke will be vindicated on their senior night. The tide turns during the second half, however, when the Tar Heels thwart the Blue Devils with a final score of 83-76. This encounter also makes history as the most-watched men’s college basketball game ever.

March 4, 2007

Out for blood – figuratively and literally – Duke’s team remains fiercely competitive throughout the game but is unable to overcome North Carolina’s comfortable lead. It is with 14.5 seconds left in game that Hansbrough takes an elbow to the face from Duke’s Gerald Henderson while going for a layup. The gruesome image of blood dripping from his nose and mouth seems to make Hansbrough’s nickname “Psycho T” particularly appropriate. With Henderson ejected from the game for a combative foul, the Tar Heels go on to win 86-72.

2000

2010

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 33

By

the book: Basketball Arenas UNC-CH Official Name:

Nickname:

Capacity:

Opening Date:

Renovations:

Initial Cost:

Result of the first game:

Home Wins-Losses:

NCAA Championship Banners

Number of Jerseys retired:

Number of Coaches:

DUKE

Dean E. Smith Center

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Dean Dome

Cameron

21,750

9,314

January 1986

January 6, 1940

Fall 2001

1980s

$33.8 million

$400,000

Beat Duke by 3

Beat Princeton by 9

285 - 52

851 - 185

1957, ‘82, ‘93, ‘05, ‘09

1991, ‘92, ‘01

8

13

4

8

Notes:

UNC Coaches:

Duke Coaches:

Bill Guthridge, 1997-2000

Gerry Gerard, 1943-1950

Dean Smith, 1961-1997

Matt Doherty, 2000-2003

Roy Williams, 2003 –present

34 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 3

Eddie Cameron, 1929-1942

Bucky Waters, 1970-1973

Harold Bradley, 1951-1959

Bill Foster, 1975-1980

Vic Bubas, 1960-1969

Neill McGeachy, 1974

Mike Krzyzewski, 1980-present

f o the t u O Blue...

Most Carolina students will be quick to complain about the latest men’s basketball student ticket distribution policies. But Kyle Olson, a sophomore international studies major from Stafford, Va., decided to take the new ticket policy into his own hands. He created the Facebook group, “UNC Basketball Ticket Group” a week before the first game of this season. “I got a ticket to the game and I was like ‘I have no idea who’s going to this game,’” Olson says. His idea for the group was to create a network for students to find friends who had tickets to the same game. But with almost 3,000 members in the group, its main use is now ticket trading. “I think that a lot of people have been really disappointed with the ticket policy and that sucks,” he says. In the end, the goal is to get people to go to games, Olson says “and it’s more fun when you’re sitting with friends.”

By Mary Lide Parker, UNC-CH

Next time you attend a basketball game in Cameron Indoor Stadium (or watch one from eight miles down the road), take a close look at Duke University’s Pep Band.

Standing towards the back of the brass section is Steve Nowicki, Duke’s dean and vice provost of undergraduate education. He started playing in the 2004-2005 season but stopped after two years. “Following the lead of basketball greats,” he says, “I came out of retirement in 2007.” Aside from scoring an easy ticket into Cameron and enjoying the intensity of Cameron Crazies from the floor level, playing in the band is one of Nowicki’s many ways to “mix it up” with students. He mixes it up musically as well; Nowicki plays both trombone and tuba, depending on what the band needs each game. You can also find him at center court when the Blue Devil surfs over a sea of band members’ rolling bodies. Another reason he likes being in the band? “My wife likes to watch me surf.” By Emily McGinty, Duke

Winning the NCAA men’s national basketball title on April 6, 2009, meant increased bragging rights and rushing Franklin Street for most UNC-CH students, but for Felicia Lowrance, a senior American studies and history major from Lincolnton, it meant a drastic change in her daily life. She is a manager of Johnny T-Shirt, a store that sells UNC-CH merchandise on Franklin Street, where she worked 80 hours the week of and following the game. It expanded its inventory, changed its layout and extended store hours after the championship to accommodate the new rush of customers. But she says she enjoyed the increased responsibility because, “Everyone was euphoric in the wake of the championship, which made the working atmosphere even better and the experience more memorable.” She is involved on campus as the co-chair of the Biomedical Committee of the American Red Cross Club, cofounder and co-president of the Order of the Old North State, and interns with the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. By Claire Schmitt, UNC-CH

February 2010• RIVAL MAGAZINE 35

Where are they from?

They play about 10 mi. apart in North Carolina, but they come from all across the continental United States. Find out the hometowns of your favorite men’s basketball players.

SOURCES: GoDuke.com, Tarheelblue.com

RI AL

RivalMagazine.wordpress.com February 2010 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 36