Duke or North Carolina: A Battle of the Fans

There are many big rivalries in sports: Yankees vs. Red Sox, Michigan vs. Ohio State, Washington vs. Washington State, even Yale vs. Harvard. And that's just the beginning.

But the "end" of sports rivalries is the Duke Blue Devils versus the North Carolina Tar Heels. Both have always had great teams and great players; do headliners like UNC's Michael Jordan or Duke’s Grant Hill and Christian Laettner ring a bell?

It's the fiercest battle in all of sports; the teams hate each other in ways no words can describe. Comparing and contrasting true the Duke fan's take with the true North Carolina fan's take will illustrate what it's all about.

Although both teams have great college basketball programs, you cannot be a fan of both. If you are a true fan of Duke, you must hate North Carolina. If you are a true fan of North Carolina, you must hate Duke.

The history between these teams has gone back many years with many great games showcasing gifted talent. The campuses are located about eight miles apart, in the heart of North Carolina, off Tobacco Road.

How good are these teams? They’re the two most dominant college basketball programs of the past 25 years, with six national championships and 19 Final Fours between them. North Carolina leads the all-time series, with 123 wins and 94 losses.

They both have had some success in the big games, with Duke winning three National Championships and North Carolina winning five. Duke has made it to the Final Four 12 times, to North Carolina’s 15.

When it comes to Duke fans, they aren't called the “Cameron Crazies” (a nickname derived from where the Blue Devils play, Cameron Indoor Stadium) for nothing. The collective hatred for North Carolina has gone so far, that a fan once said,

“From the days of Eric Montross to the days of Sean May and Co. that won it all in 2005, the Tar Heels have always made me sick to my stomach.”

Another fan once said, “What a joy it was for me when Gerald Henderson busted Hansborough’s nose wide open last season.”

Some people may ask how one team can hate another team when they're composed of different players every year. Well, the Duke fan would reply that the hate for Carolina isn't towards the whole team, but rather towards certain players. Sam Perkins, Eric Montross, Rick Fox, Jerry Stackhouse, Sean May, Tyler Hansborough, Reyshaun Terry, and Brandon Wright would make a list of most-despised Tar Heels.

But it isn’t the hate for North Carolina that makes Duke fans great; it’s their love for their own team as well. The university is known for its loud fans and great atmosphere at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The typical Dookie is so stirred with emotion, they believe rooting for Duke is like cheering for good against evil (UNC, natch).

In an article written by a Duke fan, he says that he went to a game at the University of North Carolina and sat between two UNC fans, wearing a Duke hooded sweatshirt with a sign on the back saying “Duke Fans Only.”

He ended the article by saying, “So to all of my fellow Duke fans, I did manage to make it out of Chapel Hill safely, despite my screaming and gloating towards Carolina fans after the game."

That shows what this rivalry means to all Duke fans across the nation.

Now, before you think Duke fans are the bad guys in this war, North Carolina fans have the same sentiment for Duke.

In an article by a UNC fan about the rivalry, he says that a North Carolina alumnus had to interview a Duke grad for a job, and said that the interview was 30 minutes of his life he could never get back, because there was no way in hell he would ever hire a Duke kid. That shows how North Carolina hates Duke just as much.

The students from each school may all come from the North Carolina area, but they are born and raised in towns where you must choose one side or the other.

“After all, I need to get a good look at those pimply faces and beady eyes—if any of those 'Dookies' ever show up in my office sans body paint, looking for a job, I want to be able to spot them for the loathsome creatures they are.” It is like they are of a different race from each other, a different ethnicity, but both groups love their teams an equal amount.

The above-referenced article also says that cheering for North Carolina is like cheering for the "common good." This is why the Duke-North Carolina rivalry has such a strong tradition.

Every year they paint their bodies and camp out at the stadium to get ready to watch their favorite game against the rival school; this year will be no different. These are two biases that basically form the opposite poles of the basketball spectrum.

The Duke fan, of course, will talk about how good Duke is and how bad North Carolina is. The North Carolina fan will do the opposite.

But it doesn’t matter what either one says about the other. What matters is who will come out on top this year and who will go further in the NCAA Tournament.

So now, you choose who you like. If you like both, then I'm sorry—you just aren't a true fan of college basketball.