In my mind I’m going to Carolina…

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I can’t really explain it.  James Taylor sang about it best.  There is something magical about growing up in North Carolina that maybe only people in boston and new york or michigan and ohio can understand.  It’s often called one of the best rivalries in all of sports–the Carolina-Duke rivalry.  The real 8 mile (sorry Eminem).  The Dean.  Coach K.  Grant Hill straddling the back of a bloodied Eric Montross after a monster dunk.  Danny Green putting deez nuts in Paulus’s face on a one handed jam.  It’s Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse, Elton Brand…the list of household names almost seem endless.

Whoever your favorite player or whatever you favorite memory of the series maybe, one thing is absolutely certain.  There is no other basketball game that is as anticpated each year as these 2 meetings.  Two of the four all time winningest basketball programs in the world beating the crap out of each other no matter how many All-Americans or walkons grace the teams year in and year out.  The games almost always go down to the wire to determine the winner, yet in the end everyone wins because we have just witnessed 40 minutes of amazing competitiveness.  This is how the game is meant to be played.  Passion, outstanding individual performances, teamwork and defense, crazed fans and unsung heroes.   In our day and age, when steriods and scandal are running rampant through sports, it’s good to celebrate amateur athletes performing on the grandest stage of them all, fueled by the sheer desire to not lose to the team in the other shade of blue.  Especially if its Dookie Blue!

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