Last Splash

Friday, 23 February 2007

I take for granted sometimes the significance of growing up on what the rest of the country knows as "Tobacco Road". I was looking at TSN today, the Canadian version of our ESPN, and saw that one of the stories was headlined something like "Wesley scores OT Game Winner in Tobacco Road showdown". A hockey report even refers to this area as the basketball capital.

It's not always fun and games, either. Some of you may or may not know, but Carolina fans...for the sake of my sanity I will explain that the teams here are refered to as simply 'State' (NCSU) and 'Carolina' (UNC)...and of course, Duke...in any case, Carolina fans have a long-standing tradition of setting fires in the throng on Franklin Street and jumping over them. Most normal schools just set a huge bonfire for everyone to enjoy, but in Chapel Hill, it's more thrilling to be in the intimate circle that crushes the hole around the fire smaller and smaller as students anticipate the risk involved in randomly leaping over as someone else does the same, the probability of collision making everything just that much more exciting. So, imagine my disgust when I had to sit through almost 45 minutes of 'extra game coverage' after Carolina's victory over Duke a couple of weeks ago, which turned out to be a helicopter shot of the craziness on Franklin Street zooming in and out on different little fires as well-respected nightly news anchors stammered to find things to talk about. This occured from 11:14 or so until almost midnight, when the local news finally began.

Now, some may point out that I am bitter because I'm a State fan, and there was a bit of drunken zaniness occuring on Hillsborough St in Raleigh when my team, picked last in the ACC this season, stomped the number 4 Tarheels. We had no more than the obligatory 5 minutes at the beginning of the broadcast and about 2 minutes of the sports report. That's all well and good. What bothers me is that UNC's victory garnered more attention from the local news (based in Raleigh, not Chapel Hill or Durham) that even the ACC championship, or for God's sake, our own Carolina Hurricanes winning the most prized (and most difficult to win in my own humble opinion) trophy in professional sports.

That's right, my friends. College basketball is still the sport du jour in the Triangle. Even a Stanley Cup can't change that. And while it doesn't really bother me all that much, I still feel like our World Champion hockey team deserved a little more respect than an average, mid-season basketball game. Let's all hope that UNC loses in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and takes the hype with it.