The Greatest Rivalry in Sports
Two schools. Eight miles. 230 games. The Tar Heels versus the Blue Devils IS the greatest rivalry in sports, and I stand by that. The Tobacco Road Rivalry runs deep and has been a huge part of my Carolina Experience.
I LOVE college basketball. I mean I really love college basketball, like March Madness is a month long sacred holiday. Prior to my senior year, I had rushed Franklin Street six times. SIX TIMES; that’s crazy. And one of them was for a National Championship! But this is about the rivalry, so I’ve seen Carolina beat Duke 5 times as a student so far.
My freshman year, my future roommate, Lindsey and I each won a student ticket to see the heels beat Duke in the Dean Dome. Our tickets were Phase 5 out of 5, meaning we went into the stadium last. We might have been in the very last row, but we heard the GOAT Michael Jordan say the iconic and confusing phrase, “The ceiling is the roof.” He wasn’t wrong…the ceiling…is…the roof. We would know, since we could literally reach up and touch the ceiling/roof. That game, I learned quickly that the race to Franklin Street from the Dean Dome is, well, not quick. I was so incredibly lucky to win a ticket and see my heels win the rivalry at home the same amazing year we went all the way to win our 7th National Championship.
And it only got better. While I didn’t go to the home game my sophomore year, I watched it with friends at the restaurant Buns on Franklin Street. It’s located right near the corner of Franklin and Columbia Street and we were some of the very first people in the intersection rushing Franklin street.
My junior year, the home rivalry game was right before spring break and I didn’t win a ticket. Lindsey and I decided to wait in the Turn it Back line: a system where you get in line…wait for about six hours…with check-ins every 30 minutes… and at the end of those six hours, Carolina Athletics gives out an unknown amount of tickets in unknown sections. The tickets were turned back in by ticket-holders not going to the game who were kind enough to give students a chance to go. And we got them! The wait was worth it because that game sent us sprinting to Franklin Street.
When I entered the ticket lottery my senior year, using my “senior status,” a boost to better ensure I win a good ticket, my heart sank when I opened an email with a Phase 4 out of 5 ticket. That’s not how it was supposed to happen. I did my time. I loved this team, entered every ticket lottery over the years, streamed every away game, and talked about the rivalry to anyone that would listen about how much I cared about it. I was upset, but one of my most amazing friends, Jenny Hu, the angel of this year’s game day, traded me her Phase 2 ticket for my Phase 4. I was going to see the greatest rivalry in sports in the lower level!! I showed up at 8am to get in line for a 6 o’clock game and got into the Dean Dome 2 hours before tip off. It was happening and I was so excited. Last night’s game was one of the most exciting I will ever watch in person. Every player left it all on the court. Joel Berry’s jersey was lit up in the rafters. I had so much hope of rushing Franklin Street and my heart rate was so high. In the end, a buzzer beater by Duke…sucked. Watching their team rush our court sucked. Seeing B-Rob on the bench, Platek, Leaky, Garrison, and Cole’s faces fall sucked. I’ll admit it, I cried. This might just be a game, but it held a lot of meaning for me my senior year. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade that experience, exactly as it happened, for anything. I said the ending sucked (a few times) but the day itself was amazing. I did the time honored tradition of waiting for hours to see an incredibly exciting game where I lost my voice cheering for my team.
In addition to the actual game, College Gameday came to Chapel Hill twice, and I went both times! Last year, I was in a video Rece Davis posted on his twitter as well as in the background of a picture Courtney Decker’s amazing sign posted on College Gameday’s Instagram. This year, I got a picture with Jay Bilas when he called me out of the crowd after he saw my sign. College Gameday has been a huge part of my love of this rivalry.
In the last 100 meetings before last night’s game against each other, each team had 50 wins and 7,746 points in the rivalry. That’s right, exactly the same number. There’s about a .1 (POINT ONE) percent chance of that happening, and yet that’s the record! Today, Duke has one more win and two more points…until the next meeting. In my time in Chapel Hill as a Tar Heel fires have been jumped and crossing signs have been climbed in the name of the tobacco road rivalry, the battle of the blues, the blue blood rivalry. They don’t call it the greatest rivalry in sports for nothing.
