Round 2

Round 2 of the 2008 edition of the UNC-Duke Men's Basketball rivalry went to North Carolina on Saturday night, as you may have heard somewhere or other recently. Preparing for the game I decided to determine the win-loss record of the two teams in this rivalry during my era of fandom, which dates back to the 1986-1987 season, my first year living in Chapel Hill. Saturday night marked the 53rd time I have watched these teams play each other, and during that time, UNC has won 25 times and Duke has won 28 games.


As we were watching the pregame show on ESPN I tried to bring my daughter "up to speed" on this rivalry, but it is extremely hard to do that. How do you explain the Jerry Stackhouse Jam game, the Bloody Montross game, the 1995 102-100 UNC victory in double overtime to someone who hasn't seen them? Telling someone else about the 1991 ACC Tournament final where UNC beat Duke by 22 points does not convey how much fun it was to watch that game as a Tar Heel fan. Of course, a few weeks later Duke won the NCAA Tournament that year, which I am sure helped ease their pain that time around.


But before the game last Saturday night Duke fans and the teams and coaches involved made a wonderful gesture of support for the UNC family, and I want to commend them for what they did. During the week before the game Eve Carson, the UNC Student Body President and a Senior at Carolina, was murdered senselessly approximately 5:00 am in a neighborhood near campus. My boss lives in that neighborhood and he and his family heard the gun shots that took her life. The entire Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill community network has been shaken by this tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family.


Before the game, the Duke students arranged to give out Carolina Blue ribbons to everyone at the game, and a nationally televised moment of silence was held in her honor, and in the honor of a Duke University graduate student who was also recently murdered. I cannot quote the game announcer precisely, but the gist of what he said was that for a moment everyone was asked to demonstrate that we are not only rivals, but also one community, and the loss was a common loss that should be mourned.


There are a lot of things UNC and Duke collaborate on. I am a graduate of both universities, and I have lectured on both campuses. The two schools are located less than 10 miles apart. Students can take classes in both universities, and we see each other and live in close proximity all the time. We take the basketball rivalry very seriously, but we also know when and where the lines of rivalry and community lie. And for that night, the game was intense and hard fought, but both before and after it was over, there was no denying that community was also shown that night in Durham.