For one, I never felt like the campus fully backed their sports teams, which doesn't help an undergrad that didn't grow up watching their sports teams become part of the fan base. Also, with the Arizona Cardinals playing in the same stadium as the Sun Devils, and me having strong feelings against that franchise, it created more of a distance between me and the team. I also lived off campus thus keeping me from some of the in-campus activities that foster team spirit. Lastly, ASU didn't really have an alternative sports program that was promoted enough for fans to attend to. The basketball team stunk something else and while the baseball team has been fantastic for quite some time, I never felt like it was promoted enough and I just missed out on it. In the end, I just made it through 4 years of undergrad basically having attended 1 sports event I can remember, a University of Arizona-ASU basketball game that ASU miraculosly won. Oddly enough, I have found myself following ASU athletics more since I left ASU.
This brings me to UNC. When it comes to college spirit and making you feel part of the family, UNC is completely opposite to ASU. I am sure having one of the classiest DI basketball programs helps, but when I started graduate school in 2002 the pride and joy of the town was the soccer program. Even so, from day one I was enveloped in what it is to be a Tar Heel. The wonderful college atmosphere of the Chapel Hill campus is at polar opposites of the metropolitan ASU campus, and even Vanderbilt campus where I work now. Living in Chapel Hill means being and breathing Tar Heel blue. It is ubiquitous, from the stadium seats, to the subsidized public transportation, to the wonderful Carolina Blue fire engines. That said, while a college campus helps foment crazed fans, it is not an absolute requirement. I had the pleasure of interviewing at the University of Texas-Austin when I was looking at graduate programs. While UT is in Austin, a decently sized metro area, it still breathes UT athletics.
While I think a very important factor in creating a good collegiate atmosphere is winning, there are plenty of programs out there with deranged fans that do not win on a frequent basis, especially in the big 3-football, basketball, baseball (think Ivy League, for example). Another factor is the close to religious experience that it can be to attend a sporting event.
My first year at UNC, coming off an 8-20 season, I attended a fall 2002 game between UNC and a low end DI program. Our seats were on the last row of the Dean Dome and for someone that didn't grow up watching UNC-basketball this should have been nothing more than attending a basketball game between a big DI program and a small one. Yet, I clearly remember getting goose bumps when I reached my seat and turned around to see the beautiful hardwood court of the Dean Dome. Then, I was baptized a Tar Heel when the team hit the hardwood minutes before the start of the game and the crowd started chanting:
I'm a Tar Heel born
I'm a Tar Heel bred
And when I die
I'm a Tar Heel dead.
So it's Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah! Rah! Rah!
I'm a Tar Heel bred
And when I die
I'm a Tar Heel dead.
So it's Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah, Rah, Car'lina-lina
Rah! Rah! Rah!
6 comments:
Go to Hell Duke.
I never really followed sports until high school when the Manual boys' basketball team won three of their four straight state championships. The core of those teams, McClain, Williams and Griffen, all went to U of I and I became a U of I fan by default. They have had some crappy seasons, some mediocre and some excellent seasons and go crazy when basketball season rolls around. I attended school at SIUC and became a fan of the basketball team and Bruce Weber and I'm glad SIU and the Illini don't play each other during the regular season because I would have a hard time picking one to root for. SIU looks okay this year but it seems as if the Illini are set for a rough go of it. Lack of a shooting guard and inconsistent play by the guy who is supposed to dominate (Brian Randle) are going to kill them. Shaun Pruitt will have a good year but he might be the only one who does.
When I moved to Chapel Hill, I had no idea what it was like to live in one of America's great college towns. I'd never experienced a place where everyone's life revolved around the same thing. Additionally, I didn't understand the role of athletics in the college experience. It's nothing short of a religion... and I mean that in both good and bad ways. It's about defining yourselves as a collective "us", and in turn, defining everyone as a collective "them." It's created in me a level of partisanship that I've not experienced otherwise.
And you're right about it being ubiquitous. The blue fire trucks are a big part of that, the fact that practically everybody in the town attends or is employed by Carolina is part of that, but I also think a part of it, at least athletically, is that it really feels like we're all part of something together. I mean, we eat at the same restaurants as the coaches and players, we shop in the same stores, we literally see these people all the time. It's a small enough place that it feels like we really share experiences with the players and coaches.
But sheesh, Bernardo, you're making me nostalgic. When you get right down to it, Chapel Hill is home to me. I've never been more comfortable than I am when I'm in Chapel Hill. And honestly, I miss it like crazy. I live 10 miles away, I still spend 40 hours a week there, and I miss it like crazy.
One of the great things about Carolina athletics is that most of the teams are 100% class acts. Roy Williams would never tolerate poor behavior in his players. He'd rather not have them play.
On the flip side, I did go to undergrad in an even more authentically college town (Blacksburg). And I LOVE Blacksburg. But, there the big sport was football. Beemer lets his players run wild. I was absolutely sickened by their behavior as thugs. I was there before the days of the Vicks, and the players were constantly getting arrested for picking fights at bars and parties, harassing other students, and in the case of the quarterback previous to Michael Vick, Drakenmiller (spelling?) was arrested for rape. And now look at the two Vick alumi. I can't ever support VT football as long as Beemer reigns.
That's Jim Druckenmiller, not Drakenmiller.
Could be Drunken-miller too.
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