Here at Triangle Offense headquarters, we thought about traveling to Atlanta for the ACC Tournament.
A few seconds later, we gave up. Fortunately, Besha Rodell, ex-Indy food writer who now covers the culinary scene for Creative Loafing in Atlanta, has donned the mantle of alt-weekly scribbler-turned-sports journalist.
She’s blogging from the Georgia Dome this weekend and we’ll send along her posts. First, though, we want to quote her appreciative reminiscence of her basketball coming of age, in Chapel Hill, N.C.:
Try being a non-basketball fan in Chapel Hill, and see how lonely you are. For a couple of years when I first moved there, I resisted. During games the town would clear out and I’d sit in cafes or bars looking out over the empty streets and shake my head. What was wrong with this town? Everyone in Chapel Hill cares about the basketball. There is no such thing as too cool for sports in that town. The frat boys, the business men, the indy rockers and hipsters all come together during basketball season. In restaurants, there has to be a television in the kitchen or the cooks wouldn’t show up to work on game days. Which wouldn’t matter much because no one goes out to eat anyway.
After a couple of years of being an outcast from December to April every year, I decided to care. That was 10 years ago. In that time I’ve been privileged to watch Roy Williams win the NCAA championship, and recruit some of the best college players of all time. Seeing the careers of Tyler Hansborough, Ty Lawson and Danny Green play out has been amazing. I’ve been to a few GA Tech games and tried to get into it. But it’s not the same. The intensity in North Carolina, both in and out of the Dean Dome, is hard to overstate. I miss, in the midst of a game, being able to scream “TAR!!!!” out my living room window, and hearing a chorus of “HEELS!!!!!” back from people all over the neighborhood. I’m a UNC fan first and foremost. But I’m a ACC fan second.
