"To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever"

Spring. Pollen. Prepping the Garden. Easter.
These are things on the minds of people in early April in any other state than North Carolina. But this is North Carolina. And to be specific this is Tobacco Road. Almost a year ago to the day I had just arrived back to Chapel Hill to watch the Tar Heels cut down the nets for the 2009 National Championship. All things considered, this year's season was catastrophic. I tried to get into the NIT. I tried. But I couldn't do it. And what makes it worse is that Dook, that Gothic wasteland 8 miles down the road, is in the Final Four. Insult to injury.
I first saw the book To Hate Like this is to be Happy Forever at Barnes & Noble. It was hardback. Who buys those anymore? I had read an excerpt from in an Esquire and fell in love with it from word one. It was a glorification of the greatest rivalry in sports. It's one of those things that says everything about a subject you just can't seem to put into words.
Of course, by way of the Cedars (it's a long story) I got to meet the author at some NC writers something or other. It was pretty cool. I met a lot of perfect strangers who had more money than I'll ever see rubbing elbows and drinking booze before noon. I bought a paperback copy. The author, Will Blythe, inscribed the inside cover wishing me well as a journalist to be. It's hard for me not to shake my head every time I read that.
That book set on my shelf for the better part of 2 years before I even picked it up. I was working at another retirement community outside of Boulder (that's an even longer story) and had hours on hours of free time because hardly any body lived there. So I brought the book into work with me. I'm not exaggerating when I say that book had a huge impact on me coming back to North Carolina. Saying it's a sports book is like saying Titanic was about a boat.
Of course, at it's core, the book is an exploration of why the schools hate each other, why the fans hate each other, and why that's OK. But it's also about what it means to be from North Carolina and why simply put, it's the greatest place on Earth (at least that's what it says without actually saying it).
The point of this is, this rivalry doesn't go away with age. And that makes me happy. So many of these members went to UNC or Dook and still bleed their respective blues. They bicker at each other because Carolina fans aren't pulling for Dook. And I'm sure the opposite happened last year when we were in the Final Four.
The other day a member came in for a bite of lunch and asked me if I was pulling for the Blue Devils since the Tar Heels weren't in the tournament.
I looked at her with all the seriousness in the world.
"[members name], not only am I not pulling for them, but I'm hoping they lose the next game by 20 points," I said.
She put down her turkey sandwich and returned my look in-kind.
"Kent, that's the most disappointing thing I've ever heard you say."
"To be honest with you, that's the nicest thing I've ever said about Duke," I returned.
"Well, I hope one day we can change your mind."
Impossible.
Even tonight someone took a cheap shot at me. A member and her husband were eating in the bar and when I dropped off their drinks she said "Kent, I thought of you when the Tar Heels lost the other night...I probably shouldn't have said that." She is a Dookie.
No crap. It was calculated, cold, and effective. I gave a courtesy chuckle and walked off.
This is a weird post to talk about on Easter Eve, but I had to purge it out of my system. If I proofread this I'm just going to get angry.