Civil Rivalry or Un-Civil War? Carolina and Duke

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:15 pm by Guest Contributor

Civil Rivalry or Un-Civil War? Carolina and Duke 2015-03-13T23:15:50-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Certainly one of the major trends in my life time, is the coarsening of the culture broadly speaking. We have TV shows that could never have made it on the air, movies that could never have made it in the theaters, and pornography all over the internet, which would long ago have been banned from the internet, had the internet begun in say, 1951 when I was born. Not only so but civil discourse on politics has degenerated into shock jocks and blow hards, who often know little about what they are talking about. And Arrogance and Ignorance is such a lethal and bad combination, frankly.

It is no surprise to me then that we see this coarsening and corrupting influence in college and professional sports as well. What I had hoped would never happen is that the rivalry between Carolina and Duke would participate in that sort of mean-spirited uncivil behavior. But alas, it has happened and continues to happen. I was watching ESPN briefly and Jay Wiliams was lamenting that his yard was about to be rolled by Carolina fans, who had already put up little Carolina blue flags in his yard, without his permission of course. There are a variety of lines that are now regularly crossed that should not be crossed.

First let me offer a disclaimer. I am not a neutral observer of the Carolina vs. Duke rivalry. I am a proud UNC grad, my father was a Carolina cheer leader long ago, and the older library at UNC is named after my great uncle— Louis Round Wilson. My connections with this oldest of state universities (no, Georgia, you did not have the first state college students, whenever you were chartered) goes way back.

At the same time, I am a Methodist minister, and I have actually taught at Duke Divinity school. I respect the Duke tradition, and I have even gone to Final Fours where I pulled for both Carolina and Duke (Indianapolis— either in 91 or 92, I forget). But what has happened to a civil rivalry is that it has come close to being an uncivil war in some cases. Let me illustrate.

Back to that final four in Indianapolis. When I was growing up, we in N.C. were all ACC fans, and especially of our own teams. For example, when in 1974 N.C. State went undefeated and won the national championship, we were all cheering them on in N.C.— whether we were Wolfpack fans or not. We were proud of our conference. By contrast, when I went to the 1991 (or was it 92) Final Four, the Carolina fans all around me were cheering for Duke to win as well as Carolina, so we could have an all ACC finals. That would have been great. But the whole other quarter of the stadium, filled with Duke fans, throughout the Carolina vs. Kansas game could only cheer ‘Go to H, Carolina, Go to H….’ It was just sad and uncivil, and it tarnished a great rivalry, and it continues to do so.

And that brings me to a further point. Having lived in Lexington for a long time now, I have noticed something. Most Wildcat fans are not really hardcore basketball fans, they are simply partisans. And what I mean by that is, if Kentucky isn’t playing or isn’t in the tourney, most of them aren’t watching. They are not so much fans of the game, as partisans for ‘their team’. And I suspect this party spirit, if I can call it that, is precisely part of the problem. Do you love the beauty of college athletics, or do you just want to win baby win, and to heck with everything and everybody else? It’s a question worth asking. I am afraid that things have degenerated so much in our culture, that team spirit, has dissolved into pure partisanship— and hence civil rivalry becomes uncivil war. It’s not merely a shame. It’s bad sportsmanship.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 9, 2011

Pearls from Itzak

Next Post

March 11, 2011 The Pope's New Book--- Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz