UNC football player Caleb Pressley calls ‘crib’

A crib call signifies pride, familiarity and common background.

N.C. State is not crib.

Not to the North Carolina football team’s Caleb Pressley, whose website, Crib Calls, develops his idea of what “crib” is.

Developing the site

Pressley’s website debuted April 27 when the redshirt freshman quarterback introduced himself and his site.

“You obviously have a lot of questions,” he wrote to readers, before telling them he could only address those about himself.

“I live life by my own rules,” he continued. “When I say my own rules, I mean the rules of the University of North Carolina’s football team and Honor Court.”

The first post explains the website, focusing on its author’s hometown — Asheville — and humor, but not the site’s inspiration.

“When (coach Larry) Fedora came, he just got me turned up on Red Bulls,” said Pressley, who made his college debut in this season’s 66-0 defeat of Idaho. “I feel real ambitious all the time now. I’m taking on all types of creative endeavors — this is just one of them.”

But he did not begin this endeavor with the goal of providing an unfiltered look into UNC football.

“It’s really just about me,” Pressley said. “In just the logistics of being a college football player, during the season, there’s not really much else that you do.”

“There are a lot of other things that I love doing, obviously, by my other posts. But during football season, that’s all I really do, so that’s what the posts are about.”

If one thing can be guaranteed, it’s that he will incorporate as much creativity as possible in each post.

“The week of the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton did a big speech that got everyone stirred up,” Pressley said. “I had five direct quotes from him in the post.”

“It was also the week came out, and I’m a Lil’ Wayne fan, so that’s like a big moment in history to me. The post had the track list from top to bottom, in order.”

From Clinton to Weezy, Pressley — a communications major and religious studies minor who plans to apply for the creative writing minor — seeks to keep the site’s content timely and entertaining.

“I always try to keep it up with current events and integrate stuff that’s going on on-campus or in the news, or chronicle maybe the history of the season in more ways than just football games,” he said.

“I’m big on allusions —with an ‘a’,” he clarifies. “I like illusions with an ‘i’ as well, so I’ve had posts where I can almost guarantee you no one’s even picked up on it.”

He’s undecided on his website’s material for the post-season because he’s not quite sure what the next chapter in his life will have in store.

“Whatever I’m doing at the time is what it will be about,” Pressley said. “Honestly, I’m not trying to write about football. I’m not trying to write about myself in a cocky way, but it’s a website I created.”

That’s right, a website.

Though the format — first-person narration and slang, internet links, videos, pictures, and drawings — mimics a blog, that’s not how its creator sees it.

“Is it a blog? Yes. But it’s just the weirdest word,” Pressley said. “Notice I will never call it a blog — nowhere on the site does it say blog.”

“I bought a domain, so it didn’t say ‘blog’ afterwards. It just sounds so unofficial and so nerdy. Blogs are not crib. But it is a blog.”

Buddy Blackjack — ‘crib’

Pressley is one of many UNC varsity athletes who can be spotted riding a scooter around campus.

But Pressley’s scooter, named Buddy Blackjack, has its own section on the website with a photo gallery, to boot.

“(Including) Buddy on the site was not a decision,” Pressley said. “Buddy gets me from place to place — he’s a part of me.”

“He was down to ride, day one. Ride or die. He’s like a man among boys, a Tim Tebow among men, a Tar Heel amongst a Wolfpack. Buddy’s like a motorcycle among scooters.”

Pressley and Buddy’s official racing debut came against freshman quarterback Kanler Coker and his scooter, named Vino. Pressley posted a video of the race to the site on June 6.

Pressley and Buddy won easily.

In a post-race interview, which was done with commentary from sophomore reserve wide receiver Luke Heavner, Pressley challenged junior safety Tre Boston to a race. Pressley said Boston claimed to have the fastest scooter on campus.

Boston personally responded to Pressley’s call-out via text message, and the two set a date to resolve the dispute.

Boston’s scooter, named Gator, was unable to beat Buddy, and in the post-race interview, Boston questioned the ethics behind Pressley’s driving and called for Buddy’s engine to be checked.

“You can’t bring a motorcycle to a scooter race,” Boston said in the video. “I was just cheated. This is like the Olympics. This is like steroids.”

But Buddy’s legitimacy was not tested. Pressley has yet to post another race video to the site.

So as it stands, the pair (2-0) is undefeated.

“If there’s a legitimate challenger, there will be (more races),” Pressley said. “I’m not calling people out — that’s not what I’m about.”

Crib call defined

There are three ways to crib call, Pressley said.

“The narrowest definition would be if someone from your hometown or area comes up in conversation, you could say ‘crib,’” Pressley said.

Junior offensive lineman James Hurst, a video commentator for Pressley’s race against Boston, explained this definition as it applies to someone who is far from home.

“The farther away you are from the area, the wider the area is,” Hurst said. “I’m from Indiana. Anyone from Indiana, for me, is fair game on crib.”

“People from North Carolina, they only call crib if it’s from the same city or same county. I’ve got a wider range, which I take pride in.”

This most common use of crib-calling is the simplest way, but it’s not the only time to call “crib.”

“The second way you can break it down is in a broader sense — calling on something that you’re affiliated with,” Pressley said. “A lot of people are not advanced enough in crib-calling to do this.”

A person can call “crib” after someone talks about eating a favorite food or taking a nap, if those are things that relate to the crib-caller.

And the last way to call crib?

“The third way … would be like a small bedding area for a child,” Pressley said.

‘Not crib’

Pressley doesn’t address what’s not “crib” on his website — and he didn’t offer an immediate answer when asked.

“I don’t really know what’s not ‘crib’,” Pressley said. “I’m not really a negative person.”

“But I am sometimes, though,” he recovered, going on to explain what aggravates him.

“When people tell me, ‘Well I just didn’t understand what (a post) was about,’ and answer, ‘Well, no, I didn’t really read it. There were too many words,’” he said. “Those people, not crib.”

He said his mid-conversation crib-calling is often met with confusion by those with not familiar with the concept.

“A standard response from someone who doesn’t understand (a crib call),” he said, “is the same (response) that a lot of stuff that I say (gets): blank stare, keep going.”

But Pressley came up with one confident answer for what he won’t associate himself with.

It was an answer his teammate Heavner supports.

“Anything that’s a rivalry, our biggest opposition — that’d be a good definition for what’s not crib,” Heavner said. “Anything that’s opposing you at all is definitely not crib.”

But how did Pressley finally answer?

“This is Caleb Pressley. Put No. 1 not crib: N.C. State. Not crib.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.