It might be dangerous to put this in print, but here goes: I used to actively avoid UNC basketball. Now that I’ve written it, it feels good to get it out.
Flashback to first-year me. I avoided the Dean Dome like it didn’t loom right behind my dorm, Hinton James. And now, here I am: a second-semester junior and a born-again Tar Heel. So what inspired the change?
I came to UNC very apathetic about the sports culture. When I chose this school, the massive basketball culture was not even on my radar. I knew it was a thing, and I knew it was a big deal, but I didn’t watch either of the Duke versus UNC games my first year. I felt annoyed that it seemed like so much of the campus’ focus was on sports. Why care about something that so many people acted like fanatics over?
My apathy became a shtick. My dad often marvelled at how I went to one of the biggest basketball schools in the country and had not attended one game at the beloved Dean Dome. I feigned boredom any time conversations about how well UNC was doing took place among my friends. I rolled my eyes any time cheers rocked the hallways of my dorm.
And then last year happened. UNC won every game in the March Madness tournament. Of course, I started to pay attention. I had friends who wanted to watch the games instead of going to dinner while UNC was playing. I decided a couple of times to watch along with them, just to avoid losing out on quality time with them.
Then something amazing started to take place; like the Grinch, watching UNC in their Final Four game, my heart seemed to grow three sizes that day.
Call me a bandwagon fan, but I like to see the story a little differently: I became a believer. My heart broke when we lost the national championship. But my faith came back to me around December 2016 when I attended my first-ever game at the Dean Dome. It might be Carolina fever, but I think I finally realized the importance of being a part of something bigger than your ennui.
I’m proud to say I now watch almost every game UNC plays. I realized it’s so much more fun to “get into it” instead of ignore something that is so important to this community. It’s better to let it break your heart and make your hands shake (looking at you, Luke Maye, with that buzzer beater against Kentucky) than to make jokes about being out of the loop.
I like being a part of something that makes this campus’ heart race. While I still know very little about the sport itself, I still know being ignorant of the game’s rules is better than avoiding the game entirely.
