After eight years in Pennsylvania for college and Casey's med school, I returned to North Carolina a little over 3 1/2 years ago. I quickly re-embraced many of the aspects of the NC south that I missed so much - sweet tea, biscuits, pork BBQ, grits, "y'all" - I probably even have a slight southern accent and Casey and I love it when Coulson utters something with a big southern drawl.
But there has been one aspect of my NC heritage that I have been slow to re-embrace. Growing up, I have vivid memories of my brothers fighting over this. In middle school, it was a bonding moment as one brother patiently explained the process. In high school, I cheered with my classmates - often in the middle of class. Yes, I'm talking about North Carolina's dominance of college basketball and the NCAA tournament. And now I've decided that I can't let my ambivalence continue. I am proud to be a citizen of North Carolina and it's about time I started acting like it.
So I'm showing my colors! I am a Carolina Tar Heel! It's great living in NC because I have so many great teams to choose from - Duke, Carolina, Wake Forest, NC State... But my allegiances are with Carolina. And Wake Forest. But I can usually cheer for Carolina throughout the whole tournament (Carolina has made it to the Final Four a record 16 times), so that's why I'm sticking with the Tar Heels.
My life as a Carolina fan isn't getting off to such a great start. My first endeavor as a fan was to watch the greatly anticipated Carolina-Duke game last night. We lost.
Oh well. Go Carolina!
