MY LOVELY AND SPORTS-LOVING WIFE Sandra and I go to almost every UNC home
football game. We often sit in the Pope box because, well, we need to. Don’t get me
wrong the “free” food’s OK (if you like hotdogs). The overhead fans are nice (in
August.). The heaters are useful in November (when they remember to turn them on).
And the shelter from the rain is something that allows you to observe without actually
participating in the weather. All in all it’s like watching at home on big screen TV.
We get to sit on the other side of the stadium in the open air with actual fans
sometimes. We like it better. The roar of the facepaint and the smell of the crowd
simply seem more authentic. But the games where we sit over in the plebian seats,
those are not our favorite home game either.
Our most favoritest home games would be the ones Duke University is kind enough to
host every two years. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they are being that nice. If
they were they wouldn’t have started charging so much for tickets, or having us park
over a mile and a half away. (And, I know this for sure, my wife would never have
guests over with our bathrooms looking like theirs do.)
The first “at Duke” game Sandra and I attended together was while she was still a
student at Duke Law School. (Don’t believe my Tar-Heel-born, Tar-Heel-bred wife
could ever attend such a place? Well, she has a sweat shirt to prove it.) We sat on the
“Duke” side of the stadium. She tried to act decorously that first game. At one point
she turned and asked me, “How do they know we’re Carolina fans?” My response:
“Maybe because you jumped up and whooped on our last touchdown?”
It’s not particularly dangerous being a Carolina fan in Wallace Wade. There are way too
many of us and they are way too beat down. (Cameron, the Indoor Stadium, is another
story altogether. And Carter-Finley? You may want to up the payout on your life
insurance before buying your tickets if you plan on wearing Carolina Blue there.)
But back to Duke/UNC. For the last fifteen years all the games, pretty much, have
been the same game. The Devils are motivated, despite their record coming into the
game — because it’s “a one game season” or “this will be their bowl game.” Every
year it has been an opportunity for the Boys in Dismal Blue to spend the summer not
thinking about the 10 or 11 loses and instead to reflect on the glorious upset of the
Heels.
The Tar Heels are motivated too. A loss means humiliation, almost every year, because
Duke is, well, Duke. A loss to Duke means a dark blue cloud will hang over the team
until September.
The games are always hard fought. Pride is on the line and pride seems to motivate.
(If you don’t believe me, wait until next year when the Tar Heels play the Wolfpack of
NC State who took their heads off this year in Kenan Stadium, stunning everyone in
attendance including the Pack players themselves.)
Here’s the way the Duke/UNC football games go. Duke starts strong, takes the lead,
battles all the way, and is in position to win right up to the last play. Only one problem
for Duke, it doesn’t happen.
One year it’s a missed field goal. One year it’s a blocked extra point. One year it is a
Carolina field goal as time expires. This year, with a first and ten at the Carolina twenty
with less than a minute to go, the game ended with Carolina intercepting a pass on
fourth down with 16 seconds left — and all in a cold, dreary rain.
Boy, was it fun!
(But the days of poor Duke are about done. As long as David Cutcliffe is the coach,
Duke will be no one’s cake walk. Trust me on this.)
****
While I am without a doubt a fan, don’t let me overestimate myself. I am no Randolph
Few. Mr. Few was the last surviving son of William Preston Few, the first President of
Duke University. Mr. Few, who was born October 6, 1920, died on October 14, 2008 —
which was about the only thing that would keep him from a Duke home game.
Few was a rare breed, a loyal and devoted fan of Duke sports, and not just a basketball
fan but a fervent football fan as well. The only games he missed in Wallace Wade
Stadium were during World War II and two more games due to poor health. Last
week’s game in would have been his 80th Duke-Carolina football game.
Fans of any color will miss him.
Gary D. Gaddy once played Randolph Few in tennis when Few was older than 75 and
Gaddy was less than 45. Few kicked his butt.
A version of this story was published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Thursday December
4, 2008.
Copyright 2008 Gary D. Gaddy
garygaddy.com 