HAVING BEEN A CAROLINA BASKETBALL FAN ever since Al Wood’s senior season
(which just so happened to be my first year in graduate school at UNC’s illustrious
School of Journalism and Mass Communication), I know about ABC fans. (In case you
don’t know what an ABC fan is, they are, usually proudly self-proclaimed, “Anybody
But Carolina” fans. Sometimes they even paste it on the bumper of their car.) Now,
why would a fan pull against someone else’s team, in some cases even more than they
pull for their own team?
Let us answer this query using the time-tested Socratic dialogue.
A couple of questions: Which is the most hated team in professional baseball? Which
is the most hated team in professional football (over the long haul, not just this year)?
And, on a slightly different topic, which is the most hated country in the world?
Now that you have answered those questions, answer this one: In pro baseball, pro
football and the Olympic combined event of geopolitics and economics, which teams
and country are the most successful, respectively, in baseball, football and generally
dominating the world?
[For those keeping score at home, the answers are the New York Yankees, Dallas
Cowboys (America’s Team — to hate) and the other Yankees (Please Go Home!), that is,
the United States of America.]
Final question, anyone see a correlation here?
Good answer, Bob. Could you elaborate on “yes”?
That’s right, they are synonymous. The correlation is one to one.
Now let us consider the world of college basketball. What are currently the four most
hated teams in college basketball?
That’s correct, Anne. That would be Kentucky, Kansas, UNC and Duke.
Now, which schools have the most wins in the history of college basketball?
Right again, Anne. Kentucky, Kansas, UNC and Duke. Anyone see a pattern
beginning to emerge?
Thanks, Bob, but could you elaborate on “yes”?
That’s right, they are synonymous. The correlation is one to one.
So, class, what conclusion are we to draw? (Let me give you a hint, it is as easy as
ABD.)
That’s right, Mike. When the other kids start to pick on you, it just may be because
they are jealous of your success, envious of your trophies and generally tired of losing
to you. They hate you because deep down they want to be you — except, of course,
for the Christian Laettner part.
As for me, a fan of Carolina, one of the few schools which have had more basketball
success than Duke, I have no need to hate Duke. Honestly, I don’t hate, despise or
even really dislike Duke (except, of course, for the Christian Laettner part) — but I sure
do love beating them. That’s ’cause it is more fun to beat a good team than it is to
beat a bad one. (Sorry, State fans, it just is.)
And, another thing, about “people hating Duke,” has anyone, by any chance, ever
noticed the boorish behavior of many Duke fans, as epitomized by their beloved
Cameron Crazies, the unrivaled masters of the obscene chant? Any possibility that the
Crazies have ever crossed any boundaries that brought disdain back onto their team
from the fans of the teams they have verbally abused?
I didn’t think so either. So, I guess it is just the high graduation rate that ABD fans
despise.
Arrogant, gloating fans in general can also be a problem for any winning team. But,
speaking for Carolinafandom at large, it is hard to be humble, when, for example, your
school has won more conference sports titles (39) this millennium (not including this
unfinished academic year) than any other ACC school, and has done so in 17 different
sports. So it would not be becoming to even mention the six national titles in four
sports in the same period. I think that those few of you among my readers who are not
Tar Heel fans know exactly what I mean.
Gary D. Gaddy remembers one year when he was working at UNC, when, across all
sports, Carolina won more ACC championships than the other seven or eight
conference schools put together — and cannot imagine what the other schools’ fans
found not to love.
A version of this story is set to be published in the Chapel Hill Herald on Friday April
16, 2010.
Copyright 2010 Gary D. Gaddy
AUTHOR’S UPDATE
It took him a while, but apparently Coach K finally got around to reading my article.
Coach Krzyzewski was quoted in the News & Observer on June 9, 2010 as saying he
gets fans rooting against the Devils: “I understand it. I would rather be booed for being
good than for being bad.”
garygaddy.com 