The Wild and Wacky World of #MarchMadness in the #ACC

Why I Wrote Vines of Entanglement Not Your Grandmother’s Banana Pudding...

The Wild and Wacky World of #MarchMadness in the #ACC

The Most Glorious Win Ever

It is a real thing��the madness, I mean. Every March as the basketball championship playoffs begin, North Carolina goes crazy. Business stops; schools stop teaching and turn on the the classroom televisions on Thursdays and Fridays during this month. Why? To watch the ACC baskeball teams slug it out.

Duke Blue Devils

We all have our favorites. Ask a North Carolinian about his/her favorite ACC team and be prepared for passion. And nowhere is the cross county rivalry more intense than the competition between beloved NC teams like Duke, NC State and UNC.

Cradle Fans

The love for a team in NC��which borders on religious fanacticism��begins early. You are raised from the cradle to be a Wolfpack fan or Blue Devil fan.

Carolina �� Nuff Said

And everyone hates Carolina��unless of course Carolina is your team of choice.

Three rules I was taught as a child��

1. Always support your team.

2. Always support an ACC team if your team doesn’t have any skin in the game.

3. Always cheer for whoever is playing against Carolina.

Shock and Awe

Yes, in hindsight, I’m not proud to admit it, but I once cheered for Czechoslovakia to whup Carolina in a basketball game. A then-communist country against an American team. But this is how it goes in the ACC and in North Carolina. Especially if it’s March.

My children never even considered applying for college at a certain NC university which I shall leave unnamed��they were both seriously afraid they’d be excommunicated from the family if they did. We, I whispered to them when they entered kindergarten, don’t go to that other university . . .

A House Divided

And then there are those poor unfortunates who fall in love with someone of a different basketball persuasion. We warn our children about the inherent hardships and struggles of those kind of mixed marriages.

Let’s be honest. It happens in North Carolina. Nobody’s proud of it. But what are you going to do about young love? None of these deluded ones are stupid enough, however, to try and pull off a wedding during March. That’s just asking for trouble most people don’t need. And for those who take this path less traveled, NC yards sport these signs, warning others of the folly of violating ACC loyalties.

Only thing during March all North Carolinians agree on? That the national title should always belong to an ACC team. Although, it hurts me to put Carolina in that category.

North Carolina is a beautiful place to visit��from the mountains to the sea. The food is great. The people are truly everything you’ve ever heard about the South��warm, friendly and hospitable. Except during March.