Great Book on College Rivalries (Carolina/Duke)

[coachouert]

I just got done reading "To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry" by Will Blythe and would strongly recommend those who are interested in college rivalries to take a look at it (especiallyUNC fans like RTB and MslaCat amongst others). Blythe is a born and raised tarheel fan and decides to take a step back to look at the rivalry from a different point of view. He gets interviews with players, coaches and fans from both sides of the rivalry to really give you a perspective on what most call the best rivalry in college sports. He goes to show how this rivalry fuels a region and sometimes even families. He even takes some jabs at the message boards, talking about "enemy posters" and how no matter how reasonable they are, they will always be wrong in the other fan's eyes. (reminded me a lot of some of our fellow Griz posters). Along with the message boards, he talks about the rumor mill and pure hatred that some have for the other teams. He follows both teams really closely through last year, obviously with Carolina winning the National Championship. It might be my favorite sports book I've read and not just because I'm a Carolina Fan.

I really think a lot of people would see a lot of the Cat/Griz rivalry in some of the points he brings up (obviously at a somewhat smaller scale). Even if you aren't a Carolina or Duke fan, I think most true sports fans would appreciate this book. Just my .02.