My own Carolina obsession began in fourth-grade when my teacher, Mr. Brown, ran a March Madness bracket with each student choosing two or three teams out of a hat. I drew JR Reid and the North Carolina Tar Heels. I think it was the 1988 tourney won by Danny Manning and the Kansas Jayhawks. It was not long before an entire wall in my bedroom was painted Carolina Blue, I began dreaming of playing for Dean Smith, and never did I have enough UNC gear. I read all the Carolina books. My favorite part of Michael Jordan's "Come Fly With Me" video were the clips from his Tar Heel days. Beating the Michigan Fab Five was cool, but not as cool as watching Stackhouse, Rasheed, Vince, and Antawn.
In college, I met a guy more nuts about the Tar Heels than I. We swapped stories, drafted our all-time Carolina teams, and we even drove to the Dean Dome together. Before I go on, here are my all-time favorite Heels.
My favorites (1988-present):
PG Ed Cota
SG Dante Calabria and Wayne Ellington
SF Jerry Stackhouse and Vince Carter
PF Rasheed Wallace
C Tyler Hansbrough
Things started to go south for me with Joe Forte and the 2000 Final Four team. The 2005 Champs (Felton, May, McCants) were not loveable. I'm thankful to Roy Williams for compiling and leading this 2009 Championship team, but I think they may be my last.
I'm tired of picking UNC to win it every year. I'm tired of picking them with thousands of others. I'm tired of their merchandise on every street corner. Though I was never a bandwagon fan, I hate being associated.
Congrats to the 2009 UNC Tar Heels; an All-Time great champion. I quit you.
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