Duke versus North Carolina

Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Michigan State: college basketball royalty all, but none of these storied programs has a rivalry to match the super-scintillating “diaper-dandy” drama of Duke Blue Devils versus North Carolina Tar Heels, baby! It’s impossible to even say their names without hearing the overexuberant voice of announcer Dick Vitale, who chalks up the magic of the rivalry to three Ps. Proximity: their two famous home courts (Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Dean Smith Center) are but a short drive from each other down Tobacco Road (Google Map it) in North Carolina. Power: this neighborhood tug-of-war became a national obsession because both teams are always so ridiculously good. Every Final Four from 1988 to 2001, except one, included Duke or UNC; in every NCAA tournament since 2004, except one, either the Blue Devils or the Tar Heels has been a number one or number two seed. Obscene, if you are not a Duke or UNC fan. The natural order of things, if you are. And it must be said, fans of these two teams and the Atlantic Coast Conference are basketball crazy, hence Passion.