You know what really grinds my gears?

[beaner]

I loved that MD team with Gatlin, Buck, and King Albert.

I never actually saw it, but I heard a rumor back then that there was sign at Cole Field House that said "You Don't F*#@ with Buck." No idea if that is true.

Don't forget Dutch Morley, the immortal one himself. That sign probably did exist. Buck was a monster.

[mweb]

This is easy. At Carolina, it's crystal clear: ABD.

We root for Carolina first, then the ACC, except for dook. There is never a single situation in my entire life in which I've rooted for dook to win in ANY sport, and especially not basketball.

Carolina could need a dook win to qualify for the tournament, and I'd still root against dook. dook could be 1-25 and Carolina could be 25-1 and in need of a dook win to win the ACC regular season championship and get a #1 seed in the tournament, and I'd root against dook. Hell, it would be hard for me to root for dook if my own life depended on it.

As for this whole rivalry thing, two things:

1. Younger Maryland fans might not remember this, but the Terps fans were the ones who invented ABC (anybody but Carolina). There is no doubt that growing up in the 70's and 80's, Terps fans in Maryland despised Carolina and couldn't have cared less about State or dook (even though there were those couple years of great matchups with State). And even through most of the 90's, Maryland fans hated Carolina the most. Oh, sure, they would relish a good win over dook, but there was nothing they liked more than rubbing it in when they beat UNC.

2. Football rivalries are all well and good. But I really don't think you guys understand the hatred that exists between Carolina and dook. People refuse to hire the grads from the other school. People refuse to be buried anywhere near the grads from the other school. The players, who probably acknowledge the dislike less than anyone else, fight on airplanes once they are far removed from their alma maters. It is WAY beyond a little basketball rivalry. It is a life-and-death, absolute bottom of your soul passion that you cannot alter in any way. I hate dook more than just about anything in this world. It's not healthy. And yet, I acknowledge it, I embrace it, and I allow it to consume me, for without it, I would only be a shell of myself. I challenge anyone to match that in any of these other rivalries.

Well I don't think you or we really understand how those types of things are in other rivalries. I think it's pretty nieve and biased to think that is the only rivalry that is like that because you actually experienced it. And I think your exaggerating it a bit as well. Not saying you don't feel that way, but I doubt all UNC or Duke fans are quite as into as you, which is actually a comliment to you as a fan.

Duke-UNC is clearly one of the top contenders, but it's just as clear that there are other contenders who have a great case as well.

[Nuclear Dish]

Great post, I always felt that Virginia was such a natural rival for Maryland location wise. Both teams have had success although they've been at different times at least in my years as a fan.

Lefty is the only coach who ever got a North Carolina player of the year away from Dean Smith (Gatlin and Buck). This heated up the Lefty-Dean rivalry as well.

The ACC always considered Maryland-Virginia as natural rivals until VaTech joined the league. Plus, the two were fierce competitors for football prospects, which led to a real dislike for each other on the gridiron.

The ACC's pairings of geographic rivalries was UNC-dook, NCSU-WF, MD-UVA, and GT-Clemson. These were always the teams the schools played last on their football schedules, the teams they played the weekend before the ACC Tournament in basketball, etc.

The FSU joined, and they never really developed a rival. Now, with MIA, FSU has a natural geographic rival. But BC is so far north, they don't have a natural rival. So with UVA-VaTech stepping up as a conference rivalry to go along with thier prior hatred for each other (which only manifest itself as a side show to the conference play previously), Maryland has lost its ties to its rivalry with UVA almost entirely.

[Grady]

How about Reggie Love (Duke) being tea bagged at a NC frat party? Thats classic.

Yes, the ABC I rememeber too. Thats kind of gone for me since Dean Smith retired. I think Roy Williams is a class act and I root for him and Carolina when they play everyone but MD.

As for Malone, he was coming to MD, but from what I heard (someone who went to HS with him) he was not college material. He did the smartest thing , signing the pro contract,letting his agent control the money, getting a allowence and today he is a very rich man. College wasnt for him, he was smart enough to know that.

[beaner]

The ACC always considered Maryland-Virginia as natural rivals until VaTech joined the league. Plus, the two were fierce competitors for football prospects, which led to a real dislike for each other on the gridiron.

The ACC's pairings of geographic rivalries was UNC-dook, NCSU-WF, MD-UVA, and GT-Clemson. These were always the teams the schools played last on their football schedules, the teams they played the weekend before the ACC Tournament in basketball, etc.

The FSU joined, and they never really developed a rival. Now, with MIA, FSU has a natural geographic rival. But BC is so far north, they don't have a natural rival. So with UVA-VaTech stepping up as a conference rivalry to go along with thier prior hatred for each other (which only manifest itself as a side show to the conference play previously), Maryland has lost its ties to its rivalry with UVA almost entirely.

I cant stand the "new" ACC to be honest. I just cant think of Miami, Va Tech and BC as ACC teams. I finally accepted FSU a few years ago.

[beaner]

I can vouch for that. NC State was the first school I hated, but once they sunk back to where they belong , UNC was always the team I liked most for MD to beat. I'm not sure of when my "hatred" of UNC turned into respect, but it definitely did - even though I still loved it when MD beat them.

Another memory - Bias made a great play where he threw the inbounds pass off the back of a UNC player who was guarding a MD player with his back to Bias. Bias then stepped in bounds, caught the ball on the bounce and put it in for two points. I believe UNC ranked #1 at the time.

And it was the first game we lost at the Dean Dome..I hated that game. I think everyone respects Carolina now, which is nice as an Alum.

[Nuclear Dish]

Well I don't think you or we really understand how those types of things are in other rivalries. I think it's pretty nieve and biased to think that is the only rivalry that is like that because you actually experienced it. And I think your exaggerating it a bit as well. Not saying you don't feel that way, but I doubt all UNC or Duke fans are quite as into as you, which is actually a comliment to you as a fan.

Duke-UNC is clearly one of the top contenders, but it's just as clear that there are other contenders who have a great case as well.

Look, I agree. But I can give you a direct quote from a recent book on the topic that shows that people refuse to hire dookies because they are dookies. I'm far from extreme compared to many who live this rivalry much more immediately than I do. I hate, but I've always hated from afar, whether it be from Baltimore, Toronto, or Israel. The ones who live there live it much more intensely than even I do.

[mweb]

When was that poll posted? These things tend to be cyclical. They do them all the time for their "Rivalry Week" promotions. So at football time, they post it, and OSU-Michigan wins. Then they do it again at basketball time, and UNC-dook wins. Then they do it in baseball season, and NYY-BOS wins.

I don't doubt that OSU-Michigan is intense, but I always thought Auburn-'bama was bigger. And there are other college football rivalries that can make a case (OU-Nebraska, Army-Navy, etc.). And if there's even a debate about which one of those is the best rivalry in its own sport, how can it really be the best of them all? There's no doubt about UNC-dook being the best one in college basketball, and there's no doubt about NYY-BOS in baseball. To me, those are the 1 and 1a of rivalries in sports in the US of A.

The poll is a recent one. The ESPN rankings are not. I did the seach, and OSU-UM had the most support, UNC-Duke seemed to be tied for 2nd with the Yanks and Sox.

I think your reasoning there is pretty weak. So what if there's some debate in college football and little to none in baseball or college basketball. I think it's obvious that college football in general is a much more rivalry oriented sport than those two and has many more top rivalries.

That's like disqualfying Babe Ruth as the greatest team athlete in US history because you can make a case for Bonds being better. So that leaves Jordan or Gretzky because they're closer to being undisputed kings of their game.

I'm not even saying that Duke-UNC isn't the best rivalry, I'm not really sure, it's obviously up there, but it's also very hard to tell. It basically comes down to bias, and we obviously know that your extremely biased here.

[sangell2007]

1. Younger Maryland fans might not remember this, but the Terps fans were the ones who invented ABC (anybody but Carolina). There is no doubt that growing up in the 70's and 80's, Terps fans in Maryland despised Carolina and couldn't have cared less about State or dook (even though there were those couple years of great matchups with State). And even through most of the 90's, Maryland fans hated Carolina the most. Oh, sure, they would relish a good win over dook, but there was nothing they liked more than rubbing it in when they beat UNC.

Like I said, I don't really understand this(I didn't know about us inventing ABC though). Anyway, it seems like the State/Maryland rivalry really was intense in the mid-1970s, when Maryland was at its best - until 2001. So I dunno why that didn't stick. But even I, as someone who truly does like UNC 99% of the year, remember that game in 1995 or 96 when Maryland knocked off #1 UNC as one of the highlights of my young college basketball fandom. Meanwhile the game where Joe Smith tipped it in against Duke at the buzzer barely registers with me.

[Sports Guy]

Seems to me that people are a little pathetic when it comes to the Duke/UNC rivalry. Life and death? Give me a break. lol

[Nuclear Dish]

And it was the first game we lost at the Dean Dome..I hated that game. I think everyone respects Carolina now, which is nice as an Alum.

Hey, I was there too! The Len Bias game. Up 9 with 2.5 minutes left.

That was my first live Carolina game. What a downer that was. I have a very poor record in seeing Carolina play at home. 1-4, I think. Much better success rate seeing them play at Cole.

[sangell2007]

YouTube, though great, seems to have killed off TerrapinClips.com. I have these plays, plus several other Terps videos, saved on my computer though.

[beaner]

Like I said, I don't really understand this(I didn't know about us inventing ABC though). Anyway, it seems like the State/Maryland rivalry really was intense in the mid-1970s, when Maryland was at its best - until 2001. So I dunno why that didn't stick. But even I, as someone who truly does like UNC 99% of the year, remember that game in 1995 or 96 when Maryland knocked off #1 UNC as one of the highlights of my young college basketball fandom. Meanwhile the game where Joe Smith tipped it in against Duke at the buzzer barely registers with me.

Exactly, that was my whole point to MWEB and TTF at the beginning of the day, the Duke rivalry with Maryland didnt really pick up steam until the 2000's. Duke was just like everyone else to Maryland up until that point. It's always big to beat Carolina for most teams, and that's awesome that you remember that as a high point.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Yes but again, Beaner himself said that people in the Chapel Hill/Durham area despise State more on occassion.

If the rivalry was so big, and the location of the two teams fostered that hatred, it would make sense that the people living in that area would root against either UNC and Dook and that State would be an afterthought. A much hated afterthougth but an afterthougt nonetheless.

Again, this is all personal opinion. You guys love Carolina and dook so naturally you'd think that is the best most fierce rivalry. I'm sure that an OSU or Michigan fan can give you countless reasons why their rivalry is the best that (in their eyes) trumps your geographical closeness argument.

Hell, one of my closest friends that is a die-hard Michigan fan can name you any number of things that the city of Columbus has done to them when they play there in their annual game.

Being 8 miles apart is significant, but it's not the deal maker you guys make it out to be particularly in this day and age.

P.S. I have no doubt that there are some business owners that are Michigan or OSU fans that have refused to hire the other based on what team they like or where they went to school. I think some of the things you talk about:

-not wanting to be buried near a dook fan

-not hiring a dook alum

are not unique to just that rivalry. Either that or the OSU/Michigan rivalry has other examples that are the equivalent to those.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, Duke is 15-3 in this rivalry since 1999.

Doesn't the other team have to win some for it to be a rivalry?