I Know You See It

And no, I’m not talking about D Green’s pit hair. I’m talking about The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (my alma mater and one of the greatest universities around) taking the 2009 NCAA National Championship.

I swear, I don’t even  know why MSU showed up. They got creamed by us in December and they got embarrassed in their own backyard in Detroit. Shame. Like my boy Wale says, “it’s lopsided like a Double-A college tryna undertake a D-1 scholar, they need work.” Nah, good job to the Spartans for making it to the big dance. I don’t know what happened to UConn. That would have been a great final and I could have rubbed it in so many people’s faces!

Good job Carolina, not that I’m surprised.

Go to Hell State!

Carolina v. NC State – W, 89-80

Everyone recognizes the Carolina v. Dook rivalry and rightly so. It burns like no other. Every fan has deep hate for the other team. Still, there’s another school in the Triangle that we Tar Heels beef with, State. We even have a cozy place for the Wolfpack in our fight song. While Carolina is the better institution (by far), the rivalry is longstanding. While Dook is 8 miles down the road, State is 20. Still too close for comfort if you ask me. We mainly match up against them in football, since Dook has perpetually sucked in that sport and forever will. Looking forward to another UNC win, I leave you with the following…

Top 10 Reasons for Attending NC State University:

1. There were too many big words in the Carolina application.
2. I heard they were offering Tractor Pull 101 next semster.
3. I really like penitentiary style architecture.
4. They wouldn’t let me graze my cows in Kenan Stadium.
5. State issued a special parking permit for my Monster Truck.
6. There ain’t no spittoons in Carolina’s classrooms.
7. Low student to animal ratio.
8. “Raise hell! Raise hell!”
9. Help keep Chapel Hill beautiful.
10. I got me a Billy Joe Bob Scholarship for the academically impaired.

W, 101-87

Not to be forgotten, the Lady Tar Heels beat those Blue Devil Banshees 75-60. Carolina rolled 8 miles up the road to Durham, kicked ass and left those “Crazies” crying blue streaks down their faces. Awesome.

Party like a Tar Heel

Stumbled upon the blog Life Beyond the Well

You guys know I’m a total stan for my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill. Why? Well, it’s kind of hard to put into words. You just have to be a Tar Heel to understand. The following is just one of the many reasons I’d go back 9 years and choose Carolina all over again (9 years?).

On Dec. 9th, 2008 in order to break up the stresses of fall semester exam week, UNC students flash raved their Undergraduate Library. Without warning to those that were unaware, hundreds of students packed the library lobby and brought it hardcore for over 8 minutes.

LOL @ the look on the staff’s faces and homegirl falling trying to body surf the crowd. Those are the hazards you risk! I got all hype around 3.44 when they broke out the “Tar Heel” chant and Fight Song!

Southern Fight Songs

Inspired by a post over at Feminist Law Professors and the #1 College Basketball team in the country, I present to you UNC’s fight song. Well, technically. Apparently, a trip to the UNC Music Library page revealed that there are tons of school songs we never sang. At every football and basketball game we could be sure to sing the fight song “I’m a Tar Heel Born” which makes up the last verse of the school’s alma mater, “Hark The Sound.”

Hark the sound of Tar Heel voices
Ringing clear and True
Singing Carolina’s praises
Shouting N.C.U.

Hail to the brightest Star of all
Clear its radiance shine
Carolina priceless gem,
Receive all praises thine.

I’m a Tar Heel born I’m a Tar Heel bred
And when I die I’m a Tar Heel dead!
So it’s RAH, RAH, Car’lina ‘lina
RAH, RAH, Car’lina ‘lina
RAH, RAH, Car’lina ‘lina
GO TO HELL STATE! (or DOOK or who ever we’re playing)

Enjoy this March ’08 Franklin St (memories!) clip with drunk students celebrating a victory over Dook and singing Hark the Sound starting around 0:15. Honestly when I watched it, I got hype on my sofa although I’ve never hopped over a fire.

It’s on.

College basketball season. Yes! Something to look forward to while I’m trying not to take a bath with a toaster before the semester is over. Football is ok. Baseball is not remotely cool unless you’re at the game and then it’s just aight. Even NBA ball doesn’t excite me. College ball, however, causes me to act like a complete sports asshole. I root for my team. I’m a total stan for Carolina. When I find the time, I get together with the local chapter of the Carolina alumni association to drink, eat and cheer on the Heels. As a person who risked being fired once just to watch my team, as a person who writes the games down in her planner along side assignments and trials, I must say this is the most wonderful time of the year. Just hope that the Tar Heels don’t have YOUR team on their schedule. Sucks to be you!

Water is wet, Clay Aiken is gay, and…

The University of North Carolina  Tar Heels are pegged #1 and Tyler Hansbrough predicted as National Player of the Year in Blue Ribbon’s Preseason Poll. What else is new?

The 2008-09 edition of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook will be available on newsstands and at bookstores soon, and the respected annual has named North Carolina as the top team in the nation in its preseason poll.

Blue Ribbon also picked Carolina to win the Atlantic Coast Conference for a third consecutive season and named Tar Heel senior Tyler Hansbrough as its preseason ACC and National Player of the Year.

Hansbrough, the consensus National Player of the Year last season, heads Blue Ribbon’s first-team All-America squad, joining Blake Griffin (Oklahoma), Luke Harangody (Notre Dame), Darren Collison (UCLA) and Stephen Curry (Davidson). The second team is Tyler Smith (Tennessee), Tyrese Rice (Boston College), Sam Young (Pittsburgh), James Harden (Arizona State) and Damion James (Texas). The third team includes Duke’s Kyle Singler and Miami’s Jack McClinton.

Carolina tops Blue Ribbon’s preseason national poll and is one of three ACC teams in the poll. Duke comes in at No. 8 and Miami is No. 14. Other 2008-09 UNC opponents in the Blue Ribbon preseason poll include possible Maui Invitational opponents Notre Dame (No. 3) and Texas (No. 10) and ACC/Big Ten Challenge foe Michigan State (No. 13).

Blue Ribbon’s predicted order of finish in the ACC for 2008-09 is Carolina in first place, followed by Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Maryland, NC State, Boston College and Virginia.*

DUH! While you all go ga-ga over baseball and football, I’m just biding my time and saving up my energy for Carolina basketball. No one on the court got swagger like us.

Barack Obama approves this message.

*Source: Tarheelblue.com

African-American Studies

or Afro-American Studies or Africana Studies or Black studies. WhatEVER! The discipline has different names at different institutions. That was my undergraduate major (techinically African and African-American Studies). When I decided to major in Afam (as we called it), people questioned my choice. “What are you going to do with that? Be a teacher?” and they belittled the work that I did. “Oh, that’s the easy major. That’s the one all the atheletes choose.” My response: “Negro, please.”

I actually think that’s kind of rude and pretty ignorant. While the discipline of Afam Studies is fairly new in relation to English Literature and not as clear a path to a particular career like Computer Science, that doesn’t mean that it’s just some bullshit major. I chose Afam after taking some classes in the department. I was really intrigued and figured I’d do better in school if I majored in something that was actually interesting. Prior to that, I was a journalism major with a minor in French.

I was in the Dunkin’ Donuts the other day and overheard two folks discussing Black Studies (as they called it). They were grad students. The girl voiced her frustration with people discounting Black Studies as just a “program” at the school. She referred to it as a discipline and went on about it being a legitimate piece of academia, even moreso important because of its activist component. What she meant was, not only does Black Studies foster academic growth and discussion like any other discipline, but it kind of calls for its students to put what they learn into practice or invest their intellectual capital back into the community. At least that has been my experience.

At Carolina, the mission of the African/African American Studies Department is as follows:

Like I needed another reason to love UNC

Anyone who knows me knows that I ride HOARD for my alma mater. I have good reason to do so, but I won’t go on and on about all of that right now. I’ll save that for the High Holiday, aka March Madness (*makes sign of the interlocking NC across heart*)

I’ll just clap to beloved Tar Heel and legendary basketball coach Dean Smith for lending his celebrity to the message that, SURPRISE! Democrats are religious too!

Granted, I’m a little late as the ad was part of a 2006 campaign by Devout Democrats, a political action committee based in Chapel Hill, NC. In case you can’t see the print very well, the ad features Dean Smith against a Carolina blue sky. Above his picture, it proclaims in big bold letters: “American Baptist Devout Democrat.” In the middle, the ad quotes Smith as saying, “I’m a lifelong Baptist and vote for Democrats. One reason? Democrats are serious about alleviating poverty.”

I think this is a great message. I’m not religious by any stretch of the word, but I do realize how important religion is to a great many people in America. It’s definitely important enough to shape the political views of most folks. That being said, I think this message is important in an election year such as this one. Opponents of the Democratic party often try to paint us as wildly different from Conservatives, Republicans and the “religious right.” I’m guessing they do that by propogating the idea that we’re all crazy atheists hell bent on taking the country to hell in a papier-mache airplane made out of American tax dollars.

Well, the Democratic party is not homogeneous. There are those who find their religious values and their political views totally compatible. Take NC Democratic chairman Jerry Meek, who said, “When you think about the Bible, what we [Democrats] stand for is right on message with Christian values,” referring to such issues as poverty, health care and the environment.
Source: NC Democratic Party.

I’m all tingly inside!

This is the greatest thing I’ve seen in FOREVER

My white-haired boo Roy and my Boo-In-Chief Barack!

Tuesday morning, Obama stopped by Basketball Heaven, aka UNC Chapel Hill, to shoot some hoops. The NYT has the haps.

I swear, if I wasn’t already voting for Obama I’d sure as hell do it now. Hillary ain’t rockin’ with the ‘Heels so I can’t rock with her. Then again, Bill Clinton tried to pull on my Carolina heartstrings years ago. I have a picture (sorry it’s not scanned) of Clinton holding a customized Carolina basketball jersey with his name on the back. It hangs in the halls of the Dean E. Smith Center/Dean Dome. Eh, fugg it, he’s a loser.

Check the 4min of video footage at WRAL. At least we know Barack’s better at basketball than he is at BOWLING!

Obama even picked Carolina to win the tourney (see his bracket)! Granted, we all know what tragedy that turned out to be, but he knows what’s up. I think there’s an Obama-Edwards ticket in the future. In case you didn’t know, John Edwards is a Carolina alum.

For all those questioning Barack’s “blackness” tell me, what’s blacker than basketball AND giving dap?