Mar 18, 2006 (All Things Considered) — There are two kinds of people in the portion of North Carolina surrounding Durham and Chapel Hill: Duke fans and North Carolina fans. Will Blythe is NOT a Duke fan. He writes about his obsession with a college basketball rivalry in a new book.
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Detail from the cover of Will Blythe's book shows basketball embedded in a plaster wall. ()
Author Blythe Has a Ball with Duke-UNC Rivalry
Mar 18, 2006 (All Things Considered) — There are two kinds of people in the portion of North Carolina surrounding Durham and Chapel Hill: Duke fans and North Carolina fans. Will Blythe is NOT a Duke fan. He writes about his obsession with a college basketball rivalry in a new book.In the world of college basketball... at least that ribbon of Atlantic Coast Conference territory that ties Durham to Chapel Hill, N.C... you are a Tar Heel fan or you are a Blue Devil fan. That is, you root for North Carolina (the defending national champion; Michael Jordan; Dean Smith; Tyler Hansbrough) or you root for Duke (this year's top-ranked team for most of the season; Grant Hill; Coach K; JJ Redick).
So when writer Will Blythe found his marriage over, his girlfriend not speaking to him and his income non-existent, he focused on his real problem: basketball.
The third-generation Heel wrestles with his obsession in To Hate Like This Is to be Happy Forever, his extremely personal account of the Dooooooook/Carolina-lina rivalry.
"I am a sick, sick man," he confesses, as the book opens. "Not only am I consumed by hatred, I am delighted by it..."
Blythe tells Debbie Elliott about living a life built around a bouncing ball.
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