COMMENTARY / TOM SORENSEN
Sorensen | Charlotte is crazy for Tar Heels
For North Carolina fans, the natural order has been restored, the universe righted, justice attained. The Tar Heels won the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and Duke did not.
When the Tar Heels win everything, there is a hum in the air, although it’s tough to pick up because of all the talk. Find me a place in Charlotte in which you do not hear North Carolina fans. They are in the gym, the bar and the newspaper, on the sidewalk, the street and the radio.
They’re everywhere but the chapel. Two North Carolina graduates pushed their wedding back until this weekend, the Masters notwithstanding. Illinois fans tried to make noise of their own. A group of them called a Charlotte sports bar and asked if they could reserve the back room for Monday’s national championship game.
Ha! An old Democrat has a better chance of getting a seat at a table of Young Republicans. North Carolina fans don’t reserve the back room. They control it. And if the sports bar offered a side room, they’d control it, too. Loyalists from other schools don’t like to hear this, but they know it to be true. There are more North Carolina fans in Charlotte than from any other school, including Duke, N.C. State, Clemson, Charlotte, Appalachian State and, even with Steve Spurrier, South Carolina.
Because North Carolina has the most fans, it has the most detractors. And when the Tar Heels get a chance to fire back at their detractors, they do, which is why they cheered for Duke’s opponents 21/2 weeks ago at the NCAA first- and second-round games in Charlotte.
Why was that a problem? Do folks take a secret oath that requires them to cheer for teams from their conference or state? Are they fans or are they Freemasons?
While North Carolina fans cheered at the Charlotte Coliseum for Duke’s opponents, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was down on the court breaking the all-time NCAA tournament victory mark held by former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
Also, there is nothing wrong with having more talent than the other guy. It’s the premise on which recruiting tends to be based.
North Carolina recruited the best talent and forged it into the best team. The Tar Heels finally surpassed Duke and they finally prevented a Big East team from winning the whole thing.
North Carolina fans will be glad to talk to you about it if you ask nicely.
And they’ll be glad to talk about it if you don’t ask at all
And another one:
Don't fear wild birds at Eagles nest
TOM SORENSEN
Commentary
TOM SORENSEN
The idea of going to Philadelphia to watch your team play and being too intimidated to wear your team’s colors strikes me as cowardly.
If you’re a Carolina Panthers fan and you have a ticket to the NFC Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night, why wouldn’t you wear whatever you want? You presumably have been picking out your own clothes for years. Why stop now?
Philadelphia is the only city in which a player has to put on his helmet before he reaches the field. Brzezinski would put his helmet on in the tunnel to the field because fans, or whatever you want to call them, throw things. And he played for the home team.
Fans in Philadelphia can be nasty. Maybe the passion comes from growing up with a team. Maybe it comes from finally getting old enough to be handed tickets by parents who were handed tickets by their parents. Maybe it comes from losing the NFC title game the past two years.
Are Philadelphia fans any tougher than Oakland’s?
“Without a doubt,” Buckner says. “Oakland is really a masquerade because a lot of those people are doctors and lawyers. In Philadelphia, you got blue-collar people that pay their hard-earned money to go to a game.”
Panthers guard Doug Brzezinski, who played the four seasons before this one for Philadelphia, appreciates them.
“The Eagles are all they talk about and all they think about and all they want to do,” he says. “Those are great fans. Everybody comes and games are always sellouts.”
He laughs.
“Sunday will be crazy,” he says. “It’ll probably be more fun to watch the stands than the game.”
He agrees with Buckner. Keep your Panthers jerseys at home.
Doug Brzezinski, any other advice for Panther teammates and fans?
“Watch out for batteries.”
Posted by nyc_eagle on 01-15-2004 09:35 PM:
Wow, an article about the fans that wasn’t an insult. I applaud you, Tom Sorensen
I have an idea. Maybe Tom Sorensen will appreciate our fans more if he is forced to wear a football helmet to our games. Bring batteries
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