Yes, folks, it's about time for the first of two annual appointments between the two amicable neighbors otherwise known as North Carolina and NC State. I'm not sure how many smiles and high fives we can expect in Chapel Hill on Thursday, but I'd expect plenty. Certainly we will see the "GOOD TIDINGS" and "CAN I GET YOU SOME REFRESHMENTS?" signs from the Tar Heel students, as is the case each year. It's wonderful that we've progressed to a point well beyond something as petty and trite as the notion of rivalry, no? Why, just the other day I got into a discussion with a man in a Tar Heels sweatshirt and commended him on graduating magna cum laude from Campbell. He smiled, genuinely touched, and shook my hand. You can't buy memories like that.
There are a few items on the history of this series out there today: Caulton Tudor listed his five most memorable State-Carolina games, and the ACC posted a feature on NC State's win in the Dean Dome in 1998, led by hot-shooting CC Harrison:
Good times. Agreeable times.
My personal favorite State-Carolina chill session was the Pack's overtime win in Chapel Hill in 2003. (Which you can watch in its entirety at the ACC video vault.) But I mean, it's only a little more my favorite than all the others, because we've had a damn awesome time each and every time we've gotten together.