Adam at it again
- Thread starter Archer2
- Start date
this article supports my contention that the vast majority of dook fans are nothing more than WalMart , bandwagoning front runners. I do remember those days but mine go back to the mid-sixties. article closer to a grand slam than a homerun.
Walk-off grand slam to win the World Series.
I've tried to explain to friends down here in football-crazy GA what it was like growing up amid the glory days of the ACC and THE tourney. I'm gonna save this article for the next such occasion --- says it all.
As an 80's kid, this all hits close to home, except I always had to fight with the UVA kids here in VA.
WOW! This perfectly describes my childhood in Raleigh! (Born: 1964) It also describes my current life since now I am the "cool" teacher that shows tourney games in my class. I put the kids on super secret status and so far the principal has not shut me down yet (crosses fingers) I teach Language Arts and I "justify" it through either narrative or reporter style reports about the games. The life lessons about cooperation and being able to disagree without being disagreeable alone are worth it, but to me it is a right of passage!
Go Tar Heels!
Go Tar Heels!
Okay I do not understand the "swish" issue, but I'm up there in rare territory but not as old as Archer 
but in my family, if grandparents, parents, variety of uncles, aunts and cousins were not at the tourney, the ones at home were all at one of our houses for the afternoon/evening games. Food was plentiful and drinks were politely available.
Fortunately, we had a few "cool" teachers who understood the value of teachable moments through Dean and basketball. We were to all have our books opened (just in case a nosey administrator came by) on our desks and paying close attention to our "video". TV facing at a slight angle away from the classroom door.
I recall many people declared the ACC Tourney a state holiday and many business people were not expected to be available during afternoon sessions. It was how it was back then. Those were great days and provide some memories about which to smile.
but in my family, if grandparents, parents, variety of uncles, aunts and cousins were not at the tourney, the ones at home were all at one of our houses for the afternoon/evening games. Food was plentiful and drinks were politely available. Fortunately, we had a few "cool" teachers who understood the value of teachable moments through Dean and basketball. We were to all have our books opened (just in case a nosey administrator came by) on our desks and paying close attention to our "video". TV facing at a slight angle away from the classroom door.
I recall many people declared the ACC Tourney a state holiday and many business people were not expected to be available during afternoon sessions. It was how it was back then. Those were great days and provide some memories about which to smile.
Like Archer 2 I was also born in 1953 and I remember not only watching the ACC tournament in the spring but also the World Series in the fall at school.Archer 2, Billy, Mikey and dsouthr and myself might be getting up there is age but our love forced Carolina sports has not wavered or will it ever...Those were good times but so are everytime Carolina is on TV
Flouride mouthwash. A couple times each year we had to "swish" with the stuff and spit it back in the cup. Do they not do that anymore? They definitely did in the 80s/90s.
Cool Teachers. Mine was Mrs. Stevens. She taught Spanish and relatively young. She was (is) a State grad. I graduated HS in 1976 so the State-UNC rivalry was at its zenith. She let me listen in on a transistor radio (with the single ear phone) yep.... I gave semi regular updates to the class. Sometimes they would know something "big" had happened from my reactions.
I love UNC BB.now but back in the days prior to the NCAA expansion, it was really intense and exceptionally special.
I love UNC BB.now but back in the days prior to the NCAA expansion, it was really intense and exceptionally special.
I was born in 1961, first started watching the Heels in the early 70's when they had Karl, Previs, Wuycik & Bob McAdoo. I'm also the cool teacher now, teaching 6th grade science. We have "Reward Time" on Fridays during the last 40 min of school, those in good standing go outside to play & those that need to make up work stay in with one teacher to get caught up. Instead of taking my usual turn staying in, I've intentionally gone out for the last 2 months & let one of the other 3 teachers stay in. In exchange, I have requested to stay in the next 2 Fridays. The next 2 Fridays, getting "caught up" is gonna involve watching ACC & NCAA tournament hoops. So far, no one has figured it out & called me out.
The swish was a thing when a lot of kids homes had well water and not city or county utility water where the fluoride was in the drinking water already. I started watching seriously during Phil Ford's freshman season ( Age 8) I was hooked for life! This article was dead spot on! I loved tourney Thursday first round. Before Ga tech joined the league all 8 teams played in succession and I don't think it was in sessions... Back to back to back to back- that was the best!
I had a Realtone radio with an 8 over a V like cars used to have, signified 8 transistors. Had the single mono ear plug with a leather case. I thought it was the shite. Good times.
I was in elementary school in mid-70's in NC, and Carolina or State fans made up 90+% of fans. There were very few dook or Wake fans at that time. It's pretty obvious that the ABC'ers morphed from wolpfack into dook fans during the late 80's/early 90's as state slipped into irrelevance.
What a great article that was, and I too feel very fortunate to have grown up in an era where ACC basketball was King around these parts, and agree with many of the comments above that Dook fans were hard to find until Bill Foster's group that included Mike Giminski, Gene Banks and Jim Spanarkle came along and lost to Jack "Goose" Givens and Kentucky in the late 70's in the NCAA Final?....Before that, I had never even seen a Duke fan...
Most of us were just ACC junkies back then, and would still watch the ACC Tourney Championship even if the Tar Heels didn't make it....Don't think there's that same kind of dedication and passion with today's youth IMO...
Living in a remote area of Western North Carolina, we generally didn't get but 3 TV channels, and 2 of those were fuzzy, so we had to adjust the antenna quite a few times when it was windy during the ACC tournament...
In the late 70's and early to mid 80's, a large group of my buddies and I, would gather for the ACC Semifinals on Saturday if Carolina was playing, and we would throw darts, pitch horseshoe, and generally have a great time all day long, and there would be as many as 20 or 30 of us at times, and we all got along great, and cheered for our favorite team the Tar Heels...Still have a bunch of pictures from that era of watching ACC basketball with my buddies....The fun would be repeated on Sunday if North Carolina was in the ACC Championship game...
Just not the same as it was back then when every team in the conference played each other twice during the regular season...There would be years when you couldn't wait for the ACC Tourney to begin in hopes that the Tar Heels would get some revenge for what happened during the regular season....UVA with Ralph Sampson comes to mind during those early 80's and State with David Thompson and South Carolina with John Roche in the early to mid 70's....Still remember South Carolina beating UNC for the ACC Tourney Title, the last year they were in the ACC if my memory serves me correctly?....I also remember the ACC champion Tar Heels exacting some revenge a year later on the gamecocks in the 2nd round of the 72 or 73 NCAA Tourney, which happens to be the last year that South Carolina won an NCAA Tournament first-round game which still pleases me to this day, knowing that the Tar Heels started this long winless NCAA Tourney drought for the Gamecocks that has now reached over 40+ yrs....South Carolina's basketball program just became irrelevant when they chose to leave the ACC against the wishes of former legendary coach Frank McGuire, and they still haven't recovered, and I hope they never do...
Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney and others brought a lot of character and wit to the broadcast of ACC games back in those days...And C.D.Chelsey and Jefferson Pilot did a great job with the broadcast...
Those years prior to the expansion of the NCAA Tournament were really exciting because you had to win the ACC Tourney to qualify for the NCAA Tourney, and the intensity on the court for the players and off the court for the fans, was off the charts!
It was a great era of ACC basketball!
Again, thanks for the article, and walk down memory lane!
Most of us were just ACC junkies back then, and would still watch the ACC Tourney Championship even if the Tar Heels didn't make it....Don't think there's that same kind of dedication and passion with today's youth IMO...
Living in a remote area of Western North Carolina, we generally didn't get but 3 TV channels, and 2 of those were fuzzy, so we had to adjust the antenna quite a few times when it was windy during the ACC tournament...
In the late 70's and early to mid 80's, a large group of my buddies and I, would gather for the ACC Semifinals on Saturday if Carolina was playing, and we would throw darts, pitch horseshoe, and generally have a great time all day long, and there would be as many as 20 or 30 of us at times, and we all got along great, and cheered for our favorite team the Tar Heels...Still have a bunch of pictures from that era of watching ACC basketball with my buddies....The fun would be repeated on Sunday if North Carolina was in the ACC Championship game...
Just not the same as it was back then when every team in the conference played each other twice during the regular season...There would be years when you couldn't wait for the ACC Tourney to begin in hopes that the Tar Heels would get some revenge for what happened during the regular season....UVA with Ralph Sampson comes to mind during those early 80's and State with David Thompson and South Carolina with John Roche in the early to mid 70's....Still remember South Carolina beating UNC for the ACC Tourney Title, the last year they were in the ACC if my memory serves me correctly?....I also remember the ACC champion Tar Heels exacting some revenge a year later on the gamecocks in the 2nd round of the 72 or 73 NCAA Tourney, which happens to be the last year that South Carolina won an NCAA Tournament first-round game which still pleases me to this day, knowing that the Tar Heels started this long winless NCAA Tourney drought for the Gamecocks that has now reached over 40+ yrs....South Carolina's basketball program just became irrelevant when they chose to leave the ACC against the wishes of former legendary coach Frank McGuire, and they still haven't recovered, and I hope they never do...
Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney and others brought a lot of character and wit to the broadcast of ACC games back in those days...And C.D.Chelsey and Jefferson Pilot did a great job with the broadcast...
Those years prior to the expansion of the NCAA Tournament were really exciting because you had to win the ACC Tourney to qualify for the NCAA Tourney, and the intensity on the court for the players and off the court for the fans, was off the charts!
It was a great era of ACC basketball!
Again, thanks for the article, and walk down memory lane!
Jim Thacker and Bones McKinney were the best ever. In the ACCT when State put the freeze on dook winning 12-10 the producers made the decision to go to commercial breaks during "live" action because there were no stoppages , when they came back Jim says "Bones what happened while we were away?" and Bones says "Kretzer (I believe) dribbled 52 times" .
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