Becoming a Tar Heel

It wasn't until Emily Banks got to Chapel Hill that she realized she had to hate Duke.

No way around it. You're a Tar Heel now, Emily. You hate Duke.

Writing this week in the education section of the New York Times this week, Banks, a rising UNC-CH sophomore, tells the story of how she figured out the Tar Heel thing. She's a New Yorker, from Brooklyn, and had never been much for basketball.

But that changed for her when she got to college.

She writes: "U.N.C. was quite the transition. Basketball players are treated as deities, and students quote Coach Roy Williams. Professors let class out early when it's evident students are too distracted by the NCAA tournament to concentrate on poetry. If the Heels are playing, no one is asking if you're watching the game, just where and with whom."

Banks, who is studying English, also wrote about the community feeling of the national championship won by the basketball game and the craziness of the Franklin Street aftermath.

I called Banks this week to hear a little more about this view, that a basketball game can create a sense of community.

"When you're watching the game, you realize everyone is feeling the same thing at the same time," she told me. "It's like this group emotion."

 You can read Banks' column here.