They Call Him Philthy

Well, when I said last night that I was exhausted, I really had no clue. Today consisted of four games and that meant two sessions of back to back games. TIRING to say the least! But another great day of action. I've been trying to take ACC fans and sports fans in general on a behind the scenes trip to this year's ACC Tournament in Washington, DC. Today I'm focusing on the many different personalities that I've had the pleasure of running into so far after two days of basketball.

The first thing that you should know is, all of the people I talked with today I could have done so without a press credential. These people are all fans, or at least people paying for a ticket to get in the door. I could spend a day talking about all the people you can meet in the press fantasy world; television reporters, writers, coaches, players, etc. But sometimes the most fascinating personalities are ones that you come across simply by roaming the different seating areas.

If I wasn't convinced before, then I am now: The fans are by far what makes this tournament so special. The ACC Tournament is generally thought of as one of the best all-around conference tournaments in college basketball. This has to do with a few factors. First, ACC teams are consistently competitive. Second, the tradition of this tournament goes back 52 years. In other words, generations of families have graduated from these schools, had children, who've had children, who now go watch the tournament. It's special. Third, there are very few professional sports teams located in ACC country. Therefore, college basketball has always been the absolute number one choice for people in this region. Fourth, many of the schools are so close to each other that natural rivalries have blossomed and it's not uncommon to see neighbors or husbands and wives bitterly divided between rival schools.

North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Duke are all within about 30 minutes of each other. Duke and North Carolina are so close you could throw a midget from one campus to another. Naturally the midget would die upon landing, but still, it can be done. Now throw in Wake Forest, Clemson, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech, and you've got eight schools that are either in or bordering the state of North Carolina. Needless to say, the fans are diehard and they are VERY close to each other.

In other words, these unique fans represent all that is good and fun in sports these days. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with several kinds of fans today. Here are a few:

- A mother, husband, and their young daughter. The wife, decked out in Carolina blue complete with a temporary cheek tattoo of a Tar Heel. The husband, wearing a red shirt, red pants, red hat, and red NC State flag. Then there was their daughter who couldn't have been older than 5 years old. She had a red cheek and a blue cheek; a UNC jersey, but an NC State cheerleading skirt; one red pom pom, one blue. When I interviewed the family I asked the little girl who her favorite team was, she looked into the camera for a little while, eyes beginning to squint just slightly, and then suddenly she threw her hands up in the air and smiled saying, "I just don't know which one to pick!"

- I had the pleasure of interviewing the former governor of North Carolina for 8 years, Jim Hunt. He began answering our questions very diplomatically. He loved visiting the city and loved the people. By the end of the interview we had Mr. Hunt talking X's and O's! I remember him actually scripting out an inbounds play in his head for NC State. Pure genius I tell you. NC State won fairly handedly against favorite Wake Forest today. Coincidence? I think not...

- Ah the scalpers..."Got any extra tickets for tonight?" How much fun is it when your team has just lost an unbelievably close game, you turn and walk out of your seating area, and just as you enter the tunnel you're greeted by eager scalpers who have specifically gathered at YOUR team's fan exit thinking you'd be ready to unload tickets now that your team is eliminated. But I'm not talking a handful of scalpers asking you the same question over and over, it's more like 20 to 30 people lining the exit walls ready to pounce on your slightly outstretched hand with a ticket in it.

- College students are probably the most fun. I like them because, well, it wasn't even a full year since I was last in college. Let's face it, we're still pretty far from being fully mature, we really like alcohol, and we're much more likely to yell and chant ridiculous phrases in the name of our school. Wake Forest students seem like pretty good people, North Carolina State fans are slightly "rednecky" but mostly a lot of fun. North Carolina students are COCKY, or at least they are this year (they have good reason to be). Maryland students are assholes for the most part and Duke students are absolute nerds. These are of course wide sweeping generalizations, but ones observed at the tournament and and I'd say it's a fairly good representation of each school.

What should be clear is that people are much more willing to talk to you if you hold a camera and a microphone, especially one that says "ACC" on it. So that always helps. It's definitely a neat feeling when most everyone around you is so eager in wanting to talk with you about their stories of their school and family. Long live they fans, they are truly what makes this tournament so much fun.

Quickly, my thoughts on the actual games today. Clemson played another unbelievable game against North Carolina. Most people in that building expected a blowout but instead Clemson nearly won the game, and it took one heck of a comeback from UNC to pick up the win. NC State is for real. The doubters should take one step back. These guys, with a fairly mediocre regular season record without a marquee win, have shown fans in the past month just how well this team can move the ball and gel when it plays up to it's potential. Virginia Tech battled in the first half, then played like an ACC newcomer would be expected to. Georgia Tech when healthy and with an effective Luke Schensher are hard to beat. Virginia put up a valiant effort against Duke, but Pete Gillen has most likely coached his last game with them. It's time to begin respecting Melchionne. The guy can hit some threes and he's pretty athletic too.

Tomorrow both of the games will be excellent. No blowouts here kiddos. I'm secretly rooting for the two higher seeds to advance. A Duke-North Carolina championship game would be absolute sports heaven. If there is an upset, it's NC State over Duke.

Well, hope you enjoyed Day 2 of the ACC Tournament from Washington, DC. There's still two more days to come, so y'all come back now ya hear?

Stay tuned for more Philthy, We'll be Right Back.