New readers –
This is launch week on Tobacco Road Blues, the new site dedicated to Duke and UNC sports. Today, we’re changing it up. This morning’s post comes from Devil Wolf, a new contributing writer. It was originally posted here. As you’ll see, he’s a huge Duke football fan, and he wrote this wonderful essay to express what that label means. If you’re interested in writing for TRB, follow the contact link to the right. Enjoy.
-Shane
Red Eyes, Black Hearts, Can’t Lose
“Well, who do you cheer for during football season?”
And just like that, the conversation ended.
We were having a great time in Washington, DC last summer at this really nice outdoor bar in the courtyard of a downtown hotel. My friends and I were in town for a wedding, and like most conversations at most bars, we all began talking about sports. I ended up with a group from the other half of the wedding party, a nice group of folks with a passion for soccer hailing from Philadelphia and Chicago mainly, and I was holding court defending my beloved Reds from Liverpool against the group who were all Arsenal supporters. “Is soccer your favorite sport?” they asked. “Well, I love soccer, but where I’m from our first love is college sports,” I replied. “Yeah I bet, Tarheel country right?” But even that didn’t ruin the great mood I was in. “Big Duke fan,” I said. “We pretty much hate the Tarheels.” They laughed, and we shared a few jokes at the expense of the evil empire over there in Chapel Hill, and then it happened …