Dick Vitale is not one of them.
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A lot of rivalries get called the best in sports, but Duke versus North Carolina — whose latest chapter kicks off tonight at 9 on ESPN — is the best, and it's not even close. Last week ESPN conducted a "best rivalry" poll during SportsCenter; Duke-UNC finished third with 21% of the vote, ahead of Bruins-Canadiens (10%) and Celtics-Lakers (18%) but behind Ohio State-Michigan (24%) and Yankees-Red Sox (27%).
All that poll revealed was that 79% of voters are misguided dummies who don't understand Duke-UNC.
What makes a rivalry great is not any number of iconic moments or big shots, or even the presence of legendary players — every rivalry has those, including Duke-UNC. What makes Duke-UNC the best rivalry in the world are these seven reasons.
1. Proximity.
You've probably heard of "Tobacco Road" and imagined a lush stretch of land upon which four prominent North Carolina universities sit amid fields of tobacco. That may have once been true, but since Wake Forest and North Carolina State (until recently) are relatively irrelevant, "Tobacco Road" more accurately refers to the stretch of North Carolina route 15-501 that spans the eight or nine miles between the city of Durham and the town of Chapel Hill.
It's hard to overstate how closely intertwined the lives of Durham and Chapel Hill residents are. Many people live in Durham and work in Chapel Hill, or vice versa. Some Duke and UNC students attend morning classes at one university, hop a bus and arrive in time for an afternoon class at the other. UNC and Duke people date each other, and sometimes they even get married and create hybrid rivalry children. You can't drive anywhere within the Triangle or even visit a supermarket or restaurant without being reminded of the rivalry by bumper stickers or wall murals. Whereas Ohio State and Michigan fans, or Yankees and Red Sox fans, typically live in pockets of solidarity separated by state boundaries, Duke and UNC people live and mingle amongst each other each and every day, which creates a sort of tangible daily tension lacking in just about every other rivalry. Duke-UNC forces itself upon North Carolinians 365 days a year whether they like sports or not.