NC State Sports, Marriage, And Me

I was born and raised in NE Ohio but I moved to North Carolina about 5 1/2 years ago in search of two things that the Cleveland area is always short on: sunshine and jobs. I found both, and I also happened to find my husband here, so I stayed.

North Carolina is big on college sports rivalries, and I learned the hard way when I moved here. In my area, the big three schools are UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and NC State. One of my first jobs here was outside sales and my territory was Chapel Hill, but I unknowingly made the mistake of wearing a dark blue shirt to work one day and I didn’t understand why people were being so rude to me. My friend Katie (one of two people I know who are actually from Raleigh, the other being my husband) explained to me that they probably thought I was a Duke fan. Whoops! Sorry guys, I’m just an Ohio girl with no clue about your college rivalry.

I didn’t pick a Carolina-based college team to support for a long time, because I really couldn’t have cared less. I’m an Ohio girl for life, no matter where I live. Then I met Zach and eventually married him. He’s a diehard NC State fan, so I ended up going to some college basketball games with him and having a lot of fun. I have to say that I do like NC State because it’s not as pretentious as Duke or Carolina. It’s more rugged, simple, American in the best way possible.

One of my biggest motivations as far as supporting State, however, is naturally my husband and his happiness (or lack of it). One time, he was watching State play Notre Dame on TV with his buddies (boy does he hate Notre Dame…ironic for a Catholic) and it wasn’t going well so he threw a bottle at the wall and there’s still a dent in that wall of our apartment. What was funnier is that I saw the dent in the wall and the plaster shavings on the floor, asked him about it, and he tried to pretend he didn’t know what happened. Come on now hubby, I wasn’t born yesterday. 🙄

Anytime State loses, my dear husband is really pissed off and I have to hear about it constantly, so that’s just another good reason to support NC State and hope they win. Thanks hubby, I guess I’m more of a real North Carolinian and less of a carpetbagger now since I have a college team down here to root for. GO PACK!!!