Author blythe has a ball with duke-unc rivalry

In the world of college basketball... at least that ribbon of Atlantic Coast Conference territory that ties Durham to Chapel Hill, N.C... you are a Tar Heel fan or you are a Blue Devil fan.

That is, you root for North Carolina (the defending national champion; Michael Jordan; Dean Smith; Tyler Hansbrough) or you root for Duke (this year's top-ranked team for most of the

season; Grant Hill; Coach K; JJ Redick). So when writer Will Blythe found his marriage over, his girlfriend not speaking to him and his income non-existent, he focused on his real problem:

basketball. The third-generation Heel wrestles with his obsession in _To Hate Like This Is to be Happy Forever_, his extremely personal account of the Dooooooook/Carolina-lina rivalry.

"I am a sick, sick man," he confesses, as the book opens. "Not only am I consumed by hatred, I am delighted by it..." Blythe tells Debbie Elliott about living a life

built around a bouncing ball. Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.