A great professor and "Go Heels!"

Most of you know I'm a Dukie.

And you know about the Duke-Carolina rivalry, which MSM plays up.

MSM digs to find and report any antagonism between the two schools.

And there's a market for that.

There are plenty of people here where I live close to both universities who can't handle the rivalry as a matter of "who can do best within the rules and respect the other." Such people - some Tar Heels, some Dukies - are convinced "We're so good and they're so bad." MSM usually gives those folks the microphones and the ink.

In truth, for all the attention MSM gives those folks, the real story of the two universities' rivalry is mostly one of healthy competition that embraces cooperation between the schools.

Shortly after I came to Duke a student remarked in class how surprised he was that professors from Carolina were regularly invited to speak to students at Duke. He'd also heard that students at both schools were often encouraged to enroll in courses at the other school.

"Why do we do that with Carolina?" the student asked. "They're our rivals."

"Because," the professor said, "we're two great universities; not a pair of squabbling siblings."

The professor became one of my favorites.

I thought of her tonight when I began watching Carolina and Oregon State play for the College Baseball World Series.

"Go Heels."