March Madness: Over In a Blur

It's fitting that the Daily Tar Heel captured the celebrations in Chapel Hill last night in stop-motion: like March Madness, it's all caught in one hurried frenzy of rushing bodies, flame, and blurry motion.
While I can't get too misty about the college basketball season being over, it's worth noting the unique propellant the Tourney adds to the burning fire of college hoops fandom. It has the intensity of a sudden car crash, over as soon as it begins but heavy on impact. Whatever it is, stuff goes flying everywhere when it rolls through, and your team only survives by the slimmest of margins: the made three, the desperate runner, the fatal steal to seal a game.

Debate its lasting effects all you like; whether it cheapens the regular season is a fair topic for discussion. What cannot be denied is the immediate thump of the format, and the head-spinning adrenaline of the first weekend. As far as sports narcotics goes, March Madness goes into the jugular intravenously, and hits with an appropriate wallop. And just like a cheap high, it's gone almost as soon as it came.

What also cannot be denied in all of this is that no matter who wins or loses, no matter how the whole tournament unfolds, no matter who scores or doesn't or fouls out or hits a game-winning jumper, one thing does not change. Duke and North Carolina hate each other -- now, forever, and unto eternity. See further evidence of this after the jump courtesy of Messrs. Carter, Peppers, Makhtar Ndiaye, and Jamison, who remind you that even grown millionaires hold public grudges properly and steadfastly.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.