Between Durham and Chapel Hill there is 20-mile stretch of Highway 15-501 connecting two of the most prestigious research and medical institutions in the country. While this road serves as a information highway for state-of-the-art medical and technological advances within the famed Research Triangle Park, it also symbols a pathway along which, dreams were built, hopes were shattered, bonds were forged and legends were created. This is the famed "Tobacco Road," the 20 mile stretch of land that has given birth to the greatest and most well known sports rivalry of all time.

This ACC was born in 1953 adopting seven schools for inter-university competition. No one imagined that this organization in little over fifty years would be one the most consistently dominant conference in the country and eventually give birth to the most competitive sports rivalry of all time: Duke University vs. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both these two organizations evolved into dominant basketball dynasties, with talented athletes and legendary coaches and over the years fierce competetion between these two teams intensified and a mutual competitive animosity was born. The magnitude and intesity of the rivalry is unimagineable, such that students will camp out in Krzyzewskiville for months just to get tickets. The famed Duke vs. UNC basketball game captures the nation's attention, provoking millions of Americans to tune in on their TV sets, and inciting Fortune 500 companies to spend millions on advertisements for the right to air a commercial during the game. Such is the immensity, passion, and power of this rivalry.

However, the intensity of the rivalry is not only created by the competing teams on the court but also by the devoted fans that bring the controversy off the court. A large part of the immensity of the rivalry is due to the fans who desire the right to declare their team as the more dominant team, or in other words "bragging rights." This desire of one group to assert superiority over the other is an integral aspect in the evolution of this rivalry and is for a large part, why the rivalry has intensified over the years. This aspiration for social dominance is inborn into every human being and it is within this innate desire in humans to dominate a social hierarchy that primal competition and natural controversy is born. Both Duke and Carolina fans pine for the right to call their team the "more dominant" of the two. This is the premise that exist at the root of the controversy.

Both sides of the controversy attempt to offer logical reasons why their team should be crowned the "dominant team,"yet do not realize that they are essentially arguing for the same thing: the right to assert themselves over their competitors. The UNC fans argue that the days of Michael Jordan and Dean Smith will forever place them in the historical standards of greatness, a league that no other team, much less Duke, will be able to reach. They beleive that Dean Smith, possibly the greatest coach in all of sports and Michael Jordan, possibly the greatest player in the history of basketball, defines their dominance in the hierarchy, which will remain set forever. The UNC faction also uses the perfomance of UNC alumni on the professional level to define their superiority as well, using names such as Vince Carter and Jerry Stackhouse. Yet however solid these arguments may be, the Duke fans also provide provocative arguments.

The Duke faction argues that Duke has also had its share of NBA stars such as Grant Hill and Christian Laettner. Also, they assert that the Duke basketball dynasty does not rely on individual raw talent, an aspect of the game that the NBA encourages, but rather focuses on team dynamics and strong inter-team bonds. Thus Duke players are not as dominant in the NBA since they are not used to the distinct style of play. Yet Duke also argues that it currently is in its prime and has a bright future with the legendary Coach Krzyzewski at the helm. He has lead the team to consecutive ACC championships and several National Championships, and continues to create a winning team, that from a glance, doesn't appear to have superstar talent. They argure that his style of coaching, his many years of experience, his inspring leadership both on and off the court, will bring Duke success for many years to come.

It becomes obvious that this rivalry doesn't just exist on the basketball court. It appears to go deeper, into the fans of the teams, into the innate human desire to dominate the social hierarchy, and assert superiority over the competition. Will the contorversy ever be qualmed? When one team is victorious and its fans gloat over their defeated competition, the contorversy does not end. All that is accomplished is a negative peace, a state where the issue is superficially resloved, and tension still exists between the two sides. Thus we must find a new insight into the controversy, a way to solve the problem at the root of the controversy to eliminate the relevance of the issue altogether. If we could just find a to contain the desire to assert ourselves at the top of the social hierarchy, primal competition and natural controversy would no longer exist. It is futile to try to solve an issue superficial level: one side always ends up losing, and in a compromise, both sides end of losing. To effectively solve an issue, we must problematize: look for the problem that exists deeper, and ask questions that will attempt to gain insight into these problems. What is it about human nature, or the psychology human being that drives us to assert dominance over other? Can we control this primal urge? Can we divert these energies elsewhere? These are questions we must delve into.