Everyone on campus had reason to rejoice and celebrate this weekend thanks to Tom O’Brien and the Wolfpack football team. Its amazing win was just the kind of thing our campus and State lovers have needed for many years –bragging rights over UNC. True, O’Brien’s salary of $1.1 million per year is very high, but when you compare that number to the kind of results O’Brien and the Wolfpack football team gave us on Saturday, he almost seems like a bargain.
Let’s face it, we all had our doubts about the football team going into the bye week after losing to Florida State. Before the break, we simply hadn’t been playing well, but after winning four straight games and beating Carolina, it’s great to see we’ve gotten some reassurance and confidence back in the program. Our football team has gotten a breath of fresh air, but more importantly they have done what our sports programs should be all about — beating Carolina.
Academic cooperation between our UNC sister school is a must for us at N.C. State. After all, UNC does have a lot of money. UNC also has some pretty good programs and degrees offered, too, like Folklore and Journalism (of all things). N.C. State graduates need to have someone we can hire to read to us and paint us pictures; it’s a fact.
Just as every story needs a villain, every college needs to have a rival, and N.C. State needs Carolina. What we don’t need, however, is an elitist attitude, and by hiring coach O’Brien, we may have found a way to get Carolina’s attitude back in line.
In sports it’s not only great, but it builds communal value and relationships for us State fans to despise UNC fans’ light blue, girly colored guts. Our campus needs to have someone to hate, and without our rivalry against Carolina, we would be lost. Without UNC, we would instead have to focus our anger on ECU or someone else nearly as ridiculous and no one wants that.
As I was watching Saturday’s game on TV, it became obvious how loyal State fans are and how big a rivalry we have with Carolina, with the announcers barely audible over screaming fans.
This rivalry has been going on for years with UNC, and it’s about time the Wolfpack football team got back in there and showed their hatred like the rest of us.
How exactly can you put a price on the kind of pride and camaraderie we all felt after beating UNC last Saturday? I’m not sure any amount of money would be enough, but $1.1 million is a good start. If all we do is beat Carolina every year in football, O’Bargain has earned his salary plus some. If O’Bargain keeps up the good work, we should pay him more for promoting the community and adding to the value of N.C. State by helping us beat Carolina.
Let’s all join together and give Tom O’Brien and the Wolfpack football team a big pat-on-the-back for igniting our hatred again.
What do you have to say about Coach O’Brien following the game against Carolina? Send us your thoughts to [email protected].
