Love NC #22-24

This is the coffee-drinking you-know-who again. The Sweet-Toothed Wife has a toothache right now, so I'll post something for her in the meantime. How about a sports themed post!

22. The most famous Minor League Baseball Team in the World

There is no minor league baseball team better known across the world than the Durham Bulls. The reason is simple... the popular 1988 movie Bull Durham. That being said, the Bulls are actually good and are in the top tier of minor league baseball, the Triple-A International League. They are an affiliate of the frequently dominant Tampa Bay Rays. The Bulls are about 20 minutes west of us... while the Carolina Mudcats are 30 minutes east. Asheville has the Asheville Tourists. All in all, North Carolina has over 30 minor league baseball teams.


23. The Carolina / Duke Rivalry

The Triangle in particular, but the rest of the state as well, is crazy for college sports. This is especially true about college basketball. Near where we live we have Wake Forest and NC State... but the real focus is on the hardcore rivalry between Duke and UNC: Chapel Hill... aka "Carolina." These are two top-rate universities in academics as well as sports, and they seem to be trading off winning national champions in recent years. In order to invoke strong emotions from any UNC student... just say "Duke" and vice versa. These fans are rabid, and the teams are guaranteed to play one another at least twice a season, not counting any March Madness meetings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina%E2%80%93Duke_rivalry
24. Carolina Hurricanes

North Carolina may not seem like a hotbed for ice hockey, but it certainly has become one. The Carolina Hurricanes play in Raleigh, the capital city. I am definitely a 'Caniac,' as the fans are called, and have been rooting for the 'Canes since they won the 2006 Stanley Cup! Nothing beats watching pucks smack against the glass, fists slam into faces, and John Deere Zamboni machines smoothing the ice.