For my parents and most State fans raised in the 1950s, the love of basketball in North Carolina came from Everett Case. He was the father of the Dixie Classic, a tournament that was often better than the NCAA’s. He and State’s success in the late 1940s and early 1950s created an “arms race” among State, Wake, Duke and Carolina in the Old North State. A pursuit of basketball dominance. Because of him, North Carolina will always be one of a handful of states where basketball will always be the game, the sport.

So I grew up an NC State fan, but in addition to being a fan, I grew up with respect for history, tradition and the roots of my allegiance to State. I know why I love college basketball.

I didn’t go to many games growing up. Before my generation, no one in my family had ever attended college much less an ACC school. We weren’t Wolfpack Club members. We didn’t have enough money to donate or buy season tickets. The State basketball moments that stand out to me are the 7 or 9 p.m. winter weekday night games from my childhood when everything stopped at my house, and we all gathered around the TV to see Billy Packer, Jim Thacker and Bones McKinney welcome us to a Jefferson-Pilot—then Raycom—production of Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball. Back then it was State, Wake, Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Virginia and Clemson…then a little later Georgia Tech.

There was no ESPN at my house. The paper was like the Bible with news about games and stats. My parents would let me and my brothers stay up late because it was ACC basketball and really, it was the middle of winter and there was nothing happening in rural North Carolina after 7 p.m. in the late 70s and early 80s. It didn’t matter who was playing whom, because all the games really mattered, although it was always an extra special night when State took the court.

Those weekday night games are some of my most vivid memories of childhood.

I think I grew up during the best era of ACC basketball, and I was at Reynolds Coliseum when NC State returned from Albuquerque, New Mexico, after winning the National Championship in 1983. I celebrated the crowning moment of Valvano’s—and our team’s—history, and I’ve watched the ACC become an entirely different animal.

What has stayed familiar though, is my group of fans. I know my group of Wolfpack fans well, and I can tell you: State fans don’t care. We follow our team, and we love our team no matter what. We are students of the game. We are part of the masses. We know we lose a bunch. We hear the taunts of Carolina fans, poking fun at how many years it has been since we beat them at their place (we did in 2015), but it doesn’t really bother me, and I don’t think it bothers most other State fans either. After so many years of mediocrity, you may think we are bitter, but we aren’t. The truth is as a State fan, we have taken the worst that can happen and we still don’t care. We don’t care because we love State.

When I really think about it, I’d rather not win all the time because it seems to make you forget what it’s like to enjoy a good win and to take a tough defeat. A few years ago, Carolina had a certain coach that just could not seem to win. Carolina fans stopped going to games. Say what you will about State fans, but we would never abandon our team. If we were going to do that, we would have already.

State has been mediocre to bad with a few flashes of hope for 25 years, but, it’s my team. We can lose every game for the next 25 years, and I’m still going to be excited to get tickets to a game, and I’m still going to talk junk to Carolina fans.

Win or lose, I don't care. I'm a State fan.