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Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
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View Poll Results: Biggest college fan base in the Triangle
UNC-Chapel Hill 21 37.50%
NC State 25 44.64%
Duke 5 8.93%
Wake Forest 1 1.79%
ECU 4 7.14%
Voters: 56. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-09-2015, 09:20 AM
 
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You never see any Wake Forest fans, even around the Triad I rarely notice Wake Forest bumper stickers, license plates, t-shirts, etc. Makes sense, though.

North Carolina isn't 50/50 divided between UNC and Duke as some people seem to think! Obviously, you'll see Duke fans around the Triangle. However, and I'm excluding Charlotte since I never go down there, not so much!

As for teams outside NC that I see a lot of support for around the Triangle, Clemson definitely takes the cake, at least from what I've noticed. However, UVA might come in from behind. I've also seem some VA Tech, USC Gamecocks, and Maryland fans here and there.
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Old 01-09-2015, 09:51 AM
 
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I am from Raleigh, went to UNC and live in Cary now. But I would have to agree that there are more State fans in the Triangle than any other team.
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Old 01-09-2015, 10:51 AM
 
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Originally Posted by poppydog View Post
I'd say UNC, but then again I do live in Chapel Hill.
I have a hard time labeling many UNC-CH followers - especially among the Chapel Hill crowd - as "fans." Yeah, they may own some light blue clothing, maybe even a Tar Heel t-shirt, but often that seems to be about as far as it goes. There doesn't otherwise seem to be the same level of enthusiasm as I notice for NC State (or as someone else pointed out, ECU).
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Old 01-09-2015, 11:01 AM
 
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Originally Posted by SaucyAussie View Post
I don't know if it's just because the fans are more fanatical, but going by bumper stickers, flags in front of houses, licence plates, clothing, etc, ECU has a huge following in this area.

Maybe it's because so many ECU students actually come from this area, compared to the State and Carolina, which seem to bring more students in from out of state.
The Triangle draws some influence from the eastern part of the state, more so than areas to the west (Charlotte, Triad) IMO. I went to high school in Raleigh with loads of kids originally from small towns down east, and the beaches aren't too far for vacationing. A ton of my school teachers came out of Eastern NC, too. Towns along the lines of Goldsboro, Greenville, Wilson, Kinston, etc. Many of my classmates went off to ECU and UNCW, those seem to be very popular for Triangle kids.
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Old 01-09-2015, 11:05 AM
 
Location: My House
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Originally Posted by chris75 View Post
There was a New York Times article a few months back that covered this topic: Link

It looked at a bunch of Facebook data to construct a college football fan base map. In the Triangle, State's in the lead for part of Wake County, but UNC fans are in the majority for the rest of the Triangle (and state of NC).
The funny part about it... and I'm not being all "school snob" here... because I know people from my own family who do it...

The "other parts of NC" people are a mixture of people who went to another UNC school (Charlotte, Wilmington, Pembroke, etc) and people who never attended ANY college/university. Probably some who attended a school that didn't have a sports program tied up in there, too.

I think it's great the people can be into our college sports scene without having attended UNC or any other college, for that matter.

But... when they get into the rivalry thing that suggests that they're superior to any of our other teams (not just NCSU, but Duke, WF, etc)... I always think it's kind of funny, because I attended one of these schools and as a graduate of NCSU, am just not that into it.

I get a kick out of it, though. Hehehe.

That's why you get the fans who heckle the UNC folks with chants about how they bought all their gear at Walmart because they didn't attend UNC.
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Old 01-09-2015, 11:48 AM
 
Location: Chapelboro
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Originally Posted by CHTransplant View Post
I have a hard time labeling many UNC-CH followers - especially among the Chapel Hill crowd - as "fans." Yeah, they may own some light blue clothing, maybe even a Tar Heel t-shirt, but often that seems to be about as far as it goes. There doesn't otherwise seem to be the same level of enthusiasm as I notice for NC State (or as someone else pointed out, ECU).
CHTransplant, I think you and I travel in pretty different circles.

I know plenty of UNC fans who go to the games, watch the away games on TV in a big festive crowd, and are generally very vocal about their support of the team. I know one person who is a vocal State fan. She lives in Raleigh. I know a couple of other State alums, but they don't talk fan talk. Almost everybody else I know is a Carolina fan, although I do have a couple of cousins that went to ECU. I know folks who work at Duke, but I don't know any actual Duke fans that I can think of.

My facebook feed is full of chatter about games and selfies of folks at the games. And the occasional selfie of the one friend tailgating at State football games.

Last edited by poppydog; 01-09-2015 at 11:57 AM..
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Old 01-09-2015, 11:58 AM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
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Originally Posted by RedZin View Post
The funny part about it... and I'm not being all "school snob" here... because I know people from my own family who do it...

The "other parts of NC" people are a mixture of people who went to another UNC school (Charlotte, Wilmington, Pembroke, etc) and people who never attended ANY college/university. Probably some who attended a school that didn't have a sports program tied up in there, too.

I think it's great the people can be into our college sports scene without having attended UNC or any other college, for that matter.

But... when they get into the rivalry thing that suggests that they're superior to any of our other teams (not just NCSU, but Duke, WF, etc)... I always think it's kind of funny, because I attended one of these schools and as a graduate of NCSU, am just not that into it.

I get a kick out of it, though. Hehehe.

That's why you get the fans who heckle the UNC folks with chants about how they bought all their gear at Walmart because they didn't attend UNC.
Agreed. Adult NC State fans tend to be those with an actual tie to the university (Students, Alumni, Spouses, Parents of students). State does not enjoy the wide base of fans who didn't matriculate there like UNC does. Of course there are exceptions to this rule but I'd bet my entire net worth that State's non-affiliated fan base is nowhere near the fan support that UNC enjoys. I too have been subjected to the "superior" thing coming from the baby blue fans who clearly have never stepped foot on a university campus. On the other hand, I never have issues with my friends who actually graduated from UNC.

I went to high school in Raleigh (Millbrook) and distinctly remember that my class sent their largest number of graduates to State, UNC and ECU in that order. I suspect that that's a similar pattern across the county. In fact, I think that Millbrook sent the most freshmen to State that year of any high school.
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Old 01-09-2015, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Durham, NC
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Interesting. I live and work in Durham and go to Wake Co. rarely. I see little State support here (or in CH) but lots of UNC support, and only moderate Duke support.

I think that the answers to this question depend a great deal on if you are an eastern or western Triangle resident. Kind of like polling people in Wilson or Lexington on the best BBQ, you will get different answers depending on whom you ask!
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Old 01-09-2015, 12:10 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
Agreed. Adult NC State fans tend to be those with an actual tie to the university (Students, Alumni, Spouses, Parents of students). State does not enjoy the wide base of fans who didn't matriculate there like UNC does. Of course there are exceptions to this rule but I'd bet my entire net worth that State's non-affiliated fan base is nowhere near the fan support that UNC enjoys. I too have been subjected to the "superior" thing coming from the baby blue fans who clearly have never stepped foot on a university campus. On the other hand, I never have issues with my friends who actually graduated from UNC.

I went to high school in Raleigh (Millbrook) and distinctly remember that my class sent their largest number of graduates to State, UNC and ECU in that order. I suspect that that's a similar pattern across the county. In fact, I think that Millbrook sent the most freshmen to State that year of any high school.
I agree with this. Most State fans I know went to State. And I used to work at a company with a lot of State fans. My husband works at a company with a lot of State fans. And they all went to State. Since I went to UNC, I know a lot of UNC fans that went there of course, but I have certainly heard and know of many UNC fans that did not go to UNC. I have to say though that most of the State fans on my facebook feed, etc are much more obnoxious with their anti-UNC complaining than the other way around though.

And, as an aside, I graduated from Millbrook too. I can't remember the exact number, but I think about 10% of my graduating class went to UNC (>50 students) and I am sure a comparable number went to State.
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Old 01-09-2015, 12:14 PM
 
Location: Chapelboro
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Growing up in NC, plenty of people pulled for all the schools who didn't attend. I mean, you can't be a college alum in elementary school. There were a few "houses/divided", but among most folks I knew the whole family went for one of the teams. I grew up knowing more State fans than I do now, but like I said, I live in Chapel Hill now.
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