As the regular season of college basketball starts to wind down, and all the Tar Heel faithful are hoping for a stellar March in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments, I’ve been thinking about my daily Carolina bias in everyday life.

The Carolina bias I’m talking about doesn’t have to do with watching sports per se, but in daily interactions, commuting to and from work and the like. It’s a bit sad, but everyone has their prejudices and ways to filter and group people, objects day-to-day. Driving comes to mind. Someone that is flying a Carolina flag, has a UNC license plate, or a University of North Carolina decal, I’m more likely to let into traffic and even dismiss being cut off, etc. By the same token, I form a preconceived notion about someone with the same items themed from NC State or Duke (especially Duke!)

Meeting someone via work, or wherever, finding they went to Carolina automatically ups their status in my mind subconsciously, though half the people aren’t people you would have hung out with during the college years at UNC. Regardless, it steps them up a notch. Unreasonable? Possibly. But just wanted to share an observation I’ve had over the last nine years since graduation (man, has it been that long). Schools can unite people and it shows in post-college networking, informal meetings and even on I-40.