WOLFPACK
Everywhere in Raleigh there were references to the Wolfpack with even large photographs of wolves in our hotel elevator. The wolf is the mascot of NC State and the Wolfpack is a reference to all of the sports teams at the university. In all of Raleigh people are avid fans of the men’s basketball and football teams as well the large number of other teams, in both men’s and women’s sports.
The fan base here is very similar to the fan base in European cities for their football (soccer) teams. People don’t have to have attended NC State to be rabid fans, dressing up in red and black and driving miles to attend football or basketball games.
I don’t thinK universities anywhere in the world have similar, almost professional, sports teams in the way that the United States does. The are semi professional teams. Members of these teams are given athletic scholarships that in major sports cover room and board which are a form of compensation. And often athletes take special easier courses or major in physical education because their practice sessions and travel to games often at distant schools doesn’t give them much time to study. And lately these athletes, showing no allegiance to their university or their team will transfer at the end of the year, the transfer portal, to another university where they might get more playing time or have more chance to be on a winning team. The players themselves are recruited from all over the country by hard sell recruiters and often from distant states or cities. And this year players have won the right to be able to get paid to make television commercials or other endorsements that will bring them an income before the best of them become professional athletes. Student athletes live in special dorms, get special food, get special tutoring. Everything revolves around sport for their college years.
This all seems very bizarre from the outside. But it is as American as apple pie. And our reason for coming to Raleigh, in addition to seeing Caroline, was to go to a NC State Wolfpack basketball game in Reynolds Colliseum, the smaller basketball coliseum on campus where the women’s basketball team plays. The women have recently won two national championships and have an avid following. The stadium seats 6000 and is small enough that with our center court seats we could see everything clearly. There were cheerleaders and a band and thunderous applause and we had a great time. NC State beat Coppins State from Baltimore, Maryland, 600 miles away.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 