so, as i said, i don't follow the teams that closely... but, i heard that for NC schools, the rivalry goes something like this:
Duke <--UNC
UNC <--NC state
NC state <--ECU
and, with the latter of the pair always feeling more hatred toward the other (as indicated by the arrow). my theory is that the more prestige a school has (the ones being pointed at), that school's rival feels more inclined to be "in competition" with the more prestigious school because they are striving to be placed in the same arbitrary ranks so to speak...
the lesser prestigious school wants to be associated with and have the same status as the higher academically ranking school, while the more prestigious school really doesn't feel the same level of "threat" or hatred toward the less prestigious school (because the prestigious school already has prestige and doesn't feel as desperate). anyway, i think i also heard something on NPR talking about this... not sure...
i think people tend to want to associate themselves with something "better"... it's ingrained in our unconscious mentality to favor the label, brand, the bigger name, higher status... that's why people also like to drop names and such...
that is the rough outline of my theory...
