The fact that I finished this book the day before the Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game was pure coincidence, but it works out perfectly. This book is a journey into the depths of the North Carolina Duke rivalry. I always knew the rivalry was intense, and I always made it a point to watch the games, but I honestly didn’t know that the rivalry was as intense as it is, To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever gives good insight into it.

These two schools simply don’t like each other. It is upper class meets working class in a present day industrial revolution style conflict. The author, Will Blythe does a great job taking the reader into the middle of the rivalry. Blythe grew up as a North Carolina fan, he was raised in a household that bled the baby blue of UNC. As a result of this, he hates Duke and everything about them, all the way down to Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale. So what does he do? He takes a year off to go back to North Carolina and immerse himself back into the basketball culture for a year.

Blythe just happened to pick a perfect year for this jaunt back down memory lane. He followed the team in their 2004-05 campaign, one which culminated in them winning a national championship. Blythe openly admits in this book that while he is a die hard fan (which he calls the beast) he must also be professional in his journalism efforts (the part which he calls the journalist). Because of the intensity of the rivalry, and perhaps because of his personality, Blythe often lets the beast slip and take over. Despite his blatantly obvious bias, Blythe does a good job getting both sides of the story.

He spends a day watching a Duke game with a Duke fan who is perhaps as die hard as he is. He asks Duke professors and people associated with the university for their opinion while at the same time injecting his own UNC feelings. He turns this book about the UNC-Duke rivalry into a pseudo therapy session for himself. He tries to cope with the loss of his father by discussing basketball with the priest who presided over the funeral. He spends a chunk of the book discussing with a notable theological figures about whether or not his hatred for Duke is bad for him. I think the fact that he has to discuss that with theologians proves that it is, but that’s my personal take.

Blythe is able to get nearly full access to the players, the coaches, and everyone else important in the Duke-UNC rivalry, and so can tell the story well. And he does a good job of that, but at the same time he goes off on almost too many random tangents for this book. He’ll randomly flash to concern over his behavior in regard to Duke, and then spend the next 10 pages cursing the name of anyone who has put on the dark blue uniform. While it is confusing it is an entertaining book and a solid insight into the world of the UNC-Duke basketball rivalry. Certainly worth taking a look at.

Overall Rating 3.5 out of 5