Column: An exciting way to spend an evening

Admittedly no one in our home bleeds either one of the shades of blue that played basketball against each other Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.

We are State fans, my children sufficiently brainwashed by me to sing every word of the Wolfpack fight song.

But I enjoy a good basketball game no matter what team is playing and Wednesday’s contest between Duke and Carolina figured to be a good one with both teams ranked in the top 10 nationally.

My wife, who figures sporting events are useful for nothing more than watching other people in the stands, checked out early. My oldest daughter was cloistered in her room studying chemistry or some other kind of foreign language.

And, so my youngest daughter, Pitt, and I curled up on the sofas in our living room and took in the spectacle.

Pitt, the least sports-minded of my two children, spent most of her time with her face stuck in a Nook, until she happened to glance up and catch a shot of one of the Plumlee brothers on the screen.

“Who is he? He’s cute,” she said.

The Nook was put aside for the rest of the night and I spent most of the next 90 minutes explaining the game to her as it unfolded in front of us.

Having decided we would pull for Duke, we were excited by their early lead. Both teams seemed to be playing a pretty high caliber of basketball.

Slowly and steadily, as Carolina always seems to be able to do, they pulled back to within shouting distance before taking a small lead into the half.

At the start of the second half, Carolina extended their lead to a comfortable margin and it began to look as if it just wasn’t going to be Duke’s night.

Then, the wheels fell off the Carolina freight train. Duke’s defense got better and they started hitting their shots again.

By crunch time, Pitt was gritting her teeth and groaning or cheering with each shot.

When Austin Rivers made his dramatic three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game for the Blue Devils, we both leaped off our sofas, hollering and shouting in the kind of muted voice you use when you don’t want to wake everyone in the house.

For two people with so little invested in either of the teams playing the game, we were hyped up like we’d spent the last five months training with the team. I suppose one of the values of sport is that you can shuck all your other worries for a few hours, focus intently on a contest that ebbs and flows and finish with a high that makes the day feel like it was worth living. But there’s one other benefit to sports that trumps even that.

Pitt quickly headed off for bed after the game, but as she walked out of the living room, she turned around, looked at me and said. “Thanks, Dad. That was fun. I’m glad I watched the game with you.”

Three simple sentences made an exciting night much, much better.