I love Eric Church more than almost anyone, and back in the day, he was the reason I really fell in love with country music, but I have to side with the fans on this one.
Above all else, I am a Mountaineer, and I just can’t stand that he shows so much love to the University of North Carolina, when he didn’t graduate there or ever attend the school, but rather earned his marketing degree in Boone at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
It’s well known that he’s a massive Carolina fan, and I was happy to watch the Tar Heels lose to their bitter rival, the Duke Blue Devils, on Saturday night, where they got their behind’s beat pretty bad with a final score of 82-69. With that win, they also clinched the outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.
I’m no Duke fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m an absolute Tar Heel hater (if you know, you know), so I pretty much always cheer against them. Eric is such a big Carolina fan, in fact, that he canceled a concert in San Antonio, Texas in 2022 pretty last minute to attend a game between the two teams in the Final Four with his family, after he realized the two longtime, arch-rivals would be facing off in the semi-final round for the first time ever.
Of course, fans who were supposed to be at that concert were rightfully pissed, though Eric did his best to make it up to them with two free shows last September for all of the fans he cancelled on. But either way, the move made national headlines, especially in the sports and music community, with many people divided on the ethics of it.
On Saturday, he appeared on ESPN’s College Game Day show to give some insight into his thoughts on the game, even flashing a sweet ring he got after the aforementioned Final Four game:
“Hello Tar Heels, it is that time of year again, the veil empire has returned to Chapel Hill. The death star has come to the Dean Dome. It is Duke/Carolina time. Everybody has to ask me how I prepare for Carolina/Duke, what do I do? And I go to the words of my mentor, the great Woody Durham, ‘Tar Heels go where you go, and do what you do.’ At the start of the game, I may wear this, or this, or this, or these, or these, or these, or both of these.
If we’re making shots, and we’re getting rebounds, and we’re defending well. If all else fails, I will say to all f my Tar Heel brethren I’ve got you. I will put this on, this is the ring that vanquished Coach K in New Orleans, sent him into retirement, it’s a very powerful ring, and if that doesn’t work, I will go to your very own Jay Vila. In a golf match, he lost $20 to me, I had him sign his name and ‘Go Heels.’
He’s my favorite Blue Devil, I think he’s a very wise man, he’s the sage of college basketball, the oracle, and yes, Jay, I agree with you, indeed. Go Heels.”
Jay joked that it came out of his Monopoly box, and wasn’t real:
@collegegameday The rivalry runs deeper than we knew between #Duke and #UNC 😂 #EricChurch #collegegameday ♬ original sound – College GameDay
Fans were not amused by the above video at all, surprisingly, and I saw hardly any positive comments for Eric either on Instagram or TikTok where the video was shared, which also featured UNC alum Chase Rice, who did actually attend school there and played football.
I have waited a long time to be able to write something exactly like this, because it truly bothers me and I have wanted to call out Eric’s ridiculous fandom for them publicly for years. College football (and basketball) in the South is just different, and it’s all very personal here, so if I sound insane for being upset by this, just know you don’t get it and that’s perfectly okay.
The comments were lit up with people basically calling him a phony and a “Walmart” Chapel Hill fan, which basically means that you can find Carolina gear at any Walmart in the state and call yourself a fan, whether you have any other ties to UNC or not, because it’s the “flagship” North Carolina school (whatever that means). Basically, you’re a fake fan… kind of embarrassing, actually.
It’s a phrase you’ll hear a lot in North Carolina, and like one fan said below, most Chapel Hill fans did not go there, and the ones that did… yeah, not my favorite people. I won’t be playing devil’s advocate here, but Eric is far from the only fan like this… it’s sadly all too common. What makes it worse is that, like another fan points out, he basically ignores App even though that’s where he went to school for four years and also got started playing music. You simply don’t turn your back on where you come from. Though this is a completely separate issue from all of the wonderful work he’s doing for folks in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which is admirable and impressive, and I’m very thankful.
While I don’t say it often, this whole Carolina bullsh*t is a HUGE Eric Church L, and I am thrilled we’re finally calling it out:
“And he graduated from App State!!”
“Eric Church went to App State. Shows zero love. Clown.”
“If only EC showed 10% of this energy for App State where he actually went to school. Luke Combs >>>>>>”
“Eric Church didn’t even go to UNC… he went to App.”
“Ole sellout Eric Church…”
“At least Chase went to UNC. EC…. ehhhh.”
“Only lame thing about Eric Church is he’s a Carolina fan.”
“Bro went to App State. This gets so old.”
“Walmart fan, Eric Church.”
“He’s a typical fraud UNCHEAT fan. Never went to school there.”
“He went to AppState.”
“WalMart Tarheel fan.”
“Most Carolina fans have never stepped foot on campus.”
“Hell yea Eric. Go App State too!!!”
“What happened tonight Eric.”
“Eric Church sucks. Traitor to App State.”
“How about win a Grammy Eric”
“I am a huge Eric Church fan but I’m soooo glad that he is pissed off today. GO DUKE!!!”
“It didn’t work”
