Rivalry name game

Readers, fans offer many ideas

The big rivalry game with no name and no trophy doesn't lack for ideas to change that.

Fans of the North Carolina-N.C. State football matchup offered plenty of suggestions Wednesday for giving the game a special title and offering a trophy -- something to acknowledge the game's status as one of the better rivalries in the nation.

Many ideas centered on the state's traditions in tobacco and barbecue.

How does "Barbecue Brawl" sound, complete with a pig cooker for the winner (to be painted in the winning team's colors)?

Or the "Tobacco Road Rumble" with a golden leaf trophy?

A story in Wednesday's News & Observer highlighted the many names and trophies for all sorts of rivalry football games across the nation -- from the "Red River Shootout" between Texas and Oklahoma to the Arizona-Arizona State "Duel in the Desert."

Teams across the land are playing for jugs, buckets, boots, cups, victory bells and more.

But not State and Carolina, which have their 97th meeting on Saturday.

Fans offered many ideas on The N&O's ACC Now Web site as well as other university fan Web sites.

Even Gov. Mike Easley, a UNC grad, got in on it, dismissing the many games out there that end with the winner hoisting a governor's cup or trophy.

"There is no greater reward for this time-honored competition between the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University than victory on the field of play," Easley said in a statement Wednesday. "No mere trinket or dust-gathering orb transcends a well-earned win."

Even so, suggestions abounded -- many serious, some funny, some meant to poke fun at the other.

Here, then, is a sampling (in no particular order) of some of the ideas for names, trophies or both:

* The Game Ball Bowl. Teams could use a football painted half blue and half red for the opening kickoff, then put it on a pedestal near the field for the rest of the game. The teams would play for the right to hold the game ball for a year.

* Tobacco Road Rivalry, or Tobacco Road Bowl. Debate broke out in some corners about highlighting tobacco use, but many said it would honor the state's heritage.

* The Battle for the Old North State, with a nod to the Civil War and a historical gun or something similar as a trophy.

* Triangle Tussle. Another, similar idea: The Pythagoras Cup, with a platinum triangle as the prize.

* The Brawl for Braggin' Rights, with the governor calling it "The Year of the Tar Heels" or "The Year of the Wolfpack" depending on the winner.

* The Good Neighbors Bowl, with corporate sponsorship possible. (A note: AT&T sponsors the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry.)

* The Mediocre Bowl.

* The Boise Bowl Play-In Game.

* The War on 54.

* The Wait Till Basketball Season Bowl.

* The Brick Bowl, playing off of N.C. State's Brickyard and the brick-lined Pit at North Carolina, with the winner receiving an oversized brick to paint.

* The Jim Hunt Trophy, named for former Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., who earned degrees from both schools. Hunt was traveling and could not be reached Wednesday.

* The Barrel Battle, with the winner taking home an orange construction barrel.

* The First Flight Fight, with a replica of the Wright Brothers airplane as the trophy.

One fan said it simply should be called a "Family Feud."

"There are so many 'mixed' marriages around here with UNC and NCSU grads together, that it seems like a perfect fit," he wrote.

"Nationally, I think the name would get remembered if it stuck."