Is It “Carolina” or “Carolina?“

I am at work this weekend, and lucky for me, the engineers recently installed a high definition TV close to my desk. That means, while I am hard at work producing and preparing Saturday night's 11:00 newscast, I get to watch sports in beautiful HD. It's what I would be doing if I were at home!
This allowed me to watch--with some interest--Saturday afternoon's stellar UNC-South Carolina match-up, the first of it's kind in more than 15 years.
In the end, the seventh-ranked Gamecocks proved too much for the Tar Heels.
But it raises interesting questions. ABC's cameras repeatedly showed a man in the end zone wearing a "WE ARE Carolina" t-shirt, emblazened with a garnet and black University of South Carolina logo.
Then, at the other end of Kenan Stadium, you could clearly see the top of the UNC scoreboard, which read "Carolina," in the customary Tar Heel colors.
So which one is it?
It's almost a no-brainer, if you ask me. Few people do, so I am blogging about it!
I am a North Carolina native, and a University of Maryland graduate, so when someone says, "carolina this" or "carolina that," I automatically assume that person is referring to the University of North Carolina.
But when I moved to the area in 2002, I quickly learned that is not always the case, for a number of reasons. I would routinely refer to North Carolina as simply "Carolina." My co-worker would always correct me. She's never lived anywhere but the Tar Heel state, and here I come, a self-professed Tar Heel native who went to school with a bunch of yankees who think Bethesda, Maryland is "the south," and I am calling her state what?
Then, when I watched more and more South Carolina-based TV, I learned that Gamecock fans call themselves "Carolina," and I became a little confused.
(Don't get me started on the whole "USC" moniker.)
So, Saturday's match-up, clearly and thankfully labeled on the top of the screen as "S. Car" versus "UNC," was a clash of ideas, in a way.
Which one is the true "Carolina?" If you ask Clemson fans, they may say the Gamecocks are the true "Carolina."
Ask anyone north of Monroe, McBee, or Longs, and they may very well tell you it's the Tar Heels.

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