Dear Butch,

I understand that you would rather be 8-4 with a loss to an arch rival than 5-7 with a win. And I can also understand that a loss to a hated rival does not define a season.

But I would be remiss if I did not point out that you will probably never win a national championship without beating State, and (I'm sorry to inform you) a loss to State does in fact diminish what the team has accomplished this year.

While I can respect the attempt to cast this as "just another game," this is not actually just another game, and that approach is not working for you. It is time to get out your 2010 calendar and a big red marker and circle the date of next year's State game.

Though you can go to the Kenan football offices on Monday and be surrounded by sympathetic UNC supporters, the rest of us will have to go to work and face down the gloating masses, who have nothing else to be proud of but another convincing win over our "suck @$$" team (their words--not mine).

9-4 will still sound good next season (if we win the church's chicken podunk bowl), but we regular-guy fans will have to put up with that bull $#!+ for another 12 months.

Thank you for your time.

Miles Travis, class of '00