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Songs, sweater vests and slippers – fans love their pregame rituals

From the stands in the Dean E. Smith Center to the couches in their homes, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball fans attempt to bring luck to their Tar Heels with a multitude of game-day traditions.

When the Tar Heels are on TV, you won’t see Art Shelby sitting still for long.

If the Carolina men’s basketball team is struggling, the long-time Tar Heels fan shuffles around his Harrisburg, Pennsylvania home looking for a new television to watch the game on with hopes that the change may spark the team.

Sometimes, he claims, it even works.

John Dykers, on the other hand, changes absolutely nothing when he cheers on the Tar Heels. He won’t even remove the security tags from the bag he has carried into games for more than a decade. Why risk the chances for a win?

“I try not to do anything different,” the Siler City resident said. “I wear my same clothes and hat.”

From the stands in the Dean E. Smith Center to the couches in their homes, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball fans attempt to bring luck to their Tar Heels with a multitude of game-day traditions. As the team competes in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, this week, many fans will be relying on everything from temporary tattoos to lucky underwear to propel the Tar Heels through the bracket.

“It’s how we guarantee a win,” said Steve Chudik, who touches the Old Well’s fountain before every game he attends.

Whether it’s a particular outfit or a superstitious routine, most fans’ game day habits are in full effect hours before tipoff.

Paula Totherow puts an inflatable Rameses up in her Winston-Salem front yard first thing in the morning and leaves it inflated until game time. Joe Miller sleeps in a Carolina sweater vest he received from his grandmother, and Michael Porson makes sure his Tar Heel slippers are on his feet by the time each game begins

“I like to dress up and wear my tutus because it helps the team,” said Rebekah Gordon, who wore a Carolina blue tutu during UNC’s home finale against Duke. “I think it makes them play better.”

You’re never too young to start a tradition, either.

In the Hoots home, for example, 3-year-old Brady likes to reenact how the players enter the Dean Dome. The dining room serves as the locker room, while the kitchen is the tunnel. Finally, Brady — the oldest son of Director of Player Development Eric Hoots — runs into the “court” of his playroom.

Once he arrives at the actual arena, he sings the National Anthem and the “ he’ll rip off his shirt — just like the players do, and he’s ready for the game,” said Amy Hoots, Brady’s mother.

And some rituals are quite lengthy.

After making the three-hour drive from Holden Beach, North Carolina to Chapel Hill, David Sink always makes sure to stop by the Carolina Club to play the University’s fight song on the piano. He then strolls through Franklin Street to get a tattoo at the Shrunken Head Boutique and dinner at Sutton’s.

It’s a complicated routine. But like many fans’ traditions, Sink wouldn’t dare break away from it.

“We’ve never lost a football or basketball game when I played the fight song on the piano at the Carolina Club,” he said. “If I change it, I’m afraid we might not win.”