As I sat in Kenan Stadium Saturday, watching top-ranked Clemson get everything it could handle from the four-touchdown underdog Tar Heels, I couldn’t help but think, “Man, this is fun.”

The players must be having fun, competing against the best team in the ACC in front of another packed house in Kenan Stadium. And just to hear and see how much the fans were into the game, this was not a waste of their time and money on a beautiful afternoon.

So I thanked Mack Brown in my Sunday column for making football fun again in Chapel Hill, which is one of his stated goals. And I got feedback from people who are feeling the same way, thanking me for writing exactly what they are thinking. And that made me admire how well-balanced most Tar Heel fans are.

Sure, we all want to win and we’ve been spoiled by winning so much in basketball and various Olympic sports like women’s soccer, which kept rolling Sunday afternoon on the newly-named Dorrance Field by shutting out Notre Dame and moving to 10-1 on the season.

But most fans I encounter would rather not read and hear faint praise when the praise is not fully due. I love UNC and its teams, always have, but in my job over the years I haven’t shied away from criticizing my university when I think criticism is deserved. And I believe that most fans truly want it that way even if they don’t admit it in public.

To be a fan is to be engaged, which means reacting to what happens with sincere emotion. If we win the big one, we are ecstatic. But we are also disappointed when we lose, and no team wins them all. So I try to write and report more what I am feeling because I think that reflects what many of you are feeling.

Am I always right on the money? Of course not. But, more often, I am echoing what you might be saying to your closest friends, thinking about in private or discussing with your family at the dinner table. Because we’re all coming from the same place.

Did Brown and Phil Longo make the right play call on Saturday for the two-point conversion? Maybe not, because UNC ran the same play against South Carolina in Charlotte. Not only might have Clemson known it was coming, but the Tigers’ defense is faster than the Gamecocks.

But did we relish that Mack went for the win on one play rather than risk losing in overtime? Most of you did. And I agree.

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