From Joe Ovies at 850 the Buzz:
And so is Chapel Hill for today’s super-regional with South Carolina, the battle for the "real Carolina". Could there be a more ridiculous discussion this week? South Carolina can’t get their own identity, so they latch onto other schools’ monikers. Outside of that state, when someone says "Carolina" it means UNC, and when someone says "USC" it means Southern Cal. No question, case closed, enough already.
Absolutely. I might also point out there is one concrete and inescapable historical fact the makes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the real Carolina: We were here first. UNC was founded in 1789 and is considered the oldest public university in the nation. So, my advice to South Carolina is find another nickname, this one is already taken.
And on a side note, I have a somewhat tenuous connection to South Carolina baseball coach Ray Tanner. We attended the same high school and we also both received an award given at that school to honor the best all around senior athlete for four years of athletic excellence. Of course Tanner also coached at NC State before he went to Columbia so all bets are off.