HBO and Time Warner Cable Host the North Carolina Premiere of the HBO Sports Documentary ‘Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke Vs. Carolina’ on Sunday, February 8 at the Carolina Theatre

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ — It’s not the ACC Tournament nor the
NCAA Final Four, yet the Carolina Theatre will be no less electric as Duke and
UNC alumni, students and fans gather to view an HBO Sports Documentary about
the history of their rivalry — arguably one of the fiercest and most widely
followed in college basketball history. HBO and Time Warner Cable will host
the invitation-only, North Carolina premier of BATTLE FOR TOBACCO ROAD: DUKE
VS. CAROLINA on Sunday, February 8 at 4:30 pm at The Carolina Theatre. Ross
Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, along with producer George Roy and several
subjects interviewed in the film are expected to attend.

The 60-minute documentary examines the storied 88-year basketball rivalry
between Duke and North Carolina, two intensely competitive universities
located a mere eight miles apart in North Carolina. Both are among the four
winningest programs in the sport’s history, with seven NCAA titles and 31
Final Four appearances between them.

“This film explores how a cross-town rivalry between two prestigious
academic universities in North Carolina has escalated into one of the most
scrutinized and intense rivalries in college sports,” said Greenburg. “The
regular season showdowns and the ACC Tournament meetings between these two
schools have become national events, and we’ll explore how it all started and
what it means to have played in one of these contests.”

Remarkably, since the NCAA Tournament expanded to its current
configuration in 1985, these two schools alone have combined for more national
titles (five) and made more Final Four appearances (18), than any other entire
conference.

Many of the most memorable Duke-UNC games and personalities are recounted
in the film, both in images and words. As is revealed, basketball was
something of an afterthought in North Carolina until the 1950s, when both Duke
and North Carolina had to play catch-up with North Carolina State, which had
de-emphasized its football program to concentrate on basketball. Over two
dozen players, coaches and fans provide insights and commentary for the film.
The high-profile list of interviewees from the Blue Devils and Tar Heels
weighing in on the intense rivalry includes Hall of Fame coaches Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski, and all-time great players Michael Jordan, James Worthy,

Charlie Scott, Grant Hill, Johnny Dawkins and Christian Laettner.

Tracing the history of the rivalry, as well as examining the different
cultures and characteristics of the programs in Durham and Chapel Hill, the
special debuts MONDAY, FEB. 23 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

The executive producers of BATTLE FOR TOBACCO ROAD: DUKE VS. CAROLINA are

Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein. HBO Sports President Greenburg has won
more than 75 TV sports awards including 7 Peabody(r) Awards and 37 sports
Emmy(r) Awards. The film’s producer George Roy, six-time Emmy Award winner and
three-time Peabody winner, completed his 18th film for HBO, “Michigan vs. Ohio
State: THE RIVALRY chronicles college football’s greatest rivalry, and served
as the impetus for BATTLE FOR TOBACCO ROAD: DUKE VS. CAROLINA.

SOURCE HBO