Before, during and after tonight's Duke-North Carolina basketball game in Chapel Hill, fans will be bombarded with facts and analysis on one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

If you're one of those folks who can't get enough of this stuff -- and, frankly, I'm one of those people myself -- you're in luck. Thanks to the efforts of two outstanding writers, along with a small army of assistants, the year 2006 has become the Duke-Carolina equivalent of discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Authors Will Blythe ("To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry") and Art Chansky ("Blue Blood: Inside The Most Storied Rivalry In College Hoops") quietly tackled this fascinating topic over the last two years. Chansky's book has been out for some time, and Blythe's is expected to be available very soon. Both are great reads.

Having covered ACC sports for almost 20 years, I always wondered why there was no book on Duke-UNC. It seemed as if there were books on everything else -- even the Duke-UNC football rivalry, for crying out loud -- but not on the most thrilling competition in all of college basketball. Now there are two, so perhaps some balance has returned to the universe.

A personal note: In different ways, Blythe and Chansky asked me to be a part of their projects. I've known Chansky (the one-time sports editor of the Durham Morning Herald) for almost 20 years, and I enjoyed getting to know Blythe last year, when we met several times in person and communicated countless times via e-mail. I have a lot of respect for the talents and dedication of both men.

Unfortunately, the timing wasn't right for me to help Chansky. (No job is more important than being a father, and my wife said if I exceeded my four-job limit -- attorney, ACC Sports Journal editor, 850 The Buzz host, WRAL.com blogger -- she might have to find someone else to help raise my son and daughter.) Fortunately, Chansky didn't need me anyway. He hit a grand slam when he hooked up with Al Featherston and Eddy Landreth, two experienced and incredibly knowledgeable writers from the Duke and UNC beats, respectively. Oh, and Dick Vitale wrote the forward to Blue Blood. Awesome, baby!

Blythe seemed intrigued with the unique role of the ACC Sports Journal and ACCSports.com in the world of ACC sports journalism, and he incorporated that story into his book in a small way. Like some fans, he was fascinated with the idea that a little-known writer/editor in Raleigh could find and print the truth about the Matt Doherty era at UNC, especially within the context of a national media (and many local outlets) that repeatedly insisted that everything was fine and that there was nothing but a bunch of "bad rumors" coming out of Chapel Hill. We all know how that one ended, and Blythe's book includes an interesting look at how things unfolded, both with me in the journalism world and behind the scenes at Carolina.

Some of the most enjoyable work I've ever done as a journalist was historical by nature. Early in my career, I wrote and helped produce several videos for Raycom, including "The History of Duke Basketball." (Esteemed Duke guru Bill Brill wrote the book.) I also have been the lead writer or editor on a few books and other publications about UNC basketball, including one on the Tar Heels' 1993 national championship team. It's always wonderful to be able to tell stories -- and stories behind stories -- from a broader context, and without the inherent limitations of the daily grind.

Chansky and Blythe took very different paths with their Duke-UNC books, but both executed their plans well. If you're a fan of either team -- or, perish the thought, both! -- or just interested in one of the great rivalries in all of sports, this is the year for which you have been waiting a long time.