College basketball’s biggest rivalry, UNC/Duke writes another chapter on Wednesday night at 9:00 pm on WRAL. To celebrate the biggest event in sports this week, ESPN Classic is running three classic UNC/Duke games each of the next three afternoons:

Monday

• 1:00 UNC@Duke 1998
• 3:00 Duke@UNC 1984
• 5:00 UNC/Duke ACC Tourney 1984

Tuesday

• 1:00 Duke@UNC 1994
• 3:00 Duke@UNC 1992 - Bloody Montross
• 5:00 UNC@Duke 1995 - Stackhouse Dunk, Capel Shot

Wednesday

• 1:00 Duke@UNC 2000
• 3:00 Duke@UNC 2004
• 5:00 UNC@Duke 2008 - Teabag

August 6 marks the day when Coldplay will return to the Time Warner Pavilion. The ticket presale begins on Thursday, February 12. The band will pack up their things and head to Charlotte for a show the following night.

Good news for people who love bad singing; Modest Mouse will be playing at the Disco Rodeo on March 11. Mimicking Birds will be opening. Tickets are $32 .

The 2009 Auto Show began yesterday at the Raleigh Convention Center. Absent from the show are GM and Ford products, according to WRAL. Hwoever Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Audi, Porsche, Acura, Maserati and more are on the floor.

Tickets are $5 (12 and under free) and the show runs from 10am to 9pm today and Saturday. It will run from 10am to 6pm Sunday.

Cameras are welcome.

Jimmy Buffett will triumphantly return to Time Warner Pavilion on April 23. The Coral will open. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10am thru Ticketmaster.

Surely the pavilion is happy to sign an act that will at least mostly fill the place (acts like this are becoming rarities). My only recommendation to those going is get reserved seats and to avoid the hill (unless it is your first time drinking).

Saturday will likely be one of the biggest days in 2009 for the RBC Center. At 3:30 the N.C. State Wolfpack will host their rivals, North Carolina. At 8 o’clock, the Carolina Hurricanes will host Southeast Division rivals Atlanta Thrashers.

With the basketball game in all likelihood ending at 5:30, the arena staff will be in high gear for a quick changeover. Fans will be asked to throw away their own garbage from their seats and clear the building after the basketball game as quickly as possible to facilitate a smooth transition.

For fans wishing to attend both games there is good news. The arena club restaurant will open at 6pm. Reservations are strongly recommended (call 861-6100). For those attending the basketball game and dining in the arena club, proceed to the VIP entrance as quickly as possible once the game is over and wait for the building to be cleared for re-entry.

Also those parking in reserved, paved lots (lots #1 thru #6) for the basketball game are not required to move their cars or pay for hockey parking that night.

It should be one of those nice, long, fantastic days we hoped for when we built the arena a decade ago.

Calendar Update: There is an error in the downloadable calendars. The NCSU/Miami game will occur Tuesday (1/27) at 7pm. The game will be carried by ESPNU.

NCSU’s athletics department is asking fans to wear pink to Tuesday’s game and to be there in time for the moment of silence honoring Kay Yow.

This year’s winter "Blindness Party" is set for Saturday, February 28 from 7-11pm. The event benefiting Prevent Blindness North Carolina will take place in the Vaughn Towers at Carter-Finley Stadium. Tickets are $40 per person in advance, $50 at the door.

Carolina Hurricanes Alternate Captain Eric Staal has, once again, been named to the NHL All-Star Team. This is the third time being named to the team for Stall, last year’s All-Star Game MVP. The game begins at 6pm today on Versus (TWC channel 65 and 271).

Note: Staal scores the game’s 3rd goal at 9:30 in the 1st

As nearly every national and local media outlet is reporting today, Kay Yow lost her fight to cancer this morning. Ever since her diagnosis of breast cancer in 1987, Yow has been an inspiration to many, including the late Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993.

Yow’s 2007 team made an indelible imprint. With its coach’s health obviously failing, the team was able to string together several memorable wins, coming 6 points short of winning the ACC Championship. The team went on to win two miraculous NCAA tournament before losing to Connecticut.

I watched those ACC Tournament games with my ailing father, figuring it would be the last we would see of Yow. I was wrong. It was the last I would see of him. I wondered in the back of my mind who would make it longer. She did by almost two years.

There will be a public viewing on Friday from 10am to 2pm at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary ( map it ). In the meantime Yow supporters are placing memorials around the NCSU bell tower. Fans will also wear pink on Monday.

Legendary rock bank Fleetwood Mac is going to be in the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday, April 26. Tickets go on sale to the public on January 26 (10am). However, there is a special presale that runs from tomorrow (Friday) at 10am thru Sunday at 10pm. The password is "HITS"

The previously mentioned filming date for the Travel Channel’s "Man vs. Food" show has been changed. The new date is Wednesday, January 28 .

The Pit is taking reservations for spectator seating that night (6-9). They will also be offering some topical specials that night:

• Double Combo (Carolina Ribs and Chopped Hog) with two sides for $14.99 (normally $19.99)
• All you can eat Chopped Hog and two sides also for $14.99 (not normally available)