Some fans seem to like to compare the Duke Blue Devils to the New York Yankees. They're evil, they win all the time with a roster chock full of villainous players.
This, I've never understood. The Yankees have 27 championships, the most recent one coming six months ago. The Duke men's basketball team has three titles, and hasn't won since 2001. The Yankees are a band of high-paid mercenaries with an unlikable owner. Duke is coached by one of the most respected and revered men college basketball has ever seen, Mike Krzyzewski (side note: I can spell Krzyzewski without Googling it).
Where are the similarities? Why all the hate for the Blue Devils?
I was a Duke fan when I was a kid. Christian Laettner's game-winning shot against Kentucky in 1992 is my oldest college basketball memory. I don't consider myself a Duke fan anymore, but I'm certainly not among the legions of fans who detest Duke, can't stand Duke, and don't care so much about who wins on Saturday night as long as Duke loses.
My Duke hat is coming out of whichever drawer I threw it in after the last time I wore it. I'll wear it Saturday night and root for Duke to beat West Virginia and go to the national championship game. If the Devils make it there, I'll root for them to win their fourth title.
I don't love the Blue Devils anymore, but I don't, and won't hate them, either. And I'll never understand why so many people do.
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3 comments:
With a classy coach, a proud tradition and a 90 percent graduation rate, Duke is the epitome of what college basketball should be.
Far more hateable to me are teams like Kentucky or West Virginia, led by sleazy coaches and with graduation rates of 30 to 40 percent, that function more as an NBA farm system than collegiate programs.
On the court, Duke consistently relies on team play and smart fundamental basketball, while so many other “powerhouse” programs are just about raw athleticism and a few star players showing off, biding their time and hoping to go pro.
Even if you're not a fan, it's just ignorant not to at least respect the program.
Go Blue Devils!!
That was extremely well said. I agree with all of it.
Yesterday, the sports editor of the Indianapolis Star had a bit of egg on his face for his depiction of Coach K ... I just don't get this hatred for Duke.
As a Duke graduate, I have some thoughts why a fair number of folks may not like the Blue Devils. First, I would say that Duke's roster is a creme de la creme of the nation's best basketball players. Unlike most other schools, Duke can recruit nationwide, and that gives my alma mater a distinct advantage. However, it wasn't always so; several years before Laettner's miracle shot against Kentucky, Duke was just another regional school competing against bigger brother (UNC) for the best talent. That has changed for both schools – and for many others.
Duke, I believe, is also the place where the players started slapping the floor on the defensive end to get themselves in the frame of mind and to energize their fans. It's also the place that I think came up with the idea of huddling during breaks in the game. To some, this may feed in to some sort of clubby, elitist behavior. I see teamwork.
But more than that, I think Duke combines two principles that people either root for or against: excellence in the classroom and on the court. I'm not saying each Duke college basketball player is a Rhodes Scholar (and in fact more than I would care to admit leave school early and don't return for a degree), but the majority of them attend class, get good grades and represent themselves well on the court, in interviews and in society, I would argue it's a gold standard of sorts of what college basketball should be.
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