Down Goes Duke
When I was about 8 years of age, I ha
d a friend who lived 4 houses down my street have a Blue and White miniature Duke Blue Devil basketball... I didn't really understand who let me basketball all that much back then. My father had seemed to have a rooting interest for Georgetown back then, but I think that had more to do for his support for John Thompson Jr. and his style of basketball. My rooting interest in Duke then had more to do with them having a "Blue Devil" for a mascot and their use of Blue, my favorite color.
It didn't take very long for my favorite team to reach the Final Four... they lost the title game to Louisville in 1986... only to get back to the Four in 88, 89 and again the title game in 1990, but loosing viciously to UNLV.
Things changed however in 1991... Duke went back to the Final Four - Defeated the then Undefeated UNLV (defending champs), in route to smashing the Fab Five from Michigan for their first NCAA championship. A second banner followed the following year...
Since then, Duke has been compared to "the Yankees" in basketball... a claim that I don't particularly agree with... Both UConn and North Carolina have had comparable success since 2001, but if there's one team to hate in College Basketball, it's Duke.
For the most part... the shit doesn't bother me. I'm not a bandwagon fan. I followed the team foolishly when they couldn't get over the hump in the 1980's and I've supported them without fail for 20 years.
My love for them is so blind that I foolishly choose them to go all the way when brackets come out every March, but that's because I truly believe that they could get the job done. This year wasn't any different and I really felt good about their chances to get to the title game in Indianapolis.
Unfortunately for me, Duke and J.J. Reddick (possibly the finest Duke player I've seen play since Grant Hill) LSU had different plans and eliminated my Duke Blue Devils from the 2006 NCAA Tourney.
Unprovoked mind you. Sure... I mentioned to several people around the news desk thatIf that wasn't rough enough... Your's truly got to come to work and have his desk decorated with AP photo's of the Duke team in tears and LSU garb on my terminal. All of this is I was a unapologetic Duke fan and that I thought they could go all the way... but if my Blue Devils beat the Longhorns on the way to the Final Four, would I have decorated everyone desk with pictures of Duke clipping down the nets in Atlanta?
Unlikely.
Anyhoo... I had Duke, UCLA, UConn and Boston College in the Final Four this year with Duke beating UCon in the Final.
I'll be cheering on George Mason or the lowest seed in the tourney from here on out.
LSU sucks,
RollieinSouthTejas
d a friend who lived 4 houses down my street have a Blue and White miniature Duke Blue Devil basketball... I didn't really understand who let me basketball all that much back then. My father had seemed to have a rooting interest for Georgetown back then, but I think that had more to do for his support for John Thompson Jr. and his style of basketball. My rooting interest in Duke then had more to do with them having a "Blue Devil" for a mascot and their use of Blue, my favorite color.It didn't take very long for my favorite team to reach the Final Four... they lost the title game to Louisville in 1986... only to get back to the Four in 88, 89 and again the title game in 1990, but loosing viciously to UNLV.
Things changed however in 1991... Duke went back to the Final Four - Defeated the then Undefeated UNLV (defending champs), in route to smashing the Fab Five from Michigan for their first NCAA championship. A second banner followed the following year...
Since then, Duke has been compared to "the Yankees" in basketball... a claim that I don't particularly agree with... Both UConn and North Carolina have had comparable success since 2001, but if there's one team to hate in College Basketball, it's Duke.
For the most part... the shit doesn't bother me. I'm not a bandwagon fan. I followed the team foolishly when they couldn't get over the hump in the 1980's and I've supported them without fail for 20 years.
My love for them is so blind that I foolishly choose them to go all the way when brackets come out every March, but that's because I truly believe that they could get the job done. This year wasn't any different and I really felt good about their chances to get to the title game in Indianapolis.
Unfortunately for me, Duke and J.J. Reddick (possibly the finest Duke player I've seen play since Grant Hill) LSU had different plans and eliminated my Duke Blue Devils from the 2006 NCAA Tourney.
Unprovoked mind you. Sure... I mentioned to several people around the news desk thatIf that wasn't rough enough... Your's truly got to come to work and have his desk decorated with AP photo's of the Duke team in tears and LSU garb on my terminal. All of this is I was a unapologetic Duke fan and that I thought they could go all the way... but if my Blue Devils beat the Longhorns on the way to the Final Four, would I have decorated everyone desk with pictures of Duke clipping down the nets in Atlanta? Unlikely.
Anyhoo... I had Duke, UCLA, UConn and Boston College in the Final Four this year with Duke beating UCon in the Final.
I'll be cheering on George Mason or the lowest seed in the tourney from here on out.
LSU sucks,
RollieinSouthTejas
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