Published: January 30, 2009
“Let them hate, so long as they fear.” – Lucius Accius
Hate is a strong word. Some people hate vegetables. Others may hate flying or riding over bridges. We don’t want to admit it, but we normally hate something.
There are even people that use the word to describe their feelings towards a particular team. Boston fans hate the Lakers. Philadelphia fans usually hate anything that has to do with New York and vice versa.
In the realm of college basketball, the most hated team may be Duke University. A lot of people will describe the way they feel as hate.
People love to hate the Blue Devils. If you don’t root for them, then there isn’t a team that you’d rather see lose.
If the Blue Devils were on TV, it wouldn’t be an odd scene or idea to hear people rooting against them and hoping that the final score was in favor of the opposing team.
There is a reason that fans and players celebrate when they knock off the Blue Devils. They want nothing more than to knock of the Blue Devils and send them home with a ‘L’. That was never more evident on Wednesday night when Wake Forest pulled out a last-second win over the visiting No. 1 Blue Devils.
Nevermind that the Demon Deacons, who were ranked No. 4 at the time, were being given a chance by many pundits in the game, the fact that they downed the all-mighty Blue Devils made things that much sweeter.
As an avid support of the University of Connecticut, that idea has been true the past few years when the Huskies took on the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies downed the Blue Devils in both contests — one in the national championship game and the other coming in a national semifinal. Was it sweeter that it was against Duke? Slightly. Yet over time, I have slowly realized that hate isn’t the word that should be applied to the school and its players.
Respect. Jealousy. Fear. Passion.
Those are better words to describe how you should feel towards Duke. You have to respect what they do. You should be jealous at what they produce. You should fear them everytime they are on the court. You should admire the passion that they play the game.
Elton Brand, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Johnny Dawkins, Steve Wojciechowski, Grant Hill, Corey Maggette, William Avery, Greg Paulus, Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Danny Ferry, Jay Bilas, Tommy Amaker, Jeff Capel, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Jay Williams, Shelden Williams, Trajan Langdon, J.J. Redick, Chis Carrawell.
Each one of those guys may have done something that makes you say, ‘I don’t know why, but I don’t like him.’
Maybe it was Battier’s knack for taking charges in big spots. Maybe it was Wojo’s slapping the floor on defense as the opposing team brought the ball up. Maybe it was Laettner’s tendencies to get away with a few cheap shots. It may have been Redick’s and Langdon’s range. Or maybe you didn’t like the way that Hill, Brand, Dawkins, Hurley or Capel hit big shot after big shot.
You may have hated them, but the name on the front of the jersey was even worse. If those guys were on the floor for the school you rooted for, you would be their biggest fan.
Instead, you despised everything they stood for and the things they could do on the court.
Look beyond the court and what do you find? The Cameron Crazies. Now those are the real people to despise, right? I mean, why would you like passionate fans who become such a factor in the game that it is really like a true sixth man?
Most sports fans are, at their deepest roots, competitors. We all enjoy winning. No one wins more, or at least puts themselves in position to win more, than Duke. They are synonymous with the word winning. So why do you hate them?
They have three national championships, 14 Final Four appearances, 16 ACC Tournament championships and 18 ACC regular season championships.
Duke doesn’t even have to recruit if they didn’t want to. The name Duke does enough.
Then there is Coach K. He epitomizes winning and success. He is, afterall, the guy the country turned to to lead the best athletes we have to offer. To say you hate Duke says that you hate Coach K. Which, if you’re a basketball fan at heart, is a travesty. When Coach K speaks, you’re listening.
Still, people continue to despise all that Duke stands for.
But instead of the four letter word that a lot of us use when describing them, we should begin to use a different one — love. And I don’t mean Reggie.
One Comment on "Hate Is Such A Strong Word"
Duke and UNC: The Only Rivalry That Matters | Hoops Addict on Wed, 11th Feb 2009 12:32 am
[...] I am not alone in my hatred of all things Durham. While they are beloved by many and unquestionably one of the most profitable programs in the country, the Blue Devils are clearly also the most hated team in the country. The near 1.7 million returns from Googling ‘I Hate Duke’ speaks to that, as does the article Michael Tiedemann recently wrote. [...]