Well sports fans, it has all come down to this.
The weeks of jawing and trash talking are over. The public has chosen sides. The media hype has come to a climax.
It's time, as they say, to throw down.
That's right, it's time for that long awaited knock-down, drag-out prize fight: men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski vs. the Duke student body. The esteemed team leader vs. the Sixth Man. Coach K vs. the Cameron Crazies.
In one corner, weighing in at 152 lbs., (forgive the rough estimate, coach) and impeccably dressed as always, is Krzyzewski. The proud Polish powerhouse comes out swinging, throwing charges of complacency and obscenity at his fans. His voice is scathing, offering no respite to the community that hangs on his every word. His reach is expansive, effectively utilizing everything from local newspapers to the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches weekly teleconference to the microphone at the Cameron scorers table to get his punches to land.
In the other corner, at a collective weight of 30,000 lbs., shrouded in blue face paint and two-year-old National Championship tee-shirts, are the Crazies -- some of the most feared beasts in the college basketball kingdom. They jab at Coach K with complaints of his lack of appreciation. Their vicious hook is an assertion of their dedication to Duke basketball -- tales of sleepless nights spent on frozen sidewalks, missed classes and prolonged illness, all for a chance to see a game in Cameron. Their uppercut is a flurry of letter-writing to The Chronicle, led by renowned campus activist Shavar Jeffries, an avid hoopster himself. Not as powerful as, say, national television, but still a force to be reckoned with.
So without further ado, gentlemen, go to your corners, and let's get ready to rumble....
Hold it just one second.
As much as I'd like to see Coach K duke it out with 2,000 rabid Cameron fans (I'm taking Coach, 3:1 odds), the heart of the ACC season is no time for a coach to be fighting with those who claim to be his supporters. He has a slightly more pressing agenda.
And besides, Durham isn't exactly a fight mecca. The "Thrilla in...Carolina?" "The Rumble in...the Triangle?" I don't think so. Something is seriously wrong here.
Maybe we should try to work this one out sans punches.
Krzyzewski is right in one respect: these fans are not what they used to be. They no longer throw pizza boxes and Twinkies on the floor. They no longer scout visiting teams, prepping for weeks to invent new and distracting taunts to direct at opposing players. They no longer perform to inspire the team while at the same time remaining silent to frustrate the cameras.
With the "ESPN #1" signs, the "Whoosh" cheers on foul shots and the ever-popular "You Suck" jibe, the Cameron Crazies have become, in a sense, average fans.
But average enough to warrant criticism? I think not.
After all, how many places besides Cameron do fans stand for an entire game (minus, of course, a break at halftime)? At how many schools do students camp out for such extended periods of time as they do here at Duke? (Rumor has it our neighbors down the road in Chapel Hill camped out a whole 12 hours to get good seats for last weeks Blue Devil-Tar Heel matchup. Oh wow.) Even in these days of lowered decibels, how many gyms can claim to rival Cameron in noise? (And this with the ever-reserved Iron Dukes in the upper level.)
But this year's fans have failed in one area the fans of seasons past and, indeed, other fans around the league are successful: a simple respect for their team. No, this team has not won a National Championship (yet). No, it did not advance beyond the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament. No, it is not invincible in Cameron (Virginia and Wake Forest have, over the past two seasons, both left Durham with victories in hand, Wake accomplishing the feat twice) and no it is not head and shoulders above the rest of the nation's teams, as Duke's second title-winning squad was in 1992.
But this team, as Krzyzewski has been saying since day one, is a distinctly new one. This team has balance -- three of the starting five players can handle the ball effectively, and two players have shown effectiveness off the bench. It has excitement -- any number of Blue Devils can rip off a dunk that will bring down the rafters, and Chris Collins adds a spice to the game that no cheerleader ever could. And it has a bona fide star -- Grant Hill, in case you were wondering -- quietly going about his business of winning another National Championship, and possibly adding National Player of the Year honors as well.
Worthy of respect? Hmmm...I'd say so.
Both team and fans are different than in years past, but both have proved they are still among the best. It's time we appreciated them for what they are, and stopped fighting about what they once were.
Abe Wehmiller is a Trinity junior and assistant sports editor of The Chronicle.
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