All is not right in the land of Krzyzewski.
No, I'm not talking about the unwashed bodies of campers, who spent two weeks in tarp-tents, mostly without showers. Nor am I speaking of the much-maligned DSG camping policy, which is about as solid as could be hoped for. Given the right mix of campers, the DSG policy had the potential to be a thing of beauty.
But beauty is only skin deep; rottenness goes to the core. And rottenness is indeed what has developed outside Cameron Indoor Stadium this year, right down to the core of tenters, supposedly Duke's most die-hard fans, who chose to spend New Year's Eve and subsequent days outside of Cameron waiting for the best seats to a couple of basketball games later in the year.
Does anyone remember when camping out was about Duke basketball?
To be sure, this year the tents are sprinkled with a group of students, of which I consider myself a part, who see camping as merely a means to an end. I want good seats to the basketball games, therefore I am willing to forego part of my winter break in order to achieve that end. I camp out only because I have to; there is not much joy in the experience of being out in the bitter cold with little food and no shower breaks.
However, this year that category of student is solidly in the minority. What has taken the place of the Cameron Crazies are the Camping Crazies. These people are more concerned with the line itself than what they are in line for. You can recognize a Camping Crazy by his or her usage of the phrases "integrity of the line" or "that isn't hard-core enough for me" when a grace period is proposed. Camping Crazies enjoy proving themselves, proving their die-hardness and proving their "insanity" at their ability to sleep in line when all common sense dictates otherwise.
What has been proven this year is that the connection between position in line and quality of Duke fan is a tenuous one at best. This could not have been clearer than it was at the Georgia Tech home game on Jan. 6. Going into the game, there were only about 20 tents up, and one might expect that they were all the most die-hard basketball fans Duke had.
But the results proved otherwise. The front row of top tents was completely out-voiced by the rows behind it. Three students from a mid-teens tent were capable of drowning out the "real" pre-New Year's tenters. You want quality fans? This year, the front of the line may not be the best place to look.
Of course I expect this column will be met with a level of distaste by tents 1 through 50, and The Chronicle will be inundated with a series of letters taking offense to my characterization of Krzyzewskiville. But allow me to present my evidence:
In one top tent, there were four representatives camping out by Jan. 3. But although two of them lived nearby, these campers did not take turns on tent duty. Rather, they all camped out, all the time, taking only brief breaks. At night, all four slept in K-ville. Why? Because the camping itself had become the activity. I submit that basketball was not the ultimate motivating factor in this decision. If it were, the students might have welcomed a break from the freezing cold. But of course, if you're only there to tent, then there's really no reason to go home.
On the nights of Jan. 4 and 5, Tom D'Armi, the operations manager for Duke athletics, was kind enough to allow the campers to sleep in Cameron because the weather had achieved health-threatening temperatures. Then, on the night of Jan. 6, although the temperature had come up some, Mr. D'Armi came outside and told the tenters again that they could sleep in Cameron. One would think that the tenters would receive this news with an overflow of gratitude. But with the Camping Crazies, such was not the case.
A representative from tent 4 was actually heard saying, "Well, I don't know if we'll sleep in Cameron tonight. It might not be cold enough." Turn down a free night in Cameron? Is that the action of a Cameron Crazie whose chief interest is Duke basketball? No. Looking the gift horse in the mouth, the tenters were prepared to turn Mr. D'Armi down simply because it wasn't cold enough to "preserve the integrity of the line" by moving indoors.
As a Cameron Crazie, I resisted the urge to wrap my hands around this person's neck, and some of us instead managed to persuade the members of the line that a night in Cameron might not be such a bad thing.
But that was only one victory in a long line of defeats for the Voices of Reason, a group of seniors (see tents 5, 14 and 15 for more info) and others who see the distinction between being in line for basketball and being in line for being in line. When it was eventually decided that there were conditions under which it was best that everyone be allowed to go home, a meeting was held to determine what those conditions were.
Arbitrarily, the campers decided that anything below freezing would be enough to send people home. Thirty-five degrees, though, and we had to sleep outside. But even in 35-degree weather, people can get sick. One camper mentioned that in 40-degree weather, even his dog was allowed to sleep inside. Which begs the question: if we're really out here to help support the basketball team, then why not allow people to go home for the night? Don't we help the team more by being healthy and well-rested at games? How are we of better service to the team by stubbornly maintaining an outdoor line when the principals of self-regulation say that we don't have to?
Now that DSG has stepped in to handle tenting for the remainder of the season, it is too late to call for an end to the lunacy that has taken place this year. What remains is a chance to call for the tenters to refocus themselves on the reason why all of us should be out there 24 hours a day, seven days a week until Feb. 3-to help our basketball team win games, to support our basketball team in its endeavors and to be the best Sixth Man that we, the Cameron Crazies, can be.
Zachary Davis is a Trinity senior, associate sports editor of the Chronicle and a four-year Cameron Crazie.
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