This weekend, parents and siblings will descend on campus, eager to spend the weekend with their hard-working undergraduate kids. Dinners at Angus Barn, shopping sprees at Wal-Mart and walks through the Gardens--the weekend will undoubtedly be filled with a plethora of "quality time" before suburbia comes calling and brings its minions back home.
But at Duke, such events are not enough to appease the folks. They all want to see the edifice that Sports Illustrated ranked No. 4 in its list of the world's greatest sporting venues: Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It's a testament to the power wielded by the institution known as Duke basketball. If there is anything that can sway parents' minds from wondering why the university is setting up a construction site less than 10 feet from their son's window, Duke basketball is it.
Realizing this bubbling enthusiasm, the athletics department did the only sensible thing: glorify an intrasquad scrimmage, call it the Blue-White game and sell tickets for 20 bucks a pop, which is what a ticket costs to watch Duke football try to win a Parents' Weekend game for the first time in the Carl Franks era.
Plenty of tickets are still available to watch the Blue Devils battle the Maryland Terrapins inside Wallace Wade Stadium. Want to watch Duhon take on Dockery? Good luck with the scalpers.
When my parents and sister came last year, the four of us went to the Blue-White game. My family loved sitting in the stands and watching the Blue Devils play basketball. The players didn't even come close to matching their normal game intensity, but nobody seemed to mind. If you ask them, it was 60 dollars well spent.
After my father and sister flew down in the spring to watch Duke take on St. John's, I was glad that my father had gotten the opportunity to watch a real game in Cameron, one with an actual opponent. This happiness was revived a few weeks ago, when people were complaining about having to awaken at 6 a.m. to get in line for Blue-White tickets, while I happily set my alarm for 11 a.m. and crawled into bed.
The next day, my sister was on the phone, upset that I had not gotten tickets to this year's Blue-White game. I told her that she had already seen two actual games as well as last year's scrimmage, but she didn't care. To her, the concepts of visiting her brother and attending a basketball game were pretty much synonymous.
Telling my family that they might have to wear hardhats to get to my fraternity hardly phased them, but informing them of my decision to not get Blue-White tickets solicited an instantaneous response. Duke basketball's power reigns supreme.
Those who attend the Blue-White scrimmage this year will, by definition, see a Duke team win the game. Meanwhile, those at Wallace Wade will likely see the Blue Devils lose their 22nd straight ACC contest.
Certainly, Angus Barn will also rank among the big winners this weekend. But when it's all said and done, Duke's athletics will end up the biggest winner of all.
Evan Davis is a Trinity senior and senior associate sports editor. His column appears every Wednesday.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.