I think it was when I was halfway through my french fries and two-thirds of the way through my cheeseburger at a Whataburger outside of San Antonio when the Georgia Tech fans walked into the fast food joint. Some friends and I were driving back home from the games, trying to eat away our sorrows with soda and "Texas Toast." It was around midnight and the Tech people were the only other people in the place. We were all wearing Duke shirts and I soon expected a rain of jeers, laughs and finger pointing from the middle-aged man and wife.
But instead of the Tech fans strutting and boasting of how their season was still going while our off-season had just started, I discovered they were good people. Nice friendly Georgia folk, asking friendly enquiries about basketball, tenting and such. Towards the end of the conversation, the man kinda chuckled to himself and said one more thing to me before we parted ways.
"Boy, basketball really is important to ya'll up there. Sorry you had to come all this way down for one game," the man said. The question made me pause and question my time commitments I have made towards basketball over my first two years at Duke. Why the hell do I--and most of the student body as a whole --feel basketball is so important here? Writing about basketball is cliché, yes, but sometimes we have to stop and think about why we do the things we do.
I sat there contemplating his words while I held a fry smothered in the patented Whataburger "fancy ketchup." To go to this game I had cut class on Friday, drove about eight hours total from my house in Waco to San Antonio and missed my cousin's wedding which coincidentally was that night in my hometown (if you feel that's a sin, sue me).
I looked back at the man and replied, "No, in fact I have no regrets at all."
And why shouldn't I? We had a season nearly every school in the nation would have been proud of. We made the Final Four. As Oklahoma State fans trudged out of the Alamodome, some were smiling, holding their ticket stubs with glee, saying, "Boy I'll never forget this year, it was one of our most successful seasons!" Of course we don't do that because we're Duke and we have higher standards--which we have every right to have. It doesn't mean we have to be dejected and feel sorry for our efforts as fans, having invested so much energy and hopes into the season. While some may not rank the 2003-2004 team as one for the ages, I'm willing to hold my head up and say I'm damn proud of my boys in blue.
I'm often asked by others--on and off campus--why in the world my friends and I came back early to tent two months for the North Carolina game? And in general, why are Duke students so crazy about basketball? My reply is I'm proud of my team, and I'm proud of my school. If spending a few nights in a tent is what it takes to see the best rivalry in college basketball, then I'll gladly do that because it's a good way to represent my school. I take great joy out of it and the games are a lot of fun. Heck, I'd tent three months if I had to.
So if I'm willing to give up two months for one game in Durham, why wouldn't I jump at the chance to go to the Final Four in San Antonio even if I do have to fly half-way across the country, drive a total of eight hours on Texas highway, skip a family wedding and pay the outrageous tourist prices at the Alamodome ($3.75 for a bottle of water and $4.25 for a hot dog is absurd, by the way). Obviously it was more than just forty minutes of basketball. It was more than just the Final Four. Plus I got to see with my own eyes the last game Chris Duhon, one of the gutsiest players to ever wear a Duke uniform, played. So if it's funny to a man from Atlanta or Chapel Hill or College Park that basketball is that important to me, I really don't care. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I'll see you in St. Louis.
Jonathon Pattillo is a Trinity sophomore. His column appears every other Friday.
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