Here's a question for every Duke fan out there: Would you trade five wins for the basketball team to get five wins for the football team in return?
Even though this will never happen, if some sporting god made me the offer, I would take it in a heartbeat.
Although many Blue Devil faithful probably think such a hypothetical question is blasphemous, the deal would make sports exciting year-round in Durham.
For starters, there would be another team vying for postseason glory. With five wins being donated to the sorry football team Duke has now, it could have records like 6-5 or 7-4 every season. That won't get the Blue Devils into the ACC Championship or the BCS bowls, but it would put them in good position for playing in a bowl game come winter.
Last year's basketball team was 27-3 in the regular season. If Coach K's squad were to lose five more games, it won't have its traditional No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But it will still be playing in March and providing memorable moments in Cameron all season long.
Whatever small loss there might be in the magic of Cameron would be more than made up for with Wallace Wade being the place to be on crisp fall Saturday afternoons.
With the football team no longer fighting for the top spot in ESPN.com's "The Bottom 10," every game would be crucial in the Blue Devils' drive to earn a bowl-game bid. (For the record, Duke was ranked No. 4 in last week's "The Bottom 10," and with Kent State and Syracuse winning combined with Virginia Tech handing Duke its second shutout loss of the season, the Blue Devils appear to be a lock to move up to No. 2 when the new rankings come out today.)
Instead of being an excuse to get drunk at 8:00 a.m., tailgate would have an atmosphere like the last night in K-Ville where everyone is drinking but in the spirit of getting ready to go crazy at the upcoming game. People dressed up like it's Halloween-with no intention of going to the game-would be replaced by fans in Duke garb eagerly awaiting kickoff.
Instead of, as was the case last year, being forced to leave tailgate and either go home or go to into the stadium once it was game time, students would voluntarily pack the stands for the opening kick and key-jingling would become the second coolest thing on campus next to jumping on the Cameron bleachers at tipoff until the building shakes.
In the few times I've been lucky enough to go to college games at schools that field competitive teams and have rabid fans occupying every seat in the house, the atmosphere made me jealous because my school's team is the doormat of its conference and plays in a half-full stadium that often has more fans rooting for the opposing team.
Admitting that I'm a UConn fan might cost me all credibility in the eyes of Duke fans, but I will say that going to the Motor City Bowl in 2004 to see the Huskies was one of the best sporting experiences I've ever had.
Days before the game started, Detroit was filling up with masses of people sporting Toledo and Connecticut apparel. Restaurants near Ford Field became venues where fans from each school attempted to out-cheer each other. That energy carried through until UConn blew the Rockets away and I got to celebrate the win with total strangers in a foreign city.
March Madness cannot be beaten, but adding a bowl game to the Duke experience would greatly enhance the overall intensity and enjoyment for Blue Devil fans.
I can, however, easily understand why people would reject an offer to save the football team at the expense of the basketball team, since Duke is-and probably always will be-a basketball school that would rather have one No. 1 team than two in the top 25.
But while I agree that I'd hate to see Duke lose its dominance in basketball, the thought of having both an exciting football season and basketball season every year would be too appealing for me to turn down.
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