As I type this-wearing my K-ville Resident shirt from last year-I feel like a fraud.
Coach K, if you're reading this, I'm sorry.
I didn't go to the Blue-White scrimmage last Saturday. And to make things worse, I don't even know the names of our new freshmen. I'm one of the worst Cameron Crazies ever, if I am still worthy of that title.
Now, I'm working hard to redeem myself. I validated for the Shaw game early on, and I purchased the tickets for the Barton game for my family in an attempt to convert them to Krzyzewskism.
But sitting here, looking at the Post-it note of work I have to get done before my parents arrive in Durham for the weekend, I realize that I'll probably have to unregister for Shaw.
I didn't go to the scrimmage because I spent the entirety of my Saturday in Bostock, translating the ancient works of Tacitus for my Latin class and desperately trying to understand the subtleties of linear algebra. Between conjugating verbs and augmenting matrices, I was forced to subdue my inner Crazie.
But it wants out. I'm the girl who took the title of tent captain way too far last year and, to this day, still sends mass e-mails to her tent-mates. I'm the girl who has a supply of blue and white face paint in her drawer. I'm the girl whose Duke-blue Mardi Gras beads tremble on her windowsill, hoping to bounce in Cameron again soon.
I don't want to be the girl who says, "DeMarcus who?" or has to actually think about how to complete the cheer, "If you can't go to college, go to State..."
Ask some random guy on the street what he knows about Duke University, and chances are you'll receive one of two responses: either something to do with impressive academics or something to do with a really sweet basketball team.
And because of those annoying graduation requirements that involve taking classes and getting grades, as a student here, you undoubtedly experience those impressive academics (as painful as they may be at times).
But as for that whole basketball thing, you can very easily go through your time here without setting foot in Cameron. And frankly, that's just wrong.
We have a well-established, well-respected basketball program-and that's quite possibly the understatement of the century. We are extremely lucky to have it so readily available to us. So whether you live by March Madness or you couldn't care less about the Final Four, you should take advantage of what Duke has to offer.
Sadly, the Craziness seems to have died down a little in the last few years. We have had to resort to that cursed validation system this year because we as Crazies are not performing up to par. We shouldn't allow ourselves to risk losing part of the student section because we don't even bother to show up in Cameron.
Now, I'm not saying you need to go so far as to sit down with a basketball schedule when you register on ACES (although, admittedly, I did so last year, and I strongly encourage it). I am saying, even if you can only show up at 6:59 p.m. for a 7:00 p.m. game, you should go. Even if you're on the non-TV side. Even if you don't have the best view of the court. Every single Crazie makes a difference.
And I realize it's a lot for me to ask, considering I'm the one who couldn't get my butt out of Bostock on a Saturday to go to the scrimmage. But we all need to work together on this one. Because of Duke's academic reputation, some of us will inevitably have exams to study for and projects to complete, so we need other Dukies to have our backs and to fill up Cameron.
To maintain Duke's reputation as both a top-tier academic and athletic institution, we need to find a balance. We need to live up to our title of Cameron Crazies. We need to be the sixth, and strongest, man.
On a side note, I would like to thank all the folks in Campus Council and Duke University Union who made the Devil's Eve T-shirt distribution run like clockwork. By 8:05 p.m. I was on my way home, unscathed, with a size small T-shirt in hand. Well done.
Allie Vergotz is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Friday.
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