Doesn't West Lafayette, Ind. just sound cold? Well, that's exactly what it is. Frigid is probably a better word, with a high of 36 degrees when the No. 4 Blue Devils roll into town Tuesday night for their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at No. 9 Purdue.
But it's not cold enough to deter some students, who have taken a page out of the Duke playbook and have set up camp for premium tickets to the widely anticipated matchup. Boilermaker fans, dubbed the Paint Crew after Purdue head coach Matt Painter, were affectionately called the Tent Crew by one Indiana media outlet after it emulated the Cameron Crazies' tenting.
For the sake of Purdue students, we can only hope tenting does not become a year-long tradition at Purdue. Indiana Januarys and Februarys are a bit nippier than they are in the Triangle.
EDIT: The Indianapolis Star has a short story online today about this very topic. Purdue students worked out a deal with administrators that they could tent for four games--Duke is the only non-Big Ten game--and tonight's game is the trial run. They couldn't camp out last year because of safety concerns, but for the biggest non-conference game in 28 years, the school made an exception. It seems fitting, after all, because of who the Boilermakers are playing.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.