Questioning Duke's Scheduling

Saturday should have been a great day as a Duke sports fan. The nation's No. 1 men's basketball team was in action, away at Oregon, while the football team finished its season at home against arch-rival North Carolina. What's not to like? The scheduling, for one.

1) Football and basketball overlap

On Saturday, the football game against North Carolina started at 3:30 while the men's basketball game against Oregon began at 4:00. These are the two sporting teams that indubitably draw the most support from fans in terms of attendance and television viewership, so why would the school have both games at the same time? The teams should not have to be competing with each other - especially when both games are on TV as they were on Saturday. Even connoisseurs of the clicker, such as myself, were frustrated because flipping between the two games was often futile; the two games went to halftime within a minute of each other.

2) Football vs. UNC over Thanksgiving

The student attendance at football games certainly leaves something to be desired. As Larry Moneta said in his e-mail to students regarding the cancellation of Tailgate, "we have critical games ahead and need your full support of our team." It is a two-way street, however. How are students supposed to react when the most interesting game of the year - against Duke's loathed rival North Carolina - is scheduled when none of the students are in town? Indeed, the thanksgiving football game against UNC was a sellout and jam packed with fans; unfortunately, most of them were donning their baby blue in support of the Tar Heels, as the majority of Duke fans were out of town. Understandably, packing Wallace Wade with non-Duke fans results in great profits for the team (because students and the like don't have to buy tickets, while all others do), but does the school care more about profiting than it does having high student attendance? Classic case of having your cake, eating it too, then blaming the students for not having had a bite.