FARWELL COLUMN: Lessons from the frat house
(04/27/04 4:00am)
In a seminar during the last day of classes, I referenced my fraternity in passing. My professor turned to me, his eyes bulging with incredulity.
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In a seminar during the last day of classes, I referenced my fraternity in passing. My professor turned to me, his eyes bulging with incredulity.
Once upon a time, in the land of Durham, in the dominion called Ninth Street, there lived a King. He stood, or perhaps squatted, at the base of a hill, and rarely cast his eyes upward at the revolutions taking place above him. Indolent, he remained there with no concern for conquest, his interest confined to keeping his people content. And so he did for more than 25 years, reigning as modernity crept in around him. Only in the last years, when the castle was crumbling and pretenders to the throne thronged the hillside, did the King recognize his impending doom. Yet he strove on, preserving the Kingdom's way of life until the end. When it came, it came swiftly. The King was gone, his realm desolate, and all that remained was the writing on the wall: "Biscuit King has moved to Charlie's Neighborhood Bar & Grill."
Dear Reader,
"I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshiped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us."
Dear Reader
How do you get immediate responses to your e-mails from deans, an invitation to the home of arguably the most well known professor at Duke--despite the fact that you've never met him before in your life--and a sit-down interview with the president of Duke University in one week? I did it by telling them I was writing a story about, and engaging in a quest to find, intellectualism.
For the fourth time in two years, a women's basketball player is transferring away from Duke.
ATLANTA -- For the last game of the year, observers could sing the same old refrain they've been singing since January: Alana Beard is a one-woman team. Most times it was sung, it was a joyous song--but Sunday night in Atlanta, it became a dirge.
When top-seeded Duke (31-1) takes to the court Sunday to face No. 16 seed Georgia State (20-10) it will be excited not just for the start of the NCAA Tournament, or for the almost-home court advantage of Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum.
The women's basketball team (31-1) received its third consecutive No. 1 seed Sunday an hour before the men's team (25-4) received a three seed in the NCAA Tournament.
NEW YORK -- St. John's Marcus Hatten stood at the free throw line with the clock reading 0:00.0, ready to shoot free throws with the game tied at 71.
When Duke beat N.C. State Saturday, it was an important victory for the Blue Devils, but it was also part of the most telling trend in this year's ACC.
"Lucky Devils," some of the more historically minded Duke fans in Cameron chanted as the Blue Devils dominated North Carolina late in the second half of a 97-63 romp.
During a timeout in the second half, with Duke locked in a ferocious battle with a Maryland team tied for first place in the ACC, an ordinarily timorous freshman asked head coach Mike Krzyzewski for the chance to speak.
"When Chris [Duhon] leads, he's the best leader I've ever seen, take it from a guy who's played with him," former Duke point guard Jason Williams said minutes before Wednesday's game against UNC. "When he decides to lead and take this team, he can take it anywhere he wants. I think he's going to start doing that tonight."
With fellow retirees Mike Gminski and Grant Hill looking on, Jay Williams became the 11th player in Duke basketball history to have his jersey retired Wednesday.
On a cold Saturday afternoon in early January, two Duke basketball recruits played in Cameron Indoor Stadium--the arena they will call home during their college years--for the first time. Luol Deng buried shots from all over and played stingy defense, but he did not wear Duke's uniform. His lanky body was covered in a dark blue jersey with the words "Blair Academy" across the front in white letters.
For 25 minutes Saturday night, Duke looked like the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Then the Blue Devils came back, and in front of a screaming, sell-out Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd and a national television audience excited about a matchup between women's basketball's two best teams, showed they truly belonged. Duke lost in the first four minutes by turning the ball over four times. Ann Strother stole the ball from Iciss Tillis just 19 seconds into the game, then Alana Beard double-dribbled and both Tillis and Beard threw passes away. At the first media timeout Connecticut led 10-5 in the middle of a 10-point run. "We had a lot of anxiety out there today," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "I thought we were ready to play. We had a great shootaround. We felt very comfortable and very confident. When we stepped on the floor... we seemed to tighten up a bit. I don't know if it was the atmosphere." The Blue Devils certainly tightened up in the first half, frequently throwing passes out of bounds and missing jumpers. The Blue Devils hit two-of-seven three pointers in the first half, but that shooting percentage was actually better than Duke's five-for-25 performance from inside the arc. Tillis and Beard each shot two-for-seven and had four turnovers. After Vicki Krapohl hit a three-pointer on a set play with 7:20 remaining in the half, Connecticut held Duke scoreless the rest of the way in a 15-0 run. "A lot of times in games like this, one team just plays really, really well and the other team gets really frustrated and it gets away from them," Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma said. "I think that's what happened in the first half. I think the Duke kids got a little frustrated because they couldn't make any shots and things weren't going their way. You could see it in their faces those last seven minutes [of the first half]." For the Blue Devils, the No. 1 team in the country since the preseason polls, all the hoopla and fanfare around the game might have been too much. Cameron sold out for a women's game for the first time in history, and the press row side of the indoor stadium was full of Cameron Crazies for the first time. The atmosphere surrounding the game was comparable to an important men's game, and while that's no big deal for Connecticut, it likely threw the Blue Devils off. The Huskies are used to sold-out, bigger arenas and the noise, albeit more than what they're used to, was less of a shock than it was to Duke. "At one point when we started to make our comeback, I couldn't hear myself think," Beard said. "It was awesome. I really appreciate the Cameron Crazies coming out. They did an awesome job." Down 28 five minutes into the second half, Duke was on the verge of utter humiliation in front of a home court crowd and a national television audience. Respect for the program was being diminished, if not destroyed. But when Auriemma received a technical foul, and the Blue Devils grew accustomed to their crazed fans and actually used the fan support to bolster them and intimidate the Huskies, Duke showed that it is ready to be a major player in college basketball. As the crowd roared as loudly as in any men's game of the year, the Blue Devils roared back in a ferocious comeback, that only fell short through Duke's exhaustion and the clock. "If the game had kept going at the end of the game, we might've lost by 10," Auriemma said. Whether the Blue Devils' comeback will be enough to maintain the interest of the often-fickle Crazies remains to be seen, but the way Duke tore back into the game showed the women's basketball world that though no longer the No. 1 team, Duke is ready to compete in the spotlight. A packed house and a national television audience in Atlanta two months from now might not feel so intimidating now.
For much of January No. 1 Duke (20-0) seemed to be trying to defuse the hype about the looming matchup with No. 2 Connecticut (19-0) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.