Senior Column: Living a lie
(04/17/02 4:00am)
Four years of living a lie.
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Four years of living a lie.
At least in theory, playing a nationally ranked conference rival on the road is supposed to be difficult. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the men's tennis team.
A year ago, the men's basketball team moved quickly off the court while many fans struggled to hold back tears following a narrow loss to the Tar Heels.
It wasn't a run, it was a marathon.
It certainly wasn't a picture-perfect weekend for the baseball team. But the Blue Devils (4-3) shook off a pair off loses to hand the Cincinnati Bearcats a 9-8 loss in extra innings to move their record back above .500.
Life is pretty good for the women's basketball team right now.
As the Duke Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 in the ACC) and the Virginia Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3) headed into the locker room with the score tied 42-42, both teams had significant problems to deal with. In the end, the difference was that the Blue Devils had a problem they could fix.
Reggie Love spent much of the 2000-01 basketball season as something of a curiosity, the wide receiver on the football team who walked onto the basketball team.
At 125 pounds, dripping wet, Tommy Hoang does not look the part of a varsity athlete wearing anything other than his uniform. But inside the ring, the smallest member of the Duke wrestling team is probably its most dangerous competitor.
Facing the consensus No. 1 team in the country is not an easy task to begin with.
I think by now we're all pretty much burned out on Duke football jokes, so I won't bother.
So one Michigan State football fan says to another fan, "Did you here that the Wolverines are going to play their home games on cardboard this season?"
The men's soccer team continued its inconsistent play Saturday night, losing 2-0 to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (12-3-1, 3-1-1 in the ACC) in Winston-Salem.
This Saturday the Duke Blue Devils (0-7, 0-4) square off against the Vanderbilt Commodores (1-5) at Wallace Wade Stadium in what has been referred to by the national press as "the worst thing ever."
It did not exactly look like a clash of the titans heading into the game. Although Duke (7-6, 2-2 in the ACC) and the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers (12-0-1, 5-0) have combined to dominate the ACC for much of the last decade, this matchup did not look even on paper.
This wasn't supposed to be a banner year for Maryland football. The Terrapin offense lost its single most effective weapon, as Maryland's all-time leading rusher, LaMont Jordan, was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft.
It proved to be a very productive fall break for the men's soccer team, as the Blue Devils (6-5, 2-1 in the ACC) knocked off the N.C. State Wolfpack 2-0, Sunday in Koskinen Stadium.
Monday night I sat with friends lamenting the fact that Barry Bonds had hit his 63rd home run, putting him in position to set the single-season record. I don't know about anyone else, but I miss Monday night. Now we sit on the other side of worst attack on the United States in our nation's history. I spent the early part of Tuesday morning in an absolute panic trying to figure out where in Western Pennsylvania that plane crash-landed. My entire family lives in the area. The rest of the day was devoted to tracking down everyone I know who lives in New York. Most work in the financial sector, and most work in lower Manhattan. I didn't account for the last person until around 9 p.m. He was on the first floor of the World Trade Center when the plane hit. Thankfully everyone I know survived. Sadly, I'm sure not everyone at Duke was so lucky. Wednesday morning, this campus, and this country woke up and asked the awful question, "What now?" The sports world found itself in the same predicament. Faced with an abysmal situation, virtually every major sport has canceled events through Saturday. They did the right thing. I understand that a lot of people don't feel this is the right decision. There is a widespread belief that by canceling sporting events, we give the terrorists exactly what they want. We allow them to alter our lives; we allow them to force us to live in fear. Bobby Bowden and George O'Leary suggested as much when they argued that the ACC should play on. On top of this is the argument that, more than anything else, America needs a distraction right now. I understand both of these arguments, but in this case, they are misguided. As I write this, officials are still sorting through the rubble. There isn't a body count yet, but it is going to be staggering. I'm not mentioning this for shock value--I don't think most of us can even be shocked at this point--but rather to point out the terrible fact that it is going to be days before everyone who lost a loved one is notified. As I said before, I didn't lose a loved one in this tragedy. But someone on this campus probably did. I don't know about anyone else, but I am mortified at the possibility of someone finding out that their father, or mother, or sister, or best friend from high school is never coming home, at the same time the people down the hall are screaming at the TV during the Miami-Washington game. This situation is not without precedent. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on a Thursday forcing, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle to make a rapid decision. Rozelle decided that the deceased president would want the NFL to play on. So the NFL did not allow terror to alter its schedule and, collegiate athletics adopted the same policy. Upon his retirement, Rozelle was ask if he regretted anything from his brilliant career as commissioner. He had one answer. I think you can guess what it was. It's not just history supporting cancellations. The NFL Players Association stated that if necessary, the season could be cut to 15 games, as long as they wouldn't have to play this weekend. Vinny Testaverde, quarterback of the New York Jets, said that he couldn't understand why playing was even a consideration. I don't believe in canceling these games out of fear. However, I do believe in showing respect for the dead. Thousands of innocent Americans died this week, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it wasn't a loved one of yours, it very well could have been. In addition to those innocent victims, America has lost some of its bravest. Hundreds of firefighters and policemen were killed trying to rescue those trapped inside the WTC. I know that the world must go on, but acting like nothing happened won't make this go away. We owe the families and friends of those who perished in this tragedy a weekend to grieve. I think they deserve that more than the rest of us deserve a distraction. We will bury our dead and we will, to the best of our ability, move on. America will survive a weekend without televised athletics. I think most of the nation just got a reminder of how precious friends and family truly are. Go spend some time with them. We can pick up where we left off next week.
The 13th-ranked Duke men's soccer (1-1) team starts its home schedule this weekend at Koskinen Stadium in the 18th Duke/Adidas Classic.
If an award is handed out and no one cares, does that make it a Grammy?