December 5th, 2008 at 9:22 PM ^
Mich! They hung in there close with the Dukies last time, I think they got a great shot tomorrow especially since they're at home. If they were in Chapel Hill forget it. I'll be there cheering them on, along with my friend who is a Duke fan because he's an idiot.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:10 PM ^
I had no idea Duke and UNC were the same school.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:09 PM ^
oh....my bad. Where is Duke? I've never been. I'm sure they're from someplace that likes tobacco. That's all I know.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:09 PM ^
dammit...Durham, right? I'm sure of it this time.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:14 PM ^
Duke has actually decided to play this season at the Dean Dome in hopes that they might get confused for the Heels.
December 6th, 2008 at 12:08 AM ^
Thank you, that's what I meant.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:32 PM ^
Will Campbell will be there, suit him up, throw him in the middle....clear em out.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:42 PM ^
sweet I'll have to see if I can spot him. I'm sure it won't be hard.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:41 PM ^
I hope the crowd is loud and behind our boys. I know a few Duke fans from the area going. I hope there isnt' too many Dukies coming out of the woodwork to see them play at Crisler. Go Blue tomorrow!
December 5th, 2008 at 11:26 PM ^
I can't believe people who know Duke fans, especially in the Michigan area, and still call them friends.
Liking Duke is liking the Yankees, Notre Dame, Celtics, Cowboys and communists all in one.
Duke represents all that is wrong and evil in this world at least in basketball.
May god have mercy on your souls.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:29 PM ^
---- Duke AND Michigan grad.
Ergo, I beg to disagree with your assessment. Unlike the franchises you just listed, Duke does not suffer that entitlement mentality. They are just good and elitists. But NOT that annoying ass entitlement mentality ND suffers horribly from.
December 6th, 2008 at 8:08 AM ^
Shock.....Duke......you are such a nerd.
Thats why I root against Duke, the Cameron Crazies.....nothing but a bunch of pencil necked nerds, who lacked any athletic or social ability to be a part of anything in high school......surrounded by the same type of folks on the Durham campus, they get all weeeeeee!!!!! yes, we're cool, lets camp out for games and practice cheers and chants. Then, Dickie V mentions how many future leaders are in the crowd.....whatever.....once out of that four-year comfort zone, they're back to being mousy.......there is no balls there to step up and be boardroom leaders.....stick them in a cubilce and let them parse data.....that, they're good at.
Fawkin Nerds......hopefully GSimms whistle stop tour hits Durham before he leaves the state.
Oh, and I dont like Rat Face.....despite his south side chicago roots.
And all the girls in the early 1990s down there, just swooned and fainted at the feet of Christian Laettner....what does that tell you?
December 6th, 2008 at 11:54 AM ^
I'll toast my first beer during the game to you Jamiemac.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:12 PM ^
....seriously, Sigler has really rounded into a good player and I like Paulus a whole lot better coming off the bench, rather than being the man from the get go.
Could be rat face, er, I mean Coach K's best team since Reddick/Landlord left.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:52 PM ^
So you feel all those teams I mentioned have those entitlement issues? I think the only ones that do are Yankees and ND. Celtics fans don't feel entitled, neither do Cowboys fans they are just incredibly obnoxious.
If you are a MIchigan and Duke graduate then you do have a reason to like both. Otherwise the only other reason, is that you are Shane Battier's brother if you live in Michigan.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:05 PM ^
I think it's more that the fans of the teams you listed are typically beyond insufferable. I think it's the media's fellating of Duke that makes people hate Duke, but I'm pretty sure at this point there are no bandwagon Duke fans, because it's 100x more popular to be on the anti-Duke bandwagon.
I just kind of hate the constant bashing of Duke. The fake rape case witch hunt was the most hypocritical thing I've ever seen. Here's why I hate the comparisons to those other teams.
Yankees: Limitless resources, huge advantages in their sport, Yahhhhnnnkkkeeee fans, Steinbrenner, underperforming given said advantages.
Celtics: Blew ass for years after being good for years. I live in Boston, all the Celtics fans (like all Boston sports fans) are bandwagon riding Massholes.
Notre Dame: Returning to glory since 1993, non-stop bitching and moaning for why they suck.
Cowboys: America's team? I've never actually met a Cowboys fan before, so I have no real opinion other than Jerry Jones is the Steinbrenner of the NFL, except he can't just spend $250M a year to win.
That leaves Duke, which has been consistently well above average in a NCAA structure where they don't have any built in advantages. Coach K did build that program from nothing. Yeah, they have been disappointing in the last 4 years in terms of Final 4 performance. But it also corresponds with the one and done shift in recruiting. Duke doesn't recruit one and done (I know they only have a 60%ish grad rate, it's more like 2 or 3 and done, but I'd put the average at 3 years playing for Duke) and they have lacked a dominant big man since Brand, leaving them prone to cold streaks in shooting during big games. The last 4 years have reminded me of the Red Wings from the mid-90s, talented, overrated, not built to win in the playoffs.
As for the media, they do obsess over Duke, but they do the same for UNC, and will for UM once Michigan is rebuilt under Belien. The media will do what it takes to get fans and haters to click/watch/read/debate.
TL;DR summary: Sorry for the rant, I just think Duke has a bad rep. And remember, Duke sucks is a valid legal precedent now due to the football team (See Brian's FanHouse post on it). Finally, I'm rooting for UM to win today, because it's a win that will vault the program back to relevance. I know they beat UCLA, but if they can beat Duke we will get "Is Michigan back?" debates on ESPN, and it will inevitably lead to positive coverage of Belien that will then be paralleled onto RichRod.
So, GO BLUE! (both of them)
December 6th, 2008 at 12:06 AM ^
Sorry Shock, I have to agree. My friend likes Duke simply because they are good every year. It's an embarrassment. For the sake of our state, he could at least be a MSU fan. I'd be ok with that. But Duke? For real? Sure, you're a Duke fan, that I get. But some dude living in suburban Detroit? Say huh?
I won't say Duke is evil though. I simply hate them because they are good. That's no different than MSU's, Illinois', Wisconsin's and OSU's hate for Michigan football. They're good every year and therefore the hate.
EDIT: hmmm you're speaking of "entitlement". Not sure if Duke fans have a sense of that. I mean, I only know one. Two if you count that I know you via the webs.
December 6th, 2008 at 12:43 AM ^
is from the south side of chicago so he's okay in my book despite the amaker debacle. I hope it is Knight or Onions rather than Dickie providing technicolor on ESPN. My tentative plan is to focus on UM-Duke, with check ins to the gator-tide game once that gets rolling. USC vs. UCLA is seemingly irrelevant at this point.
December 6th, 2008 at 7:57 AM ^
Its Shulman and Bilas.
Not sure if Bilas on the broadcast is better.....actually, I like his style and breakdown, but a game between his alma mater and the school he regularily likes to harpoon for biased reasons.
Like Brian wrote earlier in the week, whats the O/U on # of times he says they didn't give his guy Tommy enough time?
December 6th, 2008 at 2:12 PM ^
Duke is on 25 times a year on national television. When's the last time they went to a Final Four. ESPN loves the Dukies more than any other basketball team. Of course it boosts ratings when Vitale talks all the time about them. Makes the hate all the more, and when they are on, I'll check in to see if they are losing if they are I'll watch.
Why Duke is evil. and Duke Basketball is Coach K so you can't distinguish from the two.
1. Coach K free recruiting American Express commercials.
2. Obnoxious announcing from Vitale, Packer, Bilas et al
3. Coach K had back surgery one year, so he missed the season. His talent was horrible so they went 14-14. HE Lobbied the NCAA to get this season taken off his coaching record, so he woudlnt take the winnining percentage hit...
4. Duke changed the way the game is played for the worse. Remember watching basketball in the early 90's, How many offensive fouls were called per game? One? Two? In fact they were a rarity, and called player control fouls. Then Duke started trying to take charges and lobbying for charges, and Coach K would yell for them to call it. The media talked about great defense they played and it snowballed with the success they had.
Now we have 6'10 guys who can jump out of the gym not challenging shots put flopping to get the charge. There were approximately 15 charges called in the UCLA-Umich game, probably more than more free throws either team attmepted. Including one on Manny Harris that was a joke.
2nd half, Harris beats the double team drives.....The 6'10 UCLA player slides to meet him. Fine Hrris comes to a jump stop and touches the defensive player, he flops, Harris fades away, and makes the jumper...Tweet...offensive foul( player control). How can Harris be out of control...when he made the jump stop?....20 years ago the same thing would have happend Harris would have come to the same jump stop, and the UCLA would have challenged the shot by jumping.
Instead the game has changed to jump shooting in college because you can't drive because guys can stand underneath the basket even slide underneath after the offesnive player has jumped. IF you did this at the playground, it would to lead to the player getting up swinging. And Duke made a living on this because they had all the best shooters at one time.
It's Duke's fault by saying that this is good defense and basically college shot blockers can't stay in the game because of foul trouble. The NBA figured out this isn't fun to watch, and instituted the 3 foot circle under the basket, and basically not allowing any ref to call a charge on any star ever.
Sorry about the rant. I just really, really, really hate Duke.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:44 PM ^
Yep, agreed. HATE DUKE!!
Go Blue!