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My friend Pete is inexplicably a die-hard North Carolina State fan. I do not mean to slight the Wolfpack here. It’s just that Pete did not attend this university, nor did anyone he knows. He did not grow up near this university, either. He’s never even flown into Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU, as the locals call it – though Pete wouldn’t know that).
Earlier this week, he sent me Thomas Neumann’s ESPN Page 2 column on the top ten most-hated Duke basketball players. For this post to make any sense, I must reveal my Blue Devil alumni status. While I was not one to paint my stomach or sleep in tents before games – I don’t like itching or camping or crowds – I’m still a big fan. In fact, I recently rated Duke Basketball my fourth-favorite sport, after the NFL, Wii Tennis and American Idol.
This has been a rebuilding year for Duke, a program that hasn’t rebuilt in a decade. Pete’s been loving it. And before last night’s Duke-NC State match-up, he made a bet. “If we win,” he said, lumping himself in with the Wolfpack despite never being south of Delaware, “you have to post that top-ten list on mental_floss.” Although we never decided what the stakes were if Duke won, I stupidly accepted.
Duke lost 85-80 in OT. Here’s the list.
1. Christian Laettner
2. J.J. Redick
3. Steve Wojciechowski
4. Chris Collins
5. Brian Davis
6. Mike Krzyzewski
7. Danny Ferry
8. Bobby Hurley
9. Shavlik Randolph
10. Gerald Henderson
Well, you’ll always have Billy Packer….
posted by Debi on 3-9-2007 at 9:28 am
This is flawed and here’s why:
1) Mike Krzyzewski should be number 1
2) Dahntay Jones should be on this list
3) What? No Shane Battier?!
posted by Jerry on 3-9-2007 at 10:20 am
And Duke, I mean Dick Vitale! :)
posted by Shane on 3-9-2007 at 10:27 am
I have always looked for the opportunity to tell you guys that (and this is soooo hard coming from a third generation Tarheel nut) M_F is the BEST thing to ever come from the minds of Dookies (oops- habit). And the fact that you went through with your bet shows what top-notch folks you are! I know it hurt like the dickens. (it would have been worse had it been a bet against a Tarheel fan, I know).
posted by Allison on 3-9-2007 at 1:20 pm
This isn’t a comment so much on the Duke/UNC thing, but rather a comment on people who are die hard fans of a team to which they aren’t even closely related. Take my post-college roommate for example. He went to Louisiana Tech. Finished, moved back to Texas and began referring to the Texas Longhorns as “we.” I went to Texas A&M, a rival school for UT and could, with complete sincerety, refer to them as “us.” Whenever Texas beat TAMU at football, he would always heckle me with “we KILLED y’all!!” To which I replied, “Did LA tech play this weekend or something?” That would always shut them up. To the folks out there outside of Texas: 90% of UT’s fanbase is high school drop outs! Be informed!
posted by Tommy on 3-9-2007 at 4:23 pm
after the gerald henderson/tyler hansbrough elbow-to-nose incident (another tar heel alum here) in the last Duke-UNC matchup, I’d have to bump him higher in the list.
posted by katie on 3-9-2007 at 8:00 pm
I took someone to RDU today and stopped by Whole Foods in Durham on my way home. One of the employees had a UNC tattoo on his leg. That was the first school logo tattoo I had seen, but I’m sure that there are more out there.
posted by Leslie on 3-9-2007 at 10:14 pm
Such a lame list that they could only come up with 9 players (Coach K never played for ‘em)…
Suprised Bobby didn’t make it.
Remind your buddy that if you can’t go to college, you might as well go to State.
posted by Chan on 3-10-2007 at 6:41 am
D’oh! Bobby did make it at #8…and Chan bricks one off the front of the rim.
posted by Chan on 3-10-2007 at 6:43 am