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A Good Case of the Blues Bob W. February 17, 2005 “I had to play, it was Duke”
This quote sums up everything great
about this team, and conversely everything wrong with this team. It is not a
knock at Ibekwe who played brilliantly despite recovering from broken ribs, but
remove the word “Duke” from the quote and insert “Clemson” or how about “N.C.
State”, or even “Miami” and I just can’t seem to picture Ibekwe saying it. I
somehow don’t think anyone at Maryland would say it, be they students,
alumni, or players. When did Duke ACC wins start counting double? 2004-2005 is going to be known as the
year the Terps swept hated Duke. The first time it has happened since Coach K
took a pass on the 1994-95 season. And for a lot of students and fans that is
all that matters. We spend about 80% of our basketball fan energy on one team,
whether it be making signs, showing up early, or yelling for the entire 40
minutes. A team that quite frankly in my opinion isn’t even the top team in the
ACC. In fact you could argue that they aren’t even one of the top 2 teams in
our conference. Don’t get me wrong, I hate Duke too. I
look at them and see everything that is wrong with our society. The rich
against the poor, Private School vs. State School, Elite verse Middle Class, the
“Have’s” vs. the “Have Not’s”, and then there are the Crazies. Those dorky Duke
students who don’t care a thing about Basketball until they arrive in Durham and
all of a sudden that is all they care about. They somehow seem to think that by
their team beating another school that it makes them better than the rest of
us. But what I don’t understand is why do we keep feeding their superiority
complex? When are our students going to stop
rushing the court against Duke? When are we going to stop running out into the
streets to celebrate a Duke victory? We have won 3 games in a row against the
Blue Devils, there is not a single member of the Duke team that currently has a
winning record against us, yet that is all we care about. The passion is great,
but instead of treating Duke wins as Madri Gras celebrations gone wrong, lets
act like we have been there before. Save some of the post game excitement for
when Florida State, Miami, and Va Tech come to town. We have 11 days until March and it has become apparent that only when our players and fans see Duke on the other Jersey do they really care. Take away the two Duke wins and we are 4-6 in the conference, basically drawing dead (to borrow from the world of poker) the rest of the year. Take away the Duke road win and we are winless below the Potomac! We know what this team is capable of, we have all seen as have the rest of the nation, but for once why can’t we bring the same intensity for each conference match up. Last time I checked 3 wins over Va. Tech and Clemson count more in the standings than 2 over Duke. The Blue Devils rivalry is over for the year, now it’s time to start hating everybody else. |