Facebook.com has made me a very happy man.
It has given me the CBSSports.com Official Tournament Brackets, and with it a ranking of which school have the most fans and most enemies.
It has given support to one of my favorite arguments about college hoops:
Everyone hates Duke. Kind of.
As of 6:55 on Wednesday night, here are Facebook's CBS Standings for the Favorite and Most Despised teams:
Favorite:
1.) Duke Blue Devils, 1,445 Fans
2.) UNC Tar Heels, 1,420 Fans
3.) Kansas Jayhawks, 800 Fans
4.) Indiana Hoosiers, 599 Fans
5.) Kentucky Wildcats, 574 Fans
Despised:
1.) Duke Blue Devils, 3,357 Haters
2.) UNC Tar Heels, 1,522 Haters
3.) Florida Gators, 535 Haters
4.) Indiana Hoosiers, 389 Haters
5.) Ohio State Buckeyes, 371 Haters
Over 3,500 people say, "The team I hate most is Duke."
Do I hate Duke? No, I can't say I do. That spot is safely reserved in the depths of my soul for Georgetown and UConn.
I even support Duke upon occasion, because their junior point guard, Greg Paulus, played his high school ball for Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. I support Section 3 (NYSPHSAA Central New York Region) guys all I can.
But let me say this: if I grew up in ACC Country, I would certainly understand the feeling. Here's why:
Duke, a small school in North Carolina, used to be known as Brown School, then Union Institute, then Normal College, then Trinity College back when it was founded by the Quakers and Methodists of the area. They moved from Trinity to Durham in 1892, and changed the name of the schools to Duke University in 1924 in honor of an endowment given by tobacco colossus James B. Duke in the name of his father, Washington Duke.
(Thanks, Wikipedia, for the details. Call me out if you need to, I trust it enough for government work.)
So where is the harm here? To the uninformed majority, it's the pretension.
"What school could possibly have the audacity to call themselves Duke University" is not an uncommon sentiment.
Another could be its history as a program. Few know that Duke sported a relatively weak basketball team until the 1970s.
Don't believe me? Look up a book called Forever's Team, by master sportswriter John Feinstein. The name "Spanarkel" will instantly leave you with memories of a matured Jimmy Chitwood.
But here's the point: America knew relatively little about Duke until the (arguably) greatest sportswriter in America wrote about them.
Granted, it's an excellent book, but let's be real—if he had written a book about the exploits of a school like San Diego State or Marist College, the world may have been a different place.
28 comments Last one added 2 months ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
Hey, as long as you're using Wikipedia, try looking up, oh, Vic Bubas, Dick Groat, Art Heyman, Duke-UCLA, Bob Verga, Jack Marin, Jeff Mullins...if you think Duke started playing ball in the 70s, you're woefully misinformed. John Wooden could set you straight.
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Ben Allaire about 1 year ago
My sense is that most of this type of hatred stems from jealously. Wilt Chamberlain once said, "Nobody roots for Goliath."
I grew up in ACC country with my Wahoos undergoing serious beat downs every year, save for the occasional upset, to both UNC and Duke. However, I don't hate them. Am I jealous that they get all the best players? Of course! But hey, that makes the wins that Virginia gets all that much sweeter when they happen.
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rob murray about 1 year ago
Yes, comparing Duke to the Yankees is fair, and of course, ask any Duke fan and they'll tell you they don't mind the hate. It's a compliment. The only issue most fans will have is when haters try to come up with excuses for hating; they get all the calls, JJ was cocky, Coach K gets commercials, Dickie V wants to have their babies, etc., etc., etc.
This of course is all lame attempt to blame Duke for their hatred. All teams have good days with the refs, all teams have cocky players, Dickie V loves every team and as for Coach K's commercials, yes, they could be a recruiting advantage, but here's one question. Does it make Duke look better or worse when his commercials last longer in the tournament than his team? Personally, it might have a negative effect.
If you want another comparison that may be more accurate, it would be the Miami Hurricanes of football. The Canes are a small, private school that some called the 'Harvard' of the deep South. Prior to the 80's, their football team was crap.
In the 80's though, Miami football took the college football by storm. They crushed the powerhouses; Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. They ended up playing for eight championships, winning five. The difference is Duke is known for their white stars, so everyone just calls them gays. Miami is known for black athletes (who tend to come from the poorer areas of Miami), so they just get called thugs.
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
Miami is the Harvard of the deep south? Put the pipe down and step away slowly.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
i think the point is all duke fans are annoying because they just pick the best team and run with it. real fans hate that. not that you're not a real fan, many of the frontrunners become legit fans, but it's the perception. picking Ohio St. as your football makes you all the more questionable as a fan!
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
What he said.
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tom dsdd 2 months ago
I almost fit into that mold. I'm from Philly and support my home teams but my favorite team is Duke. However when I first watched them when I was about 8 or 9 years old, I had no clu about the rankings or anything. I just watched them play and it was amazing. Of course a few years later as got older I began realizing those little numbers next to the team were their ranks. Now Duke could've gone 0-24 and be ranked last in the country and I'd still love them. To me it didn't matter their rank. I saw they were something like 15th at the time. I didn't even think that was that amazing. I thought there were probably 60 teams in the league. I had no idea. But I still loved that team and always will.
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Michael Whittenberg about 1 year ago
As a true Carolinian and Duke fan, I have to say this is a pretty good article. But I agree with Ben, hatred stems from jealousy.
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
Jealousy of what exactly?
Should I be jealous of a team that 4 of the last 5 years haven't gotten past the sweet 16.
I'm jealous of Florida's success, but I don't hate the Gators. I am not jealous of Duke.
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tom dsdd 2 months ago
Jealous much.
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Jon Altena about 1 year ago
Jared has a good point there. It doesnt make much sense to me either considering that less people hated Carolina and they have had more success in almost everything. The UNC Haters are more than likely mostly Duke fans but all those Duke haters have to be more than just Carolina fans because there were way more. I dont know maybe Im wrong thats just how I feel.
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Jon Altena about 1 year ago
Jared has a good point there. It doesnt make much sense to me either considering that less people hated Carolina and they have had more success in almost everything. The UNC Haters are more than likely mostly Duke fans but all those Duke haters have to be more than just Carolina fans because there were way more. I dont know maybe Im wrong thats just how I feel.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Yeah, we're all questionable. Even me, Duke Class of 1982... Who never stopped rooting for Duke in any sport. Guess I was a frontrunner when Duke was 10-17...
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
Anon,
I think the point is that very few Duke fans are like you.
I totally respect those who follow Duke in other sports.
What people hate are Duke basketball fans who happen to like Ohio State or USC football, the Yankees, etc.
Beyond that, I'm not saying that one should have to attend a school to root for the team, but it becomes questionable when a fan picks and chooses his favorite collegiate teams by sport.
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Ben Harris about 1 year ago
hey, i recently saw those rankings and i was not suprised at all. there are more people that are more into hating teams that being interested and following them. i bet 9 out of 10 sports fans, either hate duke, UNC, the patriots, or the yankees
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David Williams about 1 year ago
The only issue I have is that while Coach K may teach those lasting life lessons in addition to basketball, I wonder how genuine he really is. Coach K is supposedly a family man and a leader, but I find it hard to like the guy when he's cussing up a storm at the refs and jumping around and whining like a school boy when he doesn't get his way. Somehow this is miscontrued as intensity and passion for the game. As a Duke hater, I think otherwise. I guess he just doesn't preach life lessons during the game.
I'll still give Duke as a basketball team credit where it's due but I will never step foot on that campus unless I'm forced. Duke is an evil place seeping with rich pretentiousness. Of course, there are good guys who root for Duke at the school as well as all around the country, but still. I find it hard to root for a school that made its fortune on tobacco money (gotta love old money). I find it hard to root for a school with such poor race relations with the surrounding community (see: the aftermath of that Duke lacrosse fiasco). I find it hard to root for a school that graduated devil-incarnate agent Drew Rosenhaus (class of '90, thanks Wikipedia). And you notice, I haven't even begun to mention the basketball team. Don't even get me started on J.J. Redick.
Duke is the Notre Dame of college football, the Yankees/Red Sox of the MLB, and the Patriots of the NFL. People are envious of historically successful teams, but in these cases some of that hate is brought upon by the students, players, and fans associated with these organizations. Sure, people hate Ohio State, USC, Miami (before their football team sucked), and UNC because they are successful, but the hatred isn't as widespread as in Notre Dame's or Duke's cases. Why?
Because it isn't just the sports team that people despise.
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Dre Lebowski about 1 year ago
Don't be so prejudiced, David.
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David Williams about 1 year ago
Prejudiced for what? Maybe I shouldn't have said Duke is evil or Rosenhaus is the devil incarnate but people generally take that as tongue-and-cheek statements. Am I prejudiced for saying many at the school are pretentious? Or prejudiced for saying it made its fortune on tobacco money (which is more or less true)? I'm just pointing out the negative aspects of Duke. Sure, it's a great school and it must have some positives to it, but I just reallly don't like the school. Don't misconstrue this as prejudice. If you don't believe me, I wrote a very positive article about Duke basketball right after they beat Maryland for the second time (just before they lost two straight ACC games).
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I hate Duke - not because they win a lot, but my basic reason for hating them is that they ALWAYS seem to recruit some of the DORKIEST people I've ever seen or heard. I mean, Battier, Jason Williams, Hurley, Laettner, Langdon, ERIC MEEK, Paulus, Redick, Wojo, etc. They are some of the biggest NERDS of all time. Duke's a good school, so of course their going to have some dorks down there. But that doesn't change the fact that they're embarrassingly dorky. No wonder cool black dudes like Maggette and Will Avery get the hell outta there as quickly as they can. They don't want to be seen around guys like Coach K, Wojo, Battier, or ERIC MEEK. I mean, they've got an image to protect.
I can respect the fact that Coach K has built a legendary program down there - good for him. I still hate the shit out of their dumb, geeky players. I think that this excerpt sums up just how nerdy, geeky, and faggy Duke players and the Duke program are:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Mike Krzyzewski didn't want to let go of Shane Battier.
He hugged him for what seemed to be an eternity, a farewell embrace for his national player of the year and team leader.
"It's complete," Duke's all-everything senior forward said. "All that's left for me is to ride off into the sunset on a white horse."
Seriously - THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED, and Battier ACTUALLY SAID THAT.
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tom dsdd 2 months ago
So 95% of the nation is losing to dorks. That just makes them better.
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Isaac McKaslin about 1 year ago
I hate Duke too. In fact I selected them as my despised team in the CBS Facebook app that he talks about in his article. You guys should check it out. It's pretty cool. It's at: http://www.facebook.com/brackets
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Mr Tarheel about 1 year ago
As Rodney Dangerfield said in Back To School, "You left out a bunch of stuff".
Reasons so many people hate duke -
Hypocrisy: Duke holds itself up as a model institution...role models.
MEANWHILE, Coach K curses like a sailor constantly during games. Cameron crazies routinely cross the line taunting opposing players. Duke players have the nerve to complain that they are mis-treated at away games!
Fouling: Try to watch a Duke game and spend 15 minutes looking at how they hand-check. When refs call it like they should, Duke fouls out a lot of players. But that doesn't happen often.
Vitale: no need to comment here
Arrogance: Being confident is good. Being arrogant is bad. Dookies are arrogant.
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
What about when K threw Pete Gaudet under the bus.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
With respect to the recent thoughtful comment on Duke's history of nerds on the squad, my suggestion would be that the list also include Cherokee Parks and, especially, Shavlik Randolph.
Rumor was that even while in college his mother would bring his favorite foods over to him. As to Shane "walnut head" Battier, thoughtful observers will never forget Billy Packer's comments that based on his basketball skills and great admiration for Rat Face, he would have a good chance to be President of the U.S.
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Jared Reback about 1 year ago
Good call on the Shavlik story, but you left out the part where his mother said that he didn't date because girls were out his comfort zone.
BTW, Duke fans, I am so jealous of that loss to the U Wednesday night. Good work.
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Silas Beyman about 1 year ago
Dont forget, Duke is known for white boys hitting threes and taking charges
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
The arrogant part is what I hate. I just graduated from VT, and when we joined the ACC, I witnessed 2 things: 1. Duke fans are arrogant 2. UNC fans are classy.
Now I know the hokies are known for being loud, but I would say we are pretty friendly to visitors. Duke fans weren't even classy as guests.
When UNC came to play at Cassell for the first time, their fans were amazing, respectful, and friendly. I respected that so much, I root for UNC now, outside of games against or affecting VT.
Duke fans? Arrogance. That's what you get when you are a private school full of rich northerners.
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tom dsdd 2 months ago
It's not a fucking pussy game. You go to a basketball game you're not going to a fancy Italian restaurant. Anyway, generalizing a whole campus is a little stupid. Whole campuses aren't one person. The class in each is pretty equal. Don't act like you've never seen a UNC fan be an asshole.
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