Today We Are All Sad Wisconsin Teletubby Fan

As someone who grew up in a household where a deep and abiding distaste for Duke is engendered at an early age, I spent the better part of my life actively wishing nothing but the worst of all things upon the Blue Devils and their coach whose name spits in the eye of phonetics.

But people grow up, and some of them enter the sports industry only to realize players on rival teams are actual people—human beings with hopes and dreams, as opposed to cartoon villains who congealed in the River Styx and live to destroy the world’s beauty.

I no longer hate Duke, but I was among the legion of underdog romantics hoping Wisconsin would upend the Blue Devils on Monday night and put a bow on the most Cinderella-esque run in the history of No. 1 seeds.

This did not happen, of course. Duke did Duke things, a freshman hobgoblin took over and a new Blue Devils villain introduced himself to the nation in all of his hair-gelled glory.

Duke downed Wisconsin 68-63 in the NCAA national championship game and did so with just enough controversy to make sure everyone who isn’t an ex-lacrosse-playing commodity trader will gripe about the title’s legitimacy for a decade.

The national sadness in the aftermath of the Blue Devils' victory was palpable, and no sooner had it set in than did a young man personifying the angst appear on our television screens.

He was us, and we were him: the sad Wisconsin Teletubby.

Naturally, the Internet endeavored in some sad Wisconsin Teletubby memes: 

It’s cold-blooded, but that’s how the game is played. You show your sad face on national television, and you’re a living “One Shining Moment” commercial forever.

In any case, today we are all sad Wisconsin Teletubby—numb, tired and slowly realizing the irrational things we’ve done over the last three weeks in the name of college basketball. It hurts now, but with time will come perspective and peace.

A Duke national title isn’t the end of the world, after all. Kentucky could’ve won.

Dan is on Twitter. He misses college basketball already.