Confessions of a Duke-Aholic: A Personal Tale of How I Came To Love Duke

This is for kicks—not for clicks. Hope you will take the time as a fellow fan to read and enjoy.

Over the course of the past 33 years, these kinds of questions have become too familiar to me.

Q: "Hey, I thought you were a Georgia fan?"

A: I am—during football season.

Q: "Which do you think is the best conference?"

A: The SEC, of course—unless we are talking hoops.

From new friends—Q: "But I thought you graduated from Auburn?"

A: I did, but how is that relevant?

Moving about my little island wearing my requisite Duke apparel, doing whatever it is that I do, a frequently asked Q: "Did you go to Duke?" A: No. It really didn't occur to me to do so way back then, but in hindsight, I probably wasn't smart enough anyway. But I sure wish that I had.

From my wife—Q: "Isn't that a pretty shade of blue?" A: (Snarling) Hell no, that looks like Carolina blue!

You see, I am a Duke-aholic. I love Duke basketball and have since I was 21 years old. That I do is a little odd considering that I grew up a Georgia Bulldogs fan, graduated from Auburn University and have only been to the state of North Carolina three times in my life, one of those a brief incursion across the Georgia line into that little sliver that borders my home state to eat dinner once—not sure that even counts.

I grew up loving basketball. I remember getting a basketball from Santa when I was eight. With unbridled enthusiasm and anticipation, I recall racing out to my little hardpan court in the back yard and firing up my first jumper with that bad boy. I recall just as vividly when the ball hit the ground—a brick, I am certain—bounced and then landed in the hedgerow separating our yard from the neighbor's. In my mind, I can still hear the pop and the hissing, as a sharply pruned bush branch punctured my brand new ball on Christmas morning. Ah, the agony of sport. But once again, I digress.

By the time I reached high school, my finely honed point guard game resided in a stumpy offensive tackle's body. I was slow, couldn't dribble to my left and had a negative vertical leap. Despite the countless hours that I had spent perfecting my best Pistol Pete Maravich moves, my hoop dreams were dashed, once and for all. From that moment forward, other than church, frat and recreational play, I began to devote all of my basketball energies to being a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth basketball fanatic.

As I moved through college, I began to feel confused, wondering if my fanaticism was misdirected, being wasted. Despite having signed a "Fab Five" of their own, before there ever was one, my beloved Bulldogs—well, they just bit. I left each game feeling a gnawing emptiness inside.

After transferring to Auburn, though still a 'Dawg at heart, I arrived at Tigers games two hours early to secure the best seat in the student section, studied and then intently took in the show. Auburn had some talent back then—future NBA players Fast Eddie Johnson, Mike Mitchell, Stan Pietkiewicz (should have played for "K"), and a couple of others who barely unpacked their suitcases. I remember throwing oranges onto the floor when the "Ernie and Bernie Show"—Tennessee's dynamic duo of future pros, Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King—came to the Plains to play. Guess I was channeling my inner "Crazie" way back then.

But, alas, the War Eagles blew, too. I once watched, with mouth agape, as the coach, Dr. Bob Davis, bought the team back out early at halftime and had them run "suicides," as we called them back in the pre-PC days. I just felt as though something was missing, as though my passion was being squandered on basketball "lessernauts."

Then in the spring of 1978, as I was nearing graduation, I was watching the Final Four and everything changed. Back then, little of the tournament was televised except the Final Four, the consolation game and the championship. Coincidentally, 1978 was the first year that Duke played on television when ABC televised the ACC tournament. I remember watching Duke play Notre Dame, arch rival in that day of vaunted UCLA, in the semis. I was enamored by the play of their team and its stars, Gene Banks, Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel. 

They won that day, but they fell in the championship game to the Kentucky Wildcats, having no answer for Jack Givens who dropped 41 on the Devils that night. No matter. Watching the beautiful team play of that talented unit was like an epiphany of sorts for me. After my long suffering through the doldrums of Georgia and Auburn hoops, I remember thinking to myself, "Oh-h-h-h-h-h, so that's how it's supposed to be—that's how Naismith probably envisioned the game being played in his mind's eye!"

Since that day, I have followed Duke Blue Hoops. I marveled at the Spanarkel, G-man and Banks teams that first drew me in under coach Bill Foster. A fan of "The General" Bob Knight since that undefeated championship season in 1976, I was pleased when his former player and protege with the funny name that I couldn't spell or pronounce took over the program in 1980-81.

Note: I have a tattered, old paperback coaching manual penned by Coach Knight entitled, Let's Play Defense. While primarily text and X-and-O diagrams, the book does have a few pictures. The model demonstrating proper stance and positioning? One Mike Krzyzewski in short shorts from his Army playing days under Knight.

The Johhny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas,David Henderson and Tommy Amaker days were grand, as Coach K, after a slow beginning, began to shape his own basketball power there in Durham. Danny Ferry, Billy King, Quin Snyder and crew continued the trend through the late '80s, providing a prelude to Duke's first championships in 1991 and 1992 led by the unforgettable crew of Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and the Hills, Grant and Thomas. Like Grant Hill, I loved beating the Fab Five—twice.

In the late 1980s, I had the opportunity to attend a one-man clinic given by Coach K in Atlanta. Pete Gaudet actually helped him with the clinic, as he supplemented his lecture/chalk talks with on floor demonstrations using players from a local JUCO. I remember K relating, while introducing himself, that while he was at Army with Coach Knight that he had come to believe that his name was $#!*% (expletive) Pollack. I got him to autograph my Let's Play Defense manual that he had appeared in, and it is a treasure to keep.

After the brief retreat from the superhuman superlatives of the beginning of the decade and K's battle with back and hip problems during the mid-'90s, the Blue Devils rediscovered their mojo beginning with Wojo, Steve Wojciechowski and Elton Brand. William Avery, Corey Maggette and Trajan Langdon almost accomplished in 1999 what teammates Shane Battier and Nate James led Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer to achieve in 2001, winning a third national championship in 11 seasons for Duke.

Chris Duhon, DeMarcus Nelson, JJ Redick, Josh McRoberts and Greg Paulus guided Duke through the middle of the first decade of the 21st century before handing the baton to Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, that blue-collar band that brought the 2010 national championship back to the Cameron rafters with defense and determination.

Before that championship season, I had seen my beloved Blue Devils play on a number of occasions in Atlanta against the Bugs in the Thriller Dome, but I had never been to Cameron. As I understand it, tickets there are at a premium. But my wonderful wife bought me tickets to New Year's Eve 2009 game for my anniversary gift. We spent a couple of nights at the relatively deserted Thomas Center there on the Duke Campus.

On the chilly morning of the game, I walked over to Cameron to make some pictures. I found the doors unlocked and was able to spend about 30 minutes all alone exploring those storied and hallowed grounds. What a treat!

Later that morning, we ran into the team having breakfast and were able to get some pictures and autographs. Later on, after doing the obligatory two-hour wait to get the best seats, we spent the evening being wannabe Cameron Crazies with Denzel Washington as the Dukies trounced a University of Pennsylvania team featuring Denzel's son. Being at Cameron was the experience of a lifetime for an old guy who bleeds Duke blue. I'd love to go back one day and, who knows, maybe even sit in a seat. 

That March, as I watched the tournament selection show after the Devils had won the ACC tournament championship, I literally jumped for and screamed with joy, as the Dukies were selected as a long-shot No. 1 seed and were sent packing for Jacksonville, an hour's drive from my home, for the first round of the Road to the Final Four.

We had purchased tickets the previous spring, planning to attend regardless of who played at that venue. When I purchased my souvenir T-shirt featuring all the teams in that year's tournament field, I took a red marker and circled the Duke logo on the back and donned it for both days of games that weekend. Prophetic, huh?

To my delight, as technology and the media evolved over these 30-some odd years, my ability to enjoy and admire my Blue Devils has multiplied geometrically. Through the magic of television, because of the increasing popularity of and demand for college basketball, and as a result of the advent of the Internet and video-streaming, today I am able to enjoy virtually every Duke game, including the Blue-White scrimmage, preseason exhibitions and even offseason contests from across the world. 

The things that I love and admire about Duke basketball are almost too numerous to enumerate. I admire the leadership, class and expertise that our coach, Mike Krzyzewski, and his fine staff exhibit as they have represented our program and mentored our young men over the years.

I admire the consistency, quality of play, skills and effort that our players bring to the floor, game in and game out. I love that we don't celebrate every routine play that we make and that at Duke, in an age where it's all about "me," it is still about "we."

I love our fans, those like myself who follow fervently from afar, as well as those inimitable Crazies who make the games at Cameron a joy for our fans to watch and hell for our opponents who have to lace them up and take their medicine.

I love that classic old building that we call home, that reeks of tradition and winning in a way that the massive, antiseptic arenas of today never could.

In sum, I love Duke hoops. It is an integral part of who I am and has further enriched my already rich life. I am proud to be a Duke Blue Devils hoops fan, a Dukie! Let's Go Duke!

How did you come to become a Blue Devils fan? Share your experience.