On Duke and Hatred, Part I
Abby Waner, after the win. (AP Photo)
This is the women's version. Tomorrow we publish the men's version, which is Part II.
I've already noted that Terps fan stuck around for Sunday's second session "just to root against Duke," as Maryland's Marissa Coleman put it with a laugh.
"I wasn't aware that College Park was such a big hot spot for Murray State fans," Duke's Abby Waner dryly noted at a press conference this afternoon. "I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of Arizona State fans here tomorrow night."
And so the question that hovered over College Park like the scent of closing time at Bentley's was this: er, why is there so much hate for this one particular school?
"It's Duke, come on now," Maryland's Crystal Langhorne expounded. "It started with men's basketball. You know, everybody hates Duke, everyone. It's not just Maryland. Everybody does. It just festered and moved to our little program, too."
"Abby always gives me a hard time, says we aren't even their rivals," Coleman said. "She doesn't know why our fans hate them so much. Murray State was from Kentucky, and they had pretty much the whole arena rooting for them. [It's] because it's Duke. Not too many people around the country like Duke."
This festering hate, the Duke players said today, largely manifests itself in College Park and Chapel Hill, but they said they get booed pretty much everywhere they go. They also said they don't take it personally, that the booing is based on their past success and that of their male counterparts. The Duke cheerleaders responded to the boos by chanting "Not Our Rivals," which made the Blue Devils laugh, which seemed to be their primary response to the whole incident. (An incident whose pinnacle was, of course, the end-game booing, when Duke was pressing in the final minute with a huge lead.)
"It doesn't bother us at all," Wanisha Smith said. "It's actually entertaining, due to the fact that they weren't Murray State fans."
"I kind of like it, I think it's fun," added Coach Joanne McCallie. "Certainly you want women's basketball to have passion, and certainly you want people to care. Now, I realize some people express their passion in different ways, but as long as people are respectful of players' personal lives, I see nothing but extra enthusiasm that comes from it."
"It makes it fun," Maryland point guard Kristi Tolliver said, echoing McCallie. "To do the right thing would be to cheer for your team and not cheer against the other team, but that's in a perfect world, and we don't live in one. Let the fans have their fun."
As for McCallie's "Turtle IQ" comment, the coach said today that she was "having fun, kidding. I mean, we're talking about a Turtle."
The coach said she expected it to be "worse, a lot worse," tonight, when the Blue Devils meet Arizona State, and that seemed to be a consensus opinion.
"I mean, we're Duke, I think it's pretty much a given," Waner said. "There's just a whole bunch of reasons people hate Duke. It's the name on the front of the jersey. People either love 'em or hate 'em, and for the majority, there's not as much love as hate."
"This school just has a dislike for Duke," Tolliver said. "I don't have a dislike for Duke, really, but nobody from Maryland likes Duke and I don't think anyone from Duke likes Maryland. That's just how it is."
A group of reporters was giggling about such comments--especially Langhorne's--in a Comcast Center hallway this afternoon when Maryland Coach Brenda Frese walked by.
"C'mon," she said, "you guys don't like Duke either." She was joking. I think.
By Dan Steinberg |
March 24, 2008; 7:21 PM ET
| Category:
College Basketball
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Posted by: EricS | March 24, 2008 8:43 PM
I feel good about hating Duke, so I'm glad to see this topic will get the two-post treatment. I'm on tenterhooks for the sequel.
Posted by: Lindemann | March 24, 2008 8:45 PM
Haters just look jealous.
Posted by: Svrlugamania | March 24, 2008 10:24 PM
So is it safe to say that Duke is the Jay-Z of college basketball, and the rest of Division I is Soulja Boi?
Posted by: www.StetSports.com | March 24, 2008 10:41 PM
Svrlugamania, jealous of what? Your empty trophy case??? Do you want to borrow our Natty for a while?
Posted by: MoCoTerp | March 24, 2008 10:46 PM
I heard discussion of "why the duke hate" today on Bawmur sports talk radio.
There are so many reasons:
-- perception as spoiled rich kids
-- fawning annoying coach
-- loud and obnoxious proponents on cable tv
-- the race issue is in there somewhere
-- style of play (flopping like european soccer players)
-- jealous of success
I mean, other than a team's natural rival, is there a team more universally disliked out there, making them the Yankees/Pats/Lakers/Flyers of CBB?
Posted by: odessa steps magazine | March 24, 2008 11:10 PM
I heard discussion of "why the duke hate" today on Bawmur sports talk radio.
There are so many reasons:
-- perception as spoiled rich kids
-- fawning annoying coach
-- loud and obnoxious proponents on cable tv
-- the race issue is in there somewhere
-- style of play (flopping like european soccer players)
-- jealous of success
I mean, other than a team's natural rival, is there a team more universally disliked out there, making them the Yankees/Pats/Lakers/Flyers of CBB?
Posted by: odessa steps magazine | March 24, 2008 11:10 PM
It's obvious that Maryland fans are jealous of Duke for the same reason they are jealous of Seth Greenberg, Michael Vick, and the mighty Hokie Nation. They resent success. I deal with my share of jealous Maryland fans every day. I can't help that I am a high powered lawyer with a smoking hot wife. Deal with it losers.
Posted by: Speak to Ben Coleman | March 24, 2008 11:48 PM
Are the hits down, Dan?
Posted by: sitruc | March 25, 2008 12:03 AM
Duke Rocks, I love it. Everybody should come to visit and realize how beautiful of a heaven this place is.
We have tons of species of lemurs. This is more important to me than basketball. Please understand my school is doing great things for solving cancer! Really! You all must love duke now.
Posted by: Alice Duke Student | March 25, 2008 12:56 AM
Jealous of the Chokies? Pleeeease. Name one single NCAA championship of the Hokies in any sport. And Micheal "Jail Time" Vick? LOL.
I highly suspect this is a UVA fan disguising themselves as a Hokie. Only a UVA fan would brag about being an ambulance chaser.
Posted by: Bluespower | March 25, 2008 1:17 AM
Amen Bluespower, Amen
Posted by: dg | March 25, 2008 6:20 AM
"High-powered lawyer with a smoking-hot wife" = ***hole
Posted by: bethesdaguy | March 25, 2008 9:04 AM
Interesting facts:
Duke Women's Basketball National Championships = Zero
Maryland Women's National Basketball National Championships = One (2006, over Duke).
And Duke men's basketball has more championships, but Maryland actually has won it more recently(2002 compared to 2001).
Posted by: Broken Clipboard | March 25, 2008 9:37 AM
Sunday was actually a very good day, for in addition to being a pleasant late March Easter Sunday, the University of New Jersey at Durham's men's basketball and men's lacrosse teams lost.
Posted by: Dave Richardson | March 25, 2008 10:10 AM
Oops, should have written Saturday in the post above, Sunday's pleasure was reading about it in the paper.
Posted by: Dave Richardson | March 25, 2008 10:11 AM
Just Jullien Spyridon and some club sports for VT. Bass fishing will be defending their title this summer.
Posted by: sitruc | March 25, 2008 1:05 PM
I live in Durham.
The tears of the Dookies were delicious.
Posted by: AlecW81 | March 25, 2008 1:08 PM
ben, i've seen your wife and obviously you the one that's smoken (be careful cause they test for bud) the tooth problem tho alright in blacksburg can be fixed by your dookie girls. their daddies are all dentists
Posted by: | March 25, 2008 2:41 PM
ben, i've seen your wife and obviously you the one that's smoken (be careful cause they test for bud) the tooth problem tho alright in blacksburg can be fixed by your dookie girls. their daddies are all dentists
Posted by: devans | March 25, 2008 2:42 PM
Hey, where my Part II at?
Posted by: Lindemann | March 26, 2008 8:04 AM
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Yeah, it's pretty much like that. Some of us at least try to keep it resonably professional. We don't curse, we don't go after the family and we at least try to be funnt. Can't say that for all of the Terps fans but, well, who said all the Duke fans were funny either?
The Murray State fans who were there, along with the cheerleaders and the band, seemed to get a kick out of it. My group was right behind them. Good group of folks.