Just before the ACC tournament begins next week, I thought I'd share some thoughts on an article I read last week. The ESPN.com article is about the Duke University's basketball program and how the writer tried to hate Duke but after going to a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, he understood how one could come to love Duke. Now being that I went to a rival ACC school as an undergrad, I find it hard to love Duke or even like Duke. Don't get me wrong, think the ACC is by far the strongest and deepest conference (at least in men's and women's basketball) and if it is Duke vs. some other conference team, I usually suck it up and root for Duke (I guess you'd actually call it mildly hoping Duke doesn't lose and bring shame to the great ACC). Also I do actually love Coach K and think he is an incredible coach and if I was still playing, I'd like to play for him. So while I certainly respect Duke, I do not think I could come to love Duke (having roots in North Carolina, my mom wanted me to go to Duke, so I guess if things had been a little different, I might have actually been a Cameron crazy!).
In college, I actually played in the basketball pep band and every year during the ACC tournament, all of the bands from the conference would also hold their own Band ACC basketball tourney, complete with seeding and stats from each game. While we never won the tourney while I was there, we did do pretty well-hey, even as good as Michael Jordan was he needed Scottie Pippen and the supporting cast to step it up before they won a championship! It was always fun and a great chance to meet people from other schools (and party with them afterward-this was college after all). It got me thinking that we should have something like the band basketball tournament but with bands here in NYC: Maria Schneider's band, the Vanguard Orchestra, Alarm will Sound, Jazz @ Lincoln Center are a few that come to mind. I've read that Wynton Marsalis is a basketball nut, but I think that Pulse could beat him and Jazz @ Lincoln Center. We could even do a softball tourney, if they aren't up to the basketball challenge. Hey, if you know Wynton tell him I'm waiting....
Joe
Sorry, Joe. Duke is the Yankees of college basketball. Impossible not to root against them (and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Red Sox fan). Though Coach K runs a great program and you have to respect him, that team is a #1 or #2 seed in the tourney every year. The wealth of talent they always seem to land makes you have to root for the Mighty Empire to fall. I admire and respect Coach K just like I do Joe Torre, but that doesn't mean I have to hope their teams do well.
Go Zags!
Posted by: JC | 05 March 2006 at 07:44 PM