Originally Posted by
jdj4duke
I have in my family a brother, a sister, a nephew, a brother-in-law, and a sister-in-law all with undergrad degrees from over yonder, and another nephew who is currently an undergrad. I have another sister and brother-in-law with postgrad degrees, and that particular bro'-in-law is from a family who have given untold riches to UNC, and who are lifetime Rams Clubbers. Sometimes I feel like the Kuwaiti army facing the Iragi invasion.
I laughed at the post talking about being ostracized at family gatherings for being a Duke fan, since these Rams Clubbers at one holiday party told me that I should stay on the other side of the room since I went to Duke.They were dead serious. At least my brother-in-law even found that appalling and told his parents that they should not act so stupid.
NONE of them though seems the least bit exercised over any of the academic questions and the most rabid of the group basically will not even admit to knowing about it. I find that preposterous (but probably not unusual) since every freaking piece of clothing in most of their wardrobes is that other blue. Therefore, I assume that the UNC faculty not rising in unison is really not surprising, since there has not and won't be any kind of hue and cry from the alums or the most ardent fans. Why would a French or history professor make a public fuss over what to even a casual observer appears to be some sort of academic shenanigans? I suppose from an inherent sense of outrage, ethics or responsibility, but that may not be enough shield from the ostracism certain to come from all parts of the university community. Bookish folks just ain't sportish folks, you know.
I have for years been scrupulous about not provoking any of these sheep, and gave up in the 1980's ever mentioning a Duke win. I go out of my way to compliment how wonderful their teams and university are, and it doesn't do a damn bit of good. UNC wins, my phone lights up with all manner of nonsense. Duke wins, and it's because Dick Vitale called the game.
Academic note or recognition for Duke? Never mind, since everyone there is from New York or New Jersey, and we are dweebs and the Duke girls are ugly anyway.
It's just ceaseless.
I also echo the comments about their lack of respect for ANY other team or university (think I posted something on this a while ago as well). Nothing is ever their fault, they were always cheated, somebody was hurt, the refs are paid off, the buffalo no longer roam the prairies, their socks were too thick, or the Italian trains were on strike. No other university has ever done anything worthy of note, acknowledgment, or positive comment. I am not sure how that DNA gets coded, but it's hard to miss the manifestations.
Yeah, the Carolina Way is pretty amusing at the moment: dodge, deflect, blame voodoo, obfuscate, or ignore, but do it from a very high perch. Generally pride goeth before a fall and all that, but one would think that every now and then one of them would actually hit the ground.
