Here is a relatively recent column from The Chronicle discussing Bill Simmons's Duke hate.
http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/201...e-hate-nicely/
Duke was mentioned on PTI just a bit ago and during the rundown Wilbon asked Bill Simmons who was in for Tony K. When asked if he had a problem with Duke being preseason No. 1 Simmons said yes, but didn't elaborate. I'm curious does anyone know the source of his dislike of Duke?
Here is a relatively recent column from The Chronicle discussing Bill Simmons's Duke hate.
http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/201...e-hate-nicely/
There's no reason to care what Simmons thinks about Duke. By his own admission, the only time he cares about college ball is March. Beyond that, he's all about the NBA. His draft night blog is sometimes a very entertaining read though (partially because they NBA is far too easy to make fun of).
Contrarianism and mass readability.
Bill Simmons is, first and foremost, a Bostonian. His point of view centers around a have (Celtics) and a former have-not (Red Sox). So he understands that it's in his best interest to either hate the established winner (Yankees) as the bitter underdog, or support them as a long-term fan. There's no in-between.
He doesn't write much about the college game, but he knows it's not marketable to have no opinion on Duke basketball. He has readers/fans who are more interested in the college game than he does, so it's good to throw them a bone every once in a while. And, if he has no personal stake in this, it's easier to hate Duke by default and begrudgingly respect Coach K's Team USA job than to love Duke by default and have his mailbag filled with college-oriented hate mail that he would consider off-topic.
Where in sports is the perennial power also universally loved? Even Lance Armstrong has enemies.
It disappoints me that this tangential anti-Duke behavior might truly bother anyone on this board. Rise above it.
Agreed, but that's a pretty long explanation by someone named 'Brevity.' We're calmer than you are, dude.
Simmons is a unique and worthy writer, but he is a fan first and foremost. He avowedly dislikes the Yankees, Lakers, and Duke -- all from a fan's perspective. Do not write him off because he dislikes his our favorite team. He admits he's a fan first and not a traditional sportswriter.
He's good for Duke basketball. Better to be disliked than not mentioned at all.
I love the fact that Duke winning makes people all over america sick. I get a kick out of it!
Nobody likes a winner
Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week. Like a lot of people I know, he's not a Duke fan. Likewise, I'm not a Yankees fan. Or a Manchester United fan.
You can't blame sports fans for not rooting for your team, especially when your team is generally the overdog.
Duke is our thing. It's not everybody's.
If he just didn't like Duke because of our success, fine, I can understand that. But read the quotes in the article above. He's a bitter, mean-spirited individual who flings personal insults at our coach and players, with no real grounds for them. There's nothing respectable about that.
Part of the problem is people taking him seriously. He's not a serious writer, he never really claims to be one. He is entertaining and funny. The fact that he doesn't like Duke, oh well. Don't take him so seriously. I agree with the poster above. His NBA columns are classic. On the same episode of PTI for example, I LOVED his quote "Les Miles is sort of like Andy Reid after four drinks".