"Lean on Me"

[Billy Dat]

Duke's Freshman (Matt, Semi and Jabari) spending time with patients at Duke Children's Hospital as they perform "Lean on Me" in a music video montage. While this kind of effort isn't new, it always delivers an emotional punch and reminds me that we ask a lot of these players (how much time did any of us spend volunteering with sick kids while undergraduates/), but opportunities like this help build that strong character that we all admire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9V9kKFxgs&feature=youtu.be

[Selover]

This was awesome! I was expecting a low quality cell phone video when I clicked, but it was much more. I'm very impressed with everything about this team. It was good seeing Alex make an appearance. Also, was that Sheed in the yellow gear and mask toward the end?

Great video.

[roywhite]

Duke's Freshman (Matt, Semi and Jabari) spending time with patients at Duke Children's Hospital as they perform "Lean on Me" in a music video montage. While this kind of effort isn't new, it always delivers an emotional punch and reminds me that we ask a lot of these players (how much time did any of us spend volunteering with sick kids while undergraduates/), but opportunities like this help build that strong character that we all admire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9V9kKFxgs&feature=youtu.be

Well, I used to spend a lot of time in the hospital.....cutting through on my way to visit a Hanes House Honey or two. ;)

Good video, and great stuff; gotta believe that service like this is part of a mutual selection process between Duke and prospective players....Coach K and his staff show them this side of serving and visiting the Hospital, and certain kids are very receptive to this.

[Smitty1911]

Duke's Freshman (Matt, Semi and Jabari) spending time with patients at Duke Children's Hospital as they perform "Lean on Me" in a music video montage. While this kind of effort isn't new, it always delivers an emotional punch and reminds me that we ask a lot of these players (how much time did any of us spend volunteering with sick kids while undergraduates/), but opportunities like this help build that strong character that we all admire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9V9kKFxgs&feature=youtu.be

I just have something in my eye, that's all.

[Billy Dat]

I just have something in my eye, that's all.

Yes, the video really digs in little by little. When it starts, the featured kids don't look sick, so it doesn't smack you they way it does when you see the cancer wards with kids whose hair has fallen out or are stuck in bed. And, it just seems a little goofy and off-the-cuff. But, it keeps going and suddenly I'm welling up. It is sneaky that way.

I got the link off Wojo's Twitter feed and now see that lots of the online College Hoops writers are tweeting it around.

[Merlindevildog91]

Duke's Freshman (Matt, Semi and Jabari) spending time with patients at Duke Children's Hospital as they perform "Lean on Me" in a music video montage. While this kind of effort isn't new, it always delivers an emotional punch and reminds me that we ask a lot of these players (how much time did any of us spend volunteering with sick kids while undergraduates/), but opportunities like this help build that strong character that we all admire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9V9kKFxgs&feature=youtu.be

Gulp. There seems to be a lump in my throat....

I enjoyed the video at C2C, but I couldn't hear what was being said very well. Thanks, BillyDat, for posting this. Love the fact that at the end there is the dunk over the kids and the big hug from Jabari.

[ksimp112]

Not sure if this has already been posted. If it has I apologize. Duke players spending time with children at Duke Hospital.

http://gamedayr.com/lifestyle/athletes-2/video-duke-players-sing-lean-on-me-children-hospital/

[WillJ]

Really, really sweet.

[hudlow]

The Duke Way...

God Bless 'em all.

Go Duke!

hud

[Billy Dat]

By the way, this video also demonstrates how savvy the Duke PR machine has gotten.

A few years ago, K acknowledged the 'Duke Hatred Tsunami' and said he was going to take steps to reverse the trend. For a program involved in so many great efforts, like the one featured in this video, we were buried under the "Eff Duke" wave.

I am not speaking with any inside knowledge, but simply commenting on what was made public and what can be observed, namely:

-K made himself much more available to national college basketball writers. It probably helped that his role as Team USA coach forced him to be more media-available, but he definitely made himself more accessible.

-The launch of Duke Blue Planet provided a huge platform for social media outreach and became a key media-training tool for the players, as well as a way to give the public access to them as they really are - in the locker room after practice, after games, interviewing each other, being silly, etc.

-The saturation of college basketball bloggers, and their need for new stories everyday, led to a insatiable demand for content, especially video clips that could be framed with 2-3 paragraphs of text. Duke has become expert at pumping out these "made for blogger" bits.

The result? A video like 'Lean on Me', or Chris Collins' awarding of the walk-on full scholarship, or K's grad student BBQ Beyonce story, or the footage from 'Duke Elevate' - all have a good chance of going viral and getting picked up very quickly. The Collins story was featured on the front page of CNN.com today. We have the infrastructure to feed this new media beast with positive stories and I think it's a gone a long way toward stemming the 'Duke Hatred Tsunami'.

[ricks68]

By the way, this video also demonstrates how savvy the Duke PR machine has gotten.

A few years ago, K acknowledged the 'Duke Hatred Tsunami' and said he was going to take steps to reverse the trend. For a program involved in so many great efforts, like the one featured in this video, we were buried under the "Eff Duke" wave.

I am not speaking with any inside knowledge, but simply commenting on what was made public and what can be observed, namely:

-K made himself much more available to national college basketball writers. It probably helped that his role as Team USA coach forced him to be more media-available, but he definitely made himself more accessible.

-The launch of Duke Blue Planet provided a huge platform for social media outreach and became a key media-training tool for the players.

-The saturation of college basketball bloggers, and their need for new stories everyday, led to a insatiable demand for content, especially video clips that could be framed with 2-3 paragraphs of text. Duke has become expert at pumping out these "made for blogger" bits.

The result? A video like 'Lean on Me', or Chris Collins' awarding of the walk-on full scholarship, or K's grad student BBQ Beyonce story, or the footage from 'Duke Elevate' - all have a good chance of going viral and getting picked up very quickly. The Collins story was featured on the front page of CNN.com today. We have the infrastructure to feed this new media beast with positive stories and I think it's a gone a long way toward stemming the 'Duke Hatred Tsunami'.

Like I said on another thread, all the Duke stuff you need to hear about can be found on DBR. Billy Dat's post is a good example. Thanks Billy Dat.

ricks

[dukedoc]

Some video on the WRAL news tonight of Sheed and Quinn spending time with some pediatric patients at the Coach K Court outside the Children's Health Center. LINK (http://www.wral.com/basketball-is-medicine-at-hospital-s-coach-k-court/13064980/)