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View Full Version : What Bill Simmons wrote today – Have YOU Felt That Before?



yum dukie
11-09-2007, 02:04 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071109&sportCat=nfl&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

He started out the column more or less Terping, but then shifted the focus to how this season is an “Eff You” season from the Patriots’ fan perspective. Patriots fans know they're the best team, and Patriots haters acknowledge they're the best team, and basically every game the Patriots prove that and then some.

I think as a Duke fan I’ve enjoyed lots of E.Y games and I think we’ve had our share of E.Y players, but as far as seasons, I would say 92 is THE Eff You season. And everything Simmons says about embracing the villain status was true for me back then – I thoroughly rubbed it in my friends’ faces and they hated being around me. Of course, that made the UNC and Wake losses really painful. It was a beautiful season of justified arrogance. I would even go so far as to say Laettner that season exuded that every bit as much as Brady this season for the Patriots.

I’m not really sure you could say we’ve really had another E.Y. season. First of all, it has to be a season with a title at the end, right? For example, 99 would have been a staggering E.Y. season, potentially topping 92, but without the title, I think 99 falls short – there’s no Eff You to ultimately speak of.

Bostondevil
11-09-2007, 02:38 PM
I thought about emailing Simmons and saying, now you know, buddy, now you know. Go Duke.

In fact, I think I will go do just that.

CDu
11-09-2007, 03:08 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071109&sportCat=nfl&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

He started out the column more or less Terping, but then shifted the focus to how this season is an “Eff You” season from the Patriots’ fan perspective. Patriots fans know they're the best team, and Patriots haters acknowledge they're the best team, and basically every game the Patriots prove that and then some.

I think as a Duke fan I’ve enjoyed lots of E.Y games and I think we’ve had our share of E.Y players, but as far as seasons, I would say 92 is THE Eff You season. And everything Simmons says about embracing the villain status was true for me back then – I thoroughly rubbed it in my friends’ faces and they hated being around me. Of course, that made the UNC and Wake losses really painful. It was a beautiful season of justified arrogance. I would even go so far as to say Laettner that season exuded that every bit as much as Brady this season for the Patriots.

I’m not really sure you could say we’ve really had another E.Y. season. First of all, it has to be a season with a title at the end, right? For example, 99 would have been a staggering E.Y. season, potentially topping 92, but without the title, I think 99 falls short – there’s no Eff You to ultimately speak of.

Why does it have to definitely have a title at the end of the season? Have the Patriots already won the Super Bowl? If we're proclaiming this year's Patriots as an "eff you" season after a few weeks (it's been proclaimed that since well before the Colts game), then a title doesn't seem to need to be a criteria.

I think there has to be (1) an acute reason for anger (like the "cameragate"), (2) a completely dominant team, and (3) a clear stance of "we're going to blow everyone out to say 'eff you.'"

In that sense, I don't think we've ever had an "eff you" season. The 1992 season doesn't cut it. We won the title, but we didn't dominate teams. We were the best team, but there were certainly other good ones (we lost twice, and came close against UK and Indiana). Furthermore, I feel like that was before Duke was really hated (the Laettner game was where that came along). The 1999 season didn't cut it because it wasn't like everyone in the world hated that team. They were just really really good and everyone knew it.

There have certainly been years when everyone hated Duke, but I don't think we've had an "eff you" caliber team in any of those years.

hurleyfor3
11-09-2007, 03:12 PM
Of course, that made the UNC and Wake losses really painful.

Our built-in excuse was that Hurley played injured in the first game and not at all in the second game.

And the officials in that Wake game went out of their way to throw that game to Wake. (Remember the hanging on the rim technical on Laettner, and the delay-of-game T on Duke late in the game where the rules call for only a warning). That game upset a lot of people on campus, but I remember thinking, we already lost a game this year and we're not at full strength anyway, so the league office picked a harmless game to throw.

cato
11-09-2007, 04:56 PM
Why does it have to definitely have a title at the end of the season?

Because if it doesn't end in a title, the earstwhile "eff u" squad ends up on the receiving end of a whole lotta schadenfreude.

CDu
11-09-2007, 05:16 PM
Because if it doesn't end in a title, the earstwhile "eff u" squad ends up on the receiving end of a whole lotta schadenfreude.

My question was rhetorical. An "eff u" season is an "eff u" season DURING the season. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether the title is won or not. That would only be looking at it ex post facto.

The "eff u" season has been defined in the context of the 2007 New England Patriots, who have clearly not won the 2008 Super Bowl yet. Yet they're unequivocally in an "eff u" season. Therefore, it is clear that winning a championship is not a requirement for an "eff u" season.

Sure, the schadenfreude will rain down upon the Patriots if they lose. That won't change the fact that this has clearly ben an "eff u" season for them.