Were the Crazies good tonight?

[BillVol]

Or did they obey Pat Summitt and not pick on one of our girls? My guess is that Coach McCallie was forced to pull a Coach K and tell the Crazies to be good boys and girls. I'm embarrassed by it all. Good game anyhow.

[jimsumner]

The Crazies and Hornbuckle expressed their mutual regard on numerous occasions.

[wbs2455]

There were a few chants of "Wal-Mart" when Alexis was shooting free throws (she looked visibly excited when she hit them and it looked like she looked over at the crazies to say in your face). There was also a more amusing "you can't steal" cheer at Hornbuckle when she let a stolen pass go out of bounds. Otherwise, pretty tame tonight it seemed. Very few students (<50?) until about 30 minutes until tip. Even at tip, the student section was only about 50% full of students at best, including a lot of grad students. Those who were there did make some noise though.

[DU82]

Or did they obey Pat Summitt and not pick on one of our girls? My guess is that Coach McCallie was forced to pull a Coach K and tell the Crazies to be good boys and girls. I'm embarrassed by it all. Good game anyhow.

Fairly good until she clobbered Abby on a sideline play and a similar play a little earlier, and then some rough boxing-out on Abby on two free throws (I do not believe that was Hornbuckle though.) Hornbuckle was then touch-fouled by Abby (a correct call in my view, although after the previous series and a lot of rough play underneath with no calls, a frustrating whistle to fans) and during the free throws was the first time I heard "Wal-Mart". Pat, if you want your players to be treated like ladies, they should act like it.

Hobbit, er, Bobbitt, flops like Latta, although for sure the rest of her game is nowhere near as annoying (other than her hitting three clutch threes.)

[dukeENG2003]

Wasn't at the game, but I'll share this about the Crazies.

My wife grew up her whole life as a Tennessee fan. She is now a grad student. She was an usher at this game. She wore her Tennessee flip flops and an orange long sleeve shirt under her ushers shirt. She was hit with multiple full drink cups and heckled to the point where she had to leave the game at halftime for fear of her safety.

Its a sad day, but when she called me at halftime to tell me about it, I found myself rooting for Duke to lose for the first time in my life. This sort of behavior is inexcusable. I know its probably just a few bad apples spoiling the bunch, but I've never heard of such deplorable behavior by the crazies. We are not Maryland, at least I thought we weren't. . .

[shadowfax336]

First of all I'm very sorry for your wife's experience, but was it the crazies harrasing her? In my eperience the students have nothing to do with the ushers. Also I'm in no way trying to excuse this behavior but if your wife wanted to cheer for UT it probably was not appropriate for her to be working for Duke at the game.

[dukeENG2003]

It was from the undergrad section (the drinks and the heckling).

She had no plans of wanting to work as an usher for this game, but unfortunately, all the other student ushers bailed, and she was one of the only ones willing to work. Frankly, that shows dedication to Duke to me, that she was willing to work as an usher when nobody else would, even for that big game against her team.

Really, whether or not she was an usher seems pretty irrelevant. A visiting fan should never be treated like this. If anything, it should be even less reason to give them s#$&#37;, as it made it clear that she was still a Duke fan, just not on that night.

[shadowfax336]

I don't think its irrelevant (perceived disloyalty is a sports fan's worst sin) but I do think that its not really the part of this worth talking about. As a crazie who's made every men's game this year I'm really ashamed to be associated with this and I would like to apologize on behalf of the crazies in general and point out that this is very atypical...

[DukeFencer]

Agreed that a visiting fan should never be treated like that. The "undergrad" section is not so much that at women's games though. It is a mix of undergrads, grads, and open seating to fans from BOTH sides. I have never seen behavior in Cameron that would lead me to believe students would do something like this, especially at a women's game where tensions don't tend to be running as high (even for such a big game). I hope that it was not students.

[LetItBD08]

Wow, dukeEng, I worked alongside your wife last night before the game started letting in students. When she explained to me her predicament as a Duke grad student and lifelong Vol fan, I would have never thought it would have come to that. Where was she sitting? It hurts if another undergrad (or anyone associated with Duke) would do that. It's a shame that people would stoop to throwing stuff.

[kexman]

I don't condone the throwing of things, but I think heckling an usher who is wearing the opponents colors is totally on target. If they are volunteers (no pun intended) I will cut them some slack. If they are paid workers I have less sympathy. Regardless safety should never be an issue in cameron.

[gadzooks]

Jeez, I'm really sorry to hear that some of the fans were acting like jerks. It surprises and saddens me, since Duke fans like to think that they're better than some of the antics pulled by fans of other teams. Yuck. :(

I didn't notice too much harassment of the players by the Crazies, though I did hear during Parker's free throws one time, "Pay your rent" (did I hear that right?) and we were trying to figure out what was meant by that. My guess is it has something to do with her being engaged to the Landlord, but beyond that, I'm stumped.

[GopherBlue]

I was at the game and witnessed none of the disorderly behavior described. In fact, I found it to be quite the opposite - both Duke and UT fans were well behaved, and in many cases, downright affable (unlike, for example, the NCSU fans in CIS a week ago).

dukeENG2003 - I am certainly not questioning your wife's account of the environment. I assume it to be the truth, and am quite embarrassed that this can happen to anyone inside CIS. Duke fans are better than this, and need to find creative and productive ways to support their team. It's what sets us apart from the Terps of the world.

[BillVol]

Sorry about what your wife went through. There are bad fans everywhere. They are usually the vast minority, but they can make enough of a stink on their own. Unfortunately, we have a bunch of fans just as you described. It is a shame.

[dukeENG2003]

It surprised the heck out of me to hear it too. I'm in no way trying to imply that this is normal behavior. As I said, its probably just a few bad apples that will be sorted out eventually. I don't know exactly what was said to her, perhaps the heckling was appropriate, perhaps not, but the fact that she came to my basketball game (the reason I wasn't at Cameron) soaked in Coke was indication enough to me that things were clearly out of hand.

I've done my fair share of heckling opposing fans (I sit in the grad student section, and was right next to the guy in the red jacket with the Red mohawk for the Wisconsin game) but it was never physical nor obscene. We even had some pretty civil discussion during halftime.

[Oh Canada]

I think everyone needs to put things into perspective.....it's great to be fans of a team or even a sport for that matter but it is in fact JUST A GAME. When the personal lives of people are altered it just goes beyond the realm of "good character". I'm not implying the situation was anywhere at the level I'm about to describe but the parallel behind rooting for your team vs. rooting against someone else's team loyalty is evident.

Here in Canada, we are getting to see a weekly documentary right now called 'football factories'. A young guy travels the world documenting different soccer countries and how crazy/loyal/insane their fans are. These fans have gone from rooting for their club team to making a socio-political statements in an extremely violent manner. Again, I'm not implying the Duke fans are like this but it makes you think about the energy it must take to be-little someone just because they're wearing opposing colours. I watched the game last night and thought the Crazies were into it and very vocal. Let's just hope the incident mentioned above was one by a single individual who just made a "bad decision" at the time.

[wumhenry]

She should've reported the SOBs to the cops, if any were present. What we're talking about here is assault and battery.

[Jessica5]

Wow that is really upsetting to read. I'm also very curious to hear where your wife was sitting because I was in the "undergrad" section in the front row, and I saw nothing like that happening. Like the others, I'm not questioning your wife's experience, but usually if somebody is acting like an idiot among the Crazies, a more mature person will shut them up. I'm extremely curious who would stoop to that level of behavior. They seriously shouldn't be allowed in Cameron again.

Also during women's games, the undergrad section is general admission, and anyone can stand there.

[juise]

Also during women's games, the undergrad section is general admission, and anyone can stand there.

That's what I was thinking. The only women's game I can remember (during my tenure: 2000-2004) when the student section was full of students was the 2003 game against UConn. Other than that, there are a lot of general admission folks. I'm not trying to say that the people of Durham are worse behaved than the average college student, but I never witnessed any behavior like that (throwing drinks) from the Crazies.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

She should've reported the SOBs to the cops, if any were present. What we're talking about here is assault and battery.
There are supposed to be security personnel stationed about to assist in a variety of situations. It's always easier to remember such things in hindsight.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

That's what I was thinking. The only women's game I can remember (during my tenure: 2000-2004) when the student section was full of students was the 2003 game against UConn. Other than that, there are a lot of general admission folks. I'm not trying to say that the people of Durham are worse behaved than the average college student, but I never witnessed any behavior like that (throwing drinks) from the Crazies.
While it is easy to assume that those who've been admitted on general admission are from Durham, people who come to a game could be from Creedmoor, Roxboro, Raleigh, Sanford.....

[blazindw]

That's what I was thinking. The only women's game I can remember (during my tenure: 2000-2004) when the student section was full of students was the 2003 game against UConn. Other than that, there are a lot of general admission folks. I'm not trying to say that the people of Durham are worse behaved than the average college student, but I never witnessed any behavior like that (throwing drinks) from the Crazies.

UConn in 2003 and Tennessee in 2004 were really the only games where the u-grad section was only students. The line monitors worked both of those games, and so the u-grad and grad sections worked like the men's games. I too will not discredit the usher's count of events, but I would think that anyone in Cameron would have a bit more class than that. I'm sorry that she had a rough experience and hopefully it will never happen again.

[LetItBD08]

Throw in Tennessee (yesterday and 2 years ago), UNC (I think for the 3 years I've been here), and Md (last year) as women's games where the student section was just undergrads and grads.

Yesterday's student section was undergrad and grad students until tip off. Then other general admissions were allowed to come in.

[dukeENG2003]

She should've reported the SOBs to the cops, if any were present. What we're talking about here is assault and battery.

She did, unfortunately its impossible to determine who threw things after the fact unless those around them are willing to give them up.

I'm not sure where she was sitting, as I wasn't at the game (I had my own bball league game I was playing in, otherwise i'd have been there for sure).

Not trying to trash the crazies at all, they (well, we, I consider grad students part of the crazies too, which is where I sit) are on the whole the greatest fans in all of sports, but given the title of the thread, I thought I'd at least share her experience, that at least a small number of crazies were NOT well behaved.

[juise]

While it is easy to assume that those who've been admitted on general admission are from Durham, people who come to a game could be from Creedmoor, Roxboro, Raleigh, Sanford.....

You're right, I should have said something like "the triangle area."

I forgot about the 2004 Tennessee game. I wasn't able to make it to that game. I'm pretty sure that UNC games weren't packed out in our years, though.

[Kdogg]

I didn't notice too much harassment of the players by the Crazies, though I did hear during Parker's free throws one time, "Pay your rent" (did I hear that right?) and we were trying to figure out what was meant by that. My guess is it has something to do with her being engaged to the Landlord, but beyond that, I'm stumped.

Probably because she is engaged to Shelden "The Landlord" Williams.