Worst Year in Duke Sports Ever?

[KandG]

Sure feels that way to me...just waiting for Coach G to take the Texas job and jab my eyes one final time with a hot poker.

Nothing was more painful as a single event than 1986, but jeez, this year is going to be one to purge from the memory banks.

[_Gary]

Sure feels that way to me...just waiting for Coach G to take the Texas job and jab my eyes one final time with a hot poker.

Nothing was more painful as a single event than 1986, but jeez, this year is going to be one to purge from the memory banks.

Try the last two years! When you combine both the men and women, and look at the last two years - it's been beyond brutal. Add to this all the hatred for the men's team, the lacrosse situation, and now the Coach G situation, and I think this is easily the most painful time ever to be a Duke fan. I know folks will point back to '86, but I don't agree. The combination of the last two years is far worse, IMHO.

Gary

[phaedrus]

fyi we just won a national championship.

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...&ATCLID=825480

[BlueDevilBaby]

Whew! Now I feel a lot better.

[Rich]

I keep coming back to DBR looking for someone to write something that makes me feel better about the men's season, the women's season, McBob, Coach G, the anti-Duke tsunami, the lacrosse case...and there's nothing. This has been a somewhat difficult year for me on a work/personal level and I usually can count on Duke athletics to give me a lift. But ever since the lax case broke and the women lost in heartbreaking fashion last year, this has been a tremendously frustrating time to be a Duke fan. I fear between next year's basketball teams and the likelihood of Coach G leaving, it will get worse before it gets better. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not one to be an optomist.

[Atlanta Duke]

Sure feels that way to me...just waiting for Coach G to take the Texas job and jab my eyes one final time with a hot poker.

Nothing was more painful as a single event than 1986, but jeez, this year is going to be one to purge from the memory banks.

The lax case is the worst event to involve a Duke sports team in my memory, but if you consider the last 12 months to be the "worst ever" you should have attended Duke from 1972-1976 as I did. The b-ball team never had a winning record (after, as I recall, never having a losing season since the late 1930s), never won a ACC tournament game (capped with a heartbreaking OT loss to Maryland my senior year), and hit bottom with 8 points in 18 seconds at Carmichael.

"most disappointing ever" - maybe; "worst ever" - not a chance.

[Lord Ash]

I would agree if only because I would consider "most disappointing ever" to be pretty darn close to "worst ever."

The lax case was terrible, the men's b-ball team was a letdown, football again won very little, and now the heartbreak of the womans team... woof.

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

Dog-gone it. I usually put these losses behind me. I still sting from the Men's basketball loss and I fear the women will stick with me for a long time too. I am glad that I didn't sleep well last night because I have a feeling I will need to be good and tired to fall asleep tonight.

OH, back to the topic. Nah, these are just disappointments. One has to have something to be disappointed about and thus both had good seasons. I wouldn't mind a hug though.

GO DUKE!

[throatybeard]

I know our revenue teams weren't good in the mid-70s, but the LAX mess puts the last year into a category of its own.

[KandG]

I'm sure there have been "worse" periods in Duke sports in terms of actual team performance, though obviously everyone agrees that lacrosse by itself has made the last year hell.

In the case of the men's team, it wasn't actually the way we lost our final game, but how the loss epitomized the entire season, and reflected the bitter reality that we seemed to get *worse* as the season wound down. K always seems to wrangle a little extra from his teams, no matter the level of talent, but this felt like his most earthbound team in a long time.

And the irrational hatred piled on a young team, capped off by the absolute absurdity of Gerald-gate, just made the season that much worse.

The women were really the team I enjoyed watching the most this year, and the long shadow cast by last year's brutal final loss motivated them toward an amazing regular season. But somewhere along the way, the girls lost the mojo...then Alleva happened, and G's team loses today the way it did...sigh, doesn't get more disappointing or excruciating.

[Lord Ash]

I see the lax thing as the biggest influence of all.

However, I am sure that better times are coming!

[JJweMISSu]

Whewww I feel alot better now that the track team won a national championship while our girls still have a big 0 in the national championship column.

[throatybeard]

I think we should play those 8 guys in JJweMISSu's signature. We couldn't lose 8-on-5.

Unless we went to the stall...

[FireOgilvie]

Whewww I feel alot better now that the track team won a national championship while our girls still have a big 0 in the national championship column.

The women's golf team won last year as well!!!

But seriously, 0 wins in football... disappointing basketball season... lax scandal.

[Duvall]

I think we should play those 8 guys in JJweMISSu's signature. We couldn't lose 8-on-5.

Don't be ridiculous. If we start 8 guys, we'll *never* develop a bench.

[houstondukie]

Better hope unc doesn't win the tourney or it could get even worse.

[heyman25]

Duke needs a Shaman or a Merlin the Magician to get rid of the curse. Now I know how Cub fans feel.The Duke women managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory 2 years running.I think and I have posted this elsewhere that Gail should move on.For whatever reason she will not get a championship at Duke and Shannon Perry or Tia Jackson should be offered head coaching position.

[KandG]

Better hope unc doesn't win the tourney or it could get even worse.

Especially if both the men *and* women win. Imagine Ty and Ivory holding up the men and women's trophies respectively in the next ten days, with a presser shortly afterward announcing Coach G's hiring by another school.

Might be time to consider that month long trip to Eastern Europe.

[sbpollo]

I agree these were "lean" years, but not bad. We still supported OUR team no matter what. Most of us went to all the "JV" games and still packed the bottom part of Cameron. It was good to see kids messing with Tom Burleson when he went into the crowd for an out of bounds ball! I guess we'll finally let Paul Fox off the hook.

The game does move on, these are kids, not professional athletes, despite what all the talking heads on TV make them out to be. Let's continue to support them!

[pacificrounder]

Especially if both the men *and* women win. Imagine Ty and Ivory holding up the men and women's trophies respectively in the next ten days, with a presser shortly afterward announcing Coach G's hiring by another school.

Might be time to consider that month long trip to Eastern Europe.

That is really the most disturbing thought I have considered this year. It made my stomach turn. Please God, say it ain't so.

GO GTOWN!
GO GWU!