This is why I am proud to be a Dukie

[Grey Devil]

This is why I'm a Duke fan.

As pointed out by DBR, this year three of the six nominees for the NBA sportsman of the year award are former Duke players (Deng, Battier, and Brand). What they failed to mention is that the last two years former Duke players won the award. Last year Elton won. The year before Grant won.

We may all be disappointed that we lost in the first round of the Tournament this year or that we haven't played in the Championship game since '04, (geesh, it's been three long years!) but our values are right and our players are always quality individuals. Not only do we win, but we win with class.

I am proud to be a Dukie!

Grey Devil

[heyman25]

When I was at Duke,Dukie was a smart http://www.dukebasketballreport.comh...ballreport.com term tossed at me by my friend who went to UNC Chapel Hill.I really don't understand how Duke fans appreciate that word Dukie.I am a blue devil not a friggin Dukie.

[Bob Green]

This is why I'm a Duke fan.

We may all be disappointed that we lost in the first round of the Tournament this year or that we haven't played in the Championship game since '04, (geesh, it's been three long years!) but our values are right and our players are always quality individuals. Not only do we win, but we win with class.

I will admit upfront that I'm nitpicking, but we didn't play in the Championship Game in 2004. We lost to UCONN in the National Semi-Finals. It has been a long six years (2001) since we played in the Championship Game.

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

[Richard Berg]

When I was at Duke,Dukie was a smart http://www.dukebasketballreport.comh...ballreport.com term tossed at me by my friend who went to UNC Chapel Hill.I really don't understand how Duke fans appreciate that word Dukie.I am a blue devil not a friggin Dukie.

It's all in the spelling.

[Grey Devil]

I will admit upfront that I'm nitpicking, but we didn't play in the Championship Game in 2004. We lost to UCONN in the National Semi-Finals. It has been a long six years (2001) since we played in the Championship Game.

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

Thanks, Bob, for pointing that out. It was late last night when I made that posting and I was obviously in error. Perhaps my confusion was also caused by my firm belief then that whoever won that game would win the championship.

To address the other issue raised in reponse to my original positing, I must admit that I was initially puzzled by the misspelling of the word "Dukie" when I first arrived as a freshman at Duke in the late 60s But I quickly came to learn, largely because I was at Duke during a time of great racial upheaval, that words hurled at you in derision are only hurtful if you let them be. There were many worse words that were used then, and usually they reflected more poorly on those who spoke them then on those who were on the receiving end. Now I know that those who misspell Dukie and use it derisively are saying more about themselves than they are about Duke and its supporters.

I am proud to be a Dukie and the performance of our former players in the NBA (not just their statistical performance, to get back to my original reason for posting) reinforces my pride.

Grey Devil

[Chard]

Actually, that was the championship game. The next game was a formality.

[VaDukie]

We're Blue Devils, not Dukies. I don't really dislike the term, but I mostly don't pay attention to it.

[UncleBill]

VaDukie, that WAS in jest, right?

[feldspar]

We're Blue Devils, not Dukies. I don't really dislike the term, but I mostly don't pay attention to it.

Did someone say something? I thought I heard a noise.

Oh well. Must have been the wind.

[VaDukie]

Hard to convey sarcasm over the in print, but that was the best I could do.

[greybeard]

If you are the authentic he, the term "Dukie" is washed from my vocabulary. We Munchmen from the early 60's remember your visit and salute you.

[greybeard]

The friend from UNC wasn't Brian, was it. I never understood how it came to be that an All-American was shooting in our gym; the Brian connection would explain it. I'm sure you caught his kid when he played for Stanford; had some of you in his game, yes?

[TillyGalore]

"Dukie", I can't stand d-o-o-k or d-o-o-k-i-e!

I had to spell is out as when I previewed my post the words came up as links, like this, http://www.dukebasketballreport.com [repeating]
and http://www.dukebasketballreport.com [repeating]
Can someone explain that to me. Not to steer anyone off topic.

[throatybeard]

Tilly:

I don't know what's going on. I edited your post because the messed-up repeating URL blows the margins out in most browsers. We did this to just a couple posts before as well. Maybe the admins know something about the software that would cause that.

[heyman25]

No it was Freddie Hutchins and his Dad was a Duke cop that got the Cameron Stadium beat. And I am not the real Heyman just a fan that met him when I was 6 or 7. I did see the 40 point 24 rebound performance in his final game at Duke Indoor Stadium on his last game at Duke. And all of his fights were started by tarheels. Larry Brown, the cheerleader. The Vann family could tell you the facts.

[greybeard]

No it was Freddie Hutchins and his Dad was a Duke cop that got the Cameron Stadium beat. And I am not the real Heyman just a fan that met him when I was 6 or 7. I did see the 40 point 24 rebound performance in his final game at Duke Indoor Stadium on his last game at Duke. And all of his fights were started by tarheels. Larry Brown, the cheerleader. The Vann family could tell you the facts.

My high school was Larry Brown country. An old teammate's Dad and brother represent him to this day. Tony K, who also is buddies with LB, is the old teammate's lifelong close friend. Brian is Brian McSweeney, perhaps the best player ever from my high school. He played at UNC and captained the team in '63, which I believe was el Dino's first or second year. At 6' 4" he was a "big" in that day and a defensive specialist. He probably guarded Heyman, who, like Brown, came from a neighboring town to ours. Heyman, for some reason I obviously do not know, showed up in our high school gym one day during his junior or senior year. I was just a sophomore, and assumed that like, Brown, he knew our coach, who really knew the game. But, hey, so did Vic. Memories, the beauty of em.

[greybeard]

Heyman and Brown grew up in adjacant towns, Oceanside and Long Beach. Their on-court fist fights began in high school, and continued through college.

Back then, games were almost never telecast, and I was all but oblivious to college basketball until I started reading Sport Magazine's annual college basketball issue--no other magazine put one out until many years later. I heard lots about Larry and his brother Herb, who were legend among guys who went to Tony's uncle's camp--Herb took over for Larry when Larry went to work for Goodyear and Herb got fired by the Pistons. They both greatly influenced how ball was played around where I lived, as did a guy named Lou, who went to jail in the CCNY scandal and used to play in a weekend game in the area. My teammate says that Larry credits Lou with showing him more about the great game as developed on the streets of NY in the 50s than anyone. Lou I used to play with; never met the Browns.

The musings of an old man.

[Cameron]

I guess we can all thank Dicky V for helping spread the "Dukies" phenomenon. His loud mouth pretty much started the movement.

[Wander]

I don't really get why being called a Dukie or Doo-kie is such a big deal.

[greybeard]

I don't really get why being called a Dukie or Doo-kie is such a big deal.

When I was a kid, I mean a little kid, everybody had their names shortened and an "ie" added: Steven, Stevie; Jeffry, Jeffie; etc. When some guys got to college, or entered the real world, they insisted on dropping the "ie" and going with the complete articulation of their names to, you know, be taken seriously.

Me, I don't get it either, Wander. Take it easy, richie.