Originally Posted by
CLT Devil
Nice summary - I didn't know if the 'Carnival Barker' was implying something negative but after reading the post I think it fits Cut's position and role as Duke's HC pretty well. I've been going to games since before I can remember, over 30 years now, and Wally Wade was and continues to be a place where I will run into lifelong friends, make new friends and have memories to treasure forever.
All that said, the losing does really hurt and I wouldn't really expect anyone more than a dedicated, devoted, life long fan to be able to attend nearly every game and listen to/watch every minute of every game like I try to do. Maybe it's because I am close family friends with half of Duke's FBall radio crew and listening every single week is a sort of shared misery that we go through together. Like a moth to the flame, if one has been following Duke Fball for the last 20+ years you pretty much know how the current play you're watching is going to go, then how the drive is going to end, and then how the game will ultimately end up and then how the season, the Thad Lewis era, the Roof/Franks/Goldsmith eras and so on are most likely going to end up - disappointing. I, as a fan in general, want my team to win more than anything. However, if Duke doesn't win a big game or have a season better than the last it doesn't affect the love and passion I have for my team. Sure, it's a heck of a lot harder to make plans and drive from Charlotte to Durham for a game if you know your team is going to lose, but I go anyway. That's what you do if you are a fan. There are varying degrees of fandom, and trust me when I say that Duke has it's share of fans who will be there for every brutal moment that has come to define a program. And we'll be back next game, next year - just as long as there is something, anything to look forward to in the future. It might not show up in wins and losses just yet but Cut has changed this program for the better, and he's trying to build a program just like K did when Tom Butters stood up for him after a few rough years.
The Duke team I have seen since Cut took over does have a different feel around it. Whether measurable or not by way of wins or losses, there most certainly is something to feel good about when it comes to the Duke Football Program. In the end, unless it's just in your blood for generations like my family and the other insufferable fans who show up every week regardless, we need wins to feel good about and to celebrate and to fondly remember.
I'm not here to defend the program or tell anyone they need to keep waiting because things are turning better or to tell them they are not true fans for giving up after yet another brutal loss - I just want others to know that there are plenty of us out there who make the drive on Saturdays to tailgate with friends and to watch football and root for their team. If we can't be there we listen on the radio to the whole game, check the score during the wedding ceremony, sit in the one seat at the bar who has the Duke game on, etc.
In the end I think there is something to be said about loyalty when it finally pays off with what fans have been wanting for years - a competitive program. When (not if!) that day comes I will be absolutely giddy and will likely call all of my Duke fan pals who I don't talk to often and celebrate Duke Football. Until then...I'll keep my season tickets, clear out Saturdays when there are home games so I can go, make sure there is a radio to listen to games I can't make and follow recruiting in the hopes that next year will be better than the last...maybe it's insanity.