article based on an SI interview regarding the documentary.
http://www.si.com/more-sports/2014/1...duke-30-for-30
More specifically, all of those programs were winners when most of today's prominent sportswriters were coming of age, which is why we collectively continue to hear about how hated they are. Ask a sportswriter who graduated high school in 2005, and they'll tell you that the most prominent college football program is Alabama or maybe USC, and in baseball it's Boston, St. Louis, or San Francisco.
You said it. It's really a good lesson in how the mind works - in particular, long term memory - which is a story we tell ourselves again and again, which evolves with each telling. Once in awhile I'll talk to a Kentucky fan and just ask them what they remember about that incident. They remember it as being far more violent than it was. But I don't blame them for not wanting to watch the tape over and over, like we do. But still, we have watched the game enough times that we are able to offer our rejoinder: "If you think the stomp was that vicious, how do you explain the fact that TImberlake popped up smiling and clapping, knowing that Laettner had just earned himself a technical foul?"* They're dumbfounded at this in two ways. First, that Timberlake was happy afterwards - up and clapping, not writhing in pain. Second, that Laettner got a technical foul. Many of them think he "got away with it" entirely. So the story becomes more unjust with each telling.
I like the fact that Laettner is smart enough (or cocky enough) to refrain from pleading his case. Instead, with rolled eyes and a smile, he'll say, "C'mon, it was just a love tap."
* even my memory was imperfect here ... and may still be: I used to tell the story as Timberlake being happy he had baited Laettner into committing a technical foul. But IIRC I later watched it over and over and it appears that Laettner thought Timberlake undercut him on the way to the basket, when in fact it was a different KY player that did (Farmer maybe?). I also remember about the only guy defending Laettner was Bill Walton, who explained that he was on the receiving end of many such undercuttings, and that it was dangerous to do that to a big guy who are very vulnerable when they go up ... you can't undercut them without them risking their head hitting the floor from quite a height. At the least their arms would be at risk, breaking the fall.
Laettner had also had just about enough of dirty play in the lane. One or two possessions prior to the "love tap," Feldhaus shoved him in the back toward the basket stanchion, yelling at him while he did it.
Trailer released:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12409704
Actor/DukeParent Rob Lowe was on K's radio show last week, and apparently is a producer of this episode.
It was the good Rob Lowe, not the LyingCarolinaFan Rob Lowe.
I'm Rob Lowe, I root for Duke.
And I'm Harbor-Grudges-For-20-Years Rob Lowe, I root for Kentucky.
Geez-o-Pete, have I missed spotting Rob Lowe in Cameron?!
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
Rob Lowe is listed as the narrator for this documentary. Should be fun and informative to watch.
Great post. I don't think the animosity many felt towards Laettner can be overstated. Danny Ferry probably got the Duke hate ball rolling on a national level but Laettner put it into orbit. I was 12 years old when he hit the shot and I remember the disdain for Laettner expressed by most of the men at my all black church and the barber shop I went to each Saturday morning. It was palpable. Everytime I see the shot I remember what my pastor's adult son said right afterwards..."I wanted to throwup"
i am eager to watch and will laugh at the haters
I hadn't considered this. This would be on the level of "your tears are delicious" trauma for an entire fanhood.
"Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR