Hats off to all Duke athletes with seasons cut short

[Ranidad]

I had planned my Thursday around watching the ACC tourney, as usual, only to learn later that Duke suspended all athletic team practices and competitions. I am not questioning the decision to suspend athletics for the greater good.

These are uncharted waters and I will miss the chance to see how Tre & Vernon mesh in in win or go home setting. Whether or not the storybook ending to JRob's tenure continued. All of the unexpected storylines of tournament basketball in Greensboro and March Madness.

There are a host of Duke student athletes who put in the hours in "ESPN obscurity". I was hoping for more exposure in the first spring of the ACC network. Unfortunately, this afternoon all of those student athletes, most passing up spring break to practice/compete for Duke, learned that their seasons are over. For seniors it hits especially hard. They already knew that their expected last glorious 6 spring weeks on campus with now lifelong Duke friends will instead be made up of online classes while dispersed across the country. Now all of the energy and effort expended for their sport will also not be provided a showcase.

Lastly, the excitement of the grad speaker announcement at the NC State game is now likely to be replaced with a diploma in an envelope sent to their permanent address.

Hats off to ALL of the Duke student athletes who have given their all for Duke and will not have the opportunity to compete for Duke this semester. I salute you!!!!

Ranidad

[weezie]

It just occurred to me that this may be the first time our athletes have had a real spring break in years. As wistful as we all are, can you imagine a youngster "cut loose" from what he or she has crafted for more than half of their life to this point?

This too shall pass, of course, but that's a tough pill to swallow when you are 19, 20, 21 years old.

Hang in there young Blue Devils!