ND /Texas A&M how many synonym phrases are there for poetic justice?

[OldPhiKap]

I don’t blame either for leaving, it was in both of their best interests to do so.

I wish Mike’s deal had gone down differently but that’s the way it works sometimes.

I know all of this is new to Duke football fans, but really — this is how it works at competitive schools sometimes. And in competitive businesses.

 

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I don’t blame either for leaving, it was in both of their best interests to do so.

I wish Mike’s deal had gone down differently but that’s the way it works sometimes.

I know all of this is new to Duke football fans, but really — this is how it works at competitive schools sometimes. And in competitive businesses.

I suspect it's foreign to many of us who are basketball fans first. K led our program for almost 50 years. We had a handoff to a known quantity within the K tree that meant a peaceful exchange of powers. Our basketball program is a very close knit group. The concepts of early entry and transfers still feel like very emotional issues, even though they are more commonplace.

Football has huge rosters, more turnover, more transfers, more reshirts - it isn't a close knit group of guys that can get to the game in a few Ubers.

We've had ten football coaches since K took over for basketball. It's just different.

Can anyone here even fathom K leaving in the middle of the night, abandoning his recruits and his brotherhood for a bigger contract without saying goodbye? Of course not.

I suspect this is why some of our fellow fans see Mike "Tickle Me" Elko as having made some moral mistake in how he departed. We just aren't as comfortable with the "business" of sports as some other fan bases are.

 

[75Crazie]

I know all of this is new to Duke football fans, but really — this is how it works at competitive schools sometimes. And in competitive businesses.

Sorry, OPK, but nothing about this was new to long-time Duke fans. I still hold a grudge against Spurrier for the manner in which he left.

But I get it. Any football coach who shows success at Duke is going to be recruited heavily by the Big Boys. It's the nature of the game, and I for one do not expect a successfull football coach to stay here any longer than, say, 5 years or so. Cutcliffe rather spoiled it by staying way longer than that, and actually out-stayed his welcome (not mine, because I admired his commitment, but for most here). But his situation was different, because he was nearing the end of his career. As others have mentioned here, it was not the fact that Elko left after two years that has us so upset, it's the manner in which he left. And a similar maneuver in any competitive business would leave behind an awful lot of bad feeling.

 

[RoseBowl1942]

I suspect it's foreign to many of us who are basketball fans first. K led our program for almost 50 years. We had a handoff to a known quantity within the K tree that meant a peaceful exchange of powers. Our basketball program is a very close knit group. The concepts of early entry and transfers still feel like very emotional issues, even though they are more commonplace.

Football has huge rosters, more turnover, more transfers, more reshirts - it isn't a close knit group of guys that can get to the game in a few Ubers.

We've had ten football coaches since K took over for basketball. It's just different.

Can anyone here even fathom K leaving in the middle of the night, abandoning his recruits and his brotherhood for a bigger contract without saying goodbye? Of course not.

I suspect this is why some of our fellow fans see Mike "Tickle Me" Elko as having made some moral mistake in how he departed. We just aren't as comfortable with the "business" of sports as some other fan bases are.

I mean, does anyone on here really think A&M would have said no to his hiring because he needed an extra day to tell his guys in person? Genuinely, this is a multi-year, multi-million decision, where they concluded he was the guy. If the tiebreaker between him and someone else was that he’d go to a presser on Monday, then ok, they are crazier than I even though in College Station (and this is a school that has a midnight yell cheer practice before games in their stadium that draws tens of thousands, they’re nuts)

 

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I mean, does anyone on here really think A&M would have said no to his hiring because he needed an extra day to tell his guys in person? Genuinely, this is a multi-year, multi-million decision, where they concluded he was the guy. If the tiebreaker between him and someone else was that he’d go to a presser on Monday, then ok, they are crazier than I even though in College Station (and this is a school that has a midnight yell cheer practice before games in their stadium that draws tens of thousands, they’re nuts)

I agree that Texas A&M is nuts (still weirded out by the military uniforms among other things) and easy to make fun of, but before you disparage their midnight yell cheer practice, remember that you are a fan of a school that does something not too different the night before a big basketball game and where students camp out for weeks in the freezing cold to get in.

 

[RoseBowl1942]

I agree that Texas A&M is nuts (still weirded out by the military uniforms among other things) and easy to make fun of, but before you disparage their midnight yell cheer practice, remember that you are a fan of a school that does something not too different the night before a big basketball game and where students camp out for weeks in the freezing cold to get in.

Well I’m a fan of the Duke football team, where we used to do more civilized things like cram into a parking lot and pour beer all over each other in costumes (at least until some high schooler got sent to the hospital and ruined it for everyone).

All kidding aside, I’m glad Tailgate is gone. It was actually kind of shocking that the administration allowed it as long as it did

But it’s a fair point, though I would argue there’s a right-of-passage element to tenting. We also don’t camp for every game. Cheer practice the night before some FCS cupcake seems weird. And probably indicative of the clear plethora of options at night in College Station

 

[bundabergdevil]

I don’t blame either for leaving, it was in both of their best interests to do so.

I wish Mike’s deal had gone down differently but that’s the way it works sometimes.

I know all of this is new to Duke football fans, but really — this is how it works at competitive schools sometimes. And in competitive businesses.

Eh, I get the business side but darn it, I’m going to sports hate anyway!

 

[ecs15]

In the years where Duke was winning zero to one game a year, football hate was the only thing that kept me engaged in the sport.

 

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Eh, I get the business side but darn it, I’m going to sports hate anyway!

Perhaps this is the tricky part. I know, as Duke fans, we are acutely familiar with sports hate. We get it from all angles.

I guess it's the more personalized bits that make me uncomfortable.

 

[blazindw]

I'll just offer the best thing about this game: College Gameday basically talked about nothing but Duke Football for 1/3 of the time because all the game tape they had on Riley and Elko's defense were from last year. We may not have hosted Gameday over the weekend, but Duke Football was very much at the center of it.

 

[AustinDevil]

I agree that Texas A&M is nuts (still weirded out by the military uniforms among other things) and easy to make fun of, but before you disparage their midnight yell cheer practice, remember that you are a fan of a school that does something not too different the night before a big basketball game and where students camp out for weeks in the freezing cold to get in.

Midnight yell practice doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what's weird about Aggies. So your point in response to that post is fair, but there is soooooo much more. Their cheerboys are weird. The "yells" they do are weird. Pulling sabers and charging at cheerleaders for the other team because said cheerleaders entered the "sacred ground" of Kyle Field is weird.

The 12th man is a super cool tradition tho.

 

[UrinalCake]

FWIW the Texas A&M fans wearing military uniforms are members of ROTC or something similar to it.

 

[Mike Petrik]

I agree that Texas A&M is nuts (still weirded out by the military uniforms among other things) and easy to make fun of, but before you disparage their midnight yell cheer practice, remember that you are a fan of a school that does something not too different the night before a big basketball game and where students camp out for weeks in the freezing cold to get in.

Not sure why you are weirded out. There are six senior military colleges outside the five federal academies, though only two are large public universities -- Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. I believe each of these universities has seven MOH recipients. They are proud of them, and they should be.
I was never in the military, but coming from working class roots I greatly respected my buddies who served. When I attended Duke, admittedly a long time ago, I recognized that I was a bit of a demographic exception, and the cultural view of the military was generally not favorable. One of the few things that I disliked about Duke.

 

[Mike Petrik]

FWIW the Texas A&M fans wearing military uniforms are members of ROTC or something similar to it.

Full time Corps of Cadets, like the federal military academies. ROTC is part-time.

 

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Not sure why you are weirded out. There are six senior military colleges outside the five federal academies, though only two are large public universities -- Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. I believe each of these universities has seven MOH recipients. They are proud of them, and they should be.
I was never in the military, but coming from working class roots I greatly respected my buddies who served. When I attended Duke, admittedly a long time ago, I recognized that I was a bit of a demographic exception, and the cultural view of the military was generally not favorable. One of the few things that I disliked about Duke.

Please do not accuse me of disrespect for the military. Several others replied to my earlier post and understood what I meant. The leap you took and then the insulting way you made it sound like you are some great military-loving patriot and I am not is pretty extraordinary. And your generalizations about the culture at Duke are also completely off, at least based on my experience (I know things were very different at different times and during Vietnam things were not as good).

I have a lot more to say about this but don't want to further derail the conversation. So, how about football?

 

[budwom]

In the years where Duke was winning zero to one game a year, football hate was the only thing that kept me engaged in the sport.

my travel partner and I really had a Zen thing going on back then, came to most home games, we lost a zillion in a row, yet we kept coming back for more...it became kind of an interesting "how long exactly can we be this piss poor bad." Quite a long time, actually...then the fever broke!

 

[evrim]

Unless I see a reason for why he couldn't, I will absolutely judge Elko for skipping town without saying goodbye to young folks who he recruited, was probably like a father figure to some and have spent almost every day together.

 

[King of Defense]

Sorry, OPK, but nothing about this was new to long-time Duke fans. I still hold a grudge against Spurrier for the manner in which he left.

But I get it. Any football coach who shows success at Duke is going to be recruited heavily by the Big Boys. It's the nature of the game, and I for one do not expect a successfull football coach to stay here any longer than, say, 5 years or so. Cutcliffe rather spoiled it by staying way longer than that, and actually out-stayed his welcome (not mine, because I admired his commitment, but for most here). But his situation was different, because he was nearing the end of his career. As others have mentioned here, it was not the fact that Elko left after two years that has us so upset, it's the manner in which he left. And a similar maneuver in any competitive business would leave behind an awful lot of bad feeling.

You mean when Spurrier looked completely dumbfounded while coaching a bowl game, as if he had the playbook in one hand and the Gainesville real estate listings in the other?

Say this for Spurrier, though -- he never forgot what Duke did for him. He sent kids to Duke and would always give Duke the No. 25 vote in the first coaches' poll of the season.

I'd still like the guy if he hadn't gone to Florida (my hometown college's big rival) and South Carolina (also not well liked by any college with which I'm affiliated), then done such a terrible job with my metro area's NFL team.

 

[Devilsforlife]

Steve Spurrier still attends games at Wallace Wade and clearly has love for the football program, and (most) Duke fans seem to feel the same way about him.

I cannot see any circumstance under which Mike Elko would ever be welcomed back at Duke.

 

[uh_no]

Steve Spurrier still attends games at Wallace Wade and clearly has love for the football program, and (most) Duke fans seem to feel the same way about him.

I cannot see any circumstance under which Mike Elko would ever be welcomed back at Duke.

probably not.

For me it's more apathy than hate. dude made it clear his motives were the next job. Thanks for your effort, don't let the door hit you, have a nice life. Couldn't care less whether he succeeds or fails at A&M more than any other coach.