Randy Smith
After watching the Duke Blue Devils go down in defeat at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday evening, I just had to wonder, why are there so many Duke haters out there? Coach Mike Krzyzewski is one of the most likeable coaches in the country and certainly one of the most successful. Yet, as the game Sunday night was winding down and the Blue Devils' demise was imminent, the "haters" started coming out of the woodwork on Facebook and other social media settings.
So I decided to "Google" it, actually type in the phrase, Why so many Duke haters out there? Here is what I came up with.
"15 reasons to hate Duke", "Duke: The most hated program in sports", "Duke the Despicable" and so on. There were so many answers to my question, there would be no way to list them all. After reading a few of them I came to this conclusion: It all started with Christian Laettner. Laettner was the best player in college basketball in the early 1990s. Perhaps the 1992 NCAA East Regional finals when he stomped the chest of a Kentucky player, drawing a technical foul, was the shining light in his awfulness. Of course it could also have been the fact that he hit a game-winning shot with a couple of seconds left to beat Kentucky. The hatred of Christian Laettner was the source of an ESPN 30-30 documentary titled simply, "I Hate Christian Laettner."
Laettner heads the list of the "Mt. Rushmore" of hated Duke players. But there are others. And the most recent hated Duke player is sophomore guard Grayson Allen. Allen Is famous for tripping a couple of players earlier in the season, with Coach "K" doing nothing to discipline him. Coach "K" also added fuel to the fire when he said of his guard, " I hope he becomes good enough for people to hate him." One writer quipped, It doesn't help that he bears a striking resemblance to a young Ted Cruz " It really didn't help when Grayson Allen finished the regular season with 666 points.
Is it the fact that Duke wins most of the time? I mean, five NCAA titles for Coach "K".....is that it or is it the in-court cockiness that makes you want to throw something at the television set when one of the Blue Devils whines or cries about a call. Another former Duke player who should really be on that Mt. Rushmore of hated Duke players is J.J. Redick who said after watching recordings of his antics on the floor, "What are you doing man?"
There are many different players and different factors that go into the reason that so many college basketball fans hate Duke. But I feel after much research that the biggest reason of all is the fact that Duke wins. Fans of other schools are even jealous of Duke's success and that translates into pure hatred. So when lowly South Carolina made its first ever trip to the "Sweet 16" with a win over Duke....it was a special moment. One that was special to the Gamecock fans for the actual victory, and special to all the Duke haters out there because Duke lost!
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for 30 years. He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga television for more than a quarter-century. In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith. They have five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.