Duke is out

A lot of people are taking pleasure in Duke's eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. This is not surprising. Back when Coach K was beating the UNLVs of the world, it was a guy that does things right toppling the thuggish. Now that Coach K's public image has turned legitimately insufferable, many people root for Duke to fail spectacularly. I'm not necessarily one of them. I actually got to observe Coach K operate at close range. I went to Durham back in November to cover a basketball tournament. It was interesting to watch him operate. He does sometimes come across as smarmy on television. But in press conferences, he simply speaks with the confidence of someone entirely secure in his position. He's a god on the Duke campus and he knows it. I guess I don't really have a problem with that.

Anyway, here's why I was rooting against Duke this year. After leaving Duke's victory over Georgia Southern, I saw some big dude in a bright red shirt walking ahead of me. As I got closer I indentified the bright red shirt as a Manchester United jersey (Wayne Rooney's jersey, in fact). Then I identified the big dude as Duke center Josh McRoberts, who missed a key free throw late in last night's game. And it made perfect sense. Of course someone from Duke would be wearing a Manchester United jersey. The two institutions occupy basically the same role in their sports. My guess, he probably sleeps in Lakers pajamas on New York Yankees sheets.