One way or another, I will be witnessing history in less than 24 hours. I'll be courtside in the Greensboro Coliseum as the Duke Blue Devils visit the UNCG Spartans. The expected outcome is that Coach K will get win number 880, surpassing Carolina's Dean Smith to move into second place behind Bob Knight for all-time wins. The alternative, of course, is an unlikely UNCG win, meaning that the unanimous #1 team in the nation would fall to the winless Spartans. Either way, I'm witnessing history.
This puts me in a strange place. As you likely know if you've read this for any amount of time, I hate Dook with a fiery passion. The hatred began when rooting for the Terps, but interestingly enough, I continue to dislike the Blue Devils more strongly than I like the Terps. So while I'll be present for history, it'll be for the chief engineer of a program I'd love nothing more than to see fall flat on its face.
But here's where it gets interesting: Despite my feeling for Dook, I actually don't hate Coach K. That will take many by surprise, but I find him to be a great coach (which few can deny), an effective leader (ditto) and at least from what I've seen and read--and yes, I even read a book of his--he seems to be a stand up guy. In fact, I was pleased when coached Team USA because I could actually root for him. So while it pains me to see Dook achieve any sort of success, good on Coach K, if and when he does reach that milestone.
That said, Go Spartans. Go to hell Duke.
This puts me in a strange place. As you likely know if you've read this for any amount of time, I hate Dook with a fiery passion. The hatred began when rooting for the Terps, but interestingly enough, I continue to dislike the Blue Devils more strongly than I like the Terps. So while I'll be present for history, it'll be for the chief engineer of a program I'd love nothing more than to see fall flat on its face.
But here's where it gets interesting: Despite my feeling for Dook, I actually don't hate Coach K. That will take many by surprise, but I find him to be a great coach (which few can deny), an effective leader (ditto) and at least from what I've seen and read--and yes, I even read a book of his--he seems to be a stand up guy. In fact, I was pleased when coached Team USA because I could actually root for him. So while it pains me to see Dook achieve any sort of success, good on Coach K, if and when he does reach that milestone.
That said, Go Spartans. Go to hell Duke.
Comments