Something about major sporting events makes me just wanna blog. The final four has proved to be no exception. It's been a thrilling tournament, thanks largely to a lack of elite teams. You all know what's happened by now; there's been a ton of upsets and nothing is to be taken for granted in this tourney. Only one #1 seed it to this year's final four, and it was the 1 seed that I least expected: Duke. Granted, Duke had by far the easiest of the four brackets. But still, I watched Duke this play this year and didn't think they were elite (let's face it, when BC comes within inches of beating you, it's tough to be considered all that great). Regardless, the Dukies are in the final four, yet again, and that gets a lot of people fired up. But why?
A couple nights ago, I was having dinner with my parents and aunt and uncle, and we began talking sports and inevitably about march madness. My uncle is a guy who is not afraid to speak his mind and though I may not always agree with his opinions, I really respect his honesty. When asked who he'd be rooting for in the final four, he said very matter-of-fact, "Duke, because they have a lot of white kids." Bingo. Year after year, Duke has a sizable number of white kids. I actually have a theory that eventually the entire team will be white. I think that it's understood now, that if you're one of the best high school basketball players and you're white, you go to Duke (or at least strongly consider it).
Most people tend to associate with people who look like them. There's nothing wrong with that. So why do you think so many kids growing up tend to like Duke? It's a bunch of guys who look like they do, not like what you'd expect great basketball players to look like. I'm not afraid to admit that I liked Duke when I was a kid. Shane Battier was the man. I'm sure I never thought, "I'm gonna like this team because they're a bunch of white guys," but that subconsciously may have made them more attractive to me.So with all of these fans across the nation, of course Duke games are going to be on TV a lot. They get a ton of attention from the media. Now add in the fact that Duke is a great school, the players don't seem to get in a lot of trouble off the court, they are
a great team year after year, and you're going to get a program that is adored by the media. The media's love for Duke is obnoxious (does Dick Vitale come to mind?). I completely understand hating a team because of the media's love affair with them (without the media I wonder how I would feel about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Cleveland Lebrons).I hate listening to sports analysts and even fans talk about why people feel so strongly about Duke (it came up earlier this week on The Herd). People always use the words "entitled," "elitist," and "class" to describe Duke. Why not just come out and say it? Their players are WHITE. When watching a game, of course a white kid complaining to the ref is going to look like a lot more of a cry baby than a black kid who does the same thing. Guys on Duke just don't come off as being as tough and intimidating as their opponents, I wonder why that is.
For an example, let's turn to a team that is all too close to my heart: the New York Mets. The Mets had two young prospects a couple of years ago with great potential. Both of these guys were projected to be great major league players, one at shortstop and one at third base. Their names: Jose Reyes and David Wright. I'll be willing to bet all kinds of money that Wright sold more jerseys and t-shirts than Reyes. And Reyes is one hell of a player, one of the fastest I've ever seen. But who became the face of the team? Wright. And this is in New York, maybe the most diverse city in the world.It's time to be honest, there's a small element of racism in people that's never going to go away. As I said earlier, people are more comfortable with other people that look like they do, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just human instinct. That's why I love the Olympics and World Cup. Finally, events where you can root for the guys who are more like you without feeling guilty!
It's the racial make up of the team, combined with the media's love affair that make people either love or hate Duke. I'll be rooting for West Virginia on Saturday, but that's because a WVU win can make me a winner in my bracket pool. If I was out, I'm not sure who I'd be rooting for. As someone who can see both sides of the coin, I'm indifferent toward Duke. You have to respect their program, but guys like Dickie V do make them pretty damn tough to root for.
Just a response to why people like to root for the white guys -
ReplyDelete...It has to do with the favoritism people shown towards underdogs, and teams that overcome adversity, whether real or perceived. Every year the media thrives off of the inevitable cinarella story to emerge from the NCAA tournament. If one doesn't exist, they do their best to create one because they know that's what attracts viewers. People who don't care at all about basketball will tune in to follow the real-time development of the story they have been reading about in the paper. How does this relate to supporting Duke's white cast? To see, let's rewind to 1966 when basketball, especially college basketball, was dominated by white athletes. In college, it is to be expected as most universities at the time were nearly 100% white. In turn this affected the NBA as universities were their prime pool of draftees. In this year, Don Haskins, coach of Texas Western, led his team to a Div I national title, starting five black players for the first time. While it's not suprising, given the social context, that many white basketball fans were againt the integration of blacks into the game, they gained support from the African-American community as they overcame extreme racial prejudice.
Returning to present day, we see a foil. No, Duke is not breaking social barriers. No, they are not paving new ground in human rights or racial equality. No, Duke is not, and probably has never been a true cindarella story. What they do have going for them is a perceived adversity. Our generation has grown up in a time in which black athletes make up a large part of both NCAA and NBA rosters. Consequently, racial tendencies have led people to believe that blacks are inherrently better, genetically wired to dominate the game.
When we see a team like Duke therefore, starting even 2 or 3 white players, and winning, they appear to be overcoming this perceived racial disadvantage. Fans across the nation pledge their support to the heroing Duke basketball program.