The death of Duke basketball
Posted: 10/15/07
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Late Saturday night, a great tragedy befell one of our dearest friends. While many of us were off dancing the night away with President Brodhead and that strangely '70s cover band at the Homecoming Dance, Duke Basketball died peacefully in his sleep.

He was 102 years old.

The immediate cause of his death was from a condition known as SLBJ (Sudden Loss of Basketball Jesus). Duke's would-be program savior, Greg Monroe, verbally committed to Georgetown Saturday night.

For those unaware of Duke's not-so-secret love affair with the 6-foot-10, 226-pound Basketball Adonis out of Harvey, La., Monroe was widely regarded as the nation's top high school senior. The loss of Monroe at this juncture has quite possibly been the most devastating disaster out of Louisiana since the New Orleans Saints' disappointing 0-4 start to this season. (What? I couldn't think of any other recent Louisiana disasters.)

The powerfully built forward was athletic, an excellent passer and left-handed. Greg Monroe was basically the second-coming of Josh McRoberts. So let's face it, Greg Monroe was the first-coming of Josh McRoberts.

SLBJ, while debilitating, is not always fatal. Duke's long-time rival and neighbor Carolina suffered from SLBJ last year with the loss of big-time recruit Kevin Love to UCLA. But by treating Monroe as his primary and pretty much only big man recruit for next year's freshman class, Duke endangered his already troublesome frontcourt. Before his death, friends commented that Duke looked increasingly less like himself and more like the team from "Hoosiers."

But we shouldn't blame the death of our friend on Greg Monroe. Duke Basketball was already engaging in a series of reckless behaviors that led to his untimely death Saturday. The first was the move away from quality big men. Duke has and probably would have always been a guard-oriented team. And that's fine. It's more up-tempo, high-scoring and fun to watch despite the fact that last season's guard-dominant team set offensive basketball back to the pre-shot clock days.

But championship caliber teams need at least one big guy to match up on defense and keep opposing teams from overplaying the guards. In recent years, Duke's apparent vision problem has led to his mistaking large, athletic centers for small, shrimpy white dudes. That makes about as much sense as anointing a former point guard as the big man coach. (At least Lance is extremely skilled at slapping the floor.)

Duke's friends will also recall his arrogance as a contributing factor to his death. Duke would often assume he could continue to recruit the nation's top players without fanfare or pageantry. Up until his death, Duke stubbornly refused to engage in a practice known as Midnight Madness on the first night of NCAA-sanctioned practices. While many of his colleagues including Kentucky, Carolina and (what was that school called...) Georgetown held Midnight Madness this weekend, Duke apparently ran three-man weaves and lay-up drills.

And while Monroe was scheduled to visit Duke during the annual Blue-White Scrimmage, somehow I doubt there's anything the watered-down Crazies section could have done to compete with the entire Georgetown basketball team crankin' dat Soulja Boy with NFL Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice at the helm while the raucous Hoya crowd chanted his name. But who knows? Maybe we could have thrown in a really solid "Let's Go Duke!"

I know for many of us it will be hard to believe that Duke really gone. It seems like just yesterday we watched him win an astounding four of his last 12 games and almost upset Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA Tournament. But I gained acceptance this weekend when during our annual football pummeling at the hands of Virginia Tech, I couldn't confidently retort, "We'll get you during basketball season."

But when we remember our friend, we should be thankful of the good times-the three National Championships, the many Final Four appearances and Gerald Henderson's elbow to Tyler Hansbrough's face.

Duke Basketball is survived by his 13 children, his father Mike Krzyzewksi and 6,000 angry fans, most notable of which includes the Class of 2008. It will become only the second class since 1985 to never witness a Final Four appearance.

An ongoing memorial service will be held from November until March and will be called the 2007-2008 Duke Basketball season.


Our coach dances at center court and gets Patrick Ewing Jr. to teach Soulja Boy to Jerry Rice. Duke doesn't even have Midnight Madness. Enough said.

See videos (shot by my friend/GTown radio statman Evan) on YouTube or here: http://www.scrappernation.com/2007/10/why-greg-monroe-chose-georgetown.html

Georgetown University - Better Than You Since 1789.

Would anyone be willing to buy me firecoughlin.com for my birthday? I'd love you forever. Thanks.

My computer won't shut down when I tell it to. No matter how many times I try to do it the right way, it won't take. Instead I have to shut it down manually. Seeing as how that's not a good thing, does anyone know what I can do to fix this? Thanks ahead of time.

GO. SEE. SUPERBAD. NOW.

Seriously, if you have any desire, any inkling whatsoever, to see it, do so. It's worth it.

McLovin steals the world.

::gasps::

Springsteen. E Street Band. New album. October 2nd. Tour should follow.

::exhales::

Freaking out.

I have permission from my dad to spend $250 per ticket for any venue within 6 hours of Philly that I can get tickets for. I WILL SEE SPRINGSTEEN. I MUST SEE SPRINGSTEEN.

Please God, let my dad and I cross this off our life's to do list. Kplznthx.

You know, I thought this was fake when I first saw it but then I went back last night and clicked on the picture links. Nope, it's really. Really really real.

http://willdo.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/2007/06/this_kind_of_su.html

Apparently John Street, mayor of Philadelphia (the sixth largest city in America) had nothing better to do last week than to sit in a chair 3rd in line for an iPhone. This man is not out of office for 6 more months. He may be a lame duck but umm, there's kind of a lot of shit going down in Philly right now. Record breaking murder numbers? Consistently failing schools? Nope, that's not his concern. He needs a new phone. He's batshit crazy already but this is just a bit too much for me to take. Ed Rendell needs to quit being a shitty governor and come back to be mayor for life. He'd do it and Philly would take him.

In other news, I will be gone 3 out of the next 5 weeks and that makes me happy. OBX on Saturday. Then I have to go home again earlier than planned on July 30th. I was going home the next week to get a new car but my mom told me the other day she needs to have surgery on the 31st. She's not sick or anything, just fixing a long-term problem. So yeah, I'll be home from July 30-August 11 roughly so if possible, I want to see people. (That means you violettandblue and meadowsoprano).

I need this vacation badly. It's gonna be fun though. We're going deep sea fishing, my dad and Pete are going parasailing, good times.

God does not want me to have that swimsuit I ordered. TWO companies have let me place orders online only to cancel them several days later "oops out of stock, out of season, blah blah blah". I am so pissed. You guys know how hard it is for me to find a suit. I found a website with a print I haven't seen before in my size. I'm gonna order it and hopefully this one won't fuck me over.

I won't even go into my frustrations at work. I'm totally having a Peter Gibbons day here.

I'm bored...indulge me. I even have a new memory card to fill.

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favorite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry.

It took a lot of driving and trying on but this may just work. After I got out of work this morning I drove to this store I found in Arlington that is a Speedo dealer. It turned out to basically be a swim team supply store. I tried on a few TYR and Speedo two pieces. The Speedo in the size that my other Speedo two piece is did not fit at all, and I am not any bigger. Turns out, according to the woman at the store, Speedo changed the cut of the two piece and made it a lot skimpier much to the anger of many Speedo customers. The TYR one was borderline on the top but they let me look at their catalog and I saw that I could order it a size up.

I even drove all the way to Potomac Mills (about 35-40 minutes away) to try a store that I was also recommended but that was a total bust. In anything other than a racing style bikini, you can only really find tops in my size with an underwire. I can't deal with that in a swimsuit. I'm active and busy in my suits, I don't just sit around. I don't want to feel like I'm wearing a bra at the beach.

So going back, I ordered the TYR bikini in my size and it should arrive in the next week or two. The print is really cute, and well, me.



::fingers crossed:: I hope it works. And that it'll be like my current Speedo two piece in that the top fits and the bottoms are a little big, but I'm willing to have that for a fitting top. I don't mind not having a string or halter top...I just don't always like wearing a one piece. I like having my stomach and back tan. If it doesn't work, the place in Arlington does have a ton of one piece Speedos on sale though.

In other news, I got a call just as I got out of work yesterday from my dad. He called to ask me what I was doing for dinner Monday. Turns out his entire schedule cleared for two days and he's coming to DC to see me. He's gonna pick me up from work Monday (I'm doing an early half day) and we're gonna hang out until he goes back on Tuesday. I'm excited. He hasn't been down here in almost a year and it'll be just like old times doing our thing around DC. Can't wait.

In the meantime, I seem to have strained my right pectoral muscle. Ever since last night it has felt like someone has been stabbing me under my boob with a really sharp knife every few minutes. Not fun. Hopefully I didn't crack a rib instead.

Doing this to distract my frustration that the shoes I wanted to order from Merrell 4 days ago are no longer available. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. I want my navy Mangroves damnit!

( Cause I like LJ waaaaaaaaay more than Myspace. )

Is anyone in the PA/NJ/NY area interested in going to Musikfest in Bethlehem this year? I'm already going to the Moody Blues show but was looking to see if anyone was interested in these two:

August 3 - Black Crowes

August 10 - Joe Walsh

I want to go to them but I need someone to go with. Let me know and I'll get tix. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. Musikfest is good times. Small venues, good sound, lots of fun.

In other news, still can't find another fucking job. Booooourns. And my IE cookie problem seems to have fixed itself somehow. Weird.

I'm getting constant popups saying:

"the file or directory C:\WINDOWS\system32 is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

Can anyone lend a hand?

***************************

In other news I'm tired and bored. JH has been in Florida since Monday. I was fine during the week because I had work and other things to occupy me but now I'm just lonely. All my Hoyas are either gone or occupied by graduation (which starts in just a few hours). I'm already running out of ideas of how to occupy myself and cleaning gets tedious after awhile. Maybe I'll go to a movie...maybe the Nats game Sunday. I have no idea. I just wish I didn't have to worry about my computer on top of everything else. Namely my body rebelling against me. My carpal tunnel has been acting up in my left hand, my neck and back are shot, my feet hurt constantly, my allergies have led to a likely sinus infection or bronchitis and I fell asleep at 7:30 last night. So yeah, things are kinda sucky right now.

At least I get to go to Puerto Rico on Thursday.

Lastly, congrats go out to two of the awesomest graduates out there: meadowsoprano and merfdawg. I'm so proud of both of you!

Sick as a dog but nevertheless returning to Pennsylvania until Saturday. I am SO sick of being sick it's not even funny anymore. Seriously, every 2-3 weeks now. Jeebus.

I now officially know someone killed in Iraq. This shit has gotta end.

Thought I'd let you guys know I'm still alive. Surgery went fine. Been enjoying being home resting and being spoiled by my mom. Got the stitches out yesterday but I still have a lot of swelling so I still can't drive or lift yet (nor do I want to do either). Hopefully back to DC in a few days and then back here in 3 weeks for mom's birthday, Mothers Day and a followup with my orthopod. At least I'm out of the house today and I'm going to see Lewis Black up at Lehigh tonight.

Leaving for Atlanta tomorrow night.

- Transportation (properly decorated) CHECK

- Place to crash halfway (thanks merfdawg CHECK

- Final Four first session tickets in possession CHECK (I almost cried when I saw the tickets)

- Hotel in ATL CHECK

Of course I have to be wickedly sick for all this though. I started getting sick Monday, fever came back Tuesday, I slogged through yesterday and had no chance of going anywhere today. My entire head is clogged up. Even putting regular clothes on is making me sweat. Ugh. The good thing is that I had similar symptoms when I left for Winston-Salem and that turned out well (although I can do without the stomach virus in Atlanta). So here's hoping my shitty health leads to basketball victory. The only thing I have left to do is getting my eyebrows waxed cause they're a mess...thankfully the salon is in the basement of my building cause otherwise, it would be me and some scissors - BAD IDEA heh.

So yeah, 6:07 PM Saturday night I will be in Section 332 of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta seeing my Hoyas hopefully destroy Ohio State for the second NCAA tournament in a row.