ALEC MACAULEY
Charlotte, NC > Duke ‘07
“The Scotsman”
Better known in Cameron as “The Scotsman”, Alec transformed himself into his kilted alter ego every gameday from 2003 to 2007, and could always be found near the front row utilizing his echoing voice to start cheers and support the Blue Devils. He fondly remembers serving as a Line Monitor for three years, spending long hours in K-Ville, and helping the 6th Man pull our team to victory. Away from Coach K Court, Alec was a Religion Major and served as the president of Circle K International, the largest collegiate service organization in the world. Currently serving as a high school math teacher in Charlotte, NC with Teach For America, Alec’s advice to current and future Crazies is to go to every game, be clever and classy, and leave it all on the court.
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Alec’s Most Memorable Game
UNC at Duke (2005)
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Cameron in 3 Words
Historic, Legendary, Intense
JEFF KOVACS
“Mullet Man” > Durham, NC
Duke G’05 > phD in Molecular Cancer Biology
I’ve been a Duke fan as long as I can remember, and it really was the reason that I came to grad school here… well, it was the deciding factor anyway. So my first year I won tickets in the grad student ticket lottery and I realized that I was going to the Duke-UNC game in Cameron Indoor. That was pretty much when I realized that I wanted to be involved as much as possible in Duke Basketball. I got involved with the grad student ticket committee which I eventually co-chaired with a friend and then I met Ed Venit (Viking Guy) and Ben Torbert (Throatybeard) in lines for games, and, as Ed puts it, our love for Duke Basketball and beer made us fast friends. Ed was wearing this Viking helmet as a way for his mom to see him at games, and Ben just looked weird, so I thought if I was going to sit with these guys in the front, I needed some kind of get up. The mullet wig was actually supposed to be a one-game costume, and I borrowed it from a friend who had worn it as part of a Halloween costume where he dressed up as a UNC fan (seriously). So I wore it and kept wearing it, eventually adding the headband and sunglasses. The three of us, along with some other folks who came and went, formed a group which we affectionately named The Phalanx. So, we then kind of organized the grad section for a number of years. Ben always described me as the head of the Beast. I was the one screaming chants out and yelling at officials, and Ed was the one working the signs trying to coordinate with the undergrads.
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I always thought that the best way to help the team was to cheer the loudest when things weren’t going well… when we needed a stop, or a bucket. It’s easy to get excited after we knockdown a three or somebody gets a big dunk. It’s much more important, I think, to get loud when the guys are feeling down. So that was then, and these days I am working as a post-doctoral fellow in the medical center. I still attend games, but the Mullet Man persona has pretty much been retired.
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What Motivated Mullet Man?
It was never hard to be a Cameron Crazie. I mean, I got to get in line with my friends and watch Duke play in Cameron. What more motivation do you need? I think that it was fun to be a small part of those teams and to help bridge the gap between the grad students and the undergrads in Cameron. Sure, spending seven or eight hours at Cameron every time there was a home game made for a lot of make-up time in lab and late nights spent working after games, but it was worth it! I consider my time as a Crazie a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I guess that was all the motivation I needed.
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Jeff’s Most Memorable Game in Cameron
UNC at Duke (2005)
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Cameron in 3 Words
One-of-a-kind (one word hyphenated!), Perfect, Home
ANDERS CAMPBELL
Duke ‘09 > Manchester, VT
Tri-Founder of Crazies Who Care
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Duke Major
Psychology/French Double Major (Political Science Minor)
Most Proud Academic Achievement
Getting into Duke
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Cameron in 3 Words…
I can give you two: Our House.
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What motivates you to be among the most dedicated Cameron Crazies?
Being in Cameron is one of the most incredible experiences I can imagine. There is no place I’d rather be than in the front row of Cameron Indoor cheering on the basketball team. There are those moments where the crowd is so into it, and the stadium is so loud that you want to take a moment to just stop and take in everything around you. That’s the kind of experience that I won’t be able to duplicate in anything I do later in life, and I plan on enjoying it as much as possible while I’m here.
Being in Cameron is one of the most incredible experiences I can imagine. There is no place I’d rather be than in the front row of Cameron Indoor cheering on the basketball team. There are those moments where the crowd is so into it, and the stadium is so loud that you want to take a moment to just stop and take in everything around you. That’s the kind of experience that I won’t be able to duplicate in anything I do later in life, and I plan on enjoying it as much as possible while I’m here.
What prompted you guys to start Crazies Who Care?
It seemed like a natural extension of the Cameron Crazies. As fans, we’re always looking for ways to improve for the next game, and this seemed like a great way to add to the Duke Basketball Culture. Giving back is an important aspect of anything that you do, and CWC is an opportunity for the Crazies to give back to the Durham community in an easy and meaningful way.
How has the response been to CWC and what goals do you guys have going forward?
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We have such a great community that has really embraced what we are trying to do and help us in anyway they can. We have received support from fans, players, and other members of the Duke Basketball community and the Duke community as a whole. Going forward we are looking to increase awareness of our group and of the charities we support. Every year, we hope to increase what we are able to contribute to these charities. We are aiming to establish this group as a new tradition of giving associated with Duke Basketball, and while we have taken the appropriate first steps, we definitely aim to further this next year.
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What has been the most rewarding part of starting CWC and what has been the most challenging aspect?
It has been difficult to get our group known across campus. We’ve been trying to add a new dimension to basketball games, which saw some initial road bumps. That being said, we’ve been able to go a long way to establishing ourselves and being more well known by the student body. We started a volunteer aspect of our group this semester, going to the Emily K Center once a week, which has definitely been the most rewarding experience. Knowing what we are contributing to and seeing exactly how the Center is benefitting these kids has been incredible.
It has been difficult to get our group known across campus. We’ve been trying to add a new dimension to basketball games, which saw some initial road bumps. That being said, we’ve been able to go a long way to establishing ourselves and being more well known by the student body. We started a volunteer aspect of our group this semester, going to the Emily K Center once a week, which has definitely been the most rewarding experience. Knowing what we are contributing to and seeing exactly how the Center is benefitting these kids has been incredible.
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For more info on Crazies Who Care:
The Duke-UNC rivalry is nationally regarded as heated, intense and among the best in sports. It was no surprise that this season’s first meeting between the rivals ended up as ESPN’s highest-rated game in over a year, despite the fact that the game was televised locally on Raycom. In other words, enough fans nationally tuned in to produce the high rating when typically it is the local markets boosting the ratings.
If you live in the North Carolina area or visit certain Internet message boards, the rivalry often creeps beyond heated and intense. Perceptions, misconceptions, and assumptions lead to negative emotions that take away from what the rivalry is really about: the excellence and tradition of two of the best programs and universities in the country, separated by only nine miles.
From a basketball standpoint, one could argue that Duke and UNC are the nation’s top two college hoops programs today. When the schools meet, the outcome is never a sure thing, but you can always count on one of the greatest environments in sports and amazing players playing with unmatched passion. As Coach K stated, “You don’t talk about an individual team — remember when that team won? You talk about what North Carolina or Duke have won. In all those teams, the trademarks have been good kids, playing hard together, playing good defense and doing it clean but hard, and understanding their places within their universities. You could say that, and then say, well he’s talking about Carolina; he’s talking about Duke. No, I’m talking about both of them. People want to watch that.”
Indeed, this great rivalry should be defined by the players and the efforts they have given over the years, not by the local media or the broad generalizations you often hear tossed around.
In order to help define and promote the rivalry and what it is really about, I believe the two programs should consider staging a Duke-UNC doubleheader hoops showcase in the offseason at a neutral venue (possibly at a staged outdoor site to take the game back to its roots for many players who grew up playing on playgrounds and driveways). The game could feature the current Duke and UNC players actually playing together, with alumni captains (such as Jason Williams, Christian Laettner, Michael Jordan and Dean Smith) privately choosing the respective teams and then coaching the squads. Imagine a frontcourt of Tyler Hansbrough and Kyle Singler going up against a team boasting a backcourt including friends Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington. The basketball would be intriguing and more importantly would showcase that the student-athletes from each school get along and respect one another — a terrific message this rivalry needs.
Following that, the NBA alumni of each team could face off, with Duke’s NBA players battling UNC’s guys in the league. Since each school has over 10 former players in the NBA, it would be easy to fill two squads even if a few players were injured or unavailable. I would love to watch a Duke lineup of Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Shane Battier and Grant Hill take on Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter and Raymond Felton, with terrific players coming off the bench for both sides. If you think the squads wouldn’t play hard to earn bragging rights, you probably haven’t watched enough Duke-UNC games.
I would assume you could secure national TV coverage of this whole event and it would be easy to sell out any North Carolina arena or stadium for such a spectacle. The respective programs could split the proceeds, each giving half and providing significant national exposure to a charity of their choice.
In general, the Duke-UNC rivalry prides itself on setting the standard and an extravaganza like this would set the bar even higher. Moreover, it would help establish that the rivalry’s greatness is defined first and foremost by the young men who have worn the respective blue jerseys with tremendous pride over the years.
ED VENIT
“Viking Guy” > Washington, DC
Duke ‘98, G’07 > phD in Biology
Duke ‘98, G’07 > phD in Biology
Background Info
I came to Duke in the Fall of 1994 as an undergraduate. I changed my major about six different times, finally settling on Biology in my junior year. I completely fell in love with Duke during my time as an undergrad, and when I graduated in 1998, I just couldn’t leave. So, I got a job on campus working first as a research assistant, then as an administrator. In the Fall of 2001, I started a PhD in Biology, studying under the same professor who had been my advisor in undergrad. My dissertation work explored division-of-labor systems in colony-forming marine animals, and I like to think that I contributed something to the general advancement of human knowledge. Just as I fell in love with Duke as an undergrad, I fell in love with Durham as a grad student. Both are incredibly special places. I finished up my PhD in the Spring of 2007, and I am now working as a consultant at an Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC.
I came to Duke in the Fall of 1994 as an undergraduate. I changed my major about six different times, finally settling on Biology in my junior year. I completely fell in love with Duke during my time as an undergrad, and when I graduated in 1998, I just couldn’t leave. So, I got a job on campus working first as a research assistant, then as an administrator. In the Fall of 2001, I started a PhD in Biology, studying under the same professor who had been my advisor in undergrad. My dissertation work explored division-of-labor systems in colony-forming marine animals, and I like to think that I contributed something to the general advancement of human knowledge. Just as I fell in love with Duke as an undergrad, I fell in love with Durham as a grad student. Both are incredibly special places. I finished up my PhD in the Spring of 2007, and I am now working as a consultant at an Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC.
Most Memorable Duke Game (Seen In Person)
Oh man, there have been so many! My favorite has to be my final game in Cameron as an undergrad, the 1998 UNC game. Duke (led by Wojo, Langdon, Brand and Battier) was #3 in the country, UNC (with Jamison, Carter, Cota and Haywood) was #1. The Crazies had been camping out for six weeks in some exceptionally miserable weather, and K-Ville was churned into a muddy morass. The anticipation had built, and we were psyched. And UNC came out and promptly stomped us for the first 28 minutes. With 11:38 to go, we were down by 17 and barely clinging to hope. Then something amazing started happening. Wojo fed Brand for a layup, then we got a defensive stop, then a three, then another layup, another stop, and so on. Suddenly, we had clawed our way back into the game. And as we crept closer and closer, the Crazies began to swell. This sound wasn’t like anything I’ve heard from the Crazies before or since — there were no distinct cheers, and there was no change between offense and defense. This was a just continuous, sustained, earth-shattering, guttural ROAR — a noise that was so all-encompassing that you literally could not hear yourself yelling into it. And is just didn’t stop, not even for timeouts. The Crazies were determined to throw every ounce of their being into crushing UNC. McLeod blew past Jamison for a layup to tie the game at 75-75, then Carrawell took the lead with a little floater in the lane with a minute to go. I thought my head might explode. Haywood bricked two free-throws in the final seconds, and then suddenly I found myself swept onto the court in a rush of humanity. It was one of the most ecstatic moments of my life.
Where did the concept of “Viking Guy” originate?
He just sort of happened. Viking Guy didn’t exist when I was an undergrad. I was just a regular Crazie. When I started grad school, my mom asked me to wear something on my head so that she could pick me out from the crowd on TV. I told her I had this shiny viking helmet left over from a Halloween costume, which should be pretty easy to pick out. I guess it worked. I later added the Wojo jersey in honor of my fellow 1998 classmate and a fake gold chain for no good reason at all. The sunglasses, of course, were necessary to preserve my anonymity and protect my secret identity as a mild-mannered grad student. That was the one rule for standing in the front row of the grad section: you needed to wear sunglasses just in case your advisor saw you on TV.
What motivated “Viking Guy” to be front and center leading the Crazies every game in Cameron?
Too much beer? Honestly, I don’t really know why or how it happened. I certainly didn’t set out to create Viking Guy or to be a Cameron ringleader. I just started showing up for game a few minutes before everyone else. Then I met Jeff Kovacs (“Mullet Man”), who is an absolute force of nature and a truly passionate heckler. The grad students lacked leadership in Cameron at that time, so we just sort of stepped in and filled the vacuum. It turned out to be a lot of fun, so we just kept doing it. We met a lot of terrific people and developed some lifelong friendships. Before we knew it, the whole experience had taken on a life of its own. Sitting here typing this, I still can’t really explain why we kept doing it. I guess it was just really, really fun. All of this, of course, taught me a valuable lesson: Never show up early for anything, or pretty soon you will find yourself on national television, wearing a ridiculous costume, telling the point guard from Butler that he looks like Smeagol.
Cameron In Three Words?
I’ll do it in five: “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate” (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” — the inscription over the Gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno)
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Duke Basketball In Three Words?
Not a chance
