Hey Everyone,
My name’s Zach White and I am a senior here at Duke. Now for most people, senior year means finishing those final school requirements, applying for jobs, and figuring out how to be a real person. For me, senior year means one thing… this is my LAST year as a Cameron Crazie. I only have one final season to scream my lungs out as I cheer on the greatest basketball program in the country. So my only option is to completely make the most of it, and take advantage of every minute I have left in Cameron.
The season has already started with a bang. Countdown to Craziness was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen in Cameron. First off, the place was packed and loaded with energy. Clearly, the fans were ready to get the season started and the opening acts were amazing. It was when the team was introduced, however, that Cameron just exploded. My favorite intro was a toss up between Zoubs busting out some dance moves, and Nolan coming out rockin the stunner shades.
The two scrimmages were amazing. It was awesome to see our new guys. Mason looked unbelievable. He is really going to be something special for our program. Seth Curry, Andre, and Ryan also were impressive. We showed them some love my cheering “Spicy Curry, He’s Hot Stuff!!” and “You Forgot About Dre!!” We’re still working on something for Ryan Kelly. Someone near me suggested something about comparing him to R. Kelly, the singer, but fortunately we quickly vetoed that.
The end of the second game was unbelievable. It was a tie-game, with the White Team’s ball. The Blue team got a block with about 4 seconds left, and Nolan got fouled with hardly any time on the clock. The White Team called a timeout to ice him. When Nolan came back to the court it was dead silent (I think we were all surprised that he wasn’t wearing his stunner shades). I gave him some encouraging words, and to my surprise, he winked at me and told the whole crowd that he wanted some noise. The crowd went nuts as he hit both free throws and put the Blue Team up two points. The White Team totally missed an opportunity to put in their coach, Christian Laettner, for the final play to see if he could reenact “the shot.”
The Dunk Contest was ridiculous, in every sense of the word. Nolan’s shenanigans were hilarious. Olek really impressed everyone with his dunks. When he grabbed the mic and screamed “Are you not entertained?” I actually fell over laughing.
Afterwards, a Matt and Kim concert in Krzyzewskiville was a perfect way to end the night.
Moving on to our first chance to see the team against an actual opponent, the Pfeiffer game was undoubtedly the best Parent’s Game I’ve been to yet.
The Crazies were on their game, and our antics kept all of the guests and visitors in the building smiling and laughing. Most of the parents joined the Crazies in jumping and shouting, and the few who stayed seated were quickly bombarded with criticism. There was an 83 year-old grandmother standing two rows behind me who told several seated parents to, “Get up you Pansies! Our team is on the floor!” She’s my hero.
The Crazies concentrated more on cheering on our team, rather than heckling Pfeiffer (with the exception, of course, of taking some jabs about their height). The Plumlee brothers, with all of their rejections on the other team, have been dubbed the “SWAT Team.” We have been calling Andre Dawkins “The Doctor,” referencing how smooth he operates, and making plenty of Dr. Dre puns. We did our best, truly our best, to show Duke fans’ dedication to all our guests who don’t get a chance to watch as many games in Cameron as we do. I know that I was bleary eyed after all our efforts and still have some homework to catch up on. You can find me in the library until the Findlay game!
Zach
