Yearly Archives: 2011

Appreciating The True Coach K

(Introducing: new writer Andy Moore, with a take on the Real Coach K.)

This year, Coach K will become the all-time winningest coach in college  basketball history. He will win his 903rd game, possibly with flair against Michigan State in Madison Square Garden, and this will put him above his mentor Bob Knight. It will be a monumental achievement, and the unceasing media coverage around the thing is going to be a chance for reporters to exercise their favorite hobby—legacy defining.

And here’s what they’ll say: 903 is huge. It not only means he’s the winningest coach in history, it may mean he’s the greatest coach ever, especially when taking into account the relatively primitive college  landscape that helped enable John Wooden’s success. After all, when Krzyzewski retires, he may have over 1,000 wins and four or more  national championships. He will completely have changed a previously moribund basketball franchise, he will be a large part of why the ACC is still the most important conference in college basketball, and he will have expertly guided a clean program in a time when everyone seemed a little dirty.

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Future Home of the UNC Wrestling Preview – UFC CONTENT!

I know what you’re thinking: it’s early September and TRB is just getting around to previewing the wrestling season now?  When UNC pankrationistas have been murmurously anticipating the triumphant return from shoulder surgery of Zac “Crazy Arms” Bennett, the Johnstown Jesus, and the coronation of second-generation champion Corey “Make Mine Moxie” Mock since our near-near-near-miss at the NCAA Championships in March?

As it happens, there are so many subplots to the upcoming campaign that our crack writing staff has just begun to weave it all into a coherent narrative suitable to the pages of a sober sports website rather than a breathless telenovela; also, the schedule is currently unavailable on the team’s official website.  The site’s stark yet bracing reminder, “THERE ARE NO UPCOMING EVENTS”, urges us all to carpe diem– for the beginning is nigh.

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The Plumblebees

(Editor’s note: When I asked Marc if he wanted to write for the site, since I know him to be a funny and interesting dude, he asked me if someone had taken “the Plumlee beat.” I told him it was all his.) Hello friends! My name is Marc. My first sports memory is watching Christian Laettner crush the hopes and dreams of every Kentucky fan on that wonderful day back in 1992. I jumped around the living room like a maniac and gushed with glee as my dad replayed the shot over and over again because we taped the game on our high tech Hitachi VCR. Since that day Duke Basketball has been the only sport I’ve truly followed. The Carolina Hurricanes have a fun bandwagon to hop on if they are in the playoffs, but does anyone outside of Raleigh really care about the regular season? The Panthers have been an unmitigated disaster for the past few years and this year looks to promise some new lows! Shane’s article on the Duke-Richmond game brought up wonderful memories of the John Fox Run-Run-Pass-Punt offense. This year I’m expecting a variety based upon Run-Sack-Interception playcalling. I’ve lived in North Carolina for twenty-three years and I haven’t been able to really focus on anything but the Blue Devils. Continue reading

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Kealia Ohai Strikes Again – Weekend Recap

Right now, I think it’s fair to say Ohai is the most exciting athlete at either school. A reader sends in this video of UNC’s 3-0 victory over Ohio State this weekend, and Ohai’s goal is at the :25 mark:

Elsewhere in Duke and UNC sports:

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The Optipessimist Week One: UNC-JMU

First off, I would like to highlight for all the UNC readers out there that Duke lost to Richmond. I will repeat that, since it makes me slightly giddy every time I do. Duke lost to Richmond! HAH! This is amazing not only because Duke lost to RICHMOND, but also because it means I get to read Angry Shane posts, something I have yet to see on TRB.

I'm expecting greatness, Shane.

Okay. Onto the game. Everything said below this line has to be taken with a grain of salt, because Carolina’s opponent was James Madison University. And this wasn’t the same JMU that knocked off Virginia Tech in their opener; this was a pretty bad iteration of JMU. You’ll see why.

Without further ado, I’d like to debut my post-game feature: Optipessimism. Over the next ten weeks, I’m going to try my hardest to make this into a real word, which I define as the tendency to follow any positive statement with an immediate qualifier. According to my mother, I might be the most effective optipessimist in the world. “CAN’T YOU EVER JUST SAY ANYTHING GOOD!?” Brutal.

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The Duke Football Essay Project: Game 1, Richmond

On Duke’s second play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Sean Renfree took one step back, tripped, and hit the ground. Whistles blew, fans murmured. Too early to be disappointed.

I sent my stepfather, back in New York, a text:

Our qb fell over. Second play. Bad omen?

It turned out he’d been watching on his computer. Within a minute, I had a response:

I thought he looked good falling.

*

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The Triangle Prophets, Week One

Every Friday, a group of fearless webmasters and sports fanatics from around the Triangle will gather to predict five college football games against the spread. Every Duke, Carolina, and N.C. State game will be featured, along with a smattering of high profile non-Triangle games. As the season goes along, we’ll keep the standings updated and see who emerges as the one true prophet. Make your predictions in the comment section. Every week, we’ll feature any and all commenters who pick all 5 games correctly.

The Prophets

1. Jim Young, Editor, ACCSports.com

2. John Watson, The Devil’s Den

3. James Henderson, Publisher, Pack Pride

4. Tar Heel Fan Blog

5. Me*

6. The Devil Wolf, Duke football correspondent, TRB

7. Nate Friedman, UNC football correspondent, TRB

8. William Earnhardt, Site Designer, UNC football junkie, TRB

*Believe me, that joke was not worth the google image search. I should know better.

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The Top 15 Moments from the UNC Foootball Media Guide

You can view the guide here. As with the Duke version of the top 15, I’ll be doing this as I go along, so there’s a good chance that #1 won’t be any more compelling than #15. Let’s get it started with a picture of UNC’s new coach, “Sir” Everett Withers.

I was born in 1963 in Charlotte, NC, but my name was born in 1732 in Yorkshire, England

15. Oops!

From the 2011 schedule page:

Oct. 22 – at Clemson – first game at Clemson under head coach Butch Davis

(PR people scuffle around) Ha! Um, funny story… (muffled shouting, sounds of paper crumpling) I’m glad you asked! Just, uh, just give us a minute here… (gunshot)

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The TRB Comments of the Week!

Later today, we’ll get to the UNC media guide top 15 and introduce a new prediction feature. For now, it’s the COMMENTS OF THE WEEK, a neglected feature that should have run earlier.

Every week, more or less, we’ll be choosing one comment from the previous week that made our hearts swell with joy, pride, or love. Then we’ll be choosing another that made the rest of our organs swell with shame, hilarity, or disgust. All comments are printed as written.

Positive

Both comments this week come from the Rivalry post, which asked whether Duke and UNC fans would like to see the teams meet in the NCAA tournament. The overwhelming majority of responses, on the post and on twitter, were ‘hell no.’ Nobody wanted the stress, and nobody wanted to accept the awful possibility of losing. Then Andrew put on his badass goggles and took us all to task:

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Top 15 Moments from the Duke Football Media Guide

You can view the guide here. Also, I’m sort of doing this as I go through it, so there’s a good chance that #1 won’t be any more compelling than #15. If it is, though, it’s because I planned it all along. Now then, as I imagine Cutcliffe says in the most badass way possible: let’s roll.

Cutcliffe means 'motivation' in some foreign tongue

15. Pronunciation

From the Player Pronunciation Guide:

Patrick KURUNWUNE – cuh-ROON-WOO-nay

Is it me, or does this not help at all? How the hell are you supposed to emphasize two consecutive syllables? Whenever I try it, I sound like a barking dog. Seriously, give it a shot. ROON-WOO! He’s the 5th-string running back, by the way. God, I hope we get some ROON-WOO action this year.

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