A Personal Letter to Quinn Cook

Dear Mr. Cook-

Quinn, when you signed the scholarship to head to Duke University and play for Coach K, I’m sure it was a dream come true. You were the future point guard, able to be groomed for a year or two, then unleashed onto the poor ACC to dominate.

Well, the future is now! There are two types of Duke fans (you are kidding yourself if you think a middle ground exists). First are the ones who will support you no matter what, always giving you credit and finding any weird statistic to prove the team is wonderful even if they just lost by 50. The other type is the Chicken Little fan, which is the side that is much more fun to take. Yes, I understand that I, taking that stance, am unreasonable and unfair. But I have a responsibility to myself as well as other Duke fans to expect more than winning. Who do you think I am, Al Davis? Just win, baby? Hell no! I want to be entertained! (No, you don’t have to murder anyone gladiator style, but you get the point).  I want all games to be aesthetically pleasing bloody beatdowns of inferior opponents. I want Duke teams running up and down the court the whole game in transition. What? Duke was outscored by 1.9 ppg in transition last year? Totally unacceptable!! You think Johnny Dawkins, Bobby Hurley, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon or Kyrie Irving (I like to count each of his 11 games 10 times to pretend like he gave Duke a nice four year career) would have let that happen?

It’s on you, Quinn. It’s all on you. You’re 19 years old, you’re of legal age to vote, so I expect that you can handle the small duty of guaranteed Duke success. What? You didn’t get a real freshman season due to a slow recovery from knee surgery? Get over it. The Seth Curry experiment at point guard didn’t work. Tyler Thornton tries hard and….well…Tyler Thornton tries hard. Thornton had his 15 minutes of fame in the Maui Invitation Kansas game. He’s set. But you…

The force is strong with you, Quinn. Maybe Duke fans want you to be good so badly that we’re imagining skills that don’t exist, but I’ve seen glimpses Quinn!! I’ve seen the future!

This could be your team, Quinn. (spoken in a whispered voice, which is tough when writing a letter).

Yes, Duke fans have become a wine & cheese crowd. Yes, fans of most teams would kill for a 27-7 record. Yes, Duke fans refuse to understand that Ryan Kelly’s injury killed the team’s chances for tournament success (let’s be honest though…he wasn’t exactly lighting things up in the UNC Pt. II game)

But back to you, Quinn. You could bring back the fandom, bring back the crazies, bring back the transition game, and most importantly, bring back the mindless hate from other teams and fans. What is Duke men’s basketball without mindless hate?

Please, Quinn…I want Duke to be hated again. I want to live vicariously through Duke’s victories. I want to be elitist and laugh as Tar Hole fans blurt out drunken Bud Light fueled obscenities after losses to Duke while I look down on them, sipping my White Sangria.

Make it happen, Quinn. And by the way…no pressure.

Sincerely,

#1DukieSupporter