Reading through various preseason reports and articles I’ve noticed a pattern has begun to emerge regarding the Plumlees and their potential contributions to this years Duke Blue Devils. Instead of relying solely on words to describe the play of the Plumlees I will show you what they will bring to the table.
Miles will be doing a lot of this:
Miles with the jump hook from 10 feet
This past Friday, October 14, Duke had their official start to season with the Countdown to Craziness event. From what I’ve read about the event Duke fans should be very excited by Seth Curry and surprisingly Quinn Cook. Mason Plumlee has received poor reviews from internet message board basketball coaches while the eldest Plumlee has garnered rave reviews. I ask myself how much I can trust the words of anonymous fans, but I sorely wish for Miles Plumlee to be a spectacular all-american center so I will trust the internet entirely. When it comes to Mason Plumlee I will ignore anything bad anyone says about him and claim that he is a spectacular all-american power forward. I haven’t read anything about Marshall Plumlee because I want to keep my image of him completely unblemished. He will always be a goofy smiling, crayon eating and dunking machine to me.
In my younger days I was much more emotional about Duke basketball victories and defeats. As I’ve grown and matured I realized that whether Duke wins or loses doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Regardless of how many times Duke University basketball players put the orange ball through the orange hoop the world continues on just as usual. I watch sports for the entertainment they offer.
I enjoy watching athletes running fast, jumping high and using skills I could never dream of to put the orange ball through the orange hoop. I am impressed by these sorts of people. Furthermore I cannot say that I can distance myself 100% emotionally from games. There are times when I’m caught up in a fervor and I find myself sweating through a nail biting victory or defeat. As Duke crumbled against Arizona this year melancholic feelings flooded my entire being. When Brian Zoubek intentionally missed the free throw against Butler and Gordon Hayward barely missed the buzzer beater I went through an emotional roller coaster. These memories remind me of my youth when I was extremely affected by Duke’s victories and defeats.
Yesterday Nate wrote of UNC football’s positives and negatives, but also claimed that bowling, cheerleading, golf and NASCAR were not sports. This sparked a brief and lighthearted debate by Nate, William and myself on whether NASCAR and/or Mario Kart 64 could be classified as sports. William posted a link to Wikipedia’s passage on sports terminology. There are two sections I’ll visit:
The term “sport” is sometimes extended to encompass all competitive activities, regardless of the level of physical activity. Both games of skill and motor sport exhibit many of the characteristics of physical sports, such as skill, sportsmanship, and at the highest levels, even professional sponsorship associated with physical sports. Air sports, billiards, bridge, chess, motorcycle racing, and powerboating are all recognized as sports by the International Olympic Committee with their world governing bodies represented in the Association of the IOC Recognised International Sports Federations.
This definition is bullshit. I’m more inclined to agree with this next passage from Wikipedia:
This is the worst time of year to be a college basketball fan. Let me explain. In the springtime after March Madness we all sit around and evaluate the “what ifs?” and “should haves.” As we move into summer we accept that college basketball is still far away. We decide whether we want to watch golf, baseball or stab our own eyeballs with forks. From personal experience I can declare that the fork stabbing is far more entertaining than baseball or golf. We’re frustrated there isn’t college basketball, but we’ve come to accept it.
However, as we venture forth into fall we feel that college basketball is right around the corner. We can almost taste it. We want to see Sportscenter highlights of Duke or UNC crushing a team by forty. We want to see Virginia Tech squeak by cupcakes and laugh as they don’t get picked for the NCAA tournament yet again. We want to see Wake Forest actually lose to the Polytechnical School for the Deaf and Blind. But we can’t always get what we want.
1:36 seconds into the video (below) Miles Plumlee takes a ball from Kyle Singler and dunks over everything. Miles Plumlee is an unstoppable force. Hell, just watch the entire video and savor that brilliant tournament. The 09-10 NCAA Tournament is probably my favorite sporting event of all time. I expected another early Sweet 16 exit but the Devils used brilliant defense combined with the “Big Three” and beat all comers. Once Lance Thomas half-dunked over the entire Baylor team I felt like we had a fantastic chance to make the final four. My nerves were firing during the Butler game and I still couldn’t believe how close Hayward’s last shot was. If his shot had gone in I would’ve quit sports forever. During March Madness highlights we would no longer see Christian Laettner banging his magical jumper, we would see Gordon Hayward knocking down a clutch half-court shot after Kyle Singler was illegally leveled by Matt “The Creeper” Howard. Enough reminiscing, we’ve got work to do.
I just dunked and now I'm going to give up a bad foul trying to block a shot on defense!!!
Look at those biceps. They make me salivate with jealously and maybe a bit of romanticism. This, my friends, is Mr. Mason Plumlee. A six foot, ten inch, 235 pound monster of an athlete. When he committed to Duke I was extremely excited. He was oft compared to Josh McRoberts. Fast, athletic, with a handle and impressive passing abilities. Thus far Mason has shown flashes of potential, but has yet to live up to that billing.
(Editor’s note: for the foreseeable future, Marc is on “the Plumlee beat.” Enjoy him every Tuesday)
Ladies and Gentlemen… let me introduce Marshall Plumleeeeeeeeeeee! Standing at a towering 6″11′ with a weight of 225 pounds he is ready to dunk over the entire universe. I’m disappointed that Duke lists him at 6’11” because we all know the fear a seven footer strikes into the heart of opponents. That extra inch changes everything. A seven footer is a majestic rarity. Someone who is 6’11” is just another regular Joe running into door frames and cabinets.
(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
