Like a lot of basketball fans, I’ll be glued to a television today.Not as much as I’m used to, because of the ridiculous, short-sighted, inexplicable move of the ACC Tournament Final to Saturday night. And not MY television, because I’m headed to Wofford to see where the Terriers’ will end up in the NCAA Tournament.But A television, certainly. And tonight, I’ll be back to mine. I can hardly wait to watch ESPN’s latest 30 For 30 documentary, this one entitled “I Hate Christian Laettner”. It’s going to be especially interesting to me, because I don’t. Never have, actually. Christian Laettner did a couple of things in his time at Duke University that I downright loved. Hard to hate a guy that gives you some memories like that.The first time I saw him, I was at my great-aunt’s house for a family gathering. Ya’ll remember those as high school freshmen, right. The food was great, but the attendance was forced. It was late in the basketball season, maybe even Easter. I’m not sure, it’s been well past 25 years, and I’ve had A LOT of bourbon since then. I grew up not just a fan of the ACC, but a basketball fan in general. Some of my first sports memories are of the controversy surrounding Patrick Ewing’s undershirts (look it up, children.). And I’ve long been a huge fan of the NCAA Tournament. So, while the adult conversation droned on and on into the afternoon, I found my way into the empty living room to watch the East Regional Final between Duke and Georgetown.Now, keep in mind that I grew up so far out in the country that cable wasn’t available, and satellite was well into the future. So all I’d seen of Duke was what Raycom saw fit to show me on weeknights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I was more than familiar with Danny Ferry. But I hadn’t seen Georgetown at all, and I was tremendously excited to watch the phenomenal Alonzo Mourning.What I watched was Mourning being dominated by a skinny, 6-11 white kid as Duke made the second of what would be five straight final fours.Side note: who’s the first player to reach four straight final fours? Gotta be somebody from the UCLA dynasty, right? Wrong. Freshmen weren’t eligible. It’s Greg Koubek from Duke. Look it up, then go win bar bets with it this March. Yeah, you’re welcome.Anyway, now I was very familiar with Laettner, and Raycom seemed to finally shake off its Carolina bias and get a little more Duke-heavy in its coverage options. I saw quite a lot of the sophomore, and began to cheer for Duke any time they weren’t on the floor against Clemson.Ah, Clemson. Another reason not to hate Laettner. He helped exact exquisitely appropriate, heartbreaking karmic vengeance against the hated UConn Huskies not 48 hours removed from the Tate George shot that broke Clemson’s heart.Surely you remember that? The Tigers, finally good enough to claim a share of the ACC regular season title. Poor, put-upon Clemson, in the Sweet 16 and a second’s worth of decent defense away from a spot in the Elite 8.Except that second took a little longer than that, and the defense was far from decent. Elden Campbell allowed a largely unobstructed baseball pass to travel three quarters of the court, George caught it, landed, turned, elevated and shot in what officials said was 1 second, the shot hit nothing but cotton and Clemson went home a loser.In the Regional Final, in overtime, Laettner ripped out UConn’s heart in much the same manner. Down one, he threw an inbounds pass, collected an handoff as he stepped back inbounds, dribbled twice, double-clutched, and barely disturbed the net at the buzzer to send the Huskies home.Honestly, how can I hate that guy?He did a ton more to endear himself to me. Largely, he owned North Carolina, and anybody who does that is ok with me. He hit two free throws to seal a monumental upset against a UNLV team that was supposed to be the undisputed, undefeated, immovable, unstoppable, 500-pound gorilla, pre-ordained champion of the world. He was perfect from the field and made arguably the most important, clutch shot in the history of the tournament to beat Kentucky in a thriller (and win me a lot of money on my Senior Trip) in one of the tournament’s best-ever game. The only time I saw him in person, at Clemson in my senior year of high school, he found a way to engineer a comeback and beat my Tigers 98-97. Ok, so I didn’t like that as much. But HATE? No. Grudging respect comes to mind.The bottom line is, Laettner was one of , if not the best, college player to ever lace up sneakers. He was also one of the most dislikeable and arrogant. But as the old Ric Flair saying goes, “Don’t hate me because you ain’t me.”. That’s what it mostly boils down to. For every fan of every school who claims to have hated Laettner and everything about him, consider this: before Laettner, Duke’s best finish under Mike Krzyzewski was a Finals appearance in 1986. With him, they became the center of the college basketball world.Every Wildcat, every Husky, every Tarheel – they’d never admit it, but they’d all take a Christian Laettner on their team. They’d have taken him then, and they’d take him now. If they won’t admit that, they’re kidding themselves.Arrogant or not, that level of performance is hard to hate.And as a final side note, let me say that with the Tigers sitting at home, I’m not sure who I’ll pull for in the upcoming tournament. Besides Wofford, I mean. But I know I sure hope I’ll see some performances that will rival those of Christian Laettner.I also know EXACTLY how I feel about that team from a few miles down the road from Durham, and how I hope they do in the tourney.Go To Hell, Carolina, Go To Hell
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JedAward-winning journalist. Frustrated pitmaster. Whiskey enthusiast. Lover of all things cheeseburger-related. Unapologetically proud Sandlapper. Archives
July 2017
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