I must admit
I have not been a Duke fan all of my life, in fact I haven’t been a college
basketball fan for much of my life. I didn’t truly start to become a fan of
either until my freshman year of college at Randolph-Macon when I started to
get the sense that Duke was where I wanted to go for seminary. Since then I have been introduced to the joys
and the difficulties of being a Duke fan.
I have found however that being a Duke fan has actually given me
perspective on being a Christian, and in particular a Christian leader. The
following are reasons why.
1. Respect for history and tradition:
As I have admitted I have only been a “dukie”
since 2005. I did not care for
basketball much when they won the National Championship in 2001 with great
players like Jason Williams, Shane Battier, and Carlos Boozer, and I was still
learning my alphabet when they repeated in ’91 & ’92. Still when I would
look up at the championship banners and retired jersey in Cameron Indoor, I felt
as though I was just as much a part of those teams as the one that I was rooting
for that particular game. The Laettner
shot as it is replayed over and over brings me such joy even though I never
truly lived as a fan in that era. It all has taught me not only a respect for
our history, but a sense that our history and tradition is not something of the
past but is in active part of our present team. This is how I feel now when I
read Wesley or Augustine, or when I prayer a prayer by St. Francis or St. Patrick.
I am not simply honoring or paying
homage to the past, but I am working with them, learning from them, and
building upon their legacy. In seminary
I heard something that will forever stay with me. While talking about the Lord’s
prayer, it was discussed that not only are you joining with others around the
world saying the same prayer, but we are also joining with centuries of
Christians who have also prayed the same prayer. If you ever walk into Cameron
when it is empty, it is almost eerie; you feel as if you can relive the years
of historic games that have taken place on that court. You can hear the echoes
of all the Cameron crazies have come before; and on game day you realize you
are not only cheering with those in the arena that day, but with all who have
come before. Through our liturgy in the church we are able to not only worship
with those in the congregation, but are able to worship with all the communion
of saints.
2. People hate Duke! In college basketball, there is pretty much fans of Duke, and
everybody else. No four letters produce the ire of opposing fans more than
D-U-K-E. For many opposing team’s fans,
Duke is raised up as the epitome of everything that is wrong with college basketball,
the educational system, and culture in general. For other fans, they have just
been taught that Duke is the bad guys (watch Kid President pick the brackets “Duke
they’re the bad guys, that’s what my bro told me.) As a new Duke fan this was off putting for
me; I of course wanted to be liked. I couldn’t understand why people could hate
a school with high academic standards, a great coach, and one that produced quality
teams year in and year out. I would always try apologetics, arguing with others
on why they shouldn’t hate us. Eventually I had to learn to embrace it. It’s
not that I enjoy being the villain, but it taught me to be thick skinned, to
realize that with the more success you have, the more people will begin to
resent you.
In America in particular this has become the case of Christianity. Christianity
was once seen as “the established religion of the US”(not debating whether it
ever was or not, just pointing out the perception) While there are still many
who look favorably on Christianity, there is now a lot of people who also feel
a great animosity towards Christians. When I introduce myself as a pastor,
sometimes I am met with great admiration and respect, and other times people
shut down, or even begin to tell me why Christianity is either stupid or evil.
Being a Duke fan has given me the thick skin to be able to handle it; to react
in love and to turn the other cheek. In college I would have fought back,
thinking that I could prove why Christianity is right, but I have now learned
to hear a person vent and respect it, If they earnestly want to talk about the issue, I am not defensive or angered. I am
not saying that all Duke fans react in such tact or sportsmanship, but as a
Duke fan entering the ministry, I have learned how to win and lose with grace;
likewise I have learned to embrace those who love the church and those who hate
it.
3. The hate isn’t completely misguided
The hardest thing to come to terms
with as a Duke fan is that sometimes those who hate Duke actually have
legitimate arguments. Duke is in fact an institution of privilege. Now while
some people go overboard acting as if there are not large amount of students
who work their tails off for academic scholarships; the fact is that Duke is an
expensive, primarily white institution. Haters are right when they accuse Duke
of being elitist. Many students and fans
in particular are in fact obnoxious, rude and arrogant. Many players of the
past are players that were so arrogant that secretly even Duke fans didn’t
really like them (ie Austin Rivers). I
mean, Laettner stepped on a player’s chest when he was down! There are
legitimate reasons to hate Duke, and that should not be simply overlooked.
The church is the same way, the
church has given people plenty of reasons to hate it. Whether it is historically
(the crusades, its treatment of Jews, its use to support slavery etc.) or
whether it is what it is doing now (its judgment, silence on social issues, exclusivity
etc.) the church cannot act as if it is blameless. When people make accusations against the
church, we should take them seriously because often there is a hint of truth
behind it. It should teach us how to grow, how to react, and how change what we
are doing wrong. We cannot afford to simply ignore the hate towards us, whether
it’s the church or Duke. Now this may sound contradictory to what I said in my
last point, but my point is that we should learn from it instead of getting
defensive about it. It is also that we have to learn to love the church even
with all of its flaws. After all, there
valid reasons to hate Duke, and yet I am still a dukie. All of which leads to
my next point.
4. We take
the good for granted.
With all of
the success that the Duke has had in the past, fans have come to expect a lot
out of the program. Last year was seen
as a failure because we failed to win the ACC regular season, the ACC
tournament, and lost to 15 seeded Lehigh.
What fans forget to recognize is that Duke has made the tournament 16
straight years; being in the Lynchburg area I experienced the excitement of
Liberty simply making it to the tournament. Duke has been ranked in the top 10
of the polls for over 3 years. Another team that I love and have a lot of
respect for Virginia Commonwealth University has a banner larger than any Duke
championship banner which celebrates the fact that two years ago they finished
the season ranked 6th! We as
Duke fans take our success for granted, we focus on the negatives of a season
rather than the good.
In the church we also seem to take
the good that we do for granted. We do not celebrate enough the great work of organizations
like UMCOR do to reach out to those in need. We do not acknowledge the fact
that so many people in our congregations are going and visiting the sick and
the shut-ins. We ignore the fact that groups like the UMW gather to seriously
learn about economic and environmental justice. We see the mega-churches or even
just the larger churches in our district and wish we had what they had, wish we
did what they did. We record our statistics on attendance, professions of faith
and giving, and we are discouraged that any change is minimal. We need to
constantly remind ourselves of the good that we are doing. This should be a regular
practice in worship, council meetings, etc.
We as the church have a lot to be proud of, let’s take time to recognize it.
5. Embrace Expectations
As Duke fans, while we do often fail
to recognize the achievements of the program, a lot of it comes from the fact
that year in and year out Duke has so much potential. We do have one of the
greatest coaches, we recruit some of the best players every year, we have a
huge home court advantage, and a fan base that travels well. The disappointment
that comes when we fail to win it all, comes from the fact that we have so much
potential. Each and every year Duke has so much expectation. This means that
each game the team must be ready for everybody’s best shot. Every road game
that Duke lost this year, the opposing team’s fans rushed the court. It was the
biggest win of the year for that team. For Duke, it’s just another game;
because for Duke the expectations are so high. The only way that Duke can live
up to its expectations is by embracing them; giving it their all each and every
day.
In the church while it true that we
need to celebrate our achievements, we must also embrace the higher
expectations we have because the reason we have expectations to do great things
is because we truly have the potential to do great things. We should not become complacent; we should
constantly be looking to find ways to learn more, to reach out to others, and
to seek to walk closer to God. The excitement that we have and the expectations
that we have come from the fact that through the grace of God, we can not only
live up to our potential, but exceed it.
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