I went into this week planning to write about something other than basketball, even with our upcoming trip to the Final Four. I even came with some half-viable topics. However the celebrations that followed our 66-52 win this Sunday over Gonzaga somehow led me to more than a few beers then to the ESPN documentary, “I Hate Christian Laettner.”
I didn’t exactly grow up a huge college basketball fan, but let’s be real, if I did, I might have hated Laettner too. I mean the dude might not have been the rich kid the media portrayed him to be, but he wasn’t exactly the nice boy next door and he dominated the college basketball world for his four years.
“Hate” is a natural human emotion, but one that has become so strong and often out shadows its counterpart of “love.” And the country definitely loves to hate us. We are often one of the few private schools to dominate college basketball. We are stereotyped as a “rich, white kid,” school, we floor slap, we have crazy fans and most of all, we have performed well at a high level.
The combination of these would make a championship game against Kentucky particularly interesting—not to get ahead of ourselves, but hey, my column runs Thursdays so this might be my only chance to make this analogy. If Duke and Kentucky were to match up, would people continue to hate us more than any other team in the country or would being the unlikely underdog suddenly propel us to America’s sweetheart? The way I see it, hate will almost certainly win out and most basketball fans would hope to see Duke and Kentucky battle it out in that final game, but also want neither team to win it all.
People love to hate.
People love to hate more than they love to love. But here is the thing, is it even possible to have “love,” without “hate?” Probably not. But, why we do often hate more than we love.
Let’s play a game.
Make a list of all the college teams you really love. Now make a list of all the ones that you really hate. Which one is longer? Well, if you are anything like me, it’s definitely that second list.
If its not, you can probably just stop reading this article now.
This underlying “love to hate,” has even translated heavily onto the online realm in what some call a tendency for “hate-reading”—or “hate-listening” and “hate-watching”. In short, this describes the phenomenon by which we are strangely drawn to media that we know, even prior to being exposed to it, will infuriate us.
It’s the reason we tune in every time Sarah Palin is going to give a speech or always love to look at the Yik Yak of our sport opponents—or sadly our own Yik Yaks as well.
This “outrage” media has fueled both actions and speech that are purposely intended to provoke an emotional response, much like when Duke and Carolina fans end up in each other’s hood. I spent Friday night on Carolina’s campus celebrating a friend’s 21st and was definitely guilty of some “slight” provoking, making it no secret that I was a Duke fan during our game against Utah.
Part of this love to hate includes a desire for a clear distinction of good versus evil and right versus wrong. It’s the reason the referees are “always wrong,” and “always help the other team more.” It’s also the reason Duke fans love reliving Laettner’s epic 1992 regional final buzzer-beater against Kentucky while Duke haters are quick to point out that Laettner should have been ejected earlier for stomping on a Kentucky player’s chest.
Hate often blinds us to reality, but if I learned anything from the “I hate Christian Laettner” documentary, it can also fuel motivation. In sports, we can talk about sportsmanship, the love of the game and respect for raw talent, but at the end of the game, somebody wins and somebody loses. No one goes down in history for being second place. So for now, I hate Michigan State and hopefully come Monday, I’ll hate Kentucky even more.
Dillon Patel is a Trinity junior. His column runs every other Thursday.
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