Go Duke!

Ahh...March Madness!

Everybody wear your blue and white and root for the Dukies! Having grown up a diehard Purdue fan and having my degree from there, I didn't think that I would ever end up rooting for another team besides Purdue. That all changed when I first experienced a Duke game at Cameron.

It was a surreal experience to be sure. The arena, it's actually more of field house, is quite small. It only fits around 7800. In the student sections, you seem to be sitting right above the floor. It felt like sectionals in high school. Everybody jumped up and down the entire game. Like a bunch of cells forming a single organ, we cheered together in perfect timing. It amazed me that we were making up cheers together, but the crowd sounded like they knew them by heart.

It was so loud, too. Here we are, undergraduates and graduate students of the South's finest university, and we are screaming our heads off, saying childish things all for the sake of a game. Future doctors, lawyers, engineers, CEO's, politicians, ahem pastors, all possessed by the Blue Devils of basketball.

The funniest part of the experience was the old guy who got the crowd started. He looked to be mid-70's. He had the dress and look of a lawyer, but as he stood, the crowd hushed looking for their cue. He pulled up his Duke-blue towel, started waving it around, and yelled, "Let's go!" The crowd went crazy and stayed crazy for the rest of the game. I have never seen a group of people all gathered together for one thing, one purpose, be so united. There truly was a spirit that possessed them. Their allegiance was to Duke, to coach K, to J.J. We were one body. We were family. We were Duke.

What if we had that unity everyday? What if all of humanity decided to cheer each other on, and be one family? I guess I want to be that old man...I want to wave my towel around and yell, "Let's go!" I want to see the fieldhouse Earth erupt in one accord, as one body, as we struggle in this game of life. But who am I? I'm not famous. No one knows me. I have no great charisma or position. But, then I think...The old man wasn't always cheering as "The Old Man." He just cheered on his own...for himself and his team...and eventually people followed. His enthusiasm and his spirit caught on. I guess if I want to the world to cheer each other on, I need to start cheering and start loving first. Aye, there's the rub.

As my family is visiting today, I'll be enjoying my Blue Devils playing and, of course, winning. Go J.J.! Go Coach K! Go Duke! I hope you enjoy watching Duke, too. It's a life changing experience. Just ask the Old Man.