Saturday afternoon, our rivals come to town.
I’m trying as hard as I can to hate them, really hate them. I’m not quite there yet. I know this, because I know my roommate. He’s a good Georgetown fan. He’s also a good UNC Tar Heels fan. He hates Duke. I kind of hate Duke too, but not like he does. And, as hard as I try, I can’t hate Syracuse like he hates Duke.
(Disclaimer: I mean hate in the strictest sports sense of the word. Sort of a Cold War thing. No violence involved here.)
I could write half a column about how much Preston Shumpert bothers me or a 10-page paper on Jim Boeheim, the whiner. I could also write a book about how the Duke Blue Devils really are a single entity?the devil.
I don’t think my roommate could write two paragraphs about Duke. He’d get too angry just trying to think about how many different reasons he has to hate them.
Syracuse doesn’t make me that angry. I just dislike them a lot. I might actually be sad if something bad happened to Boeheim or even their point guard from last season, Jason Hart. (He had no business being All-Big East First-Team when Kevin Braswell didn’t even make Third Team. Of course, Braswell got the last laugh by playing circles around Hart, causing the Orangemen to end up in Michigan State’s sector of the NCAA Tournament, even though they were probably one of the five best teams in the country.)
So, if I don’t hate Syracuse, why would I want to? Because I have no perspective. My knees were shaking uncontrollably this Saturday as I watched Georgetown struggle to finish off Rutgers. Georgetown basketball is my religion.
(Disclaimer No. 2 … I am still objective. I know things aren’t what they should be right now, but the current struggle just makes me more sure that we are talking religion here.)
Any good ideology or religion has an enemy. Christians have Satan. Communists have wealthy capitalists. Republicans have Bill Clinton. Michigan has Ohio State. California has Stanford. UNC has Duke. I need Syracuse.
OK, but why Syracuse? There’s UConn and St. John’s too.
Well, it’s just a feeling. I don’t even really dislike them. St. John’s is the rival I kind of like. UConn isn’t really a rival. We were good in the ‘80s. They were good in the ‘90s. There was never much competition.
The other day, I caught myself rooting for Ray Allen (an evil UConn alum) in the three-point contest once Dirk Nowitzki (He’s from Dallas, my home) couldn’t win anymore.
Syracuse, on the other hand, has Derrick Coleman as its primary representative in the NBA. He’s easy to dislike.
Will I be able to hate Syracuse by the time Saturday rolls around? Right now, it looks doubtful. We already lost to them once this year. I just saw them beat UConn with Shumpert leading the way, which got all of my Syracuse-is-evil emotions flowing. Still, just rolling at a strong dislike.
This week’s game is big. Winner has the inside track to a first-round bye at the Big East Tournament.
What will do it then?
Beating them will just make me happy, which isn’t conducive to hating anyone. If we lose to them, I’ll be too depressed to get angry. What I need is a game against them that is bigger than big.
I need Georgetown against the Big Bad Orange Wolf for the Big East Championship. The only problem is that then I’d have to cheer for them to beat other people. That’s a major violation of the Chief Rival Rules.
Maybe I’ll just wake up one day and find the hate I’m looking for, preferably before I graduate and lose my religious calling.
