AJC > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 15
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Sympathy for the Devils
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here it is mid-November, and Enemy Watch is assigned to write about everyone’s favorite subject this time of year:
Duke. Football.
Two words that seemingly don’t belong together on any date on the Julian calendar (Gregorian, too), much less the start of hoops season.
But this was when the ACC scheduling gods fated the Dookie helmetballers to meet up with Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are saying all the right things, not talking about this matchup with the 0-10 Blue Devils as the glorified practice it ought to be before the UGA and ACC championship games.
As hard as it was to watch that eyesore of a game in Chapel Hill last week, this one might be even worse. Will the Jackets play down to the level of competition for a second week in a row?
Thankfully, Reggie Ball’s home finale at Bobby Dodd Stadium — probably Calvin Johnson’s too — will not be televised live.
Duke comes in with 18 consecutive losses, the last one a somewhat spirited effort against Boston College. Ex-Techster Ted Roof has a young, but injured team. There haven’t been the rumblings out of Durham to make a coaching change, as already has happened in Chapel Hill, and that may transpire in Raleigh as well.
How much of this can you realistically pin on a coach at a school that says it cares about football, but doesn’t come close to backing it up? It’s enough for more than one pundit to suggest that Duke should stop this charade. Wasn’t this what used to be said about Wake Forest?
Enemy Watch isn’t suggesting there’s much reason to keep hope alive within the bowels of Wallace Wade Stadium. But the least cynical among us, the student press, is trying to usher out the graduating gridders on a positive note. Here’s the annual Seniors shoot for one last football victory account.
Money quote:
“We love this sport,” free safety Chris Davis added. “You can’t wake up at six-thirty every morning and not love it.”
The only thing that wakes Enemy Watch at that hour, without risking mortal injury, is a sweet kitty baying for breakfast. Yet the young lad’s dedication is highly admirable.
There was some recent football joy in Durham over the weekend, however — a big win by hometown N.C. Central.
Even before that occurrence, The Bottom 10 still rated the Dookies on top. But not even they deserve to be introduced with “lyrics” from Kevin Federline, soon to be Britney Spears’ Fed-Ex.
Have some sympathy for these Devils, would ya?
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