A large portion of my time here in Durham has been spent watching sports at Duke. Fortunately it is of a very high quality. It has also allowed me to make some friends who enjoy going to games as much as I do(maybe even a little more). Primary among these Dukies is Herb N. or "The Crazy Towel Guy". Herb is a legend here at Duke. He attends all the sporting events and waves his white towel to urge on both the teams and the fans. He also knows quite a bit about the teams and the student athletes which makes watching the games more interesting. This Fall was unique in some ways as all the teams except football made it into their respective NCAA tournaments.
Field Hockey - I'm new to this sport, and don't really understand all the rules at this point. It's not as high scoring as I expected and much of the scoring seems to occur on free shots after penalties. Since Duke doesn't have an ice hockey team, this will have to suffice. We have a new coach this year and we finished 14 - 8 and made the NCAAs before losing in the Quarterfinals to Old Dominion.
Volleyball - Having spent many a long nights in high school gyms watching David play volleyball for Berlin Central High School, the quality of which left much to be desired(David was great and made 2nd team All Cap Dist), it is a thrill to see volleyball played at this level. The teamwork and athleticism is remarkable. The Duke volleyball team won 20 games this year and got invite to participate in the NCCA tournament. Unfortunately, we lost in the first round to Tennessee.
Men's Soccer - The best part of watching the men's soccer team has been to see Andrew Wenger play. Although he is a Junior, my understanding is that he has already completed his course work and intends to move on to the next level. Andrew is a very versatile player. He's been voted both ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Offense Player of the Year. He has played where the team needs him, which says a lot about him not only as a player but also as a person. He and the Tweed-Kent twins from Pittsfield carried us into the NCAAs. We had a home game against Georgia State which we won. In the next round we had to go on the road and lost to New Mexico. It's my understanding that Wenger is a finalist for the NCAA Player of the Year.
Women's Soccer - The crowning jewel of the Fall sport season has been the women's soccer team. They won their first regular season ACC Championship and had the highest RPI of all the women's soccer teams in the nation. We were one of the four top seeds and thus had several home games in the tourney. We made the final four and played Stanford for the NCAA Championship on Sunday. Unfortunately we came up one goal short. But it was a great run. More importantly most every body is back next year.
In addition to all that was going on here at Duke, my alma mater Oneonta State also had a great season winning the SUNYAC title and making it to the final four in the division III men's soccer tourney. They lost in the semis, but great job Red Dragons. One other note one soccer Saint Rose College in Albany won the Division II women's soccer championship. Since Nan taught there several years, I guess I can claim some pride in the victory.
Well, basketball season is under way. Coach K has become the winningest D-I college coach and the women are off to a great start. Herb was nice enough to let us use his tickets to the women's BB game against Pittsburgh while he went to the soccer finals. Last year Krista sent me a Duke towel and I brought it to the game. I mean if your going to use The Crazy Towel Guy's seats there are certain expectations. At other games we've been at the band or the student's start a chant "Crazy Towel Guy, Crazy Towel Guys" and Herb stands up and leads the cheers. Well wouldn't you know, the band started it. I didn't want to let Herb's fans down. so I stood up, waved the towel, and led the cheers. I explained to the season ticket holders around Herb's seats that I was his apprentice "The Crazy Wash Cloth Guy" I believe it was the largest audience I've ever performed before.
