Don't Hate Me Because I'm The Champ
First the New England Patriots and now the Duke Blue Devils (I hope my computer doesn't blow up for typing those names, lol). It seems that 2015 may be shaping up to be the year of the champions that we don't want. As sports enthusiasts we all seem to take a vested interest in the teams that are competing for championships. In every story there has to be a hero and there has to be a villain. The last two major championships that have been played had that same storyline and both times, the team that has been viewed as the villains have won.
While engaging in some late night 1 on 1 basketball with a fellow lefty and sports writer, the question of why is there so much hatred towards these teams. The geniuses that we are, we kinda chalked it up to human nature, but I suspect that there is more to the story.
The biggest question that I have would be is it right to hate these teams. We all have our reasons for hating, but it doesn't make it right. The first assumption that happens when the villain wins is that they must have cheated somehow! Both the Super Bowl and the NCAA Championship have had their fair share of controvesry. From "deflategate" at the Super Bowl to the officiating at the end of the NCAA championship game, the accusations are flying. The way I look at it, as much as I can't stand the teams, one thing reigns true, THEY WON!
You can scrutinize every aspect of both games but at the end of the day, the game has to be played and there has to be a winner and a loser. It comes down to who executes their game plan best and imposes their will on the other team. Both games were close and pretty much came down to the play at the end. Either you make the plays or you don't. Dwayne Allen of the Indianapolis Colts said it best in a tweet after their loss in the "Deflate-gate" game. "They could have played with soap for balls and beat us. Simply the better team. We have to continue to build"
I have learned over the years, you either bring your "A" game or you lose. It's your skills vs theirs and if yours doesn't match up, you lose. Doesn't get any simpler than that. I think where most of us take exception is that all of us want to be the champ, but life has derailed most of those plans. Since we all can't be the champ we tend to resort
to the next best thing, hating on those who are. Kinda silly isn't, but it's sports!
As fun as it is to hate (and being a life long Kentucky fan who is still salty over the whole Christian Laettner thing in '91, I will always have a hatred for Duke) the reality is that hating these teams because they put in the work and played the better game doesn't really make sense. But this is sports and sometimes what makes sense doesn't give us the fun we have in hating on those teams we don't like. As they say "haters gonna hate" and there is nothing we can do to change that so just don't overthink it too much and just chalk it up to the human nature that is sports. I'm pretty sure that the Patriots and the Blue Devils are not losing any sleep over all the hate that comes their way. At the end of the day, they put in the work, they played and they won, so give credit where it's due, get over it and move it along!
Stay Forever Strong!
