I am a die hard Crazy that had the fortunate opportunity to purchase ACC Tournament tickets as a graduate student from Maryland. I knew it would be an adventure being a Dukee in the Maryland Booster section and after three days of observation, here are my comments:
- Maryland fans comment on every single call. It doesn't matter if Maryland is playing, every fan thinks they are the ref. When Maryland plays, the comments and complaints are magnified ten fold.
- Maryland "supports" their team by criticizing any player that messes up. In my three days of sitting in the section, I heard considerably more berating of players screwing up the play than cheers of players that were doing well. Only after the game was won and done would Maryland fans cheer for their team.
- My trepidation of cheering for Duke quickly subsided because most Maryland fans around me did not mind my positive support for Duke. I only commented on Duke's playing and never berated Duke's opponents. In fact, I had several stimulating conversations with Maryland fans about basketball in general.
- I was very impressed that the Maryland section cheered when Duhon got up from his injury. Our angle prohibited us from seeing the collision but many Maryland fans got angry when they found out that cameras were crowding around the injured Duhon.
- When Strawberry twisted his ankle, there were cheers emanating around the entire Coliseum. I assume that these were Duke fans cheering for Strawberry to get up instead of cheering for the fact that he was injured. Maryland fans took the latter assumption and sarcastically called the Duke fans "a real class act".
While most Maryland fans seem to have unreconciled anger towards the officiating, bad plays, and losing, deep inside, there is human decency in your average Maryland fan. In addition, there are a select number of Maryland fans that are as classy and supportive of their team as your typical Cameron Crazy. And that is probably the most refreshing sight being a Duke fan in the Maryland section.