When Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a lot of Rhodesians moved to South Africa and promptly irritated their new neighbors by talking constantly about the good old days. The South Africans took to calling them "whenwes," as in when we...
It's an understandable human reaction, and over the last several years, when former Crazies have critiqued current Crazies, they've made it clear they don't like it.
Which is understandable.
Still, you guys should pay attention to this piece by a bleachers predecessor, William Kline. As life-long Cameron junkies, we can tell you that he makes a number of points which are correct.
It's hard to understand the why but we think two things are underestimated.
First, success. Students today would never believe just how much resentment drove things in the early '70s and '80s. When you can't win and you know it, you channel your frustrations accordingly. So we saw lots of stuff like "Pinball Wizard" (aimed at Tom Burleson, who broke into a pinball machine), aspirin and underwear thrown at shoplifters, Tom Roy Sucks, Meaghar spit in your face, and a multitude of things which don't happen anymore.
Losing bred a sneering attitude: you might beat us, pal, but we'll still make you pay.
That lasted for some time after success started.
And secondly? It's a bit impolite to talk about and we don't have any evidence to prove it, but our strong suspicion is that a serious reduction in alcohol consumption prior to (and probably during) games has changed things a lot.
Kline refers in his piece to B.O.G. For those who don't know, that stood for Bunch Of Guys, most of whom, shall we say, would have been unhappy to see a DWI checkpoint after the game.
They came in together, they coordinated, and they had a huge effect on games.
Eventually, they were asked to disband, if you can disband such a loose group, and they obliged.
Please don't misunderstand: we are not advocating or suggesting that people get hammered before walking over to Cameron. We're just saying that it's a significant change. Duke's relationship to alcohol is vastly more restrictive than it was in year's past, and in many respects, that was the right call.
For one, back in the day 18 was the legal age to buy a drink. For another, binge drinking has gotten a thousand times worse and leads to other problems including general stupidity (the kid who ended up in the bonfire springs to mind), sexual assault, drunken auto accidents and more. You can't fault the university for reacting to stuff like that, if only out of liability concerns.
It has had an impact, though.
What would be nice to see resurrected was the rebellious attitudes of years past, when Crazies were forced to accept losing but insisted on their pound of flesh regardless.
It would also be nice to see the edgy side of Cameron return. At times, the Crazies by themselves have been worth the price of admission. We felt bad for him, but who can forget Olden Polynice skipping the Duke trip simply to avoid ridicule.
At it's best, it's a place that can get into someone's head and at that point, the crowd truly is the Sixth Man.
Another major change is technology. There was some suggestion that people didn't want to wait in line and so forth. But that's what texting is for!
We'd like to challenge the current Crazies. We won't be whenwes about it, but clearly, you are capable of much more. You can be the most amazing crowd in sports. Don't wait for the Carolina game to show it.
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