North Carolina 81, Duke 77 F
There comes times when successful sports people call it quits, that people tend to come out of the woodwork to shower them with praise, or just show a whole lot of respect and grace, regardless of if they were a teammate, rival, competition or adversary.
When David Ortiz was on his retirement tour, the New York Yankees and their fans gave him a lot of respect, standing ovations showed a lot of grace. When Derek Jeter was in his final games, the Boston Red Sox reciprocated and showed a lot of respect to the Captain on his way out. Michael Jordan was celebrated in every city on his way out, and the list goes on for notable figures who were shown a lot of respect at the ends of their career.
But as far as Coach K goes, fuck the grace and dignity. Good riddance to this sniveling little troll that is basically the most reviled guy in the history of men’s college basketball. As a fan of college basketball, I for one am ecstatic that Coach K fell short of getting to go out a winner, and once again, collapsed and lost in what should’ve been one of the grandest highlights on his way out.
In fact, to some capacity, this really has been one of the best years of college basketball in my life, because Virginia Tech won the ACC Championship AKA the National Championship A, and Coach K choked in three different games which should’ve been the coup de graces on his retirement tour:
- Lost to North Carolina in his final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium
- Lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship/Natty A game
- Lost to North Carolina in his final game ever, in the Final Four
And the way he lost in all of these, as a legitimate contender for success, only to fall short repeatedly, it’s the perfect way to see Coach K ride off into the sunset. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a little worried that Duke really was going to ride some wave of do it for Coach all the way to the National Championship-B, seeing as how they managed to not suffer their typical chokejob to some non-conference opponent, but the narrative of the journey couldn’t have been written any better if it were done by Vince Russo.
Of course, it had to be North Carolina who sent Coach K packing, and of course, it had to be in their first-ever meeting in the Final Four. Of course this had to be the rubber match of the season.
And I let out a sigh of relief that North Carolina did their job and actually put Coach K down for good. I had a bad feeling of sports pessimism that Duke was going to get their retribution, and ride that momentum into the Natty B and actually win, and let Coach K retire as a champion, the ultimate baller way to leave a career. A way that should really only be reserved for true good guys in sport, like David Robinson, John Elway and Peyton Manning. Had Duke overcome North Carolina and won a Natty B, that would have exorcised all of their failures of the season previously, and Dook Nation would have been even more insufferable, if that’s even possible.
But thankfully, the good guys won in the end. Frankly, once this game had passed, nobody will even give a shit about the actual Natty B game. Shit, I had no clue to whom Kansas was even playing, it’s that irrelevant compared to the other side of the bracket.
Good riddance, Coach K. And for as much dislike I have for his career, it’s because he was a good coach. It’s just he looked like a little troll goblin and always recruited obnoxious players whom his obnoxious school would make into hateable douchebags, but I digress. I’m not supposed to be giving this sniveling goblin any respect on the way out.
