Devilwolfing: Never Too Young to Smoke
One of the greatest scenes in the 2002 Stephen Frears film “High Fidelity” is when John Cusack’s character, Rob Gordon goes through the massive task of re-organizing his record collection. Rob’s friend Dick, played by Todd Louiso, asks if he’s sorting them alphabetically or chronologically, to which Rob replies, “Autobiographical”.
I’m a huge fan of obscure sports trivia, especially when it’s something that happens that begs the question, “when’s the last time this happened?” I’m also a huge fan of music, and I truly believe that “High Fidelity” may be the best work that’s ever been published that really captures how I think … although, here I’m substituting sports facts in place of horrible, failed relationships. So each week, I’ll be picking something that happened in sports and going back in time to research when it happened last. To provide some context, I’ll be connecting the sports trivia with three songs released during the same time in history … one song being a track that we’ll all remember, another being one from my favorite playlists, and a third from a guy who’s responsible for writing, recording, or distributing probably 70% of my own record collection, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk and Portastatic, and co-founder of Merge Records.
Yes, this is typically reserved for Thursday mornings, but the big game is tonight and it’s just so hard to wait. For Duke to have any shot at all at beating North Carolina tonight in Chapel Hill, superstar freshman Austin Rivers will have to emerge as the team’s leader, both on the court and in the locker room. That’s not a role that freshmen traditionally play at Duke, but Austin Rivers is not your typical Duke freshman. In fact, the last time Duke was led in scoring by a freshman was the 1982-83 season when the legendary Johnny Dawkins paced the Blue Devils. Just how long ago was that? Check out some of the music from that time (with video where available, just for the full effect of how long it’s been), and read about why Austin Rivers is not only the most fascinating player on the team, but why he holds the keys to any chance at a championship in 2012 …
New Order, “Age of Consent” – One of my favorite songs of all time, and it’s incredibly fitting because Austin Rivers is one of the most fascinating Blue Devils I can remember. When Rivers committed to Duke, it instantly became an expectation that he would be the new “most-hated Blue Devil”, and the brash, arrogant, free-wheeling chucker seemed more than willing to assume that role. Now almost two-thirds into the season, that hate directed towards Rivers has never really emerged from opposing fans. In a strange twist, it’s been his own fans who have developed a swell of criticism about his attitude and his willingness to be a “Duke guy”. In a huge understatement, Austin Rivers is not Kyrie Irving. Irving was a ready-made collegiate star, and played with a two uber-talented veterans who were committed to doing whatever necessary to ease his transition into being the team’s leader. Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler made Irving’s job easier, both on and off the court, and Irving was blessed with a level of maturity that few possess. Every bit of criticism being hurled at Rivers from Duke fans seems to be more based less on not being a “Duke guy”, and more based on not being Kyrie Irving. When New Order released their album “Power, Corruption & Lies” in 1983, the band was enjoying the success of their single “Blue Monday”, which ultimately became the best-selling 12” of all time in England. Fans flocked to the stores to grab the new album, but were furious to learn that the hit single was not included on the album at all. Stores began placing disclaimers on album covers “Album Does Not Contain Blue Monday” to avoid further backlash from fans who were disappointed in the exclusion of the song. What fans ended up missing was the band’s best song ever, in my opinion. The sooner that Austin Rivers is able to overcome the lack of veteran leadership easing him into his role on this Duke team, the sooner Duke fans will stop lamenting the absence of Kyrie Irving and start celebrating the brilliance that is Austin Rivers.
R.E.M, “Talk About the Passion” – Inside Duke’s locker room there are two types of guys to interview … guys who are used to sitting at their lockers watching other guys get interviewed, and Austin Rivers. Rivers was one of the most hyped players in the country last season, and that’s considering all levels of basketball. It’s extremely evident when speaking to him as well, as he seems to have a sense of just how far he can take his comments without crossing the line completely into an emotional rant. Where the other players may give you a carefully constructed canned answer, obviously concerned about revealing too much or about saying the wrong thing, Rivers says what’s on his mind. My hunch is that he’s almost more comfortable talking to the media than he is talking to his own teammates. Following Sunday’s loss against Miami, Rivers held court with reporters talking about the worst loss of his life, and outlining exactly what Duke needed to do to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Take away the cameras and microphones, I’m not sold that Rivers is quite there yet in being able to share that same emotion and honesty with his teammates. My advice? Let it loose, kid. If there are teammates in the locker room who can’t handle a little honesty, regardless from its source, I fail to see how that’s an Austin Rivers problem.
INXS, “Don’t Change” – Whenever a new player is inserted into an environment, especially when that environment is strongly connected to a larger culture, the tendency is for the player to work to fit into the “system”. At Duke, there’s a huge misconception about the existence of an offensive system that stifles creativity. On the contrary, the reality of Duke’s offense is that it’s like a science lab for guards who want to create. But once you step outside of what happens on the court, there is a very real “system” at Duke, which speaks to the culture of being a part of something greater than yourself. It’s what most Duke fans cling to as the true separation of the Blue Devil program and the rest of the riff-raff in college basketball, and it’s what most Duke-haters (in a Tebow hater fashion, for a comparison) hold up as the very reason they despise Duke. Is Austin Rivers bigger than Duke basketball? No, of course not. I’m not sure he even cracks the top 15 in terms of most-important or most-influential Duke players ever. Is he bigger than this team? I mean … why not? I’m not talking what’s best for Austin Rivers is more important than what’s best for the team. But why go get a pony if you’re not going to ride it? When you have a talent and a personality like Rivers in the program, he has to have the freedom to be what he is. Many will pin that blame on Mike Krzyzewski, but anyone who’s ever talked basketball with Coach K will see that out of all of the players on this year’s team, he may have the most in common with Austin Rivers in terms of his passion and his disdain for losing. So what’s holding Rivers back? Himself? Maybe. Maybe he’s too concerned with fitting in, and feels like he needs to improve as a teammate by learning to defer to those around him. His teammates? Maybe some of them. Perhaps some of his teammates wish their role was more like Austin Rivers’ role, and are a little angry at themselves for not carving that out when they had the opportunity. But the only one who can control his performance, his attitude, and his impact on the rest of the season is Austin Rivers. I’m reminded of the now famous story when the Duke team huddled on the sidelines during a brief timeout, just needing one defensive stop to win the 2010 National Championship. They looked at their coach for instructions, but all he gave them was a firm, “You be you. You is enough.” Duke fans have to be looking forward to the time when Austin Rivers gets that same speech, obstacles be damned.
