Duke Blue Devils: A Nominee for FanSided Top 250 Fanbases
The Duke Blue Devils were nominated to the FanSided Fandom 250.
What makes Duke Blue Devils fans the best fans in the nation? Is it all the national championships in basketball? Is it the only Rose Bowl played outside of Pasadena? Was it Coach K, Steve Spurrier, Jamison Crowder, or Christian Laettner?
It was none of those things really. This is about the fans, not the team. Duke’s support base is legendary, especially considering we’re talking about a private school in the Tobacco Road area of North Carolina that is supposed to look like Princeton in its original design. Its tentacles in fact are often joked to be stretch to the likes of New Jersey and New York. It is not a coincidence that Duke makes so many appearances in Madison Square Garden.
Yet the active fanbase that will go to MSG for a game is not the classic Duke fan. That belongs to the Cameron Crazies. Duke’s smallish arena gives an intimate setting where the fan energy can change the game. So take 7,000 people and encourage them to jump around for forty minutes and you get the most raucous environment in basketball.
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The sheer closeness of Cameron Indoor would be one thing and can be kind of replicated elsewhere. What sets the Duke fans apart is their creativity and their organization. You are not certain how they manage to try to disrupt free throws in such unison. Some game goers will go to great lengths in their signs.
Do they cross the line sometimes? They have dressed like convicts to poke at opponents with DUIs. They got under North Carolina coach Dean Smith’s skin at least once. They produced a sign that stated ‘J.R. Can’t Read’ that was a shot at then Tar Heels forward J.R. Reid. Smith famously took offense at that, but even the chastened Crazies are obnoxious to this day.
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Duke’s fandom is so good that people want to be seen as a part of it even when they have no connection to the school. You might see politicians, entertainers, and particularly the Manning brothers. The duo have used their Coach David Cutcliffe connections more than once to make an appearance.
This is why the Blue Devil faithful have made the Top 250 fanbase list and why you should support them to see how high they go up that list.