True Religion

I'm exhausted this morning! I'm ecstatic this morning! And those two competing feelings have been served via the wonderful National Championship stage thanks to Duke. Being a Duke fan is like being a Yankees fan, where there are the die-hards but there is a large number of haters. Kentucky fans hate us, UNC fans most definitely hate us, and just about anyone who likes the underdog hates us. But having been a part of this dynasty-of-a-program's fanbase and actually being a student of the school, I can tell you, there's is nothing that we wouldn't do during the months of November until (hopefully) the first week of April for this team. 

Having spent a good portion of my adult life in and around religion, I am making the bold claim that Duke basketball is a religion. I say this because I have seen people forsake all their comforts and time to devout themselves to an end goal...being present during the pinnacle of sporting rivalries...the Duke/UNC game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. I am not the first to make this comparison. While at Duke and an active participant in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, our staff worker shared that he believed the basketball fans practiced one of the purest and greatest examples of true religion. We had utter devotion to the cause. Sub-freezing temperatures were no reason to not be in the tents and potentially get booted out of line. We had elaborate spreadsheets that assured every second of the day was covered by a tent member. We smelled funny, we looked ragged, and perhaps some of us had to choose, good grades or a great seat to the game.

We didn't care what the rest of the world or even our fellow students thought of us because we had our eyes on the prize, the glory to come was worth the pain and toil of all the time and energy we had to expend to get into the game! We were devout, we were loyal and we were excited all the time. It was a religion in a refined form, but we worshipped the ground labeled Krzyzweskiville.  And if we got to sit at the foot of Coach K, well, we had our go-to story to tell the generations to come, if not to embellish a bit.

What I cannot seem to articulate is the energy and the feeling of being part of this amazing experience. It's hard to tell an outsider about all the benefit from basically denying ourselves our usual luxuries to "rough it" for a month and a half so that we can partake in a two-hour game. It all seemed worth it, it all was amazing. Sometimes I wish religious organizations were similar and sometime they are. But today, I'm not going to go into all the fantastic analogies of a sports idol and the church. No, today I'm going to celebrate that I have been able to enjoy this amazing sign of togetherness and "in it for the common good"-ness and mark this 5th national championship as something that fills my soul with joy and memories from other celebrations like it. And I'm also glad that I know that same joy in my "true religion" too. Go DUKE!!!!